Adventurers Wanted #3: Albrek's Tomb by M.L. Forman

My name is Thrang, and I'm leading the quest to find the Ring of Searching that will help dwarves with their mining. We're trying to follow Albek's travels from hundreds of years ago, because we aren't sure where he left the relic. I'm thankful my friend Alex is now a full wizard and has joined our group. He seems so much older than when I met him on his first adventure. Alex and our seer can sense an underlying evil across the lands, but they can't tell where the feeling comes from. We must now travel to the Isle of Bones, but it's difficult finding anyone to sail there. The fisherman are all superstitious and fear the island, but I hope one of them will do it for a price. I'm not sure what we'll find there, and I'm afraid Alex will one day face an opponent with magic greater than his own. 

I recommend you read the previous two books in the series first, but the first one will give you necessary background information. Each book presents a unique adventure and a mixture of familiar and new characters. Alex is the main character, and he's clearly becoming one of the most powerful wizards ever. He's not the same innocent boy he once was and feels much older now. The author could easily have presented him as a supreme being, but Alex maintains his humbleness and insecurities to make him a vulnerable character. He continues to battle angry feelings that threaten to unleash an uncontrollable magic. The journey to the Isle of Bones reveals a secret about his past that even Alex was unaware of. Each book is divided into smaller quests, so they can be read very quickly. The author adds little surprises along the way, although Albrek's Tomb seems to have more major revelations than usual. Alex and another character undergo changes that will affect them forever. The plot continues to include an unseen evil, and a conspiracy is introduced this time. These conflicts will continue to create an underlying tension that I assume won't be resolved until the series ends.