Thursday, December 20, 2012

If We Survive Andrew Klavan



As a long time fan of Andrew Klavan's YA offerings I snapped at the chance to read If We Survive,  a jungle survival tale with a coming of age twist. The book definitely lived up to it's adventurous and leafy cover and left me with a fingering of something deeper behind.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Soul's Gate James Rubart


Having read several of Rubart's other novels(Book of Days and Rooms) and been impressed with his characters and imaginative settings I immediately jumped at the chance to review his latest book Soul's Gate.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Dreamlander by K.M Weiland

DreamlanderDreamlander by K.M. Weiland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dreamlander is a masterpiece in the fantasy speculative fiction genre.

With precise strokes Ms. Weiland paints a vibrant world in the vein of stories such as Black by Ted Dekker; a dreamer living in two worlds, at once, faced with mayhem and havoc in both. This is Weiland's first excursion into fantasy, a change from her two previously published historical fiction books, and she has hit the proverbial nail on the head.

As an admittedly cynical fantasy reader I was impressed to see the neatly avoided fantasy pitfalls of formulaic worldbuilding: ancient elves, darkly muttered spells, and the ever popular unicorn, troll or fairy. Instead, Dreamlander offers an immersive world with it's own natural and believable history and culture; her unique sideline characters Pitch and Raz, are one of the best the best supporting duo I have read.

The scenery description was done tastefully, properly setting the scene without stopping the flow of the story.
And last but not least, the emotion of the story. Inside its binding, Dreamlander contains a heart wrenching plot line of failure, hope, and sacrifice. Not content to settle for a dash of emotion to pull the story along, Weiland pulls back the curtain on the quagmire of the human heart. Readers intimately share the heartaches and fears the characters face, as well as rejoice with their triumphs and applaud selfless sacrifice. Because of this, Dreamlander becomes something bigger than itself.

I finish Dreamlander better for having read it and urge you to try it for yourself.





Right now Dreamlander is only ninety-nine cents on Amazon and I highly recommend buying it.