END OF THE LAST GREAT KINGDOM (THE BRIMSTONE CHRONICLES #1) BY VICTOR ROSE

 

 

 

I really enjoyed this book, I loved how it combined the magic and fantasy of seen in books like Harry Potter with the blood, gore and battles seen in books like Game of Thrones. The overall premise of the book is a race war and young mage "Brimstone" that is the key to ending it. The characters in this book are highly developed, you get their fully backstory and learn what makes them act they way they do. The book is over 300 pages and it just book one in the saga, so even the smallest of characters you are given a little bit of a backstory on them so there is no filler characters each has a specific reason for being in the story. The setting is highly detailed as well and this is very important since the characters are pretty much always traveling.

 

If you are a fan of harry potter, but wanted something way more mature then you will like this novel, but I will say that some may not like this novel since it is VERY similar to harry potter, the first basic similarity is the group, Brimstone, Heat and Neutron.... which as you can see is three just like Harry, Ron and Hermione. Second, both go to magical school, in this book its Central, in Potter is Hogwarts. Third, Brimstone has to search for his fractured soul in order to become strong enough to defeat the order, and in Potter of course he has to locate the different horcrux to defeat the dark lord. But I will say the similarities do end pretty much there and that is because this story is a lot more mature than HP ever was since there is so much death in this book, and the deaths are very detailed and very gory. You have people stabbed in throats, peoples limbs being cut off, and oh you can forget the rotten corpses.

 

So even though this book is focused around young teens, like 13 years old, this book is probably not the best for kids of that age. But as an adult if you wanted a more mature harry potter then this is definitely the book for you.

 

The only real problem I had with the book, is that sometime the different characters and locations can get muddled and confusing of who is who since in the novel peoples name change as they take on new roles so it can be confusing to remember whose storyline you are reading about and the characters travel a lot and they often go to new places and then to places they have already been so the picture of the land gets confusing, so it would be awesome if the author had included a map at the beginning so you could tell the distances between places described in the characters travels. Time is another one that gets a bit confusing, since it is said to take weeks to get somewhere but then two pages later they are there, but the author will then use 10 pages to describe on day event, so dates would have been nice to.

 

So overall I would give this novel a solid 4 out of 5 stars, And I an definitely looking forward to reading the other novels in this series to see what becomes of Brimstone and all the other characters.

THE REDEMPTION OF CHARLIE MCCOY BY CD WILSHER

 

 

This is an action packed, sitting on the edge of your seat story from the first page to the last page. I will say this is definitely not a short book by no means but the author does an amazing job of structuring the story in a way that as a reader you do not notice the length or really even mind the length. Many stories will have its upbeat, fast paced parts but also have those parts that are slow and kind of unimportant to the storyline, I can say I did not find this happening in this story, all parts in the end are shown have a reason for being placed where they were.

 

I also loved how the author was able to switch between each character storyline with each new chapter without the reader having any confusion of whose storyline they were reading at that point, which I found as an issue with books that have as many different storylines as this one does.

 

The author does a great job also at making sure each character is complex with their own unique back story, which yes is one reason that the story is as long as it is. Yet I will say that even with the degree of detail, everything presented had a reason for being there and did not drag the story down at all, it just added to it.

 

The beginning I will also say and a few other parts throughout the story (especially the gore factor) reminded me a lot of Quinton Tarantino movies, and as speaking as a huge Tarantino fan this was a major major plus!

 

If I had to say anything negative about the book or anything I would change, first would be there were some words that I found misspelled, so maybe a little more carefulness in editing. Also, this book is a prime example of not judging a book by its cover. The cover currently is very plain and I feel for how much action is in this story it is to plain and maybe people would pass over it without ever actually trying to find out what the book is about. Need to be more attention grabbing, maybe even have more to actually do with the story itself.

 

So in conclusion, I highly highly highly recommend this book. 5 out of 5 stars all the way!

Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman

Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman
Ages: 10 and up
Release date: February 10, 2009

I just had the pleasure of reading a very unusual book. Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman is a novel targeted towards readers 10 and up, which follows best friends Ryan McCray and Sarah Fincher on their journey to discover the odd happenings of the deserted "Dredge" in their town. What makes this book unique is the fact that it's told in journal format, written by Ryan, and also allows the adamant reader a chance to go online and view videos sent to him by his friend Sarah. Since Ryan's accident in the Dredge, the friends are told by their parents to keep away from each other. Through email and video correspondence, which the reader gets to experience as well, they try to piece together the mystery behind the abandoned dredge.

I had quite a bit of fun reading this book. I flew through it very quickly because I was so eager to get to the next video. There's something captivating about being able to watch this scary story/mystery unfold before your eyes and feeling like you're learning and seeing things as the characters are.

If Mr. Carman's hope was to find a new way for young readers to enjoy reading, I think he's found it. While I'm fond of the old "use your imagination" type of reading, I agree that this style of book will find a fan base. With technology advancing so quickly, more young readers are choosing the computer over a book, and this is a nice medium. My younger self would easily have fallen in love with this book, and would be anticipating a sequel (which I sure hope Mr. Carman is going to do).

I would suggest anyone that is looking for a change of pace, to pick this book up and give it a go. You'll have a blast reading/watching it. This I promise you.

**If you'd like to get more of a feel of the book, I suggest visiting http://www.skeletoncreekisreal.com/.

Fantastic Fiction

For anyone not in the know, I thought I would share one of my favorite websites. Fantastic Fiction is a website that contains information about any author and their list of publish works. If you're trying to find out what books a certain author has published to date and any forthcoming books, this is the site to go to. I spend lots of time on this site because I'm really into reading series and it's nice to have a list and publication dates for these books so I know which one to read next.

Take a look and let me know what you think. If you know of any other sites of this kind please let me know.