Adventurers Wanted #5: The Axe of Sundering by M.L. Forman

My name is Alex, and I've agreed to help Whalen destroy his nephew Jabez. Jabez is an evil wizard using dark magic, and we suspect he has connections to the Brotherhood. We can't use any of our magic during our journey or Jabez will sense our presence. Luckily, he can't sense my dragon magic. Whalen and I are pretending to be merchants as we travel across the land, and I've made some good friends. However, it upsets me that I must lie to them in order to keep my true identity secret. When we reach Jabez's castle, I must first locate the Axe of Sundering in order to break his connection to living spirits. If I don't, I won't be able to kill him, and evil will spread across the lands. A prophecy says a nameless dragon will appear someday and vanquish the evil. I don't understand what that means, so I must continue my quest until its conclusion.

The prologue described how Alex couldn't remember anything about himself, so I was ready for some serious surprises. I had mixed emotions about this book, since Alex wasn't on an official quest with other adventurers. I missed the closeness of the past adventurer groups and the sense of teamwork and camaraderie. Honor and loyalty were still important elements of Alex's character and were keys to his success. This book felt a little more violent than other books in the series, as Alex's end goal was to kill Jabez. Alex killed wicked men and creatures in the past, but it wasn't usually planned from the beginning. The author has managed to introduce creative weapons and tools to the stories, and white orbs and the Axe of Sundering were examples this time. New powers continued to find Alex, so his solutions to conflicts were often surprises. I expected to find another sequel waiting when I reached the end of the plot, but all issues were resolved in the last fourth of the book. Overall, I enjoyed the series, especially the first three books, and recommend you give it a shot.