The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga by P.M. Dooling


Every 16-year old thinks they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. For Avery Kimball this was actually true…she just didn’t know it yet. Life for Avery was completely normal, attending school, hanging out with friends, and spending time with her family. Until the day she finds out that she and her four closest friends have a destiny that will take them far away from their comfortable and safe lives on Earth. Avery learns that she and her friends are actually a group of powerful warriors known as the Protectors, who were charged with protecting the planet of Orcatia, but were killed by the evil Emperor. To save their lives, their magical mentor sent them to Earth to be re-born. It is now their duty to return to the planet and life they have no memory of, and once again serve as its Protectors, fighting the very Emperor responsible for their deaths. Along the way, Avery must contend with battling malevolent creatures, her sometimes fragile relationships with her friends and fellow Protectors, her attraction to the mysterious King of Nightfell, and her own doubts and fears about who she truly is and who she can become

This story was different than anything I have read recently. Please excuse me for not knowing the right term here. But the story is told like the reader is on the outside watching the scenes play out. We are not really inside any of the characters heads' even the main one. There are parts where we are only following Avery, but we only really get to know what they are feeling through the words they use when talking to each other. There were a couple of places in the story where Avery is alone and thinking things over, but it's not written as if we are inside her head, but as if her thoughts are being narrated to us. (Avery felt she did the right thing, Avery was concerned about this, etc. ) I sure hope that makes sense, or that I knew the correct term for this.

I can't believe I'm going to say this but I missed having a little bit of teen angst going on. The girls don't argue at all about what's happening to them, and don't even question their parents on why they did not tell them. Avery is approached by Gumptin and he tells her she's a protector, she and the others just say ok and go with the flow. They don't even question their parents on why, they don't argue about having to leave their friends on Earth, nor do they have any problems packing up all their things and moving back "home."
I also was not quite sure why the parents did not try to help them during their time on Earth. They did not have them in sports groups, special classes or any kind of training. I would think they would have urged them to participate in those kinds of activities knowing what their future held. I think I missed not knowing more of the emotions that the characters were going through. By the end of the book we do get to see more about Avery's concerns and what would happen to them if she failed.
But I wanted to see what the parents felt, what her sister felt and the emotional hardships between the girls individually.

Final Thoughts: As I am rating this story 4 stars, I really did enjoy it. I found myself drawn in completely. If you enjoy stories with great adventure and world building, I think you will enjoy this one. It was a pretty fast read and the language used was very detailed and descriptive. There were just a few spots where things didn't go as smoothly as I wanted, which is why I did not end up giving it 5 stars. I look forward to seeing what happens next in the saga.

Sentence that stood out the most:
"She turned and looked at the poor man as if he had just spanked a chicken"
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/86376
http://www.smashwords.com/books/download/86376/1/latest/0/0/the-protectors-book-1-in-the-protectors-saga.pdf
http://paigedooling.blogspot.com/
Best part is that it's available right now for FREE

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