this book had a lot of potential but it just fall flat nothing made any since everything felt rushed (its a very short book)

I loved Join or Die and am ready for the second book!
There's a great range of all sorts of Creatures in this story and Alex, the main character, has a wicked sense of humor. He collects some unique friends in his new school and has to solve some mysteries as he's new to all this supernatural stuff. But since his dad is one of the Creatures and has a connection to a very powerful being, he soon finds himself in the middle of a fight he has to win...
This was a great read and fans of supernatural YA books will love this one.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this start to another fun book series.

A very fun read!! Easy to read great story. So many creatures so many things going on loved this book. What a great little fantasy book.

Alex is just a 14 year old kid living an ordinary life with his single mum...until one day, a stranger shows up. The stranger tells Alex that like his father before him, he isn’t human. Alex is soon whisked away to a school for Creatures and has to start rethinking everything he thought he knew about the world.

As a story about a variety of creatures, including both the familiar such as vampires and the less well known, this is the kind of story I may have eaten up as a kid/young teen. There’s a variety of characters, powers and conflicts to explore within what is quite a short book.

Is this a new favourite as now an adult? No.
Would I recommend it to that younger age group? Definitely.

It’s not necessarily the freshest story concept out there, and the story is very quickly paced, but it’s an easy read and a good time nonetheless.

(3.5/5)

Elf vampires? Berserker Valkyries?
If you have ever wished for a more heterogeneous fantasy world, this book is for you.

Alex Ayers honestly does a good job of keeping his cool when his absentee father’s best friend shows up out of the blue and pulls him into a world he didn’t know existed. He is sent to Fios Academy, a boarding school for Creatures, where he makes friends and enemies and prepares himself to face his destiny.

This story was a lot of fun. The combinations of all sorts of mythical creatures and Alex’s sarcastic commentary gave me some Rick Riordan vibes. I kind of wished the book had been longer, I could have spent a lot more time getting to know this world and the interesting characters it holds, there is a lot of potential here.

Holy creature feature,!! This book blew me away. I’d say it rivals Harry Potter. No seriously, I want the second book. If I have a proper review it would spoil it all. Because you just can’t talk Babur the book without diving in the deep end of FIOS. I love love love this book. The charcters are bad ass!! Whew I’m ready for book 2.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Join or Die is a very peculiar book. Alex's life, a 14 years old from Las Vegas, is turn upside down one day when a friend, Durant, of his absentee father came into his house and revealed to him the most weird truth: he's a Creature, a magical being, his father is a dragon and Durant is one too.
Since during puberty every Creature went through the Change, transforming them into what really are (vampire, dragon and so on),Alex is forced to give up his old life and to go to the Fios Academy, a sort of Hogwarts for magical creatures. There he will learn more about his powers and this new world and how to use the glamour to walk among mortals. He's forced to give up his life to protect his mother and friend, Carlos, pushed into a new world and school.
Not only that. Durant told Alex there were two different dimension, the mortal and the creatures' one and that the Creatures' world is protected and ruled by the Scion and his ciorcal (Gaelic word for circle, a group of trusted friends and allies). Years ago the Scion was attacked, some members killed and a sort of truce was set: The new Scion would step down in 5/10 years time and the Fios Academy will prepare Scion candidates. Without knowing anything about this world, Alex became a candidate, pushed into a new reality.
Helped by his roomate Elvy, a vampire, who shown him around, Alex is forced to adapt to all this and to the game of politics, creating his own ciorcal, surronding himself with peculiar friends.
Elvy, vampire/elf mix, shunned by other elves since he went through the Change and become a vampire, a sensible and smart character.
Yoshi, raised by his father and abandoned by his mother and twin, he's funny and boisterous and he didn't yet Change.
Win, a magic werewolf, the strategist and Kara, the half Valkyrie and half Berserker. His ciorcal collided, during the book, with Raina's one, a distant cousin of Alex, another Scion's candidate. While Alex learned to navigate school and politics, making friends and building his ciorcal, a killer is hunting Scion candidates and, between lessons, books, discoveries and hunts, Alex and his friends have to protect themselves and try to survive.

I really liked this book. It's a quick reading and sometimes a bit rushed, I'd loved to know more extensively about the other Creatures, Breed, more descriptions and stories. Like the main character, the reader is pushed into a new world, without knowing anything and it was exhilarating getting to know more about Fios Academy and Alex's friends. I could see how Alex is divided by his mortal world, his missing his mother and Carlo and normality and the new, dangerous and exciting one. I loved reading about his friends, I loved Elvy and his identity crisis and how Win and the others convinced him to do what he love. Yoshi was such a cute and gossipy one and I'd love to know more about Kara, a real hurricane. I enjoyed reading about the hunt, it was so funny and I loved the riddles and clues, so exciting!
The real identity of the killer didn't surprised me so much, but I wish it would have been better placed and explained, above all the reasons behind it,since it was left a big hanging. I loved reading about Durant and Alex's father, so mysterious and peculiar and to discover Raina's character.
I'd love to know more about this world and its characters. This book was a quick and funny reading,
I recommend it to anyone who wants to be shoved into a new world and reality, surrounded by furred characters, icy touchs, mysterious riddles and politics.
Above all, a book about friendships and to love and trust one other.

What a fun read this book was, I can not wait for the next installment on the series! When I picked up a copy of the book, I was undecided on what I wanted to read next, so I decided merely on the cover art to pick Join or Die. And what a pleasant surprise it was.
Alex Ayers life is turned upside down when he finds out that Creatures that Myths and Legends talk about are real and he is one of them. When he joins Fios Academy he quickly learns that he could be the next leader of them all. Joined by a band of misfits, Alex needs to learn fast about what it means being a creature and how to survive before he ends up being killed.

This was such a quick read, like only a few hours quick read. I thoroloughly enjoy the paranormal trope of "I'm a what!?" so this book worked really well for me. I live for a good boarding school YA read, and this one reminded me of that Scooby Doo movie where Scrappy, Shaggy and Scoob teach at that boarding school for young monsters. Was that off topic? Perhaps, but a vibe is a vibe.

I found this story to be very creative and original. I enjoyed the story as well as the characters. It was very well written and I didn’t put it down once until I was finished.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

Join or Die follows Alex, a young teen from Las Vegas, as he discovers not everything is as it seems and all the myths he’s ever heard of are actually true. One day Alex learns he’s half human/half creature and it’s not safe for him to stay at home. He has to leave behind everything he knows and loves to move to a boarding school for creatures just like him.

Ive read a few fantasy academy/school books recently but Join or Die is one of the better ones. It’s funny, well written and full of likeable characters.I especially liked the group of loners Alex befriends, both individually and together as a group. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story evolves in the next book.

Perfectly ordinary adolescent boy in Las Vegas--single parent family, one good friend, starting high school--suddenly discovers he isn't human. Well, only half--his mother is human, his father, absent for six years, is a Creature. Yes, Creature: those entities of fairy tales and mythology? 'Tis real, they are. And Young Alex will be their Scion.


Creatively imagined and fantasized, JOIN OR DIE is Book 1 of HEIRS TO THE SCION Series. This is YA Fantasy, but I rate it 18+ for language.