Book Review: The Bestowed: A Dark Manifest by C. Ryan Crockett

In a world teetering on the edge of war once again, a young man from a small village is thrust into the chaos in the novel The Bestowed: A Dark Manifest by C. Ryan Crockett. Along with his childhood best friend, Isaac goes on the run after his village is attacked by a group of bandits and rebels doing their best to start a war between two nations. Through all of this he has to wrestle with newly discovered information about his parents and his role in the world.

This fantastical world is filled with a unique magic provided by the power of nature. The main character Isaac is a Bestowed, a person blessed with a falcon familiar. His childhood best friend, Vera is a gifted healer that channels the power of the sun. Beyond this there are Crag Masons who use stones to do specifically magically enhanced actions.

Isaac is driven by his dream of becoming a Paladin of Valoria, pushing him to focus on growing his skills as an archer and his connection with his falcon familiar. Despite this, the trials of becoming a man mixed with war and a growing love pull him in a dozen directions. These pulls lead to a gripping tale of a young man finding himself and becoming who he needs to be.

The amount of world building that was done for this novel is also very impressive. You can feel Ryan’s behind the scenes work on nearly every page as he paints the picture of an amazing world with unique people, places and creatures. One of my favorite moments in the entire book was built off of this, when Isaac and Vera find themselves along a stream at night and small fish show their magic. I won’t go into more because it is part of a major plot point, but those who have read the book will know what I’m referring to.

This was a fun read for me in my rotation of books. It's a different approach to magic, a nice change up compared to the broad magic approach of Merlin or Brandon Sanderson’s almost scientifically definable magic systems. It led to unique story paths that were very enjoyable and even set up some interesting twists. 

I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series and seeing what happens next. This is the first book in the three part series so far. The next two books, Touch of the Ethril & Of Lords and Lightless, are currently available on his website and Amazon as well as other places where books are sold.