The Fourth Sage by Stefan Bolz

 The world is controlled by corporations.

Fifteen-year-old Aries steals an hour of freedom for herself each night to roam her building via the air ducts. On one of her nightly excursions, she discovers something that has the power to change her fate and that of everyone around her. Following it, propels her straight into the path of the corporation's ruthless security forces. As the hunt for her unravels and she flees ever deeper into the belly of her building, she stumbles across a group of gifted children—discarded and left to rot on an abandoned floor. The corporation's most coveted secret now lies in their hands and they have no other choice than to reveal it. But their young lives have not prepared them for what is to come, for what they must do, and for what price they might have to pay.

The Fourth Sage is described as a dystopian tale. The book is much more than a dystopian tale it’s an epic fantasy journey where sci-fi futuristic technology meets the ancient lost world of the supernatural and metaphysical. It’s a great young adult book for a new generation of fantasy readers. It’s easy to see while reading the book how Stefan Bolz was influenced by Tolkien and other fantasy genres.

The story details the journey of a group of chosen children with special gifts who are lead by Aries, a unique young lady. Aries doesn’t fit into the world of assigned jobs and dutiful living set up by the Corporation. She finds herself questioning the authoritarian society and wondering if there is more to life than what the Corporation has dictated. She feels like there is a hole inside of her and that she’s missing something. She yearns to have friends, experience love and companionship, things that are discouraged by the Corporation. Aries finds a way to defy the Corporation by sneaking off for one hour a day from their watchful eyes.

During her hour a day she crawls through the shafts, tunnels and ducts that connect the various floors of the enormous structure that society dwells in. During one of these daily hour breaks Aries finds a hawk trapped in a tunnel and from that moment on she starts to discover there is much more to her than mere curiosity. She has abilities and fate has brought this hawk, Born of Night, to her, to guide her on a journey that will change her world.

The book is a coming of age story of young adults finding themselves through sacrifice and bravery. It’s a story of hope, fate, and destiny with a positive cautionary warning to stand for freedom against tyranny.

"….Because people... people need their freedom. They need it like air, like water, like love. Like love." 

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