Book Review: Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows ((The Elandrian Chronicles #1) by J.M. Bergen

Title: Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows (The Elandrian Chronicles #1)
Author: J.M. Bergen
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2019
Publisher: Elandrian Press

Thank you to the publisher for reaching out and giving me a copy in exchange for a review.

“Thomas thinks he’s an ordinary twelve year old, but when a strange little man with gold-flecked eyes gives him an ancient text called The Book of Sorrows, the world he knows is turned upside down. Suddenly he’s faced with a secret family legacy, powers he can hardly begin to understand, and an enemy bent on destroying everything he holds dear. The more he reads and discovers, the deeper the danger to himself and the people he loves. As the race to the final showdown unfolds, Thomas must turn to trusted friends and uncertain allies as he seeks to prevent destruction at an epic scale. (Goodreads)

I enjoy a good Middle Grade book every now and again. It gives me a different feeling than a YA and honestly, it’s good to switch up my genres even if it is still fantasy, haha. I thought that this was a fun read and I’m glad I was asked to review this.

Thomas is oblivious to the magic in the world until one day he stumbles upon a shop and his life changes from that moment on. In this way, he kind of reminded me of Harry Potter but obviously this is a much different story!

He is a very good friend and I loved reading the interactions between them. Enrique is definitely one of my favorite characters. He is funny and I’m glad that he was more than just a side character. Since Thomas is very kind, he also tries to befriend a kid that the bullies pick on. It’s nice to see this in stories.

There is a good parent/child relationship between Thomas and his mother. They did a lot of things together and I felt like she really tried to listen and understand him. There wasn’t too much of them together in the last half of the book but for good reasons. I do hope we see more of them together in the next book!

The plot mostly revolves around the book of sorrows. It is quite magical! One cool aspect about this was that what he was reading was included in the book. I like being able to read for myself instead of being told what they are reading. There are some really good plot twists included and I was quite surprised by them! I liked how more was said about the good vs. evil aspect in the book and I’m curious how it will play out in the next book.

Overall, I enjoyed this one! It was fun and magical read, plus I really liked these characters. Can’t wait to see where the story goes.