Showing posts with label written. Show all posts
Showing posts with label written. Show all posts

Friday, November 16, 2012

Book Review: The Dragon's Call

The Dragon's Call written by K.W. Mc Cabe is a romantic fantasy focusing on the young lives of Derek, Cecily and her battle born father.  Cecily discovers a forbidden love while uncovering the hidden truth about herself.  Issues of inequality permeate a post war dragon run world while the fact that humans are disappearing after curfew remains in hushed whispers.

Source: amazon.com via Ann on Pinterest

     Todd was born in the year of the dragon, anno draconis.  Human weaponry awoke dragons from their sleep thus began the war.  Todd relives his memories fighting the dragons with their best weapons.  He lives with PTSD and his isolation from society became severe after his wife is snatched seconds after curfew while he and his daughter are watching from inside the house.

     Cecily is a teenager who is surprised to find a dragon attending her class because in the dragon run world dragons and humans are segragated.  Dragons live in luxury of the dragon enclave while humans live in the delapidated neighborhood.  Don't smile....don't look.  Cecily tries to act on what her father told her about dragons.  Looking at a dragon in human form means falling under their spell.

    Derek born in luxury for his mother is the queen dragon.  He has an antagonistic relationship with his half brother and his rebellious nature leads him to seek the human enclave.  Both Derek and Cecily develop an inexplicable fondness for one another.  Aknowledging their forbidden love is dangerous.  Discussions about humans disappearing after curfew make Cecily wonder if she can really trust this dragon?

Vsit the author's website.  http://kwmccabe.blogspot.com/


Sunday, October 14, 2012

Book Review: Return to Caer Lon


Return to Caer Lon was written by Claude Dancourt.  The story begins at the height of drama.  Queen Ylianor shields her young son Derek while the castle is being attacked by fireballs.  King William Pendragon sends his wife and child away from Camelot so he can fight his foe, Wolfryth a despicable sorcerer who kills him.

The story fast forwards fifteen years later.  Derek has grown to be a tall handsome man who looks and acts like his late father. Derek is eager to claim back Camelot and avenge his father's death.  He feels competing in tournaments is frivolous use of his time. Ylianor  raised her son within the Haven's walls overlooking the sea and  became an herbalist who has been treating Derek's favorite antagonist, Sacha for nightmares which are actually visions.  Sacha a raven haired young lady is a seer.  Residents of Haven snicker because Derek and Sacha would make a lovely couple, but they can't stand eachother due to their frictitous relationship.


Source: amazon.com via Ann on Pinterest

The adventure unfolds after Sebastian, Sacha's cousin, and Ewlyn, Sacha's twin brother,  go missing after scouting the area of Pemfro.  Sacha finds a wounded and unconscious Sebastian.  Both Derek and Sacha ask permission for a search party to find her brother, but are denied permission. The following scene made me laugh.  One night Sacha sneeks into Derek's quarters.  He was relieved that she wasn't naked under her cloak.  She wasn't sure if she should consider that an insult.  They sneek into the night on horseback.  Gee,  seems romantic, but they take turns teasing eachother and getting angry.  I think it is remarkable how two people who can't get along would decide to go on trip together.

Their relationship takes an arc from almost childish bickering to a sense of curiosity when they stay in the inn.  They sleep on separate beds.  Their relationship deepens in the cave after she almost drowns.  They develop feelings of concern and lust which they try to conceal from eachother.
This story explores magic as well as honor. Sacha has elemental powers while her bother has Earth powers.  She continues to have visions that suggest she should turn back.  They are unaware that Wolfryth is watching them through Sacha.  A riddle replays in their mind: the blood of a dragon will reveal the source.  Ewlyn is tortured and kept in a dungeon by Wolfryth.  Ewlyn tells his sister via telepathy that he is in Caer Lon, a forgotten city.  Sacha has a difficult time trying to convince Derek because he considers the city a myth and he is very sceptical of magic.
Derek and Sacha are in danger.  They travel alone without telling anyone.  Thugs with swords roam the streets.  They visit a monastery for clues to Caer Lon.  Derek peaks his interest upon learning his Pendragon heritage intertwines with the lost city.
I highly recommend this book. At times I laughed while eager to finish this book of magic and romance.

You can find Return to Caer Lon at amazon
You can visit her blog http://www.claudedancourt.webs.com/
Visit her on twitter https://twitter.com/ClaudeDancourt
Goodreads...good reading!
 http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5157110.Claude_Dancourt?auto_login_attempted=true


Win a digital copy of Return to Caer Lon
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4a60c98/






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Friday, September 7, 2012

Book Trailer: The Broken Destiny

I spotted a fresh book trailer today: The Broken Destiny written by Carlyle Labuschagne.
The images are gorgeous and the sound is dramatic. 






Dreams Both Real And Strange

Dreams Both Real and Strange II written by K.W. McCabe is a collection of short stories in the fantasy genre.  Her stories have a dream like quality.

 Choices is a prequel to The Angel of Death.  Thomas is sick and tired of working for the Grim Reaper who taunts and belittles by him.  He knows the game of Choice is unfair because it lets people think they have more time and if they give the wrong answer they have to work for Death for an eternity.  His daughter has given birth and Thomas is forced to offer her the game of choice.  In order to save his daughter he must challenge Death and ask why Death chose him?

 Siren
A young lady named Kara feels an unexplainable pull to the sea.  There is some tension between Kara and her mother.  What I liked about this quick read is the delicious irony Kara finds a suitor, but not one her mother expects.  After reading it I thought about it for a long while for it seems a reflection of life with differing outcomes than one expects.

Escape is a modern fantasy set in the hood where there is much suffering, shooting and dying.  The area is especially hostile to young women.  Aisha meets a stranger in the park.

Wraith Part II
This is a sequel to part I which was published in Dreams Both Real And Strange I.  Lena lived in fear all her life since she could make crops grow. Now she searches for her daughter.  The authoress explores the relationship between mother and daughter.

 Fairy Foibles is a tongue in cheek spin on Sleeping Beauty.  Three fairies, Dyna, Myrta and Flyrta attend the christening of Princess Rosalee.  The three fairies are charming and quick witted. They come to rescue Princess Rosalee after Grydela curses the baby to die on her fifteenth birthday.  The royalty gasp. What I like about this story is the more the fairies try to be helpful the deeper in trouble they find themselves.  They find themselves taking care of a charming baby while on the run.
I highly recommend Dreams Both Real and strange for it's exploration of parent and daughter relationships and the tensions involved as the daughter grows.  Why?  In growing up the daughter's desire to choose her own path some times conflicts with parental expectations and these issues are explored in landscape where magic and reason coexist.

You may find Dreams Both Real And Strange II here written by K.W. McCabe


Source: amazon.com via Ann on Pinterest



Saturday, August 25, 2012

Two for book reviews

Today's special is a two for one book review. I found both of these gems yesterday on smashwords.com . I downloaded both for my kindle for free!

Ariari's Staircase App written by Hiroshi Makise is a modern day fable for children. The cute cover shows a fine example of the illustrator's style which displays well on my kindle. Each page is well illustrated and advances the plot forward. Ariari appears as a funny face individual who spies on Ana while she plays with her tablet. She races a rabbit by walking with her fingers on touchscreen tablet. Ariari uses Ana's touch screen to open a portal in the staircase app. I would highly recommend reading this ebook with your children.

Tell Me A Thousand Times written by Petar Toushkov is dark poetic short story with elements of horror. True horror comes from treating people as a commodity. The main character is nameless with a deformed soul who never ages. In this dystopian nightmare clones are mass produced to be used as soldiers to die in battle. The story is vague. There are no names or any clear description which underscores the mind numbing feeling that the main character endures and this makes a haunting story. It is a quick read and I highly recommend this ebook. This story feels like a la ronde where the end feels like a beginning which makes it a seductive writing technique.


 
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/219325


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Happy Birthday card
Happy Birthday card by RavenKing
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I also designed this iPad sleeve.