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The Awakening of Ren Crown (Ren Crown -1) by Anne Zoelle

The Awakening of Ren Crown (Ren Crown #1) by Anne Zoelle

Ren Crown series — by Anne Zoelle 

Genres and Sub-Genres

Urban Fantasy / New Adult

Series Description or Overview

✥ Consumed by the realization that magic is real, newly awakened art mage Ren Crown illegally enrolls in a fantastical university determined to bring her twin brother back to life. But in a world of magic beyond imagination, she finds herself an unwitting pawn in the opening volleys of a treacherous war. ~ Harry Potter Fan

✥ 16-year-old Ren Crown’s twin brother is killed during his ‘Awakening’, the point when a person’s magical abilities first manifest themselves. To get him back, Ren illegally enrolls at a university of the magical persuasion and hi-jinx and world-threatenings ensue. ~ Adventures in Writing

Lead's Species

  • Art Mage

Primary Supe

  • mages

What Sets it Apart

  • art as a super power
  • layered magic system
  • engineering-based magic system
  • University level mages in a magical school

Narrative Type and Narrators

  • First person narrative told by Ren Crown, protagonist.

Books in Series

Ren Crown series:

  1. The Awakening of Ren Crown (2012)
  2. The Protection of Ren Crown (2014)

Shorts, Novellas, Anthologies and Guides

none yet

Themes

  • finding out who we truly are and what we are capable of, trusting your instincts, embracing your talents
  • Loss, grief and letting go
  • manifestation of one’s inner struggles in the world around them
  • scientific principals such as string theory, quantum physics, particle matter, Chinese red string theory

World Building

Setting

Excelsine Magic College

Places:

  • Library of Alexandria: library on eh Second Level—sentient and carnivorous.
  • Second Layer Depot:

Supernatural Elements

✥ mages, sentient buildings, tricorn, magical gophers, pet rock, portals, tricorns, magical gophers, 

Glossary:

  • Feral Mage:
  • Combat Mage:
  • Chaos Magic:
  • Ripples:
  • Combat Games:
  • First Layer:
  • Second Layer:
  • magical Awakening:

Groups & Organizations:

  • Journal of Scientific Magic:

World

School for magic: is a University level school for college age students. The students are sorted by skill type.

Layer System: One of most interesting features is the “Layer System”. Basically, the world we live in is the first layer, and other layers that we cannot interact with are pilled on top. The second layer, which Ren can interact with once she has her own Awakening, is where she attends school to learn to control her magic. The subsequent layers increase in the amount of roaming magic and bizarre-ness, so the final layer (while not visited in this story) sounds like some kind of vaguely malevolent Dali painting. ~ Adventures in Writing

Protagonist

Rene Crown: Ren’s magic revolves around her talent in painting and also her mind for engineering. A clever combination that allows her to overcome many of the obstacles she faces better than she could’ve.

Florence Crown has always stood in the shadow of her magnetically popular twin brother Christian. He was her partner-in-crime. She would finish his sentences, cheer him on during every game, and had been spending her life revolving around him at every turn with her art being the only thing of her own. Until one day when Christian’s powers awoke within him attracting a scavenger determined to steal Christian’s feral power for himself. With Christian dead and her own life slipping away, Ren found herself suddenly resurrected by a young man with Last Judgement ultramarine eyes. But with her twin gone, Ren feels like she has lost half of her soul and the reason for her life and retreats into her art, where her own awakening to a rare power comes, opening up a whole new world for her, complete with a magic school, new friends, a crush on the boy who saved her, and an evil rebel bent on using Ren’s new powers to take over the magical world. All Ren wishes out of life is for her partner-in-crime, her other half, her twin to be alive again to experience everything with her and she is convinced she can use her newly awakened magic to bring him back to life. ~ Gypsy's Readings & Musings

Sidekick

Name: — What: — Sidekick-to: — About: — Book First Seen In:

Characters Chart

Characters What About
Ren, MC, Florence Crown Feral Mage illegally enrolls in a fantastical university determined to bring her twin brother back to life; loyal; protective; determined; hardworking
Will, William Tasky mage student friend; geeky mad scientist type
Alexander Dare combat mage saved Ren's life; very suspicious; potential love interest;
Constantine mage student, gorgeous bad boy with a soft heart; funny; clever; potential love interest;
Leandred mage student, stuck-up, rich, Draco-like trouble maker;
Verisetti creepy
Leandred mage student, stuck-up, rich, Draco-like trouble maker;
Christian twin brother, mage died after his magic was awakened; Ren is determined to bring him back to life with her new-found power;
Phillip Marsgrov Dean of Special Projects Olivia’s powerful, older cousin; hates Ren—it's mutual;
Olivia Helena Price Ren's roommate; intelligent; intuitive; ambitious;
Guard Rock pet rock outfitted with a pencil sword
Nephthys
Raphael Verisetti (bk-2) terrorist
Sergei Kinsky mage the last mage capable of wielding Origin Magic, both a god and bogeyman
Raphael ripped portal pad from Ren's magic when she Awakened;

To expand the table, in Edit–Visual mode, right-press on a Row of the table or Column (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Row or Column.

Author

Anne Zoelle

  • WebsiteAnne Zoelle
  • Genres: New Adult Urban Fantasy
  • Other Pen Names: Anne Zoelle is the pseudonym of a USA Today Bestselling author. (I can't find out who anywhere)

Bio:

Contributors

Cover Artists

  • Artist:  none listed (indie) — Source:

Other Contributors:

  • Audio Book Narrator: — Source:
  • Editor: — Source:

Publishing Information

  • Publisher: Anne Zoelle; Excelsine Press
  1. The Awakening of Ren Crown: ebook, 461 pages, Pub: July 9th 2012—ISBN13 9780985861308
  2. The Protection of Ren Crown: ebook, 499 pages, Pub: May 9th 2014—ISBN13 9780985861346

Book Cover Blurbs

BOOK ONE—The Awakening of Ren Crown (2012): A world that exists right on top of ours–in every nook and cranny…a world that modifies the memories of anyone not yet awakened to magic…a world at war… Devastated by the loss of her twin–and consumed by the realization that magic actually exists–art student Ren Crown illegally enrolls in a fantastical university determined to bring her brother back to life. But caught in a time of war, and as a mage with abilities that both sides want to harness and use, Ren finds herself an unwitting pawn in a larger game. Needing to hide from those who wish to enslave her, Ren gambles everything on her determination to succeed, putting herself in plain sight of those who could capture her. Constantly needing to figure out who to trust–a cold, powerful roommate, a genius magical engineer, the most powerful combat mage of their age, a mysterious muse, a cunning and brilliant tactician, a charming terrorist, an influential politician, or the voice of her brother…the hardest thing may be trusting her own heart. ~ Book One | Anne Zoelle

BOOK TWO—he Protection of Ren Crown (2014): Barely surviving her first term at college, all Ren wants to do over break is relax and bond with her roommate—not get eaten by a sentient building or attacked on the street. But with increasingly open warfare brewing between the magical factions and Layers of the world, this time, Ren will not fail in making sure everyone she loves stays safe and protected. That includes doing things like filling her parents’ house with personal art heavily embedded with wards, bubble-wrapping her increasingly imperiled roommate, and even making sure that a certain sexy thorn-in-her-side continues to breathe free air. Finding herself on duty protecting the entire university alongside campus god Alexander Dare…was not what she’d had in mind. But this time it’s not only her life on the line. And Ren will do anything to protect those she loves. ~ Book Two | Anne Zoelle

BOOK THREE—:

First Sentences

  1. The Awakening of Ren Crown (2012) — I would do absolutely anything for my brother.
  2. The Protection of Ren Crown (2014) — A flying carpet whizzed down the hallway of the Second Layer Depot and two mages followed slowly in its path, engaged in a magical duel with fencing swords in one hand and tasers in the other.

Quotes

Trivia

Awards

Read Alikes (similar elements)

See the Categpry links at bottom of the page.

Notes

The first book was self-published. 

See Also

Category links at bottom of page

External References

Books:

Note: Indies often don't make it to all of these sites. 

World, Characters, etc:

Reviews:

Author:

Community, Fan Sites:

Gallery of Book Covers

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