The Last of The Sages

The Last Of The Sages by Julius St. Clair
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Last Of The Sages was a pleasant surprise. I got the book for free and I really didn't have any expectations for it even though the cover and title seemed cool.

So as the description mentioned the main character James is a major layabout and because of that his father signed him up for the Academy. Unfortunately the Academy's reputation is that everyone who enlists dies shortly thereafter. The exchange between James and his father in the first chapter is good, but the rest of the chapter which revolves around James and his friends is largely pointless.

When James arrives at the academy he almost immediately takes a 180 personality wise which was a bit annoying. This major slacker gets massive ambition, drive, and interest to learn. Almost instantly after learning about Sage's, the elite warriors of the Kingdom, he decides he's going to be one and does everything he can to qualify to train as one. Once I got past the inconsistencies of his personality the story really got interesting.

Much of the rest of the book revolves around his new life particularly interacting with his other students and training. Also note for manga fans, I got a strong vibe of Naruto in the character James and Kakashi in Arimus. A particular test seemed quite similar to the Chunnin exams second stage in the Forest of Death in the Naruto manga. There were also some portions reminiscent of the manga Bleach.

I don't want to spoil any details, but it was a fun read. Some additional editing could've made this into a four or possibly even a five star for me.

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