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 Map Across Time by C.S. Lakin

When Sherbourne’s queen dies the king goes insane, shoving his daughter and deformed son away. Trying fill the empty space his wife left he turns into a collectaholic, thinking things will help fill the hole. But greed over takes him, to afford his stuff he raises higher taxes on the poor. Sadly for Sherourne the king’s greed is only an underlying problem. There is a deeper sha’mad, destruction, happening and the only way to fix this qa’lal, or curse, is to go back to where (or when) it started, over 300 years earlier. Will the rejected prince take a risk to gain favor in his father’s eyes and save the kingdom? Who will be the Pa’lat, the Deliverer?

Aletha and Adin are a prince and princess.
Aletha is the older of the two, and it shows through her actions. At a young age she was forced to grow up quickly, to protect her brother and be a leader of the kingdom.
Adin meanwhile is shy.  With his hunched back, scared face and twisted leg he feels like a freak. Gladly letting Aletha take most of the roles the young prince should. Adin had the most character development in the book, he wasn’t the same person in the end. He also over came many troubles, teaching a lesson of perseverance.  
The rest of the characters in “The Map Across Time” are enough to give depth but not overwhelm us. It was like “Goldy Locks and the Three Bears” just right. Not to many and not to few.

This book is over 400 pages and I have to say Lakin did a great job giving description and insight without bogging down the book. Every question is answered, there wasn’t anything unneeded, and the time travel was done excellent. The plot wasn’t overly confusing but it was intricate. The only problem was the plot wasn’t “fast pace”, it was well paced to keep me reading but not “I can’t stop reading this book” fast. Looking back there is nothing I can think of that Lakin could have done to speed the plot up without hurting the book.
Most of the time I think the characters make the book, but this is an exception. The plot in this book is purely amazing, the characters and world just added to it.

Sherbourne was masterfully woven together. There is; history, language (some used above), lands, creatures, even futures in this world.

Great book well worth reading!

A

P.S. Some might read this book and wonder how it is related to Wolf of Tebron, you’ll learn. Just hang in there, it’s near the end.