Magic Lost, Trouble Found (Raine Benares, Book 1) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Raine Benares, an elf and a Seeker, has enough trouble in her life without someone bringing more to her door, but when her friend and employee, Quentin, is hired to steal something from a powerful necromancer's house, she just can't let him handle the trouble alone.
The something that Quentin has been hired to steal is soon found to be more valuable and more important than either of them could ever have imagined. Before Quentin even escapes the necromancer's house, he finds himself with some unsavory company, who also just happen to want to lay hands on the very same amulet that Quentin has just pilfered.
With a little help from Raine and her family, Quentin narrowly escapes with his life. Raine insists that he hand over the amulet for safekeeping, and that's when things start to get a little wild!
MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND is an enchantingly engaging read. Devoid of the heavy depressing themes that seem to permeate popular fantasy novels lately, MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND will delight readers who like a good dose of humor mixed with their magical adventure. Author Lisa Shearin has done a superb job of crafting a fantasy world alive with elves, goblins and otherworldly creatures. With a fast paced plot, well-crafted characters and just a hint of romance, MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND is a book that fantasy lovers won't want to miss.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Magic Lost, Trouble Found (Raine Benares, Book 1)

Raine Benares is a Sorceress Seeker of average ability until she comes into possession of an amulet that amplifies her powers-and her enemies.

Click here for more information about Magic Lost, Trouble Found (Raine Benares, Book 1)

Read More...

Keeping It Real (Quantum Gravity, Book 1) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)While Keeping It Real by Justina Robson is her fifth published novel, she shows off the full strength of her imagination here and announces to those who may not have heard already that she is a major talent and that she will write a blend of science fiction and fantasy that demands to be read.
How is that as a selling point?
Keeping It Real opens with a not quite a chapter, not quite a prologue telling us what we need to know. In 2015 there was some sort of Quantum Bomb which detonated in Texas and which opened our world to five alternate / parallel worlds where there are elves, fairies, demons, the dead, and elementals. The other races insist they have known about us all the while.
The novel takes place in 2021 and we need to know that this is the state of being because this is not what the novel is about nor is it the story Robson is telling. But it is the setting.
Lila Black is possibly less than half human. The other half is machine. At the start of the novel we do not know why or how, only that she is assigned security for a rock band called the No Shows which consists of fairies singing backup and an elf as the lead singer. The No Shows are immensely popular and someone is trying to kill the elf, Zal. Lila, as it turns out, does not entirely trust elves and is barely comfortable in her own skin, such as it is. She is in control of her body and machine, but not entirely. There are glitches.
This is the starting point of Keeping It Real. The rest needs to be discovered to be believed. Robson keeps the novel moving at a reasonably fast clip with action, excitement, elf sex, imperfect cyborg machinery, inept fake [...] attempts, and a heroine who is broken more on the inside than on the outside...and this is the woman who must protect Zal, and elf who barely wishes to be protected.
Keeping It Real is perhaps the most original science fiction or fantasy novel I have read in some time and it is because Robson is able to blend the two genres so seamlessly that it is simply just good storytelling. Robson plays with familiar concepts (elves, cyborgs, different worlds, magic), but in doing so she puts them together in ways we haven't seen before. The elves here are aware of the stereotypes brought on by countless fantasy novels and Lord of the Rings (the elves crack on lembas bread so that the humans can't). Remember, this is our world, just altered in our future.
Keeping It Real is the first volume in a proposed trilogy and I cannot wait to see what Robson brings us next.
-Joe Sherry

Click Here to see more reviews about: Keeping It Real (Quantum Gravity, Book 1)

Click here for more information about Keeping It Real (Quantum Gravity, Book 1)

Read More...

Crown of Crystal Flame (Tairen Soul) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This final book in the Tairen Soul series brings the epic tale of Rain and Ellysetta to a close. I first fell in love with these two characters in Lord of the Fading Lands. The romance and passion between the two soon to be lovers was a pleasure to read.
All of the loose ends are pulled together in this final book and the outcome was exactly what I wanted.
The thing that kept me from giving this book 5 stars was that I felt that the "chemistry" that I had come to love between the main and supporting characters was missing. For some reason the dialogue felt different to me and the unraveling of certain events seemed "rushed". I missed the "feeling" that each character had contributed in previous books. The war, the weapons, the creatures, and battlefield were very vivid and greatly described, but I felt that some of that took away from the REAL battle between Ellysetta and the High Mage and her battle within herself to bond with Rain.
All in all, I was very sad to see the story end, but I was very pleased that the ending was a happy one. This entire series is definitely worth reading!
Job well done Ms. Wilson.Crown of Crystal Flame (Tairen Soul)

Click Here to see more reviews about: Crown of Crystal Flame (Tairen Soul)


A Song of Love won her heart. A Song of Darkness haunted her soul. A Song in the Dance would seal her fate.

Seers had long foreseen an extraordinary destiny for Ellysetta Baristani. Already she had won the heart of the Fey King-the magnificent Rain, ever her ally, eternally her love. She had saved the offspring of the magical tairen and fought beside her legendary mate against the armies of Eld. But the most powerful-and dangerous-Verse of her Song had yet to be sung. As the final battle draws nigh and evil tightens its grip upon her soul-will Ellysetta secure the world for Light or plunge it into Darkness for all eternity? As she and Rain fight for each other, side by side, will they find a way to complete their truemate bond and defeat the evil High Mage of Eld before it's too late, or must they make the ultimate sacrifice to save their world?

Click here for more information about Crown of Crystal Flame (Tairen Soul)

Read More...