Adventure, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Carlon, Lee: The Dead God’s Shadow (The Bastard Cadre III) (2013)

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The Dead God's Shadow1
Cover artist Lee Carlon

The Bastard Cadre serial just gets better and better. I think I am a sucker for the traditional Hero. I have to admit that I am a sucker for just about any type of character as long as they are well written.

One example of a well written character in The Dead God’s Shadow is the Death priest Avril has his gentle encounter with. Crazy or what? That is one dedicated priest. I don’t know if it is more fun to write about the “bad guys”, but in my head it must be. I cannot even say that the Death priest was a well-rounded character because he was utterly and completely boinkers. No more than some people out there, but still …

Obduron’s dad isn’t exactly a sweetheart either. I guess that in a world left as harsh as the one Avril lives in the term “survival of the strongest” does not necessarily mean that the strong are going to be nice. Probably quite the opposite in fact. Maybe it comes from holding power for as long as Valan has.

You must know by now that The Bastard Cadre is a post-apocalyptic tale. The land is  decimated and people struggle to hold on to life. Desertification seems to be huge in the area Avril travels through. Avril is one tough dude. He is like the Energizer bunny – just keeps on going and going and going. He retains a certain kind of innocence about him in spite of the many opportunities to turn into a cynic. I think he is the kind of person I would like to be.

I keep on wondering about those gods. Who exactly are they? They aren’t immortal and they certainly do not agree on matters. In fact they war against each other using humans to fight many of their battles. Right there we can tell that they aren’t very nice nor do they care about people. I feel like throwing a hissy-fit demanding to know right now what the rest of the story is. But authors are cruel people who like to keep their fans waiting and it seems Lee Carlon is no exception to that rule.

The Dead God’s Shadow is definitely dark and so is the humor. There is something so refreshing about dark humor that cannot be found anywhere else. Carlon is subtle about his points as well. They sort of sneak up on you (well, me).

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 297 KB
  • Print Length: 146 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Clockwork Samurai; 1 edition (30 July 2013)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU  S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00E96LAMI

I was given a reviewer’s copy by Carlon. The only preferential treatment I am aware of giving is to read the novel ahead of others on my general to-read list.

Fantasy, Short story/novella, Thriller, Young Adult

Loomis, Mercy: A Wild Hunt (Aether Vitalis) (2009)

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A Wild Hunt
Cover design by Mercy Loomis and Jon Connor
Images by Morguefile.com

A Wild Hunt is an urban fantasy with paranormal creatures. According to Loomis most of the Aether Vitalis stories are dark. A Wild Hunt could be considered dark fantasy in my opinion.

In A Wild Hunt we deal with death magic and its apparently willing victims. That is what can happen when dark witches are in your neighborhood. Good job the neighborhood watchperson – well skinshifter – is close by.

At the beginning of our tale Ariane Conant seems to be your typical drooling college student. Her job is to protect humans from finding out too much about the faery community. That one of the humans she ends up protecting just happens to be her drool object just ups the ante for her. She goes from an empty-headed drooler to a dangerous woman to cross in a magical battle.

A Wild Hunt was a pretty good short story. There are limits to how much background and info you can cram into a story this size, but Loomis did manage to give us a little. Mainly we had action from the very beginning and the story did not slow down as it went along.

Not too violent and no explicit sex.

Reviews:

  • File Size: 256 KB
  • Print Length: 42 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Rookery Creek Media (October 16, 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services,  Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B005WLP7D2
Adventure, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Bell, Odette C.: A Plain Jane (2012)

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Plain Jane
Sunset in alien planet: Frenta,
Futuristic City background, Nmedia,
Earth from Space, Dean Neitman,
Fashion Woman, Ramangorielov
Licenced through Dreamstime

The Plain Jane covers happen to be some of my favorite covers. Amazing what an imaginative mind can make of a bunch of pictures. The cover details do not say who the cover designer is so I will go with Bell herself as my candidate.

Odette C. Bell is a difficult woman to chase down. For some strange reason her Plain Jane novels no longer appear on Amazon but Smashwords will link you to various sites.

Plain Jane works with people of every variation there is. Most of them are bi-pedal but come in every version from scaly green to purple with a tail. Jane herself is not human, but exactly what she is neither she nor anyone else knows.

As a plain Jane she is fairly average. Average looks, average life and average abilities. In fact, her averageness makes her blend into any group perfectly. For who would notice someone so boring.

I love boring. In fact, I am probably the queen of boring (at least according to my kids). Other people can experience all of the exiting stuff and then I can read about it. Through my own experiences I discovered that exiting has a price, sometimes a very steep one.

Plain Jane is about to discover the same thing. Her dreams of adventure and excitement never included all of the sweat, pain and grit that come along with them. Then reality hits in the form of an assassin robot trying to kill her. Good for Jane that Lucas happened to be near by and had on his special suit of armor.

Jane and Lucas are fun characters. It is obvious that they are going to get involved at some point. That sort of follows whenever a female character in these types of books are annoyed with some male counter-part.

Jane seems to work pretty hard at remaining plain, but sometimes we see extremely different sides to her. Lucas is thrown into helping her time and again and they both end up delving into the mystery that is Jane.

Into the cauldron we also have a bit of politics, a bit of unlikely technology and a bit of extremely unlikely biology. This is the fun part of science fiction. Guessing and/or making up weird stuff is all part of the package.

A Plain Jane is a romantic mystery that has a science fiction background. Thankfully, the romance isn’t a huge part of the plot. Adventure is the prevalent feature. In A Plain Jane we get the more innocent version of murder and mayhem. In addition we get plenty of humor. Bell’s writing is good. She kept my interest throughout the book and nudged me towards buying the rest of the series.

Reviews:

A Plain Jane: A woman of unremarkable appearance. Appears on the scene at the beginning of the 1900’s.

Fantasy

The Children’s Bible in a Nutshell (2008?)

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God separated the light from the dark
Artist: Cuyler Black

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, ‘The Lord thy God is one, but I think he must be a lot older than that.”

Anyway, God said, ‘Give me a light!’ and someone did. Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren’t embarrassed because mirrors hadn’t been invented yet. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn’t have cars. Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh’s people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don’t lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor’s stuff.

Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses’ best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn’t sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.

There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don’t have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, ‘Close the door! Were you born in a barn?’ It would be nice to say, ‘As a matter of fact, I was.’)

During his life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.

Jesus also had twelve opossums.

The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn’t stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Fantasy, Thriller, Young Adult

Moeller, Jonathan: Child of the Ghosts (The Ghosts) (2011)

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Child of the Ghosts
Cover image copyright JC Design
Photograph: iStockPhoto

Being sold by one’s parents for the use of others is a practice that humans have followed for ages. Caina in Child of the Ghosts is an 11-year-old girl who meets this fate. The circumstances surrounding the sale differ greatly from what most children who are bartered experience, but slavery is slavery.

In the time leading up to Caina’s dire fate we read a novel that could be read to fairly young children. For the main part we see meanness, but meanness is part of the human experience. However, during and after her being handed over to her buyers, Caina’s experiences grow brutal. In spite of a fairly young text, my opinion is that the violence in certain parts ups the age level a bit. I have set it at young adult. Again, my recommendation is for an adult to check out the text before letting your child read it by themselves.

Bloodiness aside, Child of the Ghosts shows a side of parenting that is less than pleasant. Caina’s father is a man wanting to protest his wife’s behavior toward Caina without finding the strength to do so. Caina’s mother is ambitious and willing to do anything to get her way.

Oddly enough, Caina finds stability and security once she ends up with the Ghosts – the monarch’s assassins. They are not the people to whom she was sold, but the Ghosts are the ones she ends up with. Her path from then on is fraught with adventure rather than brutality while she learns what being a Ghost entails.

Like most of the other reviews point out, there are annoying mistakes. I imagine finding someone suited to edit your work while self-publishing can be a feat, but as a reader poor editing lessens my desire to read other works by that author. Child of the Ghosts deserves better.

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Reviews:

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Fantasy, Short story/novella, Thriller

Moore, Mary C.: The Shadow Killer (2011)

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Shadow Killer
Cover art by

The Shadow Killer is only 10 pages long, but Mary C. Moore manages to fill those ten pages with so much sadness and hope that it made me want to weep.

Being homeless must suck in a major way. There are no safe places for you. Anywhere you lay down you risk being chased from. Others treat you as if you are invisible and those who do see you often look at you as if you are trash whose only function in life is to be stepped on.

“The girl is tired. She is more than tired; she is bone-weary exhausted. The only sleep she has had in the past few months is what she could catch while the sun was high in the sky. Only then could she risk curling in a ball on the unforgiving cement to sleep. She cannot try to find a place at night, she cannot go to a shelter, she cannot sleep without the sun because …

Because, every night the goblins come for her. The goblins are hunting, and she is their prey. She doesn’t know how or why, but she does know when. A black mass that seems to be nothing but nails and teeth follows her. Gibbering, drooling, hissing, they hunt her when the shadows become long.

She cannot sleep without the sun.”

Reading these paragraphs made me want to cry. The whole beginning of this short story made me want to cry. I know this tiredness. I know this fear. My goblins may have looked human but that was only skin-deep. Thankfully, this story like my own carries with it a lot of hope.

Dark fantasy like The Shadow Killer makes a difference in how life can be perceived. Hail to Mary C. Moore for writing fantasy in a manner that neither preaches nor gives easy solutions. Dark fantasy rules!

  • File Size: 151 KB
  • Print Length: 8 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services,  Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B007NU5KVE
Adventure, Science Fiction

Maxey, James: Bitterwood (2007)

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Bitterwood
Cover art by James Maxey

Originally Bitterwood was meant to be a stand-alone novel. I guess sales must have been better than expected and therefore an invitation was extended to James Maxey to expand the tale with Dragonforge and Dragonseed. Due this expansion Maxey now has an edition of Bitterwood that brings the original story more in line with the two other novels. My review is based on the revised edition.

Bant Bitterwood’s mission in life is hunting dragons. Sent by the prophet Hezekiah he believes this is God’s will. Leaving the love of his life behind he sets out and 20 years pass in the turning of a page. While adored by many humans Bitterwood is despised and feared by the dragons who see him as the bad guy. Each story has two sides and we get to have a look at both of them in Maxey’s Bitterwood.

In this tale of action and fantasy set far into the future we see humans made into slaves and dragons more like ourselves than we might like to admit. Karma has bitten humans in their rear ends and shown them (if they only knew) that their meddling with genetics has consequences.

Early on we get to see remnants of previous technology on something that the dragons call the ghost lines. Here dragons fear for their lives for there is a very real danger of them being killed by what is within. Later on in Bitterwood we also come accross surprising pieces of technology. I think one of the reviews below reveals what that is but I shan’t.

Vendevorex (wizard dragon) is the most interesting character of the novel. Perhaps that is because his views correspond with my own in some respects. He is of the faction of dragons that believes that humans should be treated with some decency unlike his extremely feudal king Albekizan. Our own history of slavery and feudalism is reflected in this tale of dragon lords and human slaves. As our own stories tell us, rebellion is part of our past. But as with our history, the consequences of fighting the system can be devastating not only for the rebels.

Another character that I enjoyed a lot was Zanzeroth (tracker dragon). He is ambivalent when it comes to humans and their value. Age is catching up with him and he does not like it. Vanity is not only a human thing in this tale of dragons and humans.

Bitterwood is a good novel. It raises questions that ought to be raised and does so in a highly entertaining manner. Because of some of the reviews on the net I get the feeling my revised edition is quite different to the original. My recommendation is to get the revised edition of the novel.

Reviews:

  • Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Solaris; 1 edition (2 July 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 184416487X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1844164875
  • Product Dimensions: 16.8 x 10.6 x 4 cm
Adventure, Fantasy

Marquitz, Tim: Dawn of War (Blood War I) (2011)

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Dawn of War
Cover art by Jessy Lucero

Dawn of War was free on Kindle and it sounded interesting enough for me to try it out. No regrets there. While I hesitated to buy the rest I found Arrin so interesting that I had to get the rest of the trilogy so I could find out what happened to him.

When reading the Blood War trilogy you are going to have to bring your brain. There are a lot of plots and subplots and characters to keep in order. Even though Dawn of War is an uncomplicated novel it is definitely full of threads to keep hold of.

Violence is frequent and descriptive. Dawn of War is no children’s novel nor do I think it would be a good fit for below 15s (just my opinion).

The Blood War trilogy is dark fantasy. There are no easy or happy endings here. Well there are some happy endings but plenty of endings of lives that I wished had lived. If you do not like beloved characters dying then you had better stay away from Blood War.

In Dawn of War we get to meet several races of people:

  • The O’hra: Ancients (not much info on them yet)
  • The Sha’ree: The supposed top of the top of the different races of Ahreele but probably dying out.
  • The Grol: A doglike people with highly aggressive and racist behavior.
  • The Bloodpack: A wolflike people with aggressive yet controlled behavior.
  • The Lathahn: Arrin Urrael has been exiled from them for the past 20 years.
  • The Pathran: A catlike people
  • The Velen: A pacifist people.
  • The Yvir: A people dedicated to the protection of the Velen.

All of the races are somewhat war-like with the exception of the Velen. Without the Yvir they would have been extinct. The most warlike seem to be the Grol who want to kill and eat anything not themselves and when it suits them even kill and eat their own. So not people you want to mess with. But up until the beginning of Dawn of War the Grol have been too weak to eradicate the rest of the races. Now, somehow, they have gotten hold of magical artifacts, artifacts that make it possible for them to tear down the walls of cities without much damage to themselves.

This is pretty much what the Blood War trilogy is about: the desire of the Grol and their allies to take all of Ahreele and the rest who are not interested in this.

Two major mysteries present themselves. How did the Grol get a hold of their magical weapons and who is directing their movements? Good questions and you know I am not going to answer them because that would just ruin the whole thing.

Arrin Urrael is our reluctant hero. Others come our way in Dawn of War, but he is the HERO: loyal, good fighter, kind, brave, dutiful, self-sacrificing and all of the other terms that might fit for a hero. The funny thing is that Arrin is all of this in spite of being able to see the world and people for what and who they are. Arrin has, after all, kept himself alive  for the past 20 years in spite of the odds (with the help of his magic collar).

Marquitz writes in a way that hops from one important character to the other from chapter to chapter. For Dawn of War this approach both works and does not work. Keeping in the flow is incredibly difficult when you switch characters. I know I could never do it.

Reviews:

  • File Size: 473 KB
  • Print Length: 263 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1466325348
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Tim Marquitz; 2 edition (July 1, 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services,  Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0059HAUW2

 

Fantasy, Short story/novella, Thriller

Violante, Maria: Hunting the Five (La Roca Chronicles) (2011)

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Hunting the Five
Cover art by Blake Eason

I must say I loved what the reviewer Justin Robinson-Prickett said of Hunting the Five:

“The classic pulps are oppressively masculine, chock full of male wish fulfillment. That’s all well and good for guys who want to read two-fisted tales of adventure.  But where are the ladies to turn?  Well, now they have something to scratch that itch.”

It is true that the fantasy pulp market has been mainly written by and probably for males. While using many of the same tools as the masculine species in her writing, Maria Violante has managed to give her protagonist, De La Roca, her own twist. There is plenty of violence in Hunting the Five but is wholly appropriate in its setting.

I do not understand why some reviewers have found the first chapter out of place. Perhaps it has been changed since the time of their reviews or perhaps I just feel differently about her need to get her gun back. Her methods of achieving her goals are anything but gentle but extremely effective.

Alsvior is a fascinating creature. While we see that he has interesting talents there is also a feeling of mystery left behind by the story. Lots of questions in my mind about that horse.

What would it be like to have had to be a mercenary for the Angel for three centuries? 300 years seems an awful long time to pay for whatever you might have done but being told that she has only five kills left before her stay in Hell is over seems like a set-up to me. Something just seems off about that.

De La Roca is something as strange as a demon killing demons for Heaven. How weird is that? She has been told that she is a demon by her personal Angel. Could be, but then again what role would Alsivor play in all of this as he is a tool from heaven. Lots and lots of questions. To me De La Roca seems like a bounty hunter with her soul as the reward for her kills.

Another reviewer felt a Mexican vibe a là Antonio Banderas. That could be. His part in the Mariachi trilogy certain was gritty enough. I think that is what I liked so much about Hunting the Five. Dark and gritty and plenty of action is important ingredients in a novel like this. Hunting the Five is also easy to read. Maria Violante manages to keep herself in the flow for the most part. There are some places where she falls out of it but she manages to pull herself back in.

122 pages isn’t a whole lot but Hunting the Five is after all billed as a novella. Thankfully you can pack a whole lot of fun into 122 pages and Maria Violante has managed to do that.

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  • File Size: 294 KB
  • Print Length: 122 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Airam Publications; 5th edition (September 27, 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services,  Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B005Q4LZPE

First chapter in audio

Adventure, Fantasy, Humour, Mystery, Short story/novella

Rhodes, Nicola: Djinnx’d (The Tamar, Black Saga) (2009)

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Djinnxd
Cover art/design by Nicola Rhodes

I love this cover.

You will see from the reviews below that most of them were extremely positive. Finding one that wasn’t took a bit of reading.

For me Djinnx’d is a keeper. Humour aplenty and throw in action and strange people and here is a recipe for enjoying myself.

I really liked the way programmers run the Universe with their inevitable screw-ups. I read that part to my programmer husband and he even managed to smile a little.

“In the beginning, there was the word.

And the word was “Error” And that explains a lot, doesn’t it?”

That would explain a lot wouldn’t it? Right away the tone of the novel is set. I also really liked the way Tamar set herself up for capture. Sometimes you really should be careful about what you wish for just in case your wish comes true.

After having been a Djinn couple of thousand years she meets Denny. This is how that meeting goes:

“You may have of me, any three wishes of your choosing. Your wish is … my …’ She trailed off, embarrassed. He was giving her the most peculiar look that she had ever seen. It was a look that she really should have recognised. She had felt it on her own face often enough. He looked bored (disinterested might be a better word) and slightly wary.

‘No thanks,’ he said.

‘S-Sorry?’

‘I said, no thanks, I’m not interested. Thank you all the same.’

‘I’m not sure you understand,’ said Tamar. ‘Three wishes, anything you want, your hearts desire, anything! I’m a Djinn, you know, a Genie, a real one.’

‘Yes, I understand, but I don’t want anything thank you. Can you leave the way you came in?’ He sounded like a man talking to a double glazing salesman.”

What self-respecting Djinn expects a non-wish when they meet their new master? Considering Denny’s life it would be easy to think that he would have plenty of wishes. But the kids of today, they are just too smart for their own good (or a Djinn’s good).

Djinnx’d is a fast-paced novel with some glitches here and there but all in all great fun to read. If you like British humour you will probably like Djinnx’d.

Fantasy, Thriller

Moeller, Jonathan: Demonsouled (The Demonsouled) (2011)

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Demonsouled
Cover image copyright Nejron

As you can probably see from the section below called reviews I like to check out what other people have to say about an author. Demonsouled sure brought a lot of varied comments and some of what I read made me wonder if the other person and I had even read the same novel. The one I read was the updated and revised edition from 2011. Demonsouled is part of a series and therefore a stand-alone novel.

As the name of my blog indicates, I am fascinated by the darker side of humanity. Part of that translates into an interest in dark (but not horror) litterature. Our struggles to keep within the accepted mores of society are so much more interesting than all of our successes. Which is one (and probably the main) reason I liked Mazael Cravenlock. Like the quote from Schopenhauer at the beginning of Demonsouled says, I firmly believe in the beast that lies within the heart of every man (and woman) just waiting to be let out.

Every time Mazael looks at a person he sees how he could kill that person. For him its just something that happens and that he doesn’t act upon unless he is forced to. In the battles he has fought that ability has certainly come in handy.

Mazael’s older brother is Mitor, Lord of Cravenlock. Mazael is on his way home after an absence of 15 years. He has heard rumours of his brother beeing extremely foolish and he feels the need to find out if Mitor is indeed hiring mercenaries against their over-lord, Richard Mandragon. What do you know? He is.

What we have in Demonsouled is a novel that almost gets the best of Mazael. First of all he wants to get his sister out of her brother’s claws and keep her from Richard Mandragon. Then he feels obliged to figure out where all the disappearing people under the care of Lord Cravenlock have gone to. In addition to that he ends up with the ambassador from the wood-elves on his hands. Mazael’s last wish is for his family to fight Lord Mandragon and he tries to keep his brother from launching an attack. We all know that Mazael is not going to go unchallenged. There is no way Jonathan Moeller is going to make this easy for him. All he does is throw in another challenge in the form of disturbing visions. It makes a person glad she is not a hero in one of his novels.

Sir Gerald Roland is Mazael’s best friend and sticks with him through thick and thin. Along with them follows Gerald’s squire, the 11-year-old Wesson. They take part in most of what happens along Mazael’s journey through Demonsouled, but they do not have the three-dimensionality that Mazael has.

Mazael’s family is nuts – brother and sister both. Totally off their rockers. But Mazael is naive about their development in the fifteen years he has been off to fight. Like a lot of us he wants to see the best in them and defends them when it might have been more constructive to take another look at their behavior. But he, too, learns that families aren’t always what we want them to be.

Reviews:

 

Fantasy

He’s my brother (2005?)

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I hope this story is true:

Gigatamponger

Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.

The man at the counter asked the older boy, «Son, how old are you?»

«Eight» the boy replied.

The man continued, «do you know what these are used for?»

The boy replied, «not exactly, but they aren’t for me … they’re for him. He’s my brother. He’s four. We saw on TV that if you use these, you would be able to swim and ride a bike.»

«Right now, he can’t do either!»

The earliest version I found was on Holly’s Life. She had been sent it by another person.

Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Young Adult

Durgin, Doranna: Barrenlands (Changespell Saga) (2011)

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Barrenlands
Cover art by Doranna Durgin

Barrenlands is my first meeting with Doranna Durgin and a pretty good one at that. My read was an updated and reworked edition.

In its basic form Barrenlands is a mystery. Who killed the king (Benlan) is the question that is eating Ehren up. The reason Ehren feels so passionate about finding the murderer (not every one else wants him to find him/her/them) is because Benlan was his best friend. Most of Ehren’s guard-friends had also been killed at the same time.

Ehren is an interesting character yet familiar in a fantasy sense. He is our hero, the one with the quest he must fulfill. He is also the strong, silent type. In his case his silence and strength are very much tools. When one is silent one sometimes listens and is able to hear things one might not otherwise hear. As a hero Ehren has several helpers and not all of them are people. Two killer horses (that is for any other person than Ehren) are among the assistants. Ehren has trained them well and we get a few episodes illustrating how dangerous they are.

Two people also come to his aid. In the one case the helper places Ehren in an awkward position. Ehren is actually supposed to kill Laine (or Lain-iee! as his sister calls him) and his family. Laine is the nephew of the dead king Benlan. He has a weird ability – to see magic. He has another ability but that comes out late in the novel so hush to me. Sherran is the other person that turns up and happens to be the T’ieran of Clan Gurran. She, too, has a magical ability that Ehren will need.

Varien is an interesting character but the opposite of Ehren’s helper. He becomes quite fun in a nasty way as the story evolves. The more I learned the less confidence I had in him. Not exactly the kind of magician I would want at my back. And he just happens to be the new king’s (Rohan) most important advisor.

We begin with a fight scene and there are several to follow. I would call this a YA novel with little emphasis on romance but a whole lot on friendship and action with some magic thrown in.

  • File Size: 503 KB
  • Print Length: 352 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Blue Hound Visions (November 10, 2012)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services,  Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00A5FF668
Adventure, Fantasy, Humour, Young Adult

Soriano, M.F. : Blood Brothers (Bound By Blood) (2013)

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Blood Brothers
Cover design by Streetlight Graphics

Blood Brothers is Soriano’s first completed fantasy novel although he has previously published some work under the pseudonym of Don Broma. It is the first one in a series, something that means that we actually get an ending – something I really like. I also really liked the cover designed by Streetlight Graphics. Soriano actually managed to include the name of the cover designer. I wish all authors could do that, even if the designer is themselves.

I have to say that my favorite character was Verlvik. There was absolutely no competition in my mind. He is so completely alien to my way of thinking and yet completely magnetic. This is what I mean by alien:

“The bird let out another chirp, and then broke out in song. High exultant trills that soared up in bright melody, and then dipped into lovely low warbles. Verlvik’s lips split into a wide grin. It delighted him that such a small creature could be so full of life.

For several minutes the bird poured its heart into its wondrous song. And then, as if singing weren’t enough, it started dancing too. It bowed its cherry head low, spread its brilliant wings, and started hopping forward and back.

Verlvik pushed the locks of his hair out of his face, and turned his head slightly to the left, to get a better view of the bird with his good eye. The tiny bird, apparently pleased to found an attentitive audience, abandoned itself to its performance. I began to spin like a little top, its bright wings flashing in the sun.”

Here Soriano has set me up with an image of a perfect moment in life. The vividness and feeling of this picture is so clear. And then he hits me in the head with a hammer:

“One of the bird’s spins brought it within Verlvik’s reach, and quicker than a cat he’d snatched the bird up and popped it into his mouth. Its little skull cracked like a nut between his teeth, splashing his tongue with a burst of rich flavor. Its delicate ribs splintered as he chewed, and pricked the inside of his lips, salting the meal with a hint of his own blood. He closed his eyes and munched away happily.”

Say what? My mouth practically fell open. Then I laughed and was completely in love. A better job at setting me up has seldom been done. The superlatives are lining up. A character like Verlvik has never come my way before.

Grillis is the first one we are introduced to. He is about 18 years old and is now alone in the world. Because of a facial birthmark others tend to avoid him and he has been bullied some. He was raised by his grandmother and well-loved. Because of this love he has learned the ability to trust, something that will come in handy for him but also bring him trouble. Grillis is also the kind of person that just keeps on going. We meet Grillis a lot in fantasy literature and I have to say that putting him first fooled me into thinking that this was a regular hero’s journey novel. Blood Brothers is not quite that but it does have elements of it.

Athemon is a character I understand. He has grown up bullied for who he is, growing up among a people who have been taught that they are less than the others. We get a taste of that bullying in his introduction. I have to say that my heart-strings were playing low notes in reading about the way he was treated by “his betters” and how his father reacted to that treatment. Sad, sad, sad. One day Athemon has had enough and his revenge is sweet.

All three characters are brought together and together they have to fight some really bad guys. If I was going to guess at target group it would be somewhere in the YA range and up. Maybe not too young because of some of the violence.

One of our characters is human, the other is a caprine and the third a pictsee. The story is told from each person’s point of view and that means, of course, that we switch between Grillis, Athemon and Verlvik.

When switching between characters like Soriano has done it can be difficult to keep in the flow. As I am sure you could tell from the quote above, Soriano definitely has a feel for the flow and he stayed in it a lot of the time. When he falls out he manages to find a way in. This is an excellent quality and it is obvious that Soriano has a talent for the craft. Every once in a while I felt preached to. All it takes to get that away is a little more editing and that will probably hurt.

Blood Brothers was given to me as a reviewer’s copy. As usual I have tried not to let this influence my review.

Fantasy, LGBTQ+/GRSM, Thriller, Young Adult

Wolfe, Anna: Addicted (The One Rises) (2013)

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Addicted
Cover artist Jonathan Burkhardt

As I mentioned in Bitten, I had to buy Addicted right away after finishing Bitten.

I’m just going to say right away that Addicted was as well written as Bitten. When I see the quality of writing that Anna Wolfe produces, I fall in love. Whether a novel is for children or adults matters not. Well written is fun to read.

Wolfe writes this about Addicted: “Every now and again, human beings manage to pull these demons through to our side. The human dies, of course, and the demon gets a person shaped suit to live in. We call these creatures the demonridden.” If humans could call in demons – even if they risked dying – we would do it. We just couldn’t help ourselves. There is something inherently self-destructive and curious inside the human psyche.

Callie still lives with Silas trying to learn how to survive with drooling demons wanting her while all the time having to keep control of her “infection”. Their four-person-group is pretty much like a family. Edie is scared of Callie but still acts like a mom or maybe big sister. Mark doesn’t know if he feels Callie is his sister or if he just lusts after her. Silas is Silas – strong, silent dangerous guy with a secret dark past.

In Addicted two parties want to take Callie from Silas. One group has an indirect approach while the other is very direct. They figure they can beat Silas. But Silas is old and wily. The people (witches) he turns to for help aren’t exactly cuddly themselves and they extract a price that he hesitates to pay.

There is an interaction between Callie and Mark that is priceless. More teenagy than this is impossible to be and Silas’ reaction to the scene is perfect.

Like I said in my review of Bitten – it really is cruel of Anna Wolfe to keep us waiting for the next installment.

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