The Unraveling of Wentwater by C.S. Lakin

With a twist on the familiar tales of sleeping beauty and rumpelstillskin combined C.S. Lakin tells the story of Teralyn, a girl of great beauty and skill with music, who was foretold as a babe to cause the destruction of Wentwater before her eighteenth birthday. For her own survival she was hidden away in the mountains surrounding the superstitious village, but on a visit to the little town below she meets a man that will change her life, but will also cause the destruction of the village.

The story of Wentwater features Teralyn, a gifted girl who goes through great lengths to save the town of Wentwater. I feel that her character started out very well shaped and strong, developed throughout, and carried through till the end; showing Mrs. Lakins skill. The young man Former is Teralyn’s lover and I honestly feel he should have been better shaped, we learn of his character and such, but for his roll in the story, which is a large roll, he was underdeveloped. Honestly, at first review of the book I was surprised to see how much the plot rotated around him. The amount of time given to him is minimal, causing him to be slightly on the “flat” side. The person I connected to the most was Justyn, which is odd but true. Justyn is an educated young man from the Heights—a college like set up in the mountains near Wentwater—who has left his superstitious family in the village to learn all that he can about the physical world. I understood his views and, though I didn’t agree with his reactions to his circumstances, to a degree sympathize with him.
The book’s pace started out nicely, though it dragged slightly through the middle “The Unraveling of Wentwater” ended with a quicker pace for the reader. As far as originality goes for a fairy tale I thought the book was well done. There were enough things that remind one of the fairy tales we have grown up on, the Sleeping Beauty beginning and the Rumpelstillskin like ending for example, but it with the unique characters and other features Lakin had me wondering and interested from cover to cover. The story felt homey, and familiar but with twists that kept it fresh; the book is perfect for a relaxing read before bed.
In Mrs. Lakin’s past books she had written great plots that tie up all the lose ends and I was slightly disappointed to find this story didn’t. I was left with a couple of questions, menial questions granted, but the lack of understanding of bits of the story took away from the overall enjoyment of “The Unraveling of Wentwater”.

C.S. Lakin has once again written a wonderful story that isn’t a fast pace action novel but more of a wondering walk of enjoyment for a person to relax to. Though not my favorite in “The Gates of Heaven Series”, “The Unraveling of Wentwater” still is a wonderful book showing great writing style.

B

The Land of Darkness by C.S. Lakin

Jadiel is a young 12 year old girl who loves her father and misses her mother, who died the year before. On top of grief for her mother she has to deal with her new step-mother, Huldah, and her two daughters. Huldah quickly feels the need to put Jadiel in her place making her do difficult house chores. Still the witch, Huldah, doesn’t like Jadiel taking up time with her new husband and his wealthy estate. To get rid of this nuisance she devises ways to kill young Jadiel. After a couple attempts Huldah comes up with an impossible mission; find the Tree of Youth and bring back a satchel full of its leaves. If she doesn’t Jadiel’s beloved father will die at the next full moon.
Only thing is… no one knows where this tree is, or if it even exists. 
Callen, a young carpenter discovers some old drawings of a bridge, a magnificent bridge, unfortunately no one knows who made it. Determined to find this bridge and learn of it’s creator Callen takes leave of his apprenticeship to find it.
Only thing is… no one knows where this bridge is, or if it even exists. 
These two seekers find each other on the road, Callen fearing for the young girls safety (Who just happens to be his apprentor’s niece.) Offers to help Jadiel with her mission to save her father. Traveling across the land they learn of the bridge’s creator, the Tree of Youth and so much more.

Once again I was entrapped in the wondrous realm of Sherbourne and it's surrounding lands. The hidden magic the world holds and the innuendoes to the previous 2 books — The Wolf of Tebron and The Map Across Time, in the Gates of Heaven Series by C.S. Lakin — had me feeling at with home with The Land of Darkness.

The speed of this tale is one of Lakin's best. The Land of Darkness starts out a bit slow and cumbersome but when I reached part two I was having trouble putting this adventure down. I was blown away at how easily Lakin places facts and stories from other books of the Gates of Heaven series in her stories yet they can be read as stand alone novels. Seeing references to Adian, Tebron and other things would just make me smile.
Now the main tale is about Jadiel and her conflict with Huldah. But Callen had his own villain stalking him a Golgoth, the dark creature from another world that can kill armies in a matter of days. This added a great twist and suspense to the plot, giving it a more grown up feel to your normal fairy tale yet keeping it very friendly for younger readers.
C.S. Lakin also did a wonderful job of laying the mood of the story and scenes. Many times I would find myself holding my breath hoping Callen wouldn’t open the door or wanting to jump for joy when Jadiel was freed from the slavers.  At other times I was irritated at the characters for not understanding, or practically yelling at them trying to tell them to believe.

The characters in this book had as much personality as the other books in this series. From talking boars and frogs, to the strange man constantly speaking in riddles.

I enjoyed this book and am extremely thankful to C.S. Lakin for giving me an advanced copy of her latest tale.

A+

The Realms Thereunder by Ross Lawhead

A homeless man is stalked by a pale, wraithlike creature with a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth. Maimed animals and a host of suicides cluster around a mountain in Scotland. And deep beneath the cobbled streets of Oxford, a malicious hoard besieges a hidden city.

Freya Reynolds is a university student with a touch of OCD and an obsession with myth and folklore. Daniel Tully is living rough on the streets of Oxford, waging a secret war against an enemy only he can identify. Years ago, they found themselves in a world few know is real. They have since gone their separate ways and tried to put that adventure behind them.

But the mythical world is now bleeding into our reality-a dark spiritual evil that is manifesting itself in forgotten corners of the British Isles. Alex Simpson is a Scottish police officer who specializes in hunting mythical creatures. Together, they must confront the past, the present, and points beyond to defeat the ultimate threat to humanity.

Nothing they've seen so far prepares them for what awaits . . . in The Realms Thereunder.

(Taken from the back of the book.)

This book is very well written with only a couple typos found. The chapters were also a little confusing at first. Due to the fact that the story is set in two times and then multiple point of views (POVs) in these times, the author has the book set up with chapters and then sections within these chapters. At first I found it confusing but after the first two chapters I thought that the chapter/section layout was very smart and easy to follow.

The beginning of “The Realms Thereunder” was wonderful on both parts, past and present. I quickly learned important things about the settings and people that attached me to the world and characters. Sadly I felt that the “past” part got repetitive, predictable, and overall boring near the end. To make up for this the “present” sections always had me guessing and wondering what is going on and about to happen. All in all the plot was an excellent start to the series, giving us the first steps of the next adventure and the history in one entertaining story.

I thought that the world was very well created with both old and new creatures to keep you interested. The mix of dragons, trolls, elves and other classics of fantasy blended in seamlessly with yfelgóp, Tuatha Dé, changelings, and more.
Britain served as an excellent springboard for this book. Giving us a rich history, you can tell Ross Lawhead did quite a bit of research for this book. He expanded Britain’s history and added a wonderful variety to what we already know making me feel pulled in and wondering if his tale could have real happened.

Daniel and Freya were properly formed and well rounded. They had different depths of character between their younger and older selves in a realistic way.
Something I truly enjoyed watching through the book is their friendship. They are polar opposites of social classes, forced to work together. They had disagreements on what they thought they should do, but worked it out and focused on the main goal, get home. Other times they didn’t agree and handled it in another very human style, avoided each other, but once again they saw the need and worked it out. I liked the author having them mix like this, it gave a very interesting view about life styles and working together.
Ecgbryt and Swi∂gar added a wonderful flare to the story with riddles, wonderful accents, and tales from the history. Many of the characters had accents, Ross Lawhead did a great job with these. I could almost tell who was talking from their accent; few authors can do such a great job with this.

I liked this book, it was a nice fantasy book that had me interested throughout. I am waiting a little less then patiently for the next book in the series to come out.

A

Thank you Thomas Nelson and Book Sneeze for providing me with a copy of The Realms Thereunder.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Disclaimer- Christians that don't agree with magic should not read this book. For me personally I read the series thinking of the magic as something that made the series unique. I also know that some people practice magic, I do not support magic in the real world. Harry and his friend also did some things that I feel Christians shouldn't support, lying, breaking rules, plotting revenge, and stealing are some of the common things that did happened in the book that I don't agree with.

Harry isn't normal, he lives under the stairs at his Aunt and Uncles house, where he is treated more like a slave then a nephew. When Harry receives his first birthday letter he learns that his father and mother were wizards! And that he can train to be a wizard too! He can leave his miserable life with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley!
When he arrives at “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry” Harry is automatically the popular kid and quickly makes enemies because of it. On top of making new friends, fending off enemies, and schoolwork, Harry finds himself wrapped up in a mystery that includes the evilest of dark wizards who killed his parents when he was a baby. There is evil a foot, unbreakable banks are being robbed, mirrors are not telling the truth, and no one knows who will help bring He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back from the near dead.

After hearing so much about this series I finally just picked them up. I was pleasantly surprised. The first book in the series is rather light hearted with an excellent plot that had many twists, red herrings and humor.

Harry is well developed and was easy to attach too, I took instant pity on him as I saw what he had to grow up with for “family”.  Harry quickly showed that even with his unusual history he just wants to be a normal boy. Sadly no one will let him be that, so he must compensate and just be ‘the’ Harry Potter famous for something he can’t even remember.
Harry couldn’t have asked for a better pair of sidekicks in his adventure. Ron and Hermione really brightened up the story with Hermione’s know-it-all attitude and Ron’s care free relaxed bearing.
I also loved the supporting characters. Neville I think was my favorite minor character, I feel the same as he does about studies. The teachers were all fitting for the typical teacher style, making it easy for young student readers to relate to the mysterious Hogwarts School.
Lastly I enjoyed the way J.K. Rowling had a minor enemy that was front and foremost in the story’s plot and a major villain that is plotting destruction in the background. This made the book have a good ending with the minor villain but kept the series going with questions for the next books.

For the world I thought Rowling could have added more. The only real description of Hogwarts is basically, “A castle looming on a mountain surrounded by a black lake.” Rarely will I complain about a book not having enough description but I feel a little extra would have helped. Later in the series the description adds up so you can almost see Hogwarts but for a first book it was weak.

Now I had heard about the game Quidditch before, but had no clue about what it was. After learning about it the Quidditch matches they quickly became some of my favorite scenes. The game Quidditch it gave me a feeling of a real school, with popular jocks and fans.

So minus the facts about Harry's poor moral choices the book is easily worth a B. If Harry had kept strong moral character the book would have been a A+ easily.

B

Dragonspell by Donita K. Paul

A dragon egg is in the clutches of an evil wizard, Risto. Paladin and his followers know that if the egg is hatched within Risto's clutches destruction will befall that land of Amara. Paladin must rely on a slave girl turned servant, who has an extraordinary gift. Just this child isn't a warrior, she knows nothing of the world beyond the village she served in as a slave. How can she fight evil wizards, find a hidden treasure and expect to raise minor dragons?
Kale has already started her journey, following a planned path she is looking for adventure as a servant in the capital city Vendela. When she is told that she is suppose to follow a couple of strangers into a bog looking for a wizard that doesn't want to found, battle an evil wizard and raise minor dragons she doesn't think she can handles it all. Will this naive girl survive the dangerous path she needs to follow and trust in Wulder?

Kale is the main character of Dragonspell, she was very well developed growing throughout the book in a realistic manor. With her history as a servant showing through everything she does it was easy to understand her. She learned a lot throughout the book, growing from and ignorant slave girl that doesn't understand companions and friendship, to a quester who is looking forward to learning as much as she can about the world around her.
There were many characters in this book, though not to many that I got them confused. I enjoyed all of them. They were all unique in their own way; Dar and his flashy antics, Leetu as she learned to lead, Fenworth with his nonsense talk, and little Gymn fainting throughout the book, as well as everyone else had some special feature that I loved.

For the world, Amara is probably one of my favorite fantasy worlds. With minor dragons, the 7 high and low races, the bogs, mountains and the history made Amara feel like it was a real place. The magic was well placed and didn’t over bear the book, but still was needed for the plot. The minor dragons really made the world stand out, with their adorable hobbies that had me laughing.

Plot was fine, slightly slow at times because it would wander from the main plot line. I feel this is okay though, it gave us more insight into the world and characters as well as taught many lessons about character development.
The book could have been read like it had two main plots, find the meech egg and teach Kale. I liked this because it made the book more interesting. With only one plot the book would have been very similar to many other books, the underlying plot gave a certain flare, which made Dragonspell more memorable.

All in all I feel this book was a good lighthearted and humorous read to enjoy with my busy life. 

A

Thank you Waterbrook for giving me this reviewers copy.

Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis

Billy and his family are rather normal, but when a crazy man starts to hunt them. Billy learns he had been lied to his whole life. His dad really is a dragon, forced to change into human form to avoid getting killed by slayers that will forever hunt him and his offspring. While Billy and his family are running from a maniac guy with a sword, Billy is trying to learn how to trust his family again and learn the truth.
Bonnie is a loner; living in the foster care system sure doesn’t help. She can’t trust anyone, because telling the wrong person the truth might get her killed. Living like life is normal is hard, but with her strange condition it is next to impossible to make friends and live a common life.

Together they will fight for their lives and discover that they have to rely on each other to survive.

I thought the characters were descent, maybe to cut and paste for my taste. Bonnie is a orphan who is looking for a place to fit in. Billy a middle of the road guy between cool and dorky that likes to draw and hang with his best friend, Walter. I would have liked a bit more diversity and distinction between them. The fact that all the characters fit into stereo-type cut outs society uses to describe people was boring, since people are not cut and paste in real life. 
As for the villain I think that he was flat. He was described as insane, that fits him to a tea. We never understand why he has such a hatred for the dragons, just that he does. I have read many books and feel this villain was one of the weakest I have ever read.

The plot was alright, it had a good opening chapter and kept the pace up for the rest of the book. There were a couple lags but since the book is 371 pages long it was paced well enough to keep me interested. The book is based off of King Arthur mythology, just with a twist. dragons are real, and living in the modern world. I liked this idea, and feel that in the long run Davis pulled it off very well.

One of my biggest down falls is with Billy and Bonnie’s romance thing. I say “thing” because their ages aren’t given in the book but from the way they act they aren’t old enough to be dating or seriously thinking of marriage. For some reason they both fall in love with each other in the book during battles and running from the bad guys. I feel with the stress they were going through, falling into each others arms isn’t a good way to have their friendship go. It was very unrealistic, and came off corny. 

Raising Dragons is a good book for fantasy lovers and younger readers, not bad but not great.

C+

Thank you to Living Ink books for providing me with this review copy.

Beyond the Dead Forest by Steve Groll

Partners looking for adventure, that is what Kat and Carter’s relationship is like. When a mysterious forest shows up that only they can see, they know a real adventure just might have arrived. On one of their excursions to learn what lies within the woods they meet a man who will send them on a mission that might kill them.  But if they survive the challenges the Dead Forest has for them they will end up with some of the greatest treasures known to man.

I really enjoyed this book. The lessons that “Beyond the Dead Forest” contains I feel makes it a must have on every private or public school library shelf in America and beyond.

Kat and Carter are wonderfully created. They are two 12 year olds that have grown up together in their neighborhood. Both love adventure and both have family problems; together they help each other to deal with it. Kat’s father left the family and her mother is trying to be both a mother and a father to Kat. Carter’s parents fight a lot and seem to forget their son in the other room when they are mad.
The kids attitudes through the  book suited their age. They had real fears and made common mistakes like any 12 year old would. The difference with Kat and Carter is that they learned from their mistakes.   

The plot of the book didn’t dilly-dally with background information, which I love. There where flashbacks and conversations that helped fill-in any missing details about the partners pasts. The adventure couldn’t have started any quicker, I was promptly pulled into the troubles the two children had to deal with. Thinking, “What would I have done?” through the challenges really made this book something I could bring into my day to day life. “Beyond the Dead Forest” taught basic lessons like the people rule, running with the herd and loving your enemy. 
Now the middle of the book did drag and I had to make myself read it at times but the ending picked it up, making the book overall a decent pace.

I like this book it reminds me of a cross between “Phantom Tollbooth” and “Pilgrim’s Progress”. I highly recommend it for people of all ages. It is humorous, creepy, entertaining, insightful and so much more.

Also, I had the privilege to receive the book on CD and I just wanted to add that the reader did a wonderful job bringing the book to life. 

B

Beyond the Dead Forest by Steve Grolls Give-away! (closed)

Steve Groll, author of Beyond the Dead Forest has kindly donated a copy of his book to give-away. He is willing to personalize Beyond the Dead Forest to the lucky winner. This give-away will be open through June 30th 11:59pm (central).
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Leave a comment below telling me what you have done on the following list.
The review for Beyond the Dead Forest will be posted in a couple days. Thank you Mr. Groll

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Ale Boy's Feast by Jeffrey Overstreet

Thank you Waterbook Publisher for giving me this book to review.
They’re on the move. Tabor Jan is leading his people through the dangerous forest of Fraughtenwood. Trying to lead them the way their king would have, if he wasn’t missing.
Mean while Queen Thesera and her children Partayn, and Cyndere are discussing ways they might be able to help the beastmen trapped in the curse. 
Ale Boy is lost in the core of Cent Regus, vainly searching for survivors in the slaughter the beastmen made of his people. And the Seers haven’t given up yet, new creatures and dangers are hiding waiting for their bidding. The Expanse as they know it is turning against them, and no one knows how to stop it.

For me this book was long, and I’ll take some of the blame for not liking it. Due to a busy life I was forced to spread the book out over 3 weeks. With the time lapses I had between reading I am sure I missed and forgot quite a few important details that would have helped me enjoy the book more.

With that said I’ll go into character development. Jeffrey Overstreet did a great job showing us everyone’s true colors in this book. Toward the end I felt like I didn’t know a lot of the people in the book, that is how much they changed. I am still debating whether I like this or not. People I trusted seemed to turn, while people I felt should have been dangerous became heroes.  Ale boy, and a few others remained steady, people to cling to as the Expanse changed.

As I said above the plot was slow, I was hoping for a big climaxed ending and was disappointed to see it curve to its height of thrill. The last 50 pages of this book were the best in the series though, as far as action goes.
Another thing that I didn’t fully understand, are a few of the character wrap-ups. Some people it seems Overstreet just had to finish up, so he came up with the easiest way to do that, (Spoiler) killing them off. (End of Spoiler)  Now I don’t mind that too much but I got the feeling the series wasn’t as well planed as it could have been. Almost like the ending was rushed.
Now this book is sold to a Christian Market and I think that some people might not see the Christian teachings in the series. They are very evident toward the end but you have a long wait to see the lessons the series teaches.
I guess it was a good ending and had a lot of interesting twists in the last 50 pages. Just with some threads left untied I have a bitter-sweet after taste of this book. Sweet because it was a series worth reading, bitter because the ending wasn’t all I had hoped it to be.

 B

 Final Notice: this is the last book in the series. Even though the author has an overview in the beginning of this book you really must read the entire series to understand this world and the people. Read, Auralia’s Colors, Cyndere’s Midnight and Raven’s Ladder before you read Ale Boy’s Feast. I made the mistake of trying to read the series out of order and was forced to go back to read everything else before I finished this book. 

Raven's Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet

House Abascar is living on the bare rocks of Barnashum, wondering when they might leave this desolate place. Their king keeps telling them soon then he suddenly vanishes. Should they trust him and his belief in a "made-up" creature, even as the ground is falling out from under them? Bel Amica is losing it's grip on reality, following the Seers and their ways blindly, doing as they want and not caring about repercussions for their actions. The houses are slowly falling while hidden enemies are strengthening. Doom is looming.

This book was better then Cyndere’s Midnight but still not as good as Auralia’s Colors. The very beginning was good, sadly it took a turn for the downright weird. Powders and potions, legends coming to life, as well a variety of confusing religions are created in this story. If you want to read this as a causal read then I don’t recommend it for you. Everything in Raven’s Ladder is in-depth, many character points of view, a plethora of creatures, plots, sub-plots and theological ideas are enclosed in this book. I had trouble keeping people, places and things straight. At times I spent pages going, “Now you are?”

The characters are okay here as well. I feel this book, unlike Auralia’s Colors and Cyndere’s Midnight, was based more on plot. Which is good, the author has had two books to set up the characters and worlds so this one needed to be about the plot. The plot for this book was faster then Cyndre’s Midnight but it still isn’t a page turner. I know that fast pace isn’t Overstreet’s style but slow doesn’t help me to get through this book as I would like.

This story teaches what life is like when a group of people looked out only for themselves, greedy and careless. I like the fact that Overstreet used his book to teach this and I hope that Ale Boy’s Feast, the next book in the series, will follow up on this idea.  

It was a good book with a catching intro, a dragging middle that then sped up for a interesting ending. If you have read other books by Jeffrey Overstreet you will like this one by him.

C+

As I final note, this is the third book in the series. You cannot tell this by the cover art and this is a series you cannot read out of order. Read Auralia’s Colors and Cyndere’s Midnight before reading this book or Ale Boy’s Feast.

Cyndere’s Midnight by Jeffrey Overstreet

House Abascar is regrouping after the traumatic quake, slowly one by one people are finding out who lived and who died in the kingdom. Turning from Abascar “Cyndere’s Midnight” focuses on House Bel Amica’s princess as she goes though hardships most people can’t even dream of dealing with. Trying to run from the power hungry Seers and get some time to think Cyndere goes to a secluded fort. Slipping out of her room at night she goes to a clearing, there she is nearly killed by a beastman. But this beast is more of a man then the others of his race. Could Cyndere’s dream of saving the beastman from their curse come true with this creature?

This book wasn’t nearly as good as the last book in the series. Now Cyndere and the others were created well, but I didn’t feel like I could relate to her, or the others like I did last time. A big thing I had trouble with is something called the Keeper, it is designed to be a mystery to pull you through the book but I found it annoying. We know of this thing and having everything dragged out and learning nothing got really old, fast.  

A friend described the book as a modern “Beauty and the Beast” and it was. The plot was predicable, to the point it was slow. Sadly, I feel asleep reading this book twice (at times I was NOT sleep deprived). I just couldn’t get into this story, something that didn’t help was the multiple perspectives and then the fact everyone was on slightly different times. This made the book very confusing, Ale Boy might be two days behind Cal-raven, while Cyndere was hours ahead of Krawg’s time line. It just had me baffled.  

Something I would like to point out, this is the second book in the series. By looking at the cover art you would have no idea it is part of a series. The cover says “A Novel” like it should stand alone, yet you couldn’t pick this book up and understand what is going on without reading “Auralia’s Colors”. This was a huge problem I have with the books in general.

Now this book was interesting just very, very slow. I couldn’t get into it, but since Auralia’s Colors was good I’ll continue on in the series. 

C

Breath of Angel by Karyn Henley

Thank you to WaterBrook Blogging for Books program for allowing me to read  the advanced copy of this book!

A weary stranger walks into temple courtyard looking for shelter, suddenly he is attacked and killed by a giant black bird. At the man’s vigil a stranger starts to speak of an ancient debt that needs to be paid. Melaia quickly learns stories are not just stories. On top of this new discovery she is forced leave her home and go to a near by kingdom to play her harp for an ailing king. Stepping out of the temple she starts to learn things she never dreamed of, and face choices that will make or break this world.

Melaia is an young priestess who is gifted in medicine, music, and a few more interesting things. She has traits like honestly, curiosity, trustworthiness, impulsive, headstrong, kindness and more. When she steps out of her sheltered world she faces many challenges and discoveries; she also is forced to trust a group of people, err angels.  I liked her, she was human by the fact she knew almost nothing, she started as an innocent young girl and ends up enlightened women.
Then there is Trevin who is questionable at times making him a character I want to trust but can't, he was wonderfully written. The angels and everyone else was unique and crafted exceptionally well.

The plot always seemed to be a twist or turn or piece of insight. This made the book very quick and gripping but slightly confusing at times with all the information. Karyn also isn’t an over descriptive writer, at times there were gaps or misunderstandings in the description. I don't know if they'll be fixed by the time the book is mass published. It was nearly to the point that I feel there wasn't enough description, a first for me. Still, I am someone who would rather fill in blanks and have a short book over having every description “spoon feed” to me and have a very long boring book. Yet the world and races where easily explained in the 277 pages. 

 In closing I loved this book, it was much better then I thought it would be. I can’t wait for “Blood of Man” the next book is this series. As well as any other books by Karyn Henley. 

A+ 

The Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers

Thank you to Water Brook's Blogging for Books program for giving me this book to review.

Showbiz! Grady is on tour with Professor Floyd, the local Feechie Show Master. Grady and Floyd travel from city to city putting on shows were Grady is the only "real" Feechie in the civil world. But when the show losses it's attraction to the public they must making a living some other way.

Grady was a good character. I think he could be fondly liked by underdog and big-timer alike. With him being an orphan, his all around ugly looks, and his only "friend" being a grouch everyone is sure to take pity on the boy.

Since the book is in first person the fact that Grady hasn't been to a school shows. Rogers wrote the book like anyone without a formal education would. Ain't that odd? I think Rogers broke every rule in the English language at some point in the book. I know it was an attempt to make the book realistic but I couldn't read it without getting a headache.

The plot was all around slow for me. It took me a week to read this book; normally a book about this size would take a couple days. I didn't really understand what Rogers goal for the plot was till the last 100 pages or so. Though on the last 100 pages the book picked up and then the last 20 pages he made this book even better. He had a nice happy ending for this over all sad story.

Rogers' did a good job on making a book I think a lot of people will enjoy. It just wasn't for me.

C

Swords of the Six by Scott Appleton

Six masters of six swords, five turned but one stayed true. Murder has stained the clean blades designed to protect the land. When the strongest of the men fall, when there is no known hope for their world, a lone dragon and prophet are secretly hoping that the dragon's offspring will save their world.  Six dragon daughters in human flesh, who have a sixth sense, through them their world must be saved.

When I heard about this book a year ago I wanted to read it, back then the basic idea sounded cool to me. Was I ever wrong! I know as a reviewer I should stick to, "If you can't say anything nice don't say it at all", well I got this book from Living Ink Publishers so I have to write this review.

Dantress, is the youngest of the six dragon sisters. She is the special child, she is more powerful than her sisters, she is the favorite of their father, so she never got in trouble for breaking the rules, she is the only one who can save the world. This didn't flow at all, Scott, as a male, didn't write a good female main character, I didn't connect with Dantress at all.

There are also all her sisters, even at the end of the book I still didn't know who was who. I knew Carithra was the oldest and Dantress the youngest, other than that I couldn't tell you a thing about the other sisters. The only character that was okay I felt was a minor character, Specter.

Appleton did something that drove me nuts. Swords of the Six has useless information, a lot of it. I didn't need to know the seating arrangement of the room, or the family ties of people who don't show up in the book again. Or, even though I loved the fairies, that the fairy tree has four families in it and that such and such race is unique because of blah blah blah.

Also one page is repeated three times. Like Appleton literally copy and pasted one page three times. I just skipped that page after the first time. It wasn’t a publishing error, but it did save me from reading two more pages of this book.

The plot was choppy at best, the first 100 pages had no long lasting plot. A war, girls getting raised, trip to the woods ect. I felt like in the first 100 pages at least 20 could have been cut out. The next 100 pages were the best, the girls are sent on a lone mission. They meet challenges and battled, all in all it was good. Then of the last 100 pages, at least 50 of those pages could have been cut. It was a useless battle, and background information that could have waited to be learned in the next book. There was so much filler and by product in this book that I lost track of the plot idea, it was almost non-existent.

What there was of the plot was also full of mystery and prophecies. Much wasn’t clarified.  I spent pages going, "Huh? What is going on here?", "What is the point of that?", and "What just happened?". It wasn't described properly.  What needed insight was left dark, and useless info was made painfully clear. Some chapters I just gave up trying to understand.

The world was the only thing that Scott got half way right, a few neat creatures, a couple interesting lands, but it was all shadowed by the rest of the book. He also had things that made me literally stop and laugh. I think hunting with swords, waffles in a fantasy land, sword fighting in dresses, learning sword fighting with sharp swords, and birds doing the dishes are just a little out there. (even for fantasy)

This book was so hard to read that I read it in 2-10 page sittings, and then I would treat myself with dessert, or a game, or another good book before I would continue reading this book. Appleton is said to have a unique writing style. True. Unique by how bad it was. I don’t know if I am going to read the next book in this series.

D

The Wolf of Tebron by C.S. Lakin

Thanks to Living Ink Publishers for giving me this book to review.

Joran is a simple black smith, but when his wife vanishes for apparently no reason he feels guilty. He will attempt traveling to the 4 corners of the earth to find her with only a lone wolf to guide him.   

As soon as I started reading this book I was enchanted. With bright, colorful, and diverse characters you will smile or even laugh out loud at their charisma.
Joran is realistic, he deals with the faults that everyone does, anger, loneliness, fear, despair and much more. He will connect to everyone in any part of his walk through life. Ruyah  is there to help Joran with this journey. Ruyah is a wise wolf who spouts advice that is so true it is annoying, yet at times he acts like a giant puppy.  The secondary characters were enjoyable and thought provoking. Lakin did a nice job with all of the characters in this book, making everyone special.

The plot wasn’t action packed, which I found it relaxing. Since “The Wolf of Tebron” is about 250 pages long I felt it didn’t need to have a very fast plot to get me through it. It was an enjoyable read. At times though, it did seem as if the plot was starting to feel a little repetitive. Just as I was about to really get tired of it the plot changed. I was amazed at the timing. She gave flashbacks when needed, gives insight when wanted and covered great topics in “The Wolf of Tebron”. The lessons she covered in this book are so wide that I can’t even write down most of them. I will have to re-read this book to get a better understanding of only the lessons in this book.  To me this book is more like a long parable than the title “Fairy Tale” given on the cover.

I didn’t have any problem with this but I would like to notify you that this book includes magic, and something some might miss interpret as ideas of ‘mother earth’.  The way it was done was fine, maybe a little confusing but still good. 

I really enjoyed this book, it was fresh, entertaining, humorous, thought provoking and all around great.   

A

Masters & Slayers by Bryan Davis

Thanks to Living Ink Books for giving me this book to review. 

Masters & Slayers is about a young-man, it is also the story of a young-woman. Together they will travel to another world to search for his missing brother who left months ago, they will search for her mother's killer after he has been loose for years. They will look for a lost population, stolen by dragons to be their slaves. Though this book is based about searching it has a lot more to it. 

I was expecting a lot from this book by Bryan Davis. I had never read one of his adult books and was ready for a grand adventure. Sadly though I had my hopes too high.

Davis starts out in a tournament ring and after the first paragraph I almost put the book down.
What he did in the first paragraph set what the rest of the book would be like. He was going to make the main character perfect and then the female characters wimps. Sadly I was right, Adrian Masters, the main character would be just like all of Davis' others. Perfect, he can’t make a mistake. I understand where Davis comes from but I just don't like it.  Everyone falls so I got tired of Adrian always making the right choice.
Mean while, Marcelle the main female character couldn’t do anything right. She is a warrior whom I grew to like. I was disappointed when I noticed that Davis would build her up to be a clever fighter, then he would throw her back down by having her make a mistake, or lose the fight, it was always her fault. She is a warrior but Davis made her seem like an inferior weakling. I do fencing so that irritated me, a lot.
While the other main female was manipulative impulsive, conniving, and self centered.

The plot was slow, an A-typical love triangle, a corrupt government, an underground group. For me the biggest problem was the beginning, like I said above Davis’ opening chapter was ok. Then he spent the next 100 pages filling you in on the characters background, I felt like he was forcing them on us. Telling us everything we would need to know for the rest of the book, if he would have taught us throughout the book it would have been an easier start and not overwhelm me so much. After the first 100 pages though it did pick up.

Now I will give Davis a pat on the back, I understood all that was going on. Davis kept things more down to earth then he normally does but still kept his “different spirit” feel throughout.
I also have to say this book is the best cover art Bryan Davis has ever had! I love the cover.

Davis doesn't write a lot of adult books, and to me this book was a lot like his teen books, just a bit more intense.  It was good but not excellent. 

C

Starlighter by Bryan Davis

Once long ago there was a land, this land was inhabited by dragons. One day a mighty dragon realized that their race was slowly dieing. He learned that he needed to find a new land or slaves to mine for a very important gas, so he, and the rest of his race could live. He searched and found a land that had humans, he took a few of them back to his world to work for him.
The story of Starlighter is about the people taken by the dragon and the people left behind.

I was disappointed with this book. After reading over 10 of Bryan Davis’s other books this one just seemed to blend in with the rest. The land had the same feel as any of his other series, even though it was different. The only way I can describe the world is Star Wars crossed with Rome.

I think I am finally learning why I don't like Bryan Davis’s books, the characters. They are either flat or perfect. The best fighter in he world, the honorable gentleman, the kind hearted girl that studies everything dutifully. Now I will admit that I am not perfect, so reading about these perfect people bore me. I mean even the liar never lied. I know everything will turn out right in the end so why do I care what happens to them now? It will all be okay. Since the characters are already near perfect not a lot of character development is open, which I feel hurt the plot.
With dragons, there is a point were everyone will say, they are too human. I found it in this book. Please don't get me wrong I love smart dragons just this is overboard for me. The dragon made a debate, the dragon bowed, the dragon is kind hearted. Ummmmm okey... Great! More people, just they are in dragon bodies.

The plot is unique, just like all of Bryan Davis’s plots. The finger, the romance, portals, mind bending puzzles, odd creatures, ‘twas very Davis style.

Now this book is good if you just want something entertaining to read, but I won’t go out and buy it.

C+