Fantasy Book Reviews

The Shadows Touch, by R. Scott VanKirk, is the sequel to the fantasy novel, The Dryad’s Kiss.  The opening pages of The Shadows Touch picks up right where the first novel left off.

I had the privilege of reviewing the first novel and I enjoyed it immensely so with great anticipation I opened to the first page of the sequel.  Ian Finn Mortgenstern’s, the hero in the first novel, life has not improved much since we last saw him in The Dryad’s Kiss.  His father is residing in the mental institution, Shady Oaks, and so is his best friend’s […]

They built the mound layer by layer, with each layer accepting more of the bones of the fallen. Finally, on top, facing the south and east, they interred the remains of Wahkoceethee the Eagle and Sheshepukwa the Cougar. They buried the fallen warriors with ceremonies of respect and thanks along with their totems. When Anakthepeuke the Rattlesnake died, he would be buried facing the west and the strongest of them all, Mactequeta Bear, in turn would be buried facing the terrible north.  They would take their totems with them so their spirits could tap the power of their totems in

Fans of epic high fantasy are a resilient bunch, having decided long ago to reply to detractors of the genre with, “You read in your world, I’ll read in mine.”

Cephrael’s Hand is Book One in a series called A Pattern of Shadow & Light and is the first novel by Melissa McPhail. Our story is set in the mythical realm of Alorin, three centuries after a massive war which almost wiped out an entire race called the Adepts. A three-continent map of Alorin is included, as are a Glossary of Terms and Dramatis Personae.

I consulted the front matter […]

Book one of the Portals of Destiny is The Chosen, and Shay Fabbro takes reader to five planets with distinct environments, beings, and cultures.  From their prophetic scrolls, the Gentrans know of the horror of the Mekans, planet-invading machines that remove all minerals and resources, essentially killing all inhabitants and rendering a planet lifeless.  And they are coming.

The Gentrans, a water-dwelling race whose description brings to mind a soft, multi-colored sea horse, see hope in a small group of individuals on each of four other planets — Earth, Volgon, Astra and Kromin.  Prophets on Gentra guide the Masters, […]

First impressions are vital with self-published books, especially first novels with few user reviews. Unexpected Destiny has a fairly bland cover, rendered unfortunately dark and murky by Lulu’s printing process on the copy I received. The interior layout is mostly professional-looking, with a few odd formatting choices (most notably in the way non-human dialogue is set, which is not only strange, but inconsistent). Typos are mercifully few, and though I did notice a slight increase the farther I got into the book, I’ve seen much worse in mass-market paperbacks from top publishers.

But I don’t expect you really care that […]