Light in the Gloaming by J.B. Simmons

 Light in the Gloaming by J.B. Simmons

Synopsis: “The Gloaming was worse than the grave…”

Or so Tryst believed when he banished the former prince to this secret and brutal exile. Now Tryst sits on the throne of Valemidas. He feasts with nobles and prepares an army to conquer the world.

But things are never as stable as they seem. Old loyalties remain. Tryst’s half-sister wants vengeance for the disappeared prince she loved. What happens if a man survives a place worse than the grave?

Alliances will crumble, battles will rage, and souls will transform in the Gloaming.



 

Review:

The characters were outstanding, they had interesting and diverse personalities. The good characters had flaws. There were also some characters who appeared to be aiding the main character, but with the way the author conveys the heroes thoughts we have doubts along with him whether they are truly helping him or if they will betray him in the end. The author did an excellent job of bringing across believable thoughts and feelings from all of the characters.

It was interesting to see chapters from the point of view of the hero, Andor and his rival Tryst from first person perspective and chapters from the point of view of other characters written in third person perspective. It was an good technique and it certainly made me feel it was a story about these two main characters.

The story was excellent. It was different from your average hero having to overthrow the villain story. Since the hero had to be more subtle about it and was attempting to do it without killing his rival.

The action was fairly light and the fighting scenes tended to be short. That’s not to say there isn’t anything happening or that it is short on excitement. There is plenty of that; it just takes a different form, such as the main characters planning on how they will overthrow Tryst. Probably the biggest disappointment with the action was how the tension could build up, or something appears to being set up for an action filled sequence only to turn out to be fairly small. SPOILER The showdown between Andor and Tryst as well as the big battle were both disappointing given all of the build up to them. [END OF SPOILER]

The descriptions are very well written, every part of the world is more brilliant in the way the author describes it.

The Gloaming was a very interesting place, but sadly only fills up a small section of the book, a couple of chapters at the start and at the end, which was odd giving the title and the synopsis. The memories of the place do effect Andor during the story, but I really would liked to have seen more of it, either by having the prince spend more time there or by having more detailed flashbacks to the place.

Overall I would rate this book four and a half out of five. The lack of action, and results not matching up to the build up were my main reasons for not giving this book the full five out of five. But it is strong enough for me to be on the look out for the next book in the series.

In full disclosure I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. 

**** 1/2

The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett

 The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett

Synopsis: In the beginning, there was nothing but endless flatness. Then came the Carpet . . . That’s the old story everyone knows and loves. But now the Carpet is home to many different tribes and peoples, and there’s a new story in the making. The story of Fray, sweeping a trail of destruction across the Carpet. The story of power-hungry mouls—and of two brothers who set out on an adventure to end all adventures when their village is flattened.

It’s a story that will come to a terrible end—if someone doesn't do something about it. If everyone doesn’t do something about it . . .

First published in 1971, this hilarious and wise novel marked the debut of the phenomenal Sir Terry Pratchett. Years later, Sir Terry revised the work, and this special collectable edition includes the updated text, his original color and black-and-white illustrations, and an exclusive story—a forerunner to The Carpet People created by the seventeen-year-old nascent writer who would become one of the world's most beloved storytellers.

Review:
I really enjoyed this book. It was originally written and published when Terry Pratchett was just seventeen, and the reworked when he was forty-seven.

His humor and writing style are strong even though he first wrote it at an early age. The characters are great and observations into realistic human characteristics are what you would expect from him, perhaps not as strong as his later works, but still very good.

I really liked the fact he would describe everything from the Carpet peoples point of view and not from a human view. It really kept me in the story because of it. For example when they find an old penny he describes it as they view it (massive copper are with deep ridges etc.) rather than tell us the reader it is a coin or penny.

There are many good ideas here, beyond the obvious things a race of tiny people would encounter. Such as one group who remember everything, including things that haven’t happened yet.

The story itself is good, as it is aimed at a younger audience it is a little simpler than most of his discworld series. It’s not bad, just more linear.

I really enjoyed this book, it has much of what you would expect from him, although as it is an early work it isn’t as strong. And perhaps that is why it falls a little short of greatness, since he set the bar so high with his more familiar stories. If you enjoy his other books then you will probably like this one too. It did make me feel guilty and made me worry I was harming Carpet people when I was vacuuming though.

Rating: **** 1/2

Midnight City (Conquered Earth #1) by J. Barton Mitchell

 Midnight City (Conquered Earth #1) by J. Barton Mitchell

Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic world controlled by alien invaders, two teens and a young girl with mysterious powers embark on a dangerous journey. What they find will change everything...

Earth has been conquered. An extraterrestrial race known as The Assembly has abducted the adult population, leaving the planet’s youth to fend for themselves. In this treacherous landscape, Holt, a bounty hunter, is transporting his prisoner Mira when they discover Zoey, a young girl with powerful abilities who could be the key to stopping The Assembly. As they make their way to the cavernous metropolis of Midnight City, the trio must contend with freedom fighters, mutants, otherworldly artifacts, pirates, feuding alien armies, and perhaps most perilous of all: Holt and Mira’s growing attraction to each other.

Midnight City is the breathtaking first novel in the Conquered Earth series, and a stunning work of imagination from debut author J. Barton Mitchell.

 Review: The best book I’ve read in 2014 so far… okay so it’s only January and it’s the forth book I’ve read, but I’m pretty sure it will still be one of my favorite reads by the end of the year.

While I do enjoy reading dystopian and science fiction books, I tend to prefer fantasy. The fact I rated this book so highly, despite the fact it’s not my favorite genre, shows just how much I enjoyed it.

The story itself is excellent. I really enjoyed reading what was happening to the characters and the world around them.

The characters were fantastic and rarely have I seen such evenly balanced male and female in the lead roles. Their abilities are closely matched, their personalities are just as strong, neither of them outshines the other in terms of story or quality of writing, and neither of them dominated the relationship.

Speaking of their relationship I thought it was really well done, they initially dislike each other and very slowly they begin to fall in love, with very believable feelings such as denial (to themselves) of their attraction and later accepting the other is attractive but convincing themselves they are not interested in pursuing a relationship. The long journey they go through makes it more interesting. I don’t normally like much romance in reading, but I did enjoy this one, partly because of the reasons I have already listed, but also because the romance didn’t dominate the story.

The characters are developed through the story in more ways than just on a romantic level. But it is done slowly and in a believable way.

The thoughts and feelings of the characters was also written very well.

The world building is done exceptionally well. There is plenty introduced to the reader to make the world interesting, but it is spread out throughout the book so I never suffered from information overload. There was always enough information and reminders, that I never felt lost or confused.

A few times I did think things were over explained, but it was pretty rare and didn’t go on for too long. I guess it’s better to have things explained a little too much than not enough.

The descriptions were of a good length, enough detail to follow what is happening and to visualize the world, but not so much that it got boring.

The pacing was perfect, while there is plenty of action and adventure, the author was never afraid to slow things down, to give the characters more personal and intimate moments, or to give us important information about their personalities or background.

I have very few criticisms of this book. The only one that bothered me was the fact that neither Holt nor Mira never really questioned Zoey about her powers, her past, or strange way of talking. Occasionally they would ask her something but were accepting when she said she didn’t know why. This seemed to go against Holt’s and Mira’s suspicious nature.

Overall I thought this was an excellent book, with a really enjoyable story, with strong male and female lead characters, a very interesting world, excellent pacing and descriptions.

Rating: ***** + ♥

 

Sourcethief (Twinborn Trilogy #3) by J.S. Morin

 Sourcethief (Twinborn Trilogy #3) by J.S. Morin

Synopsis: War ravages Veydrus. Driven back by the magical might of the Kadrin Empire, the Megrenn Alliance is in a shambles.

The war spills into Tellurak. and Twinborn plots spanning the two worlds threaten the course of the war from all sides, including within the empire itself.

Desperate to find a way to counter the unstoppable power of an army led by a demon warlock, Jinzan Fehr seeks an ancient source of power.

Thus begins the Fourth Necromancer War ...

Review: The originality of the concept for this series, having characters live lives in two very different worlds, was what first struck me that this was going to be something very special. The author continues to impress me, not only did he go on with this idea but has developed it as well. The importance of passing information between worlds, having alliances that work on both sides and many other important ideas are all developed in this book.

The descriptions are again of the perfect length, there is enough detail to fully visualize the world, but they are not so lengthy that they take to you away from the story for too long.

The reminders of what has happened in the previous two books was almost always the right length, enough there to remind the reader of an event but not so long that you feel you are rereading the story again. The nature of Iridan’s death was about the only thing that I felt wasn’t detailed enough early on, although later in the story I was given enough to remember how it happened.

The characters are again enjoyable and their personalities continue to develop. I really liked how Brannis and Kyrus have blended together, both becoming stronger as a result. It was interesting to read about Kyrus’s doubts about whether he is doing the right thing and fear he will turn into another Rashan. The thoughts and feelings of all the characters are believable, interesting to read about, and come across clearly.

While it is now clear exactly who is good and who is evil, there is always enough good in evil characters, and evil in good characters to keep them realistic and more interesting. The evil characters often also see themselves as doing the right thing.

The relationships between the characters across both worlds are done well, along with the many plot points that are both in their own world and across both. For the most I was able to follow who was who, and what was going on, only a couple of times did I feel a little lost. Considering just how much is going on and how complex it all is, this was quite a feat.

We get to see even more of the world in this book, and like the characters it is varied and has real depth to it. It is really well done especially considering there are two worlds in this book.

The story is excellent, there are many plot points all being developed through the book, almost all of them are interesting and continue the overall story in some way.

The action sequences for the first three quarters of the book were rare. There was interesting things going on with the story, but I did think it could do with some more excitement at times. Also most of the early action scenes are very one sided and it was pretty obvious who was going to win (Rashan battling against unknown soldiers, Brannis and his friends fighting off some street thugs, and Jinzan with his staff attacking civilians and local militia). Since all of these main characters were so much more powerful than those they were fighting against, it took away from the tension and you never felt they were in any real danger. The battle scenes for the remainder of the book are fantastic, Avalanche really gets to live up to its name, and when the main characters finally get to face each other, the scenes are exciting, varied and you are never sure who is going to win.

Just like the previous two books this is a big one. It has a fairly small print and large page sizes so it is even longer than the 381 pages would suggest. It’s not a problem since so much happens and it is almost all interesting.

The author did an excellent job of tying up the loose ends, but left a few just loose enough that there could be more books in the series, but if there aren’t then you aren’t left feeling something has been missed out.

I have really enjoyed this series and it is easily my favorite read of 2013. It is one of those books where I found myself really hoping that the book and author will be successful in a big way. The story is so fantastic that the author truly deserves to have it be successful, the originality, story, characters, and quality of writing is so much superior to major fantasy novels out there I really want to see this series do well.

If I had to decide I would probably pick book two Aethersmith as my favorite in the series. Almost everything about this book was great, the story, the characters, the worlds, the descriptions, and the many plot points, it was just lacking a little action and fast pacing compared to the Aethersmith.

I am excited about the authors next project “The Mad Tinker Chronicles” which will pair up Tellurak with a completely new world, which seems to be more steampunky, in a new Twinborn series. I had been thinking for some time how cool it would be to have other worlds for the Twinborns to live in and I am glad to see this will be happening. And if it anywhere near as good as this series it is likely to be my favorite read in 2014.

A big thank you to the author for sending me a copy of this book.

In full disclosure I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ***** + ♥

 

The Silver Falcon (Das kupferne Zeichen #2) by Katia Fox

 The Silver Falcon (Das kupferne Zeichen #2) by Katia Fox

Synopsis: England, 1184
Young Will, the Marshal’s bastard son, dreams of training falcons but as the son of famous swordsmith Ellenweore, it seems his destiny will be the forge.

One fateful day, the falcon of King Henry II is lost in a chase and Will happens upon the bird. Recognizing this great opportunity, he begs the king to let him become a falconer. With no clear path ahead of him, he decides to take matters into his own hands and following his dreams of one day becoming a falconer to the king.

Love, intrigue and betrayal leave Will more than once only narrowly escaping death and when his talent attracts King John’s attention, a powerful enemy does everything to ruin him.

 Review:
This book was amazing and easily one of my favorite reads of the year.

The level of detail is excellent; the author does a fantastic job of bringing the medieval world to life and fills every sense. The detail is never too long and doesn’t take too much time away from the story. There is no indication that this book has been translated from another language and is better worded and constructed than most of books.

The detailing on many aspects of the characters lives is also very well described, falconry is obviously an important part of the main character’s life and we are told a lot about this, but other things that are important to him are also given plenty of attention. A few times I did find the information lacking, such as the types of horses people are riding and the amount things cost is never given. Very rarely there was a piece of incorrect information, such as referring to the priest who opposed King Henry II as Thomas à Becket, but other than these few small things I found the level of research and detail to be very high but never described to the point it became boring.

Most of the time how the information is presented is not dull, although a few times when the author is describing important events that are happening in the world that don’t directly involve the character, typically real historic events such as the imprisonment of King Richard or the deaths or marriages of monarchs, I found these times to be less well told and it felt more like a history book than an interesting story.

The characters in the book are wonderful; they have strong but realistic personalities. You could always tell which character you were following just by the way they are thinking and acting even if no names or context was provided. They have real emotions and think things that a person would in real life but it is presented so well that it is still interesting to read. The characters have plenty of background and history. The also make mistakes, think bad thoughts, feel guilt and come to the wrong conclusions at times, all making them much more believable and interesting.

The world itself is realistic and very, very brutal, we’re talking Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire brutal at times. Very unpleasant things happen to the main characters.

The amount of action in the book is low compared to other historical fiction books and as our main character is not a warrior when there is action it is generally bad for him. Having said that I never missed the lack of high paced action as the rest of the story is so interesting.

One side effect of having so many unpleasant things happen to the main character was that whenever there was the potential for something bad to happen in was a time of high tension, even if it turned out nothing went wrong, especially as the author did such a great job of making me care for William.

The story details the highs and lows of the characters life. The ebb and flow was always believable and never took impossible leaps. The various highs and lows happened in a realistic and random manner, and you could never tell if something good or bad was about to happen simply because it was time for one.

His rise in rank while it would have been unlikely in the real world it wouldn’t have been impossible, and it was done slowly enough it really was believable.

It was also interesting to see parts of the book detour away from the characters main goal of being a falconer. It reminded me of Pillars of the Earth in that way.

I enjoyed the message that hard work and being good pays off in the end.

The story is spread out over many years, and while the date is given at the start of each chapter I would have liked to have been told how old the character was at each stage.

I loved the internal artwork in this book, it is medieval in style and fits in perfectly with the rest of the novel.

I haven’t read the first book in this series, although after this one I intend to, but I never felt lost or having missed out on anything because I hadn’t read the other book first.

I absolutely loved this book, the characters and story are amazing, the level of detail is high and everything is realistic but remains interesting.

In full disclosure I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.

 Rating ***** + ♥

Stray Souls (Magicals Anonymous #1) by Kate Griffin

Stray Souls (Magicals Anonymous #1) by Kate Griffin

Synopsis: 'Don’t look back. It wants you to look back.’

London’s soul has gone missing. Lost? Kidnapped? Murdered? Nobody knows – but when Sharon Li unexpectedly discovers she’s a shaman, she is immediately called upon to use her newfound powers of oneness with the City to rescue it from a slow but inevitable demise.

The problem is, while everyone expects Sharon to have all the answers – from the Midnight Mayor to Sharon’s magically-challenged self-help group – she doesn’t have a clue where to start.

But with London’s soul missing and the Gate open, there are creatures loose that won’t wait for her to catch up before they go hunting.

Stray Souls is the first novel in the Magicals Anonymous series, set in the same fantastical London as the Matthew Swift novels.

Review: In full disclosure I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

It should be pointed out there is a lot of swearing in this book, it is not suitable for younger readers or anyone who is offended by such things.

I must admit, it took me a while to get used to the unusual writing style of this novel and early on I found myself wondering how hard it was going to be to finish this one. I shouldn’t have worried as once I had become used to the writing I really enjoyed this book.

The first unusual thing about the writing was that even though it is written in third person, the way it is written it almost feels like it has been written in first person and the author just changed all the instances of I to he/she. It made it sound like a crazy diva who talks about themselves in third person.

The thought patterns of the characters and how the pauses in action were broken up were written in a very strange way. The thoughts would often stop halfway through if the person became distracted, and if something interrupted some action the sentence would end without any punctuation and carry on in the next paragraph. At first I was very distracted by this, and found myself thinking about the writing style and was taken out of the story. Once I became more familiar with it, I actually found it to work well.

The chapters tended to be very short (about four pages long on average). The point of view often changed with the chapters and this did sometimes lead to a very stop-start style in the story. Quite often there would be a chapter following the main character, then a short chapter where one of the other characters tells you about themselves and then the story returns to the main character and follows her around again. Early on I thought this really slowed down the pacing of the story and I found myself wishing it would just get back to continuing the story. But later on it worked really well as it gave great insights into the many characters, and usually at a time that is appropriate to reveal something about that person.

The characters are fantastic and reminded me a lot of something written by Terry Pratchett. There are some great ideas that are well executed, there’s a germaphobic vampire, a druid with allergies, a werepigeons (yes pigeons, plural), a troll who doesn’t like violence and a shaman who doesn’t know how to be a shaman to name a few. They were very real, humorous in their odd ways, awkward and would act like people in real life. E.g. rather than being heroic and wanting to go on a quest they would be reluctant and only do it because they had to.

They writing style and language is very British, I am originally from England so didn’t have a problem but if you are not familiar with some of the British terms you may have troubles understanding what the characters are saying at times.

<spoiler>The ending reminded me of Bladerunner, in that the main evil character who we have been hating the whole time gives one small speech and I found myself feeling pity and compassion for them. </spoiler>

Overall I would say it took a while to get used to the usual writing style but once I did it turned out to be an excellent story with fantastic characters and well worth reading.

Rating: *****

Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders (Chronicles of the Pneumatic Zeppelin #1) by Richard Ellis Preston Jr.

Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders (Chronicles of the Pneumatic Zeppelin #1) by Richard Ellis Preston Jr.

Synopsis: In a postapocalyptic world of endless snow, Captain Romulus Buckle and the stalwart crew of the Pneumatic Zeppelin must embark on a perilous mission to rescue their kidnapped leader, Balthazar Crankshaft, from the impenetrable City of the Founders. Steaming over a territory once known as Southern California — before it was devastated in the alien war — Buckle navigates his massive airship through skies infested with enemy war zeppelins and ravenous alien beasties in this swashbuckling and high-octane steampunk adventure. Life is desperate in the Snow World, and death is quick. Buckle and his ship’s company must brave poisoned wastelands of Noxious Mustard and do battle with forgewalkers, steampipers, and armored locomotives as they plunge from the skies into the underground prison warrens of the fortress city.
Captain Romulus Buckle must lead the Pneumatic Zeppelin and its crew of ne’er-do-wells on a desperate mission where he must risk everything to save Balthazar and attempt to prevent a catastrophic war that could wipe out all that is left of civilization and the entire human race.

Review: This is one of those books that take a while to get going. I can see why some reviewers say they gave up with it after the first 100 pages. But this book is worth sticking with as once you get passed the initial part there is an excellent story and characters.

The descriptions are of a high level. Most of the time this is really good as it gives you clear view of the world and what is happening in it. There were some times I felt that the description went on for too long and it hurt the pacing of the story. I didn’t really need a detailed description of every single part of the ship, its crew, where they sit etc.

The lengthy descriptions are not limited to the sights, sounds and smells of the world, but also in the narrative of the characters. Just about every part of every conversation is included. The parts that slowed down the story the most was the bridge actions. First the commanding officer will give a command (usually a ship maneuver), a crew member will then repeat the command back to the commander, then we get a description of what the crew has to do (turning valves, flicking switches etc.) the maneuver or action being carried out and finally the result of what they did. There would often be several of these commands, confirmation, carryout and maneuvers in one go, making for a couple of pages of uninteresting story which really slowed the pacing down. Although for the most part this became annoying, one nice thing about this style was during times when the crew needed to do something quickly (such as hurry to a destination for a rescue) it really increased the tension as I waited for the slow paced ship/story to get to where they needed to be and I was worried they wouldn’t make it in time.

Initially I thought there was too much world building, and this is true for the first 100 pages or so. It appears in large chucks making it hard to absorb and slowing down the pace of the story. Luckily like so much about this book once you get pass the slow part there is a much better balance.

Similarly the characters suffered at the start of the story, with all the world building going on and some part spent on action, very little background is given to the characters and we don’t really learn very much about them. But just like the story, once you get pass the first part of the book there is plenty in there. We find out a lot about the main characters past, what their thoughts and motives are, and how they develop throughout the story.

As I have already said, the pacing picks up after the first 100 pages or so, and there is a much better balance between, story, world building and characters. The length of the descriptions feels about right and we are not continually interrupted by large chucks of world building.

If you are reading this book and get to page 100 and are thinking about given up then I would urge you to stick with it, at least for another 100 pages as the book really improves after the initial slowness.

Rating: ****

Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life by William Bernhardt

 Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life by William Bernhardt

"All fiction is character-driven, according to William Bernhardt, despite what you might have heard elsewhere. If your characters don't interest readers, even the most exciting plots will fail. "Action is character," Aristotle wrote, but what does that mean, and how can you use that fundamental principle to create dynamic fiction that will captivate readers? This book explains the relationship between character and plot, and how the perfect melding of the two produces a mesmerizing story. Using examples spanning from The Odyssey to The Da Vinci Code, Bernhardt discusses the art of character creation in a direct and easily comprehended manner. The book also includes exercises designed to help writers apply these ideas to their own work."

In full disclosure I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I haven’t read any other writing books, but I had written about a 1/3 of a novel at the time of reading this book.

This book provides excellent tips for writing more interesting characters.

I must admit I was a little worried when I read the first chapter, it seemed a little wishy-washy without any real tips, fortunately the rest of the book was excellent with great tips and advice.

The tips are general enough to apply to whatever book you are writing but specific enough for you know how and where you will apply it to your own work.

There are plenty of examples in this book that calls upon well known characters both from books and TV (such Sherlock Holmes, Doctor House and James Bond.) The nice thing about these examples is that you can still understand them even if you don’t know the characters. He sometimes uses characters from his own books, although these were just because he knew them so well and could give excellent examples and it never felt that he was trying to promote his own books.

There were plenty of tips where it helped me realize how I could improve my book and writing, although rather nicely I also saw what I had done a lot right.

The writing style is very easy to read, even if you have never studied writing you will be able to understand everything that the author tells you. He very rarely uses technical terms and on the few occasions that he does, he fully explains what they mean.

One tip I have for this book, use a highlighter pen, there are so many useful tips you will need to highlight the ones that you find the most useful and relevant.

I liked the short length of this book, there was no filler, just great advice on how to write. The short length was nice as it meant I could read it without feeling I should get back to my own writing.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to improve their writing, I will defiantly getting the rest of this series.

Rating *****

Review: Aethersmith (Twinborn Trilogy, #2) by J.S. Morin

 Aethersmith (Twinborn Trilogy, #2) by J.S. Morin

Synopsis (from back of book) War has come to Veydrus.

As Kyrus Hinterdale and Brannis Solaran work to understand the intricacies of their Twinborn connection, they must also analyze and unravel the game Jinzan and Denrick played to get a step ahead of them. While planning a war, and coming to terms with Juliana’s impending wedding to Iridan, Brannis knows that he needs to feed Kyrus more advanced magical knowledge and training if they ever hope to keep the Kadrin empire from destruction.

However, just as plans are starting to come together, a spell of Kyrus’ goes very wrong, and the two find themselves in an even bigger dilemma than ever. With the help of other Twinborn, they struggle to gain the upper hand in the war, and set everything back as it should be.

In full disclosure I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Holy crap this book is even more amazing than book one of the series! How is that even possible? The concept is original and just like book one it is perfectly executed.

There are a lot more twinborns in this book. The plot is more complex than the first book, with multiple story threads, points of views and plot. The truly amazing thing about all this it that even though it is complex, with so much going on, it really should make the reader’s head explode, but the author is so talented at explaining what is happening it rarely gets confusing or hard to follow. Not only does the author explain the story in such a way that it is easy to follow, but it is done in a natural way and it doesn’t feel like an explanation.

About the only time it could get confusing, was a result of having so many twinborns I had a hard time remembering who some of the secondary character’s twin was. They were usually named but sometimes I found I would need more detail to help me remember exactly who they were, especially early on. But this really was only a minor problem and for the most part the extra twins made the story even more interesting.

The descriptions are once again perfect, they are of high detail, allowing the reader to visualise the amazing worlds in the story, but not to the extent that it slows down the pacing or becomes boring.

The pacing and balance of the story was better than the first. Because of the nature of the first book, which was primarily focused on the Brannis/Kyrus point-of-view, and only switched when one of them fell asleep, it would occasionally spend too much time on action or too much time on a slower plot point then was natural. But because of all the extra characters in this book, this didn’t happen and the flow was much better.

The characters are once again fantastic, they have amazing but believable personalities. With the strengthening bond between Brannis and Kyrus their personalities begin to merge. But they still manage to remain individuals. The thoughts each character has, and the emotions they have are amongst some of the strongest writing in this amazing book.

Just like the first book, no-one is completely good or evil, they are much more complex than that. The good people have bad traits or sometimes do bad things, and the evil characters have good traits and sometimes do good things. Just like real-life, no-one see’s themselves as evil. Also there are plenty of people who you are left uncertain whether they are good or evil.

There are a couple of love triangles going on (possible better described as a love square), this is made even more complex as some of the characters involved are twinborns and share at least some of the feelings of their twin.

There are many very clever and well thought out ideas, some of them are large pieces of complex plot, but others are small details that help make the story more realistic and its characters more believable.

As well as Brannis and Kyrus personalities merging, their two worlds also are starting to blend. Magic is becoming more prominent in Kyrus’s home and technology is more prevalent in Brannis’s world. The two blended in such a way that there are things that incorporate ideas from both worlds (such as flying ships)

Sometimes it was clear what path a plot point would lead, but it was still exciting to read about as you want to find out exactly what happens once it gets there.

This book is even bigger than it appears, the edition I read had 445 page, but it also has a fairly small print and so much happens in this story it easily feels like a book with twice as many pages, but in a good way.

The book has a more epic feel to it, and you get to see more what is happening in the two worlds.

The book does continue the plot from the last one, and does develop the series wide story leaving some plot open for the final book in the series. But it doesn’t suffer with the normal ‘middle book’ problems, and is a strong story in its own right and doesn’t leave too many threads open.

One of my few real criticisms for this one was that at one point the characters are able to send messages to their twins while awake. This seemed inconsistent with the first book and most of the second and it wasn’t how I had perceived how the two worlds worked.

If you enjoyed the first book then you will love this book as well. It is even better (and I thought book one was close to perfection.) The story is more complex but the author skillfully writes it in such a way that it is never confusing. How he was able to keep up with everything while he was writing without leaving massive plot holes or without his head exploding I will probably never know. The characters expand and continue to impress on every level. The concept is original, something hard to do these days with any fantasy novel. I am eagerly awaiting the final book in the series, but also a little sad, because once I’ve read it this amazing series will be over. I really hope the author has more great ideas, either for the two worlds featured in this series or a new one.

Rating ***** + ♥

Review: Minno by James Barlog

 Minno by James Barlog
Synopsis (from back of book): It isn't easy being thirteen ... and being raised by your grandfather ... and having a name like Minno ... and then having to journey through a strange land. But Minno is doing the best she can.

For all her young life Minno believed her parents were dead. Then she learns they're alive, but they're in grave danger.

Her friend Hailey thought she was having a sleepover at her friend's house. Now she's Minno's ally and partner on an incredible quest. Together the girls embark on the adventure of a lifetime, where they face a veritable menagerie of strange creatures, both friendly and unfriendly to their cause.

Oh, yeah, then there's one evil high minister Craveaux, who must stop Minno while he steals all the magic in the kingdom for his own sinister purposes.

Minno has to save her parents, and along the way discover who she really is.

In full disclosure I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.

Whenever I enter a giveaway it normally falls into one of three categories, a giveaway that I REALLY want to win, and in the morning of when the giveaway ends, I rush on to Goodreads to see if I won it. Or it might be a giveaway that I would quite like to win, but I don’t go crazy trying to find out if I won. Or a giveaway I am not sure about but enter anyway. This book was in the third category, as it turned out I am glad I won this book because I loved it.

The story is great, my biggest fear and the reason that I almost didn’t enter was that this book would be girly. It really wasn’t the case, and the book could be enjoyed by males and females of any age.

                   

The pacing is really fast, the exciting scenes and action is almost non-stop. It starts quickly and doesn’t slow for almost the whole book. I thought it was a little too fast paced and never gave me a chance to catch my breath. I found myself sometimes putting the book down simply to let my brain catch up with everything that had happened.

                                                   

There are lots of great ideas in this book, many of them are original or rarely used, such as giant long-necked ladybugs, musical flowers and warrior bunnies. In fact most sections of the book had at least some original content to it, this was great to see as it is hard for authors to come up with a couple of new ideas in their book, to have so many is very impressive.

One of my few criticisms is that most of what happens in the story doesn’t effect what happens in the long term plot, it is simply the next stage in the journey. Most sections are exciting and interesting but if they weren’t there you would not notice that they are missing or that the story had jumped.

The descriptions have a nice level of detail, there is enough there to conjure up clear images of what the world looks like, but not so much that the story drags. It is very good that the level of detail is high, because the pace is so fast, it is really needed to follow what is happening.

The characters were good and likeable, with interesting personalities. I thought it was a really good idea to have one of the characters be mute, I thought it was brave of the author to keep her mute even when she moves into the magical world. Smallish spoiler she does get her voice later in the book, and I thought it was presented well. The girl acts in a way a person who had just found their voice would act, speaking her mind more often than most people and saying things out loud without realizing it.I also liked that fact (BIG spoiler) that the girls were not sisters/twins. At first it seemed likely that this was going to happen, neither girl has their parents, one lives with a grandfather, the other with foster parents. One girl has never seen or even has photos of her parents. It all seemed set up to reveal that they were twins or sisters, I was actually glad that this wasn’t the case because it would have been an obvious and predictable piece of plot 

The friendship is well written, they are kind and genuinely care about each other and their friends that they meet on the way, but and times they can get snippy with each other especially during tense situations.

The kids do sometimes speak in ‘teen talk’, fortunately it is not excessive so doesn’t become annoying and in fact gives it a more realistic feel.

The POV shifts rapidly in this book, it can shift back and forth over a few paragraphs. The rapid changes could get confusing at times. It also made it hard to fully understand and like a character since the POV kept moving around.

The book is also funny, at some points laugh out loud funny.

Overall I would rate this book 4 ½ stars. The story is fantastic, it is interesting and has a lot of originality or at least twists from the norm about it. Even though the main characters are two teenage girls, the book is not ‘girly’ or only enjoyable by teenagers. The pacing is fast, at times it was a little too fast as it made it hard to keep up. My biggest criticism is that there isn’t much of a long term plot, other than journey from one place to another, although as the rest of the story is so well written and the journey exciting it really doesn’t matter very much. Even though I wasn’t sure about this book I am really glad I won it.

Rating **** ½

Legacy of Krazatan: Book I: A Hero's Birth by Tylor Kranyak

Legacy of Krazatan: Book I: A Hero's Birth by Tylor Kranyak

 

 Synopsis (from back of book): Kai Un'kari is a young man from a backwater fishing village. All his life he has dreamed of travelling the world like his late father. In an unfortunate turn of events, he gets his wish when war breaks out between Horagothien and Austranvia, forcing him to leave his home. Upon meeting a man named Lukan, Kai finds out that he is destined to become a great warrior and the next wielder of the holy sword, Tenjin. He sets out on a journey to find the Tenjin so he can use it to bring peace to all the warring nations of Pangaea, and in turn prevent the second coming of Krazatan, the Chaos Dragon. Will he succeed in his quest to find the holy sword, or will he fall victim to the vast dangers of the wilds that have claimed the lives of thousands before him? About the Author: Tylor Kranyak lives in "Steel City" Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He started writing at the age of 14 in 2004. Recently he graduated from Humber College in 3-D animation.

In full disclosure I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

This book is aimed at a young adult/adult audience and is not suitable for younger readers due to some bad language and scenes of a somewhat violent nature.

There is quite a lot of world building in this book, especially near the start. It didn’t matter too much as this is the first book in the series and is to be expected. Each part of the world building is interesting and short enough too avoid becoming boring. Most of the time the way that it is told seemed natural although a few times it felt a little clunky. Also with the amount world building at the start, it was hard to retrain some of the information; fortunately the author provides small reminders later in the book when it becomes relevant.

The story itself is a fairly traditional coming of age/fantasy novel where the young hero lives in a backwater village dreaming of a more exciting life, there are hints that he has greater powers. Then one day a mysterious stranger turns up allowing the young hero’s adventurous life to begin and he starts to master his special powers. That is not to say the story is completely unoriginal, there are plenty of new and rarely used ideas, or twists on traditional ones. For example early on the hero is forced into conscription by his country’s army, but in a twist on what is normal in a fantasy novel, the government is actually a nice one instead of an evil dictatorship, the soldiers are kind and take care of the new conscripts, we are also told that new soldiers are trained and placed at outposts before they are sent to the frontlines.

The animals in the book are also an original concept. They are reptiles that resemble dinosaurs, this was interesting and exciting. It was also well written and presented in a believable manner, they really felt like the where part of the world’s ecosystem and were real living creatures and not tacked on or artificial as often happens when dinosaurs are in books or movies. One downside to this originality was that it would sometimes get confusing with all the different species and remembering which was which. A glossary would be beneficial or perhaps a few more reminders when the creatures are in the book especially early on.

There were quite a number of story threads going on throughout the story, especially considering that there is only one P.O.V. Fortunately the author does an excellent job of reminding the reader of what has happened when an older thread returns to the story, providing enough information without going overboard. Some of the threads are left open to be completed in the rest of the series.

There were a few minor inconsistencies or moments that didn’t seem quite right. For example (minor spoilers ahead, highlight to read.) why was there a need to remove Kai’s name from the records, his entire squad was believed to be dead so why not just take on a new identity, also is seemed wrong to change his birth name in his records to the name he went by anyway, if someone was looking for him it would still be easy to trace him. It also seemed odd that the traders would have picked up surplus weapons when there was a war going on. At one point we are told the hero is the only one in his village that likes snow, but at another point we are told he played in the snow with his friends.

The characters are written very well. Kai, the main character whose point of view we follow, has real thoughts and feelings, he is afraid of dying, he has feelings of regret over those he is forced to kill and he misses his friends and family. He has an interesting personality; generally kind and wanting to do the right thing, but he also has a darker side that sometimes emerges. One nice twist on what normally happens in fantasy novels was that the lead character doesn’t become suddenly great at fighting or powerful in magic. When facing veteran opponents he doesn’t fair very well, often he only wins his battles through luck or quick thinking.

The magic system is also nice, as it takes time and energy to be able to cast spells, and if a user tries to do to much they can end up severely injuring or even killing themselves. This brings a nice balance to the world, preventing those with magic becoming too powerful and prevents you thinking a mage will always win a fight. It also makes you nervous when the main character uses magic because he may end up harming himself.

Lukan, Kai’s mentor is an interesting character. He is a nice balance between being firm with Kai but with a kind and caring side. This is a slight change from your typical gruff mentor which always seems to be the case in fantasy novels. I did feel that he left Kai alone too often, especially considering Kai is supposed to be “the chosen one.”

There were some religious/Christian elements to the story. It is probably best described as inspiration for the story, and regardless of your personal beliefs, you will be able to enjoy the book.

The novel details the journey of the hero, which takes him from one side of the country to the other. About three quarters of the book covers about a quarter of the journey in terms of the distance traveled. At that point of the story it almost had a ‘Lord of the Rings’ feel to it, where you look at the map and follow the story thinking “Wow they have so much further to go.” Then next eighth of the book covers the reminder of the journey with the rest of the book detailing what happens once they get there. This made the last ¾ of the journey feel rushed and I felt like I was missing out on what happened on that part of the adventure. But I guess it’s better to be left wanting more than wanting less.

On the whole the pacing is excellent, moving along fast enough to keep the story interesting, but spending enough time on each part of the story and having necessary slower moments as well.

The descriptions are excellent as well, there is plenty of detail to allow the reader to visualise the world, but not so much that the story begins to drag.

Overall I would rate this as an excellent book, 4 ½ stars. It is an interesting story that is different enough to make is somewhat original. The characters are excellent, and the world setting is exciting and original, especially the animal species that are in it. The many threads are written very well as are the descriptions. It was just missing that special something that would have made it a perfect five star book, but still this was an excellent story, that is well worth reading and I will be on the lookout for the next book in the series.

Rating 4 1/2 stars

Children of Fire by Drew Karpyshyn

 Children of Fire by Drew Karpyshyn

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Long ago the gods chose a great hero to act as their agent in the mortal world and to stand against the demonic spawn of Chaos. The gods gifted their champion, Daemron, with three magical Talismans: a sword, a ring, and a crown. But the awesome power at his command corrupted Daemron, turning him from savior to destroyer. Filled with pride, he dared to challenge the gods themselves. Siding with the Chaos spawn, Daemron waged a titanic battle against the Immortals. In the end, Daemron was defeated, the Talismans were lost, and Chaos was sealed off behind the Legacy—a magical barrier the gods sacrificed themselves to create.

Now the Legacy is fading. On the other side, the banished Daemron stirs. And across the scattered corners of the land, four children are born of suffering and strife, each touched by one aspect of Daemron himself—wizard, warrior, prophet, king.

Bound by a connection deeper than blood, the Children of Fire will either restore the Legacy or bring it crashing down, freeing Daemron to wreak his vengeance upon the mortal world.

 

In full disclosure I won an Advanced Readers Copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

The first third of this book details the birth and early life of the “Children of Fire”, they are born under different circumstances, one is a prince, another the daughter of a minor noble, a third is the son of a farmer the forth is born in a brothel. They live their separate lives, but there are certain similarities and overlap.

One of the few criticisms I have for this part of the story is we are often told how many years have passed since we last read about the character we have just switched to, but we are not always told how old they are now.

I thought the author was successful at giving enough reminders of a character when the POV switches back to them. This helped me remember who this character was and what was happening with their part of the story. There was never too much of a recap which would have slowed the pace.

All four characters were interesting without being exceptional. I wanted to hear from them all. I was interested in reading about whoever the current POV character was and wanted to hear what was happening to them, but simultaneously I also wanted to hear from characters I hadn’t read about for a while.

The characters each have their own personalities, which were consistent but also developed as they continue through life.

The rest of the book details the characters at about 18 years old, and it is were there main part of the story starts. We no longer have the rapid jumping forward in time and the characters lives begin to cross over more.

I thought the secondary characters were well written and realistic. Most of the major players believe that they are good people trying to do to the right thing and they are working towards defeating the great evil (a character known as the Slayer). Each of them had different believes and different ways of dealing with the Slayer, often at odds with the other characters. Sometimes what they do is helping one of the main characters and at other times they are harming them. This led to ambiguity for these secondary characters making them more interesting.

It was also interesting to see how the main characters behaved when the met with one another. Sometimes they would work together which was great, but sometimes they were at odds with one another which was very interesting as I had grown to like all of the characters and wanted them all to succeed.

The descriptions are fairly good, perhaps a little short compared to most fantasy novels, but there is always enough there to clearly follow what was happening. The short descriptions did help keep the pace up as well.

The story is very good, while it is true to say there isn’t really anything original about it, there are defiantly strong similarities to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of time, as well as some similarities to Tolkien, Terry Brooks and other traditional fantasy authors. I didn’t think it mattered too much since the story is exciting and enjoyable.

The pacing was fast, it didn’t really feel like an epic fantasy, but more like a movie, mostly due to its light concepts, familiar ideas and high amount of action. This did make for a fast and enjoyable read even if there was nothing exceptional about it.

There were quite a few times were a character acted in a way that seemed to be in a way to set up plot or start a piece of action (such as when Jerrod started a barroom brawl when he was supposed to be protecting Keegan and keeping a low profile) rather than act in a way that would be realistic or consist with the character.

I thought the world building and the magic system was well developed. We are told about it in a way that felt natural and are given the information at an appropriate time. There was never a time that I felt this went of for too long, if anything it was too short.

There wasn’t a map included, although this was an ARC so perhaps there will be one in the final edition. I really felt like this book would have benefited from having one, there are a few kingdoms and many cities and it would have been nice having a clear way to see how they were all linked.

There is nothing particularly wonderful about this book, it is not original, the magic system and world are traditional and the characters are good without being exceptional. But somehow the author makes the story interesting, exciting and easy to read

Rating: ****

Review: Firehurler (Twinborn Trilogy, #1) by J.S. Morin

Review: Firehurler (Twinborn Trilogy, #1) by J.S. Morin

Synopsis (by Richi) Kyrus lives in peaceful world, trade and business are important, they have a sophisticated view of the world, they do not execute criminals, magic is viewed by most as something that doesn’t exist, education and intelligence are highly valued. Kyrus himself is a scribe, somewhat lacking in confidence and likes a peaceful life. Every night he dreams he is another man in a vastly different world, that man is Brannis.

Brannis lives in a war torn empire, with enemies on every border, strength and power are important, it is a harsh and brutal world, where threats and traitors are dealt with in extreme ways, magic is common but controlled by the ruling classes, strength in magic and strength in arms are the most valuable traits a person can have. Brannis is the commander of an army, he is sure of himself and his abilities and does what he needs to do to survive in this world. Every night he dreams he is another man, in another world, that man is Kyrus…

Review: In full disclosure I received a free signed edition of this book from the author.

I absolutely love this book! The concept was amazing and original. There two main characters each one has dreams that he is the other one.

One truly impressive thing was how the author created two different worlds. Whenever I was reading, even without being told which characters were there, I could always tell which world I was in. Most authors struggle to come up with depth in their worlds; this author manages to do it twice in a single book.

The characters were excellent. They had strong personalities and were enjoyable to read about. Their thoughts and feelings come across well and they are both believable and extraordinary.

The characters are well developed during the story and progress in an exciting and believable way.

Most of the characters are not purely good or evil. The good characters have so negative traits and the evil ones have redeeming ones, this makes for more realistic and deep. Also some of the characters you are never certain if they are good or evil overall, this makes it even more interesting.

The story is fantastic. The two main plots are wonderful in themselves and just one of them would have been an enjoyable read. But having the two stories together, that are then entwined together make this book extra special. It is not just limited to two main plots; there are many subplots and parallel storylines as well.

The magic system is well done, allowing the mages to do a lot of things, but limiting them so they are never too powerful, in fact a mage can seriously harm or even kill themselves if they try to do to much magic. I also enjoyed how the system is explained to the reader.

The pacing was excellent. Typically one character would be having exciting action while the other character would be having slower paced scenes. This is perfect as the slower scenes are great for character development and fleshing out the story and prevents the story becoming boring with constant action. Due to the fact the POV only changes when a character goes to sleep, it did mean occasionally we followed a character for longer that would happen typically or seemed natural. Although as this “problem” is because of the original and wonderful concept of “dreaming” of the other world, it is easily forgiven.

The balance of detail is perfect. You are given clear details on what is happening and what everything looks, sounds, smells and feels like to build a very vivid view of the worlds, as well as what the characters thoughts and feelings are. But the descriptions are never too long or boring.

This is a BIG book, 485 pages in the edition I read, and the small print means it is probably closer to twice that if it had a normal sized print. It had  the depth of story, detail of description, scope and other things you would expect of a large fantasy novel, but it never dragged or made me wish it was shorter (in fact I would have been happy if it was longer.)

I only have a couple of criticisms of this book. The first is actually for the synopsis that appears on the back of the book and on Goodreads. I felt it gave too much of the story away, <spoiler> specifically being told that the characters will battle against others who also cross the worlds. I think I would have been surprised when that was revealed in the book, but unfortunately the synopsis spoilt this for me. </spoiler>

While I did enjoy how the author crossed over the two stories and used knowledge learned from one world to use in the other. I was slightly bothered how Kyrus took a lot of information from Brannis and was helped out by him a lot, but Brannis himself didn’t take very much from Kyrus (apart from a couple of things at the end.) Again this was really only a minor problem.

I am really looking forward to the next book in the series and learning more of the worlds, seeing where story goes, what happens to the characters and what exactly this connection is.

Overall this is a masterful piece of work, the descriptions, story, characters, magic system and writing style make this a highly rated book, with the bonus of a truly original idea this is easily a five star book.

A big thank you to the author and his wife/publisher for sending me this wonderful book and giving me the chance to read this book that I really wanted to read. And thank you for signing it as well.

rating: ***** + ♥