{"id":1312,"date":"2023-05-24T16:06:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T16:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/?p=1312"},"modified":"2023-05-18T16:26:25","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T16:26:25","slug":"quest-of-awakening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/quest-of-awakening","title":{"rendered":"Quest of Awakening"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"shariff shariff-align-flex-start shariff-widget-align-flex-start\" data-services=\"pinterest%7Cfacebook%7Creddit\" data-url=\"https%3A%2F%2Findiebooknook.co.uk%2Fhome%2Fquest-of-awakening\" data-timestamp=\"1684427185\" data-hidezero=\"1\" data-backendurl=\"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/shariff\/v1\/share_counts?\"><ul class=\"shariff-buttons theme-round orientation-horizontal buttonsize-small\"><li class=\"shariff-button twitter shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#32bbf5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Findiebooknook.co.uk%2Fhome%2Fquest-of-awakening&text=Quest%20of%20Awakening\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" aria-label=\"Share on Twitter\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; 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background-color:#3b5998; color:#fff\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"shariff-icon\" style=\"\"><svg width=\"32px\" height=\"20px\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 18 32\"><path fill=\"#3b5998\" d=\"M17.1 0.2v4.7h-2.8q-1.5 0-2.1 0.6t-0.5 1.9v3.4h5.2l-0.7 5.3h-4.5v13.6h-5.5v-13.6h-4.5v-5.3h4.5v-3.9q0-3.3 1.9-5.2t5-1.8q2.6 0 4.1 0.2z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"shariff-button reddit shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#ff5700\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Findiebooknook.co.uk%2Fhome%2Fquest-of-awakening\" title=\"Share on Reddit\" aria-label=\"Share on Reddit\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; background-color:#ff4500; color:#fff\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"shariff-icon\" style=\"\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path fill=\"#ff4500\" d=\"M440.3 203.5c-15 0-28.2 6.2-37.9 15.9-35.7-24.7-83.8-40.6-137.1-42.3L293 52.3l88.2 19.8c0 21.6 17.6 39.2 39.2 39.2 22 0 39.7-18.1 39.7-39.7s-17.6-39.7-39.7-39.7c-15.4 0-28.7 9.3-35.3 22l-97.4-21.6c-4.9-1.3-9.7 2.2-11 7.1L246.3 177c-52.9 2.2-100.5 18.1-136.3 42.8-9.7-10.1-23.4-16.3-38.4-16.3-55.6 0-73.8 74.6-22.9 100.1-1.8 7.9-2.6 16.3-2.6 24.7 0 83.8 94.4 151.7 210.3 151.7 116.4 0 210.8-67.9 210.8-151.7 0-8.4-.9-17.2-3.1-25.1 49.9-25.6 31.5-99.7-23.8-99.7zM129.4 308.9c0-22 17.6-39.7 39.7-39.7 21.6 0 39.2 17.6 39.2 39.7 0 21.6-17.6 39.2-39.2 39.2-22 .1-39.7-17.6-39.7-39.2zm214.3 93.5c-36.4 36.4-139.1 36.4-175.5 0-4-3.5-4-9.7 0-13.7 3.5-3.5 9.7-3.5 13.2 0 27.8 28.5 120 29 149 0 3.5-3.5 9.7-3.5 13.2 0 4.1 4 4.1 10.2.1 13.7zm-.8-54.2c-21.6 0-39.2-17.6-39.2-39.2 0-22 17.6-39.7 39.2-39.7 22 0 39.7 17.6 39.7 39.7-.1 21.5-17.7 39.2-39.7 39.2z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Daniel Dickson <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83c\udf15\ud83c\udf15\ud83c\udf15\ud83c\udf15\ud83c\udf11<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Possible Trigger Warnings Ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Xavier is the Crown Prince of Ivearth, and is soon to be crowned the King. But first, he must set out on a sacred quest to the magical island of Hom and face perilous challenges to claim his own dragon companion. But if he&#8217;s to do that, he first must be completely and utterly true to himself &#8211; to realise who he is and accept his authentic self and live his truth. But it&#8217;s not that as easy. As Crown Prince, Xavier has duty to keep him in place &#8211; and first and foremost is producing an heir and protecting the faith of his people. How can he be true to himself when it was illegal to be who is just nine years prior &#8211; before his father changed the bill to allow people to love whomever they wished. Unless he can somehow bridge the conflict inside himself and bare his heart, he will never bond with a dragon. As he makes new, unexpected friends in the shape of the cheerful Leander and exceptional Cassia, he begins to realise he&#8217;s more than his crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although there are themes in this book which are difficult to read, it was in all honestly a beautiful story that brings a world of colour and light to the dark times we&#8217;re living in. Suicidal ideations plague Xander as he struggles to come to terms with his sexuality &#8211; with the homophobia his father presents behind closed doors weighing extremely heavily on his young shoulders. There are also outdated terms used by certain characters who again, show homophobia through their cruel words and actions. But, beyond that, there&#8217;s a slow burning love story as Xander slowly begins to see himself through Leander&#8217;s eyes. He makes many mistakes on his quest, but his friends pick him up and he learns to not only love them, but himself too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But this is not just a story about a young gay man accepting himself; there&#8217;s magic and a touch of mystery, too. Who is the enigmatic Cassia, and who is she to the cruel King Rueban? What is the prophecy that the guardians of Hom are so concerned about? These particular mysteries leave the reader wanting more, as Dickson leaves them out of <em>Quest of Awakening<\/em>; no doubt as a clever ploy to ensure we read the next book.  Spoiler alert.  It worked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>S. A<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First published on Reedsy Discovery.  <a href=\"https:\/\/reedsy.com\/discovery\/book\/quest-of-awakening-daniel-dickson#review\">You can read the original review here. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Oo6CZ0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Quest of Awakening <\/a><\/em>is available to buy on Amazon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe sandbox=\"allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=GB&#038;source=ss&#038;ref=as_ss_li_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=sallyaltass0c-21&#038;language=en_GB&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=GB&#038;placement=B0C4PY44WB&#038;asins=B0C4PY44WB&#038;linkId=28b3a6ba1f66cdfd393a2fd36e0a316c&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">* Some links on The Indie Book Nook may contain affiliation. Your rights are not affected by this, nor is the price. The Indie Book Nook may receive a small fee from the seller if you purchase through this link.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shariff shariff-align-flex-start shariff-widget-align-flex-start\" data-services=\"pinterest%7Cfacebook%7Creddit\" data-url=\"https%3A%2F%2Findiebooknook.co.uk%2Fhome%2Fquest-of-awakening\" data-timestamp=\"1684427185\" data-hidezero=\"1\" data-backendurl=\"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/shariff\/v1\/share_counts?\"><ul class=\"shariff-buttons theme-round orientation-horizontal buttonsize-small\"><li class=\"shariff-button twitter shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#32bbf5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Findiebooknook.co.uk%2Fhome%2Fquest-of-awakening&text=Quest%20of%20Awakening\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" aria-label=\"Share on Twitter\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; background-color:#55acee; color:#fff\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"shariff-icon\" style=\"\"><svg width=\"32px\" height=\"20px\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 30 32\"><path fill=\"#55acee\" d=\"M29.7 6.8q-1.2 1.8-3 3.1 0 0.3 0 0.8 0 2.5-0.7 4.9t-2.2 4.7-3.5 4-4.9 2.8-6.1 1q-5.1 0-9.3-2.7 0.6 0.1 1.5 0.1 4.3 0 7.6-2.6-2-0.1-3.5-1.2t-2.2-3q0.6 0.1 1.1 0.1 0.8 0 1.6-0.2-2.1-0.4-3.5-2.1t-1.4-3.9v-0.1q1.3 0.7 2.8 0.8-1.2-0.8-2-2.2t-0.7-2.9q0-1.7 0.8-3.1 2.3 2.8 5.5 4.5t7 1.9q-0.2-0.7-0.2-1.4 0-2.5 1.8-4.3t4.3-1.8q2.7 0 4.5 1.9 2.1-0.4 3.9-1.5-0.7 2.2-2.7 3.4 1.8-0.2 3.5-0.9z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"shariff-button pinterest shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#e70f18\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Findiebooknook.co.uk%2Fhome%2Fquest-of-awakening&media=https%3A%2F%2Findiebooknook.co.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F05%2FScreenshot-2023-05-18-at-17.11.02.png&description=Quest%20of%20Awakening\" title=\"Pin it on Pinterest\" aria-label=\"Pin it on Pinterest\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; 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But first, he must set out on a sacred quest to the magical island of Hom and face perilous challenges to claim his own dragon companion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296,878,7,260,120,9,199,8,256,400,67,4,6],"tags":[880,879],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316,"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions\/1316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiebooknook.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}