What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I read this book in the last two years. It was the first in a series, and I am wondering if the next has come out yet. I think it might have the word "Light" somewhere in the title, but I'm not sure.

What I remember of the story: A boy and his dad have to leave their village in a hurry (don't remember why; I think the boy gets blamed for something). They take their wagon and follow a mostly abandoned road into the mountains. They stay at a weird abandoned inn run by an odd but mostly likeable couple. When the dad and boy decide to leave, this couple comes with them.

They have to go past a sort of haunted old city on the edge of a lake. The city used to be the seat of a cruel civilization. They are chased by some sort of beasts and their wagon falls into a chasm and is lost. Also lost is the money the dad stole from someone back in their village. The dad freaks out and starts beating the kid.

They travel with the inn couple and make it to a city hoping to start a new life. The dad goes off to find work, but stays out a lot and becomes more and more cruel. The woman is too controlling of the boy, and the boy eventually flees. The boy and the dad have a major falling-out, and the boy eventually gets into a special school (I think they learn magic and fighting, etc. there).

Spoilers from here down.

The boy is progressing well in school, but when he meets his dad, the boy freezes up. He almost goes into a PTSD-induced seizure. Turns out, his dad has become the leader of a gang of thieves, and the dad is trying to force his kid to join up. There is a force of wills, and the boy and dad meet up a few more times in unpleasant ways in the city. T

There is also a law school (I think that's the type of school, at least), that shares part of the campus and the law students are sort of bullies.

Some strange natural phenomena are occurring in which super-lightning strikes appear to be transforming normal animals into gigantic beasts.

The boy and a group of other people travel back to that abandoned city and find that it is inhabited by some of these gigantic beasts, including some kind of massive snake thing. Many of the members of the party die, and some turn on each other.

That's about all I can remember, and I'm not sure this is an entirely accurate summary of the main events.

I appreciate any help you can provide.

Sounds interesting. Do you know if the book was aimed at younger readers or was it for adult readers? I know you said you read it in the last couple of years, but was it new at that time or had it been out for a while before you read it?

I would say it's young adult / new adult. I think it was published around the time I read it, so it's new. No more than three years old. I'm not sure whether it was published as an actual book or only an eBook. I don't think it was widely read, but it wasn't completely obscure, either. If I remember right, it had a couple hundred reviews on Amazon.

Solved!

Found it: Dawn of Wonder, by Jonathan Renshaw. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I don't much care for the title, and the first few chapters felt a little young, but by the middle of the book, I was interested and invested in the characters and the story.

Dawn of Wonder for the trackable link.