Larcout (Fire Born, Blood Blessed Book 1) by K.A. Krantz #SPFBO
Larcourt was my fourth book for the SPFBO. It’s a very unusual premise with a strange mix of characters and political intrigue taking the centre stage. I think this was a good book and I really liked the central character but it does become a little bogged down in the middle with so many characters being thrown into the mix and an awful lot of dialogue.
The book centres around a character called Vadrigyn. Vadrigyn lives amongst the Morsam, a strange race of non humans. With fire in their veins they are a race driven to conflict. Their natural inclination is to slaughter and destroy and for this they are imprisoned by the Gods on the island known as Agenworld where war is the only constant. Vadrigyn is of mixed race, her mother Ephinnia was a witch of the Jewelled Nation whose ability robs individuals of their free will simply by touch. She bewitched one of the Morsam and Vadrigyn was the result. That Vadrigyn has survived so long with not only the conflict within her own blood but also amongst such destructive creatures is a testament in itself and gives you an immediate idea of the tough streak that runs through her.
At the start of the story Vadrigyn is cast from Agenworld and thrust into the political world of Larcourt. A test by the Gods to see if she can rule her own mixed nature and pass the Trial of Identify. This is a little bit like going from the frying pan into the fire because whilst she may have escaped the harsh and cruel island she was raised on she is now thrust amongst a highly political city where the dangers are every bit as real – if not worse – for the fact that your would-be assassins wear smiles on their faces and would court your favour whilst stabbing you in the back! On top of this Vadrigyn’s mother is an outcast and hated by all Larcourtians – so as well as struggling to fit into society, learn about the magic she possesses, and not kill the people trying to help her by inadvertently touching them and causing their death, Vadrigyn must also try and uncover events from the past.
Vadrigyn is a great character. A natural warrior, bold and fearless, she also has natural gifts that enhance her ability and make her much more dangerous than a human could ever be. I couldn’t help liking her although she certainly isn’t a warm character there is something very endearing in her frank and open demeanour and the almost childlike naivete that lead her to speak her mind on occasions where she might be served better by holding her tongue. At the start of the story, when we first meet Vadrigyn I suspected that this was going to be a book where we were simply told how fearless and indestructible she was whilst witnessing events that belied the fact – but, I’m pleased to say I was wrong in that respect. Vadrigyn is undoubtedly a tough cookie – she hides many of her strengths once she enters Larcourt as she is very dangerous to all humans, with the ability to simply kill them by touch (I liked this – almost a strange play on her mother’s talent – one can compel by touch, one can kill). I think the one thing that did give me pause for thought was at first I wondered why she played along with events but having finished the book things do become a lot clearer. Yes, she could have wielded her own power much more destructively, she could have killed indiscriminately and basically she probably could have taken over Larcourt with ease but this is all part of the test.
I thought the world was equally fascinating and horrible. These people fancy themselves civilised and yet they behave as bad (if not worse) than the Morsam. The Morsam embrace their own ways, they revel in it and would probably bathe in the blood of their victims, laughing all the while. The Larcourtians hide behind a thin veneer of civility, they treat their women as little more than chattel, they use their magic to steel free will and they have some of the most detestably cruel ways. Oddly fascinating, compelling and annoying to read of.
The plot almost turns into a ‘whodunnit’ with Vadrigyn trying to uncover the truth from the past whilst others try to bury it – quite literally beneath the desert that surrounds the city.
I did enjoy this, it was intriguing, but I had some issues. The opening chapters were a riot of confusion. You do have to stick with it a little and just go with the flow because eventually things do clear up – unfortunately, just as you’re getting to grips with one culture you find yourself plucked out of that setting and dumped into another, much more complicated one. Obviously the start of the book is the backdrop to Vadrigyn’s nature and I understand what the author is trying to do – it’s just a little over complicated and sometimes difficult to envision.
I think Vadrigyn’s introduction at court becomes very long winded and a little bit tedious to read about with countless characters, factions, family obligations and different forms of magic. I would have preferred it if these things had been left to develop a little more naturally as the book progressed. As it is it felt a little bit like cramming for a history exam which detracted from the enjoyment of reading. There was also quite a lot of dialogue which just felt clunky somehow.
I have to confess though – I loved this main character and in fact she is, for me, the saviour of the story. I think this could benefit from a little culling, some more refinement in terms of dialogue and a little bit of honing to keep the plot more focused but it’s still a good read, an unusual world and a compelling political intrigue.
My 2nd book: Final Stage: #SPFBO 16
8 December 2016
Filed under #SPFBO, Book Reviews
Tags: #SPFBO 16, Dyrk Ashton, Final Stage, Paternus
November 1st saw the start of the second stage of the SPFBO – the Self Published Fantasy Blog off organised by Mark Lawrence. All the details can be found here.
Today I’m highlighting the second book that I will be reading for the SPFBO. All the books have been drawn randomly and the second out of the hat was: Paternus by Dark Ashton. (The synopsis below taken from Goodreads):
The gods and monsters of myth have returned. In a breathtaking story that takes place in a single day, two ordinary humans are caught up in the final battle of a war that’s been waged since the dawn of time.
Gods, monsters, angels, devils. Call them what you like. They exist. The epic battles between titans, giants, and gods, heaven and hell, the forces of light and darkness. They happened. And the war isn’t over.
17 year old Fi Patterson lives with her stuffy English uncle and has an internship at a local hospital for the aged. She doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, misses her dead mother, wonders about the father she never knew. One bright spot is caring for Peter, a dementia-ridden old man whose faraway smile can make her whole day. And there’s her conflicted attraction to Zeke — awkward, brilliant, talented — who plays guitar for the old folks.
Then a group of very strange and frightening men show up for a “visit”…
Fi and Zeke’s worlds are shattered as their typical everyday concerns are suddenly replaced by the immediate need to stay alive — and they try to come to grips with the unimaginable reality of the Firstborn.
“Keep an open mind. And forget everything you know…”
Paternus has been called “American Gods meets The Lord of the Rings,” and claimed to be reminiscent of Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light as well as Clive Barker’s Weaveworld.
Contemporary Fantasy / Mythic-Fiction. New Adult Fiction – as opposed to Teen or YA, though savvy 16 or 17 year olds might survive without permanent damage.
Book No 1: Shadow Soul by Caitlyn Davis. Review here.
The Shadow Soul by Kaitlyn Davis #SPFBO
5 December 2016
Filed under #SPFBO, Book Reviews
Tags: Kaitlyn Davis, SPFBO, The Shadow Soul
The Shadow Soul is the first of my books for the final stage of the SPFBO. I confess that I’ve been prevaricating over this review, I finished the book over a week ago but my thoughts were a bit of a jumble. On the one hand I think this is a good story as far as action and adventure goes, albeit not one that I loved, and also, in fairness to the author, probably aimed at a much younger audience, but then I found myself with a number of niggles along the way. Anyway, a little about the book first.
We start off by making the acquaintance of Jinji on what is one of the most important days for a young female of the Arpapajo tribe. Jinji is about to go through a rite of passage during which she will pass from a child into womanhood and be partnered with a young warrior named Maniuk. No longer will her hair flow freely but instead remain permanently plaited as befits her new status. I must admit that I thought the opening scenes were really quite engaging. I enjoyed learning a little of the tribe and their rituals and Jinji is an honest and intriguing narrator. It was endearing to read her thoughts and concerns over whether she was really ready for such a big step. Unfortunately, on the same day, before Jinji (or the reader for that matter) has any more time for reflection, disaster strikes, a shadow falls over her home and her entire tribe and home is destroyed.
We also make the acquaintance of Rhen. Rhen is a young prince. As we meet up with him he seems to be running from his kingdom and making his way into the woods and further afield. Stories of unmarked ships seen off the coast and other rumours of unrest have spurred the Prince into action. He comes across the burnt village of the Arpapajo tribe and finds one survivor, barely alive, Jinji.
Now, what we gather as the story progresses to this stage is that both of the above named have magical abilities. Jinji’s magic basically enables her to create images that appear to be real. Rhen’s magic gives him an affinity with fire that draws him to naked flames and allows him to manipulate them. The next concept I really liked. It put me in mind of the story of the Prince and the pauper – well, not quite, but, similar(ish). Rhen has switched his attire so he no longer looks like a Prince and Jinji has created an image that portrays her as a young boy (in fact the brother who was so cruelly stolen from her family a few years ago). So, firstly, the two of them are in disguise, secondly they’re both hiding their magic from the other and finally, although they agree to team up they’re actually pursuing different aims. Jinji searches for the shadow that she has seen in her dreams and that she believes killed her family, Rhen searches for proof that his kingdom is under threat of war to prove himself to his family.
The setting is the Kingdom of Whylkin. The land was conquered many moons ago by Whyl the Conqueror, he united all the kings of the country under his banner spreading his rule far and wide and even going so far as to enforce all the inhabitants of the kingdom to speak using one common tongue. Across the ocean lies the Kingdom of Ourthuro. It seems that unrest is stirring abroad, people are looking with covetous eyes and potential plots are being hatched.
So, why did I have mixed feelings for this book.
In terms of what I liked. The author has a very easy to read style of writing. I think it’s quite well executed. I enjoyed the switch in POV and there are some very interesting concepts. I thought the start was very good and pulled me into the story well and I particularly enjoyed Jinji and her tribe – in fact I must admit that I was disappointed that the entire tribe were wiped out quite so efficiently.
However, it just felt for me that something was lacking in terms of both the world and the character building. I didn’t really have a good feel for the place and it felt a little like there were gaps that I couldn’t reconcile. There are a number of adventures as the story progresses but none of the threats involved ever felt real and in fact any sort of dangerous situation was fairly quickly resolved. On top of that I wasn’t really enamoured with Rhen. In fact, I didn’t like him (I won’t elaborate but a number of his actions gave me pause for thought). He seems to have some sort of romantic notion about heroics and adventure that give him the rather foolish notion that he’s a spy. He rushes around the countryside and even across the oceans seeking out proofs of his own ability and actually putting lots of other people at risk in the process.
Jinji’s character is much more likable I must confess. I liked her chapters much more although at the point when she started to find herself becoming attracted to Rhen – well, I’m sorry but I really do have to question her judgement over that one in fact I find it a little bit unbelievable that she would do so. That aside, yes, I liked Jinji and probably would have enjoyed this more if it was told in just her perspective as it might have allowed me to see a different side to Rhen and maybe understand why she started to like him.
In fairness to the book and the author, as I said above, I didn’t dislike this and also I think it is aimed at a much younger audience so I really hope this doesn’t come across as overly critical. It just didn’t work for me as I had too many unanswered queries that pulled me out of the plot and stopped me enjoying the characters as I would have liked.
Final Batch of books: My first book #SPFBO
19 November 2016
Filed under #SPFBO, Book Reviews
Tags: #1 A Dance of Dragons, #SPFBO 2016, Kaitlyn Davis, Mark Lawrence, The Shadow Soul
November 1st saw the start of the second stage of the SPFBO – the Self Published Fantasy Blog off organised by Mark Lawrence. All the details can be found here.
There can be only one – could be the catchphrase for this competition. We started off with 300 books and 10 bloggers. Each blogger was assigned 30 books and chose one to take forward into the next round. For the final stage each blogger will now read and rate the books selected by the other 9 bloggers and when the ratings are jotted up hopefully we will have an outright winner.
I am really looking forward to this stage – there are some great looking books put forward into this round and I’m excited to pick them up. As with round one, my book order has been chosen at random (basically numbers drawn from a hat – I’m not kidding) and as for the first stage I’m going to spotlight each book before I read it followed by my review upon completion.
So, the first book out of the hat was:
The Shadow Soul (A Dance of Dragons #1) by Kaitlyn Davis – synopsis from Goodreads copied below. This certainly sounds intriguing ‘an age of myth that is about to be reborn’ – not to mention ‘perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Kristin Cashore, and Tamora Pierce!’ Strong praise indeed. The story is told in alternating male/female POVs – I’m keen to see how that works out and basically with the above comparisons – I can’t wait to dive in.
Described as ‘a solid YA fantasy’ this entry was put forward by Fantasy Literature:
From bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis comes a fantasy adventure perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Kristin Cashore, and Tamora Pierce! Told in alternating male and female perspectives, THE SHADOW SOUL has been hailed as “an amazing start to a new series that is going to have people of all ages wanting so much more.” (Happy Tails & Tales Reviews)
When Jinji’s home is destroyed, she is left with nowhere to run and no one to run to–until she meets Rhen, a prince chasing rumors that foreign enemies have landed on his shores. Masquerading as a boy, Jinji joins Rhen with vengeance in her heart. But traveling together doesn’t mean trusting one another, and both are keeping a deep secret–magic. Jinji can weave the elements to create master illusions and Rhen can pull burning flames into his flesh.
But while they struggle to hide the truth, a shadow lurks in the night. An ancient evil has reawakened, and unbeknownst to them, these two unlikely companions hold the key to its defeat. Because their meeting was not coincidence–it was fate. And their story has played out before, in a long forgotten time, an age of myth that is about to be reborn…
Watch this space!
Outpost (The Fylking #1) by F T McKinstry #SPFBOF
Today I’m reviewing my chosen book from the fifth batch of books. For the SPFBO I split my books into 6 batches, each batch having 5 books, with the aim of choosing one favourite book from each and then to pick an overall winner from those final 6 and today’s post is my review of my book from the fifth batch.
Outpost is a well written and absorbing high fantasy story set on the war torn planet of Math. The planet Math, already at war, is about to face it’s biggest threat and whilst the majority of the planet is wrapped up in politics, intrigue and warfare a much more deadly foe threatens its very existence. With an underlying love story (very subtle) and three very unlikely allies McKinstry manages to spin a fascinating tale which I found really quite compelling.
The world building. There’s quite a lot going on here. Thankfully McKinstry doesn’t really hang about – we get a few little history updates along the way but for the most part the world building is delivered as the plot progresses. This certainly is a fascinating place. I won’t go into great depth but the way I understood things the Fylking are immortal warriors from another planet, their enemy is the Niflsekt. Many years ago the Fylking created a portal on the planet Math and they still travel back and forth using that gateway. On the planet Math human seers are chosen as Wardens to protect the portal from demons and other such using it and causing mayhem and destruction. Wardens are taught by the Fylking, who occasionally appear to them in their warrior form but more often than not use the spirit of whatever animal they are aligned to – for example a wolf or a bird – maybe even a spider! Apologies if I’ve over complicated that – and believe me when I say the author does a much better job of setting the scene than I possibly can.
In terms of the characters. We have three main characters who all share a connection. Their tales for the most part are told in separate POV instalments but eventually their paths intertwine as they’re drawn into the story.
Othin, named after the trickster God, is a Ranger. Sworn to protect the people he travels a certain path keeping trouble at bay. He’s definitely a larger than life character, fearsome on the battle field, probably equally as fierce in terms of beer swilling he can come across at first as a bit of a womaniser but in fact this impression is not all there is to him and he’s a character that I really came to like as the story progressed. His men are certainly loyal to him and on top of that he’s finally found the love of a good woman. Unfortunately for Othin he’s also found the eye of a rather scheming young woman, who coincidentally happens to be the daughter of his Lord and Master.
Melisande is a wonderful character which is probably why she captured not only my heart but also that of Othin. She is undoubtedly my favourite of the story. She’s a young woman who lives by herself in a cottage in the woods with her cat and her herbs – she loves Othin and looks forward to his visits. She gets by through bartering her knitted goods with the people from the village. The people of the village vary in their feelings towards her. Some are her friends and would protect her, others keep a civil tongue in exchange for her knitted items (which everyone loves) and some outwardly scorn her and would try to rile up the feelings of the others – it’s a tenuous balance and the pitchforks, torches and cries of ‘witch’ are only a hair’s breadth from being broken out. Is she a witch? Not really, she’s more god touched. Melisande is capable of Pattern Sense and whilst this comes across as a very understated form of magic it is in fact much more powerful than she realises. I loved Pattern Sense – I never envisioned myself writing a review and raving about magic that involves knitting – and yet here I am doing that very thing! What can I say – it just works.
Arcmael was born the son of a Lord, privilege and wealth were his right but unfortunately he didn’t live up to his father’s dreams and, having no natural inclination to become a warrior or fight wars, he was pushed out of the family home. His path eventually led to initiation as a seer/warden and although he steadfastly refuses to pick up a sword he now acts as guardian of one of the Gates.
These three eventually find themselves on paths they never expected. Othin finds himself deserting his post – not out of cowardice but to escape the manipulations of the Lord who commands him and try to return to explain things to Melisande. Meliande (or Milly) is forced to run from her home when the true strength of her magic becomes known and the villages take drastic measures and Arcmael, in frustration, banishes the Fylking from his sight leaving him alone and unprotected on a dangerous road.
There is plenty of action going on in Outpost not to mention lots of ‘otherworld’ type creatures. We have the fae that live in the mists of the forests and the wicked goblins that live below the ground – we also have draugr. Based on old Norse myths the closest I can come to an explanation of them is zombie or revenant. And we have an evil warlord who, using spirits of the dead is animating corpses to form his own diabolical army of draugr.
I must say that I really enjoyed Outpost, it had unique and creative world building, likeable characters, that I was always anxious to return to, and plenty of plot to drive the story forward. The world portrayed is quite a gritty and dark one which is offset by the almost fairytale feel of certain elements of the story and the inclusion of a particular tricky God that I would definitely like to hear more from.
I don’t really have any criticisms as such. I found the ending maybe a little bit rushed – or at least comparatively to the rest of the novel and it was an unexpected ending but that being said this is the first in series and we’re left with some firm ideas of what might happen next. Also, I would quickly point out that there is a particular scene in the book that involves an incident with Millie that could be a potential trigger to some readers. I will stress though that this is not at all gratuitous and is a key part of the story that not only moves her story forward but also sees her character develop and strengthen in quite unexpected ways.
In conclusion, I found this a very enjoyable read with likeable characters living in a well imagined world and I would definitely continue to read more in this series.
Outpost is my chosen book from batch 5.
My books so far:
- Batch 1: Rebel’s Honor by Gwynn White
- Batch 2: Unwilling Souls by Gregory D Little
- Batch 3: As the Crow Flies by Robin Lythgoe
- Batch 4: The Amber Isles by Ashley Capes
- Batch 5: Outpost by F T McKinstry – review to follow
- My book from batch 6 to be forthcoming soon!
I now have my final batch update and chosen book to review – my aim is to post these tomorrow and announce my winner at the same time (although it could potentially slip to Tuesday – ‘the best laid plans, etc, etc’).
Books and travelling with Lynn 