Tag Archives: #Betrayal

Adventure, Children, Fantasy, Young Adult

Coughlan, Andy: The Elementalist (2013)

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The Elementalist

The Elementalist is very much an adventure story with earth, wind, fire and water elementals being summoned by trained elementalists. We also have pirates (or privateers as they prefer to be called themselves). I have never really understood the distinction, for what they do tends to be the same. But these pirates are good pirates, at least what we see of them. In addition, we get fighting of the sword and magic kind and a little love and betrayal. All of it is told with a twinkle in the eye and maybe a few winks here and there.

Poor Barin Elicerio! He’s not certain exactly what it is he is supposed to have done, except that he has been accused of consorting with spirits of a malignant nature. Barin is pretty confident he has not done so, but the evidence points straight at him. Barely avoiding the death sentence (who wants to sentence to death the star elementalist), Barin is instead exiled to his birth town forbidden the practice of elementalism. And that is a pretty harsh sentence to serve for a person who practically eats, drinks and breathes elementalism.

Strange things begin happening in Barin’s life. First comes the strangest storm the sea-side village has ever seen.

Barin knew the sea. He had grown up in this village; his father had been a fisherman. He knew about the winds, the tides, and the dangers of the sea. He knew that if the wind blew from the north, as id did now, then the sea in the small protected harbour should be calm…. Far below, powerful white-crested waves tossed the moored boats about like toys….

The wind whipped at them from all directions. The rain and sea spray glowed eerily in the milky light from the small lighthouse. Out of the darkness came snatches of the fearful cries of fishermen, carried on the gusts of wind that threatened to throw everyone into the raging sea.

To the rescue men, to the rescue. Some of the fishermen are saved from the wrath of the waves but not all. What Barin does during the storm changes the attitude of the villagers toward him. Or perhaps their eyes are opened to their own folly. Strangewort, the town Elder, finally accepts Barin, thus opening up the way for the rest of the village to begin treating Barin like something other than a pimple under the skin.

Then another boat fights its way to land having saved several fishermen from certain death. Privateers led by Captain Glib turn Barin’s life up-side-down. All of a sudden Barin finds himself breaking the edict of the Tetras and on the run trying to figure out what on earth is going on.

Courage is a strange thing and we find it at the strangest times and in the oddest places. Barin finds his courage when his journey to figure out why the elemental spirits are behaving the way they do begins. He continues having to drag it out, facing his fears and learnings. Perhaps the most courageous thing any of us does is face ourselves and admit that what we have been taught is only partially true. Barin gets a lot of practice doing that in The Elementalist.

A fun adventure taking us into the land of possibilities. I would say the starting age for The Elementalist would be from 8 to 10 years old.

Reviews:

Fantasy, LGBTQ+/GRSM, Romance, Thriller

Cane, Laken: Strange Trouble (Rune Alexander III) (2014)

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Strange trouble

Bloody hell. Give the poor girl a break. Laken Cane drives her main character, Rune Alexander, hard. And can she write! All of that exquisitely described pain and anguish. Holy horror of a cow! What a life our heroine leads.

Rune Alexander fills me with compassion. I want to crawl into Strange Trouble and somehow comfort her, to let her know that she is OK as she is. My own ghost pain is awakened, and I want to tell her that things will get better. But I would be lying by saying that because Ms. Cane is a cruel mistress for the Shiv Crew.

The Rune Alexander series is a bleak and dark series. There aren’t a great deal of happy moments. Well, there are plenty of happy moments, but that is what they are. Moments. Then Rune and the gang is ripped back into the terror and ache of having to be the “good guys” in spite of all of the persecution and loss. Yet Ms. Cane’s writing makes it all endurable.

The vampires, zombies and werewolves of the Rune Alexander series are not the fluffy ones that we sometimes see in literature today. These are the good, old-fashioned kind. The ones that were told stories about around the fires while night turned into darkest dark and became all the more frightening because we could no see the world.

As usual, I have a couple of favorite moments. Rune’s gift to Ellie – perfect. That put a huge smile on my face. Rune advising Raze about relationships – pot/kettle much? The two episodes with the obsidian sword. Shad and Fie at the hospital – incredibly cute. The monster’s comment: What will you do? … Hurt me? And finally Ms. Cane’s description of Damascus – whew that lady needs to work on her charm.

Laken Cane has kept the promise of Shiv Crew. Her writing has been riveting, tense and tight through all three novels.

  • File Size: 2202 KB
  • Print Length: 296 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Laken Cane (February 4, 2014)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00I8ZGNY6

My review of:

  1. Shiv Crew
  2. Blood and Bite

Strange Trouble was given to me as a reviewer’s copy.

Adventure, Fantasy

Cooper, Elspeth: The Raven’s Shadow (The Wild Hunt III) (2013)

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the_ravens_shadow
Illustration by Dominic Harman
Design by Sue Michniewicz

You know, Ailric is a douchebag. He is about as power-starved as you can possibly get and Tanith is his way to the throne. Talk about being willing to do and say anything to get his way. Humans are less than dirt to him and his jealousy knows no bounds. As if he has anything to be jealous about. Tanith tells him over and over and over again that she is not interested and could he please stop touching her. Being the third in line for the throne of the “elves”, Tanith feels pressured by many of the folks at home to bind herself to Ailric as the joining of their two families is seen as a good match.

According to Psychology Today a person with a narcissistic personality disorder is one who is arrogant, lacks empathy for other people, needs a lot of admiration. Narcissists are cocky, self-centered, manipulative and demanding. They are focused on unlikely outcomes (I don’t know – like becoming consort to Tanith) and feel they deserve special treatment. For some reason they have a high self-esteem – which goes along with their arrogance. If their self-esteem is threatened they may become aggressive (like Ailric’s threats and actions toward both Gair and Tanith) even though their self-esteem is rooted in the bedrock of who they are.

Holy cow, this is soooo Ailric. He manages to match all of the qualities. Like I said: a complete and total douchebag.

Gair is your basic good guy. He’s not perfect, not by a long shot. In fact he is feeling pretty murderous when it comes to Savin. I get this need for vengeance. Not that anyone has ever effected the killing of one of my loved ones, but there have been people I would have liked to, at the very least, beat up. People who hurt my children in any way come to mind – even if mine are adult now. In real life I prefer the good guys (and women). I happen to be married to one of the most decent men on earth. Like Gair they are all flawed in some manner, but something shines through. This strange quality is what Ms. Cooper manages to catch in her writing. Someone like Gair is often presented in a manner that makes me wriggle uncomfortably due to their unbelievability. But Ms. Cooper stays far, far, far away from that trap. Gair is a guy I would like to hug just because he is huggable. I guess he could be good-looking but that is not what I am remembering – and I finished The Raven’s Shadow at 6 am this morning.

I kid you not. I am 49 years old in a few days and I read through the night. What’s an old woman doing with an all-night-read? Shame on you Ms. Cooper for keeping me up all night. That seldom happens any longer, but I just had to finish. Now I have to wait another year or two for the next installment. What I have just done is a basic case of hurry up and wait. Oh, well. Old age is no guarantee for learning from experience. I choose to blame it all on Ms. Cooper. No personal responsibility at all – oh no!

Teia is the other extremely interesting main character. Poor girl. Once it was discovered she had the talent, she has had to be extremely careful about letting on how strong she was/is. Not only has she needed to watch out for the clan speaker, but she has also had a less than ideal relationship with the clan chief. Well, relationship is a bit strong. Before she was 16 he abused and raped Teia until he had impregnated her. Good thing she ran away even if it did lead to her becoming banfaith of the Lost Ones. A banfaith is a prophetess or oracle. Understandably, Teia feels awfully young for the kind of responsibility she holds. In a sense she is considered next to Baer (their chief) in authority. The Lost Ones ask for her guidance on where to travel which is kind of natural as Teia sees where they need to go. Where the Lost Ones need to go is to the enemy to warn them of the pending invasion.

Ytha is Teia’s old teacher. She is the one who should have made certain that Teia received proper training for a Speaker. But Ytha is afraid of what would happen if someone has more power than she. Anything (including murdering people perceived as obstacles) is acceptable to achieve her goals. Ytha’s goal is to lead all of the Nimrothi clans into the old home-land – together with her chief Drwyn as chief of chiefs. I would not like to get into her way.

Elspeth Cooper’s writing has appealed to me from the beginning. She is one of those rare people who has a gift. In all likelihood Ms. Cooper works hard to provide us with a novel of this quality. But, you know, there is that extra indefinable something that gifted people have.

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Reviews:

  • Paperback: 576 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz (15 Aug 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0575134380
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575134386

My review of:

  1. Songs of the Earth
  2. Trinity Rising
Adventure, Children, Fantasy

Cooper, Louise: Daughter of Storms (The Daughter of Storms I) (1996)

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Daughter of Storms cover and map

I have placed Daughter of Storms somewhere between a children’s novel and a young adult novel. Children from about ten and up (maybe even younger) would probably like Daughter of Storms. The characters are “goodies” or “baddies” and the plot is straight forward. The characters we get to know best are Shar, her friend Hestor and uncle Thel. Uncle Thel is the leader of the rest of the baddies, while Shar is our young heroic girl who manages to save the day with her extraordinary powers.

In Shar’s world magic is tied together with ceremony and ritual. The gods’ purview is taking care of the non-human matters, such as creatures from the fifth plane and up invading the world. Humans have to take care of human matters. But the gods of chaos, of which Yandros is one, sometimes stretch their own rules a little. It depends of how they are feeling. There are the gods of order (who sound rather staid to me) and the gods of chaos (who I find more interesting).

Shar is the kind of girl who stands up for herself and isn’t afraid to defy her uncle’s authority when needed. On her side we find cats. For some reason cats seem to love Shar. Good thing she isn’t allergic. Along with their love comes an ability to communicate with Shar. Their shared communication is challenging as the thought-patterns of humans and cats differ. But there is communication. This is one power I have always wanted. Not just the power to communicate with cats, but the power to communicate with dogs and cats.

Thankfully Shar also has two friends to help her in her endeavours: Hestor and Kitto. Hestor is a Circle Initiate (deal with elemental magic) and Kitto (who is the child of a brigand). At one point, these two turn out to be vital to the survival of Shar.

Review:

Sold by Abe Books

Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller

Reine, S.M.: Dark Union (The Descent III) (2012)

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Dark Union1
Cover art by S.M. Reine

Dark Union sure is a fitting title, because the Union of kopis and apsis sure is dark and its motives are suspect. You don’t just round up kopis and apsis and witches by force unless you are a bit iffy. Where do they get their money from? There cannot be all that many Mr. Black type kopis – at least not if they are doing their jobs the way they are supposed to. But messing with friends of Elise might not be the smartest thing these guys have ever done. Especially not an Elise that is bursting with anger from all that happened in Darkest Gate.

Elise and Anthony are angry with each other, angry with the world and angry with the sense of helplessness that they feel. We are like that sometimes. Helplessness, grief and confusion are bummer feelings to have so anger can be a tempting feeling to replace them with. We get a lot of anger in Dark Union. A lot of it.

On top of that Elise has to struggle with this new strange bond that she and James have managed to impose on themselves. They actually know what the other person is feeling and can see what they are doing if they think too much about the other person. No wonder James is in San Fransisco with Stephanie. What an awful thing to experience for humans. Especially for some one as private as Elise is. They are both trying to control the bond, but when her pain is too great it becomes a bit difficult for Elise to control how much she shares.

Anthony is finally beginning to realise that he wants more out of their relationship than Elise is willing and able to give. Another thing to add to the simmering pot of feelings.

I’m trying to figure out if anything happy happens in Dark Union. Let’s see. There is one thing. At one point Elise is challenged about her “greatest kopis” status. That is a fight that is both satisfying and without deadly intent. Getting one over on the Union is also a satisfying (but worrying) episode for Elise. Those Union people – especially the leaders – are great big rear ends (don’t want to offend all the asses out there).

So, if you want cheer, Dark Union is not for you. But if you are like me and enjoy the darker side of humanity, jump right in.

Review:

  • File Size: 273 KB
  • Print Length: 115 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Red Iris Books; 1 edition (July 21, 2012)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English

My review of:

  1. Death’s Hand
  2. The Darkest Gate
Fantasy, Young Adult

Heppe, Matt: Eternal Knight (2011)

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Eternal Knight
Cover by Ken Hendrix

Matt Heppe has a couple of places you can reach him. One is his blog and the other is on facebook.

Hadde and the rest of her village, Long Meadow, live within the area of “The Wasting”. The Wasting is a mysterious condition that seems to afflict all life – plants and animals. For some reason the world is wasting away, leaving the land barren. While out hunting one day Hadde and her two companions discover an impending raid upon their village. They manage to send warning and thwart the invaders. One of the invaders has silver eyes that fade to black upon death.

Map Eternal Knight
Map by Steve Sanford

Hadde struggles with the village’s decision to slaughter their horses for food, and she goes hunting in hopes of finding food. A stag turns up that she follows. Hadde is led to a spot in the forest where the Wasting has somehow not taken hold. In this living space Hadde finds a gold pendant that bears the symbol of the goddess Helna.

All this sends Hedda to Salador for help for her village, whether it be temporal or magical. Along she brings Belor and their horses. Tragedy and adventure awaits.

Life is filled with difficult choices and tragedy. Pain seems to be part and parcel of life. Hedda is about to experience a lot of pain. Some of that pain is due to choices she makes while some of the pain is due to the choices of others. How she deals with death, violence, betrayal, friendship and love shows the kind of person she is. Like all of us Hedda is neither good nor bad but a combination of both. Finding her place in the world and discovering who and what she is creates dangers for her but also opportunities and growth.

I liked Hedda. She seemed so normal in an epic fantasy sort of way.

Eternal Knight seems to be targeted at anyone from young adult age and up.

Reviews:

  • Paperback: 306 pages
  • Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 16, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1461009839
  • ISBN-13: 978-1461009832
  • ISBN: 9781452428444
  • Product Dimensions: 0.7 x 5.8 x 9.2 inches
Fantasy, Short story/novella, Thriller

Harper, Tom: The Twelfth Tablet (2013)

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The Twelfth Tablet

Greed is such a wonderful thing. It is as if some people think that if it sounds too good to be true, then it must be true. The Twelfth Tablet is the tale of a man who fell for such a scheme. As sometimes happens his falling led to murder and mayhem.

Upon closing the museum one evening Paul Mitchell meets a couple who make him an offer he cannot refuse. Ari and Valerie wish to see the museum’s Aphrodite statue in return for donating a large sum of money “to the museum”. Paul finds himself unable to say no to anything they ask. He tries but there is something strange about their touch that fills him with powerlessness and an eagerness to please.

Once he has said yes once, saying yes to their next request is less of a hurdle. Ari and Valerie want to know where they can find the Orphic Tablet and Paul leads them to it.

Paul is the perfect example of how we are all potentially able of deeds we thought impossible. I find Harper’s description of Mitchell’s self-destructive road believable. Tom has a tight pace and tension galore. We get plenty of action and fighting.

Excellent short story.

Reviews:

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Fantasy, Thriller

Reine, S.M.: Death’s Hand (The Descent I) (2011)

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death's hand

What is it that makes a great author? I feel certain all wanna-be authors have wanted to know the answer to that. To me a great author is one who manages to reach her audience in a manner that lets the reader remember her. S.M. Reine is one such author.

Another important quality that Reine handles well is keeping the flow going. Death’s Hand shows Reine’s skill at drawing the reader into the world of Elise Kavanagh and James Faulkner almost immediately. Remaining in the world of Elise, the kopis, and James, the aspis, was no effort at all. I am always gratified when an author manages to do that to me.

Our introduction to Elise and James is when James finds Elise surrounded by 12 female corpses on a plain in Russia. She is barely alive and even unconscious. We then jump briefly to a time ten years before that when Elise is handed her first kill by her father. Yes, I agree – perhaps you ought to be more than seven years old before you kill your first demon. After that we jump to the present (11 years after James found Elise) and meet an Elise and James who are both in retirement from the killing business.

Business is the wrong word to use for what the pair did. Elise is a kopis or sword while James is an aspis or shield. Their job used to be to make certain angels and demons kept humans from knowing about the supernatural world. Sometimes they had to kill to make that happen and the pair were always on the run just to keep alive. So, retirement makes sense and Elise has to use a pseudonym so she will not tip her clients off as to her identity.

Throughout Death’s Hand we go back and forth in time and we get glimpses of how Elise and James have ended up where they have and why Elise feels such a need for a semi-normal life. But the past has a tendency of catching up with us one way or another. Elise and James are no exception to that rule.

Elise is the kind of heroine that I enjoy reading about. Her strength is amazing and based on the scars of her past. Her past has left her highly vulnerable and one way to deal with that is to skunk the people who come into her life. All except for her room-mate Betty. Betty is the one thing in Elise’s life that Elise loves unconditionally. For some reason Betty has been the armor-piercing bullet that needed to get past Elise’s defences and keep her somewhat grounded. We all need friends like that.

James, on the other hand, seems to dislike and fear Elise at the same time as he feels the need to protect her. Granted, Elise is a force to fear, but then so is James Faulkner, the witch. Indeed, a very powerful witch at that. Hmmm?

Reviews:

Adventure, Fantasy, Reading together, Young Adult

Lindskold, Jane: The Dragon of Despair (Firekeeper Saga III) (2003)

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The Dragon of Despair - Julie Bell
The Dragon of Despair
Cover art by Julie Bell

The Dragon of Despair is about messed up families, people who get a kick out of manipulating others, the struggle of a people to be recognized as a nation, divided loyalties and about Firekeeper trying to learn patience.

In terms of messed up families we are talking about poor little Citrine and her mother Melina. When Citrine got her finger cut off it did something to her head. It wasn’t the fact of her finger alone but the finger added to her mother’s seeming abandonment. Melina must be a prime example of a psychopath/sociopath.

Melina has established her position as the wife to the ruler of New Kelvin, Toriovico. She managed to marry him through her usual machinations and has him and most of his Primes completely in her power. Her reasons for this marriage does, of course, have to do with magic although it would probably be more correct to say that she wants all the power she can get and will use any means to get it.

What does this have to do with Citrine? For her own good King Tedric sends her along with the gang on their jaunt to New Kelvin. This time they are allegedly looking into setting up a silk-line from New Kelvin to Hawk Haven through the Kestrel and Archer families. This is the excuse for the presence of Edlin, Firekeeper, Blind Seer, Derian, Elise, Doc, Wendy, Grateful Peace (in disguise) and Citrine (also in disguise). Their real mission is to see if they can stop whatever it is Melina is up to.

To get Firekeeper and Blind Seer to go to New Kelvin, King Tedric has promised her that he will take care of the problem that has risen west of the Iron Mountains. Otherwise Firekeeper and Blind Seer would probably have gone to aid their family back there. But King Tedric feels this would only damage Firekeeper’s case with the nobles and even more importantly to him, he needs Firekeeper and Blind Seers abilities in New Kelvin.

West of the Iron Mountains a group of settlers has tried to get Bardenville up and running again. The Royal Beasts do not like this and are discussing what to do with the settlers. Only Firekeeper’s reassurance that King Tedric means to keep his promises keeps them from taking terminal action.

Firekeeper’s introduction to the human world and her struggles to understand the distinctions we make between different qualities gives us a better look at how weird human societies truly are. She still remains my favorite character (along with her companion Blind Seer). Derian follows with poor little Citrine in third place. Citrine is a person I have no trouble at all identifying with.

I am still reading to my son and he is still enjoying the tales in the Firekeeper saga. In fact, he grows impatient if I have to wait for the next book to arrive. I rather enjoy having been able to pass on the joy of reading to my sons. Stories have always been such an important teaching tool in society and the Firekeeper saga does a great job in that respect. Not only is Firekeeper an interesting and fun example to follow but Lindskold also manages to convey her respect for nature to me as a reader.

Reviews:

  • Hardcover: 640 pages
  • Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (August 1, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765302594
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765302595

My review of Through Wolf’s Eyes and Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart

Adventure, Fantasy, Reading together

Lindskold, Jane: Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart (Firekeeper Saga II) (2002)

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WolfsHeadWolfsHeart-hc
Hard cover for: Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart
Cover artist: Julie Bell
WolfsHeadWolfsHeart-pb
Cover artist: Julie Bell

As you can tell I had a difficult time choosing between hardcover and paperback cover art, so I added them both.

Having begun reading to my son about Firekeeper we kept on going. Believe it or not, but quite a bit of snuggle time goes into around 600 pages worth of story. 600 pages is a lot of words. Sometimes I think the two of us get so caught up in how words and sentences connect that we forget to pay as much attention as we ought to. In my world that is only possible when the writing is tight and attention is paid to how writing is similar to music. Sometimes we have to laugh when I have trouble figuring out how to pronounce a name or two. What we do then is have a discussion on pronunciation and come to an agreement.

On to content. The Firekeeper Saga is about politics and relationships and coming of age if it is about anything. Sure there is action and fighting, but this is not what the series is about. I love action fantasy and science fiction and I love stories like the Firekeeper saga.

Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart is still about Firekeeper and Blind Seer’s emerging role as ambassadors between humans and Royal kind. On that journey some of Firekeeper’s illusions about the superiority of the Royal kind are torn down. Blind Seer seems more of the adult than Firekeeper in this regard and is in fact one of the people who challenges Firekeeper’s previous beliefs.

Derian is another favorite of this tale. I imagine Lindskold has made certain that I be aware of him. Derian is Carter made Counselor, a role he had never imagined and feels overwhelmed by. He is easily Firekeeper’s favorite human friend and a very faithful one.

Waln Endbrook is a really good bad guy. He is the ultimate bully – afraid of letting go of power and ready to step on anyone who gets in his way – especially if they are weaker than he is. One of the more fascinating parts of Waln’s character was the mental acrobatics he was willing employ in order to avoid blaming himself for anything. It was always something the other person had done or said that brought about trouble. I hate meeting these people in real life because they scare the shit out of me. But I have also learned, the hard way, the necessity of seeming strong around them.

Elise and Doc are the “hopeless romance” carriers of the series. Poor guys. So in love and yet bound by the strictures of society from having any kind of romantic attachment. Politics sure do stink at times.

We are also introduced to Firekeeper’s adorable adopted brother Edlin Norwood. Hugh Laurie in Bertie Wooster exemplifies just how I imagine Edlin speaks.

Reviews:

  • Published: August 24, 2002
  • File Size: 1100 KB
  • Print Length: 620 pages
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B003G93YE6
  • ISBN-10: 031287426X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312874261

My review of Through Wolf’s Eyes

Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Young Adult

James, Hadena: Dark Illumination (Dark Legacies) (2012)

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Dark Illumination
Cover art by Fred Garver

I’m glad the editing issues in Dark Cotillion have been resolved in Dark Illumination.

Dark Illumination comes with one warning. There is quite a bit of zombieish-like goryness – without the zombies (those were in Dark Cotillion).

My fascination with this strange world James has presented us with has not left me. Lucifer is catholic and married to a human. All of their children have been baptised into the Catholic church. Lucifer is not the only mythological character that gets treated this way. In fact, Lucifer and the angel Gabriel are best-friends along with Baal, Anubis and Fenrir. Mammon is Brenna’s god-father and uncle and was present at her baptism.

Who is good and bad is no longer clear-cut, but the least clear-cut is the baddie of Dark Illumination. He/She seems set on destroying Brenna after her maturing. Because of the nature of the attacks the person might be someone close to her or one of her relatives.

Add to the mystery of the baddie all of the action and I guess we have an action-mystery novel. All of the action is the reason for the above-mentioned gore. There is plenty of fighting, both magical and demonic. Poor regular humans who get in the way.

Add to this cabal dead uncle Sonnellion and we have in fact a ghost-mystery-action story for young adults.

I believe it is safe to say that Brenna Strachan has a strange family and some strange friends. Add in her own unpredictability and we have a story that is bound to interest both young and old.

Reviews:

Janey’s review

  • Published: Nov. 21, 2012     
  • File Size: 416 KB
  • Words: 69,610 (approximate)
  • Print Length: 346 pages
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services,  Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00AAQ8Q5U
  • ISBN: 9781301107094

My review of Dark Cotillion

Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Young Adult

James, Hadena: Dark Cotillion (Dark Legacies) (2012)

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Dark Cotillion
Cover art by

Dark Cotillion was one of those books that surprised me. I’d gotten it from Kindle for free on the off-chance that I might like it. The blurb sounded so, so and I figured “why not”. Some surprises are really nice.

The Dark Legacies series introduces a world I have not met yet in my meanderings through the world of fantasy. Just when I think I have read every conceivable type of world-building something new comes along. As any type of addict my consumption of fantasy and science fiction literature is high and varied. I will try just about anything to get my fix. Imagine how fun it was to get a taste of something new and different.

What is not new about the Dark Legacies and specifically Dark Cotillion is the lengths to which some people will go in order to force the world to fit with their own visions. Assassination has been a favored tool of leaders for ages (probably for as long as humans have existed). There is nothing unusual in that. Telling lies to their followers is also a favored tool. All we have to do is look around at the fear-mongering and dehumanising projects that go on in the world. So nothing unusual there either.

After a slow start of world-building James really picks up the pace and brings us into one action-filled situation after the other. There are some gory descriptions and some sexual content but no more than most young adults encounter on a regular basis in the gaming world.

James has not quite gotten the flow right but she does present a world that I would like to get to know more about. There were moments when things fell perfectly into place and that is a quality worth building on. I found Dark Cotillion well worth the read and have purchased the next in line.

  • File Size: 595 KB
  • Print Length: 368 pages
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services,  Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0093UKS82
Fantasy, Thriller

Marquitz, Tim: Embers of an Age (Blood War II) (2012)

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Embers of an Age a
Cover art by Jessy Lucero

I think a fair criticism of Embers of an Age comes from Sylvain Martel (below). Sylvain comments on the way the various nations must be squashed together as the time from one to the other takes such a short while. I had the same thought while reading but had forgotten that disturbance as I was paying more attention to the characters themselves. It is true. The pace at which these characters must travel is immense.

My favorite character continues to be Arrin. He is so obviously a tragic hero who happens to be part of a story that seems to have very few happy endings. With all of the blood and gore Marquitz places us in it is difficult to imagine any of the characters having a Disney ending to their story – Arrin least of all.

Next to Arrin come Zalee and Uthul (the Sha’ree). Zalee and Uthul are daughter and father. Both are subject to the strange illness that comes with using magic contained in the O’hra but still choose to do so. Coming out from their homeland has brought home to them exactly what the Sha’ree have missed by absenting themselves for so long. I sometimes see that in my own life. Because I am fortunate in so many aspects of my life it is sometimes tempting to stick my head in the sand and become blind to the lives of other people. Maybe that is why I like Uthul and Zalee so much. They have chosen to raise their heads and see.

Sultae is my final favorite. She is obviously out to get revenge for how she has been wronged and she has become insane with that need and her understandable hatred. I get that feeling as well. Sometimes I have felt it myself and sometimes I have had friends and acquaintances who have wanted to destroy those who have wronged them so badly. While she does not take up much space in Embers of an Age, Sultae is an essential part of the story. Without her it would not have happened.

There is tons of fighting of one type or another. People are running from place to place chased by various creatures. Action is present from beginning to end and Marquitz ends this story on a cliff-hanger. There are still hiccups but the Blood War trilogy is getting better.

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Reviews:

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My review of Dawn of War

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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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