Fiction Review: Patrick W. Carr’s “The Shattered Vigil”

Everyone has those authors – when someone asks you for a recommendation – they’re the top names to spill out of your mouth. When asked why you like them, you can try to name things like excellent style, plot, or characters, but it’s really all of those things, and yet none of them at once. It’s that otherness, that quality you can’t pin down, but that resonates so strongly with you. Most simply put, the way you read, they write. 

“The Shattered Vigil” has more of everything from the previous Darkwater Saga book – more world building, more character history, more twists. There is never a moment where the reader knows what is coming next, as nothing is ever revealed as you would think. This is edge-of-your-seat storytelling at it’s finest.

The story has so much going on, so many plot threads weaving and looping back on themselves, with each character getting their chance to carry the narrative. I really enjoyed that aspect, that through the individual adventures of each character, we begin to see just how vast the fight really is, and how it will impact their entire world, not just one kingdom, not just one story.

There is well-timed humor, deeply poignant moments, and pulse-racing-page-flipping action, all led by characters I don’t want to leave at the end of the work. In short, I crave the next installment!

I received a review copy of this work from the publisher through NetGalley

 

Fiction Review: Rita Stradling’s “Ensnared”

There are many, many re-tellings of the classic Beauty and the Beast plot. Few, that I have read, decide to do so in a futuristic setting with robots. Enter Mrs. Stradling’s novel “Ensnared”.

This work was not what I expected, and I mean that as high praise. Trying to describe this book as “Beauty and the Beast with Robots” is so inadequate to convey the layered and well-told story within. Leave your assumptions aside, for you will be surprised!

I have gone back and already re-read the book several times since I first received it. It’s easy to finish in a single afternoon, yet compelling enough to pick up again, especially when it comes to catching everything that happens toward the end. And boy, what an ending! It’s fantastic.

Additionally, I really enjoyed the three distinct settings we get throughout the book, and how each brings out Alainn’s past and personality in a different way, until we get a fully rounded character leading us through this great story.

In all, a fun read, and re-read, and re-read!

I received a review copy of this work from the publisher through NetGalley