Book Review: Mists Of Everness by John C. Wright

The minions of darkness are rising to overthrow the earth and the forces of light must gather to defeat them.

The first thing I should say about this book is that I couldn't finish it, which is a rare thing for me. I waded more than halfway through and then just gave up. The premise of this book, an epic battle between good and evil, appealed to me. And I liked the idea that all world myths are true.  But the execution was way off. The characters are completely drowned out by the deluge of mythical beings that the reader is constantly bombarded with. Non stop action is not something I would normally complain about and some of the battle scenes are very cool. But the book as a whole was simply overdone in my opinion. When a main character stands on the brink of death I want to be on the edge of my seat, biting my lip and pulling for them to make it. When one of the main characters in this book was in that position I felt nothing. I didn't care. That's when I had to put the book down.

Digital Autograph

You can now get my digital autograph at http://www.kindlegraph.com/authors/KyraDune

Book Review: Killbox by Ann Aguirre

Sirantha Jax is a "jumper" who can traverse grimspace to carry starships through the endless void of the universe. She must use this skill to help the Armada (a collective of humans and aliens who are basically universal police) fight against the Morgut (flesh eating aliens).

At first, I was afraid this book would be too heavy on the science for my taste. But the more I read it the better I liked it. Jax is a complex and very real character and it's a treat to watch her interact in a believable way with the people closest to her. This book is intense and captivating. It swept me along and kept me eager to see what would happen next.

My only complaint is the ending. With enemy starships on the horizon and Jax in a life or death situation, the book ends. Not until the next in the series do you get to find out what happens. I can understand writing this kind of ending (I'm even guilty of it myself, though not in such an intense situation) but it is frustrating to not know what happened.

Book Promo

I have three new promotion pages for my novels.
http://askdavid.com/reviews/book/epic-fantasy/2562
http://askdavid.com/reviews/book/fantasy-adventure/2563
http://askdavid.com/reviews/book/urban-fantasy/2564

Book Promotion

I recently set my books up to be promoted on http://askdavid.com  I'll post more once my promotion page gets set up.

My novels: Update

Flight Of Dragons: ebook: http://burstbooks.ca/product.php?id_product=46 print: http://burstbooks.ca/product.php?id_product=70  (Fantasy/Adventure)   Video trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTnBddNxrHI

Shadow Born: Time Of Shadows Book One: ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Born-ebook/dp/B007VT613S/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350585528&sr=1-4&keywords=kyra+dune print: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Born-Time-Shadows-Book/dp/1771150068/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350585528&sr=1-3&keywords=kyra+dune  (Epic Fantasy) Video trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYYMxBQbFs
Elfblood: Elfblood Book One: ebook: http://burstbooks.ca/product.php?id_product=68  (YA Urban Fantasy) Video Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFm6_ZVTxjk
Shadow Of The Dragon: In production   (YA Epic Fantasy)
The Silver Catacombs: Elfblood Book Two: Coming February 2013 (YA Urban Fantasy)
City Of Magic: Elfblood Book Three: First edit in process (YA Urban Fantasy)
Shadow Prince: Time Of Shadows Book Two: Coming 2013 (Epic Fantasy)
Shadow King: Time Of Shadows Book Three: Coming 2014 (Epic Fantasy)
Firebrand: Firebrand Book One: Coming 2013 (YA Sword & Sorcery)
Ten Kingdoms: Firebrand Book Two: Coming 2014 (YA Sword & Sorcery)
Dragonstar: Second edit in process  (YA Epic Fantasy)
Rise Of The Watchtower: Time Of Shadows Book Four: First draft in progress (Epic Fantasy)
Dragons Of War: Firebrand Book Three: Second draft in progress (YA Sword & Sorcery)
The Black Mountain: Dragonstar Sequel: Second draft in progress (YA Epic Fantasy)
Angel (Working Title): First draft in progress (Dark Fantasy)
Web Of Light: Final draft in progress (Epic Fantasy)

Book Review: The Golden Rose by Kathleen Bryan

This book is about a king trying to unleash an ancient god that will basically destroy the world. There is a lot of magic in this book, but it's not the flashy kind. Most of it is mental, which was cool for a change. This is the second book the War of the Rose Trilogy.
The female MC, Averil, is a duchess and next in line for the throne that is currently occupied by her wicked uncle. According to tradition, she has to soon marry in order to produce an heir. But she's love with a young knight, Gerient, whom she can't marry. To make things even harder, they're bound to each other by the magic they share.
On top of all that, they are working to stop her uncle from unleashing the Serpent God of Chaos on the world. Because their magic is stronger together, they can't stay away from each other if they hope to stop the king.
It's a well written book and the relationship between the two MC's is intense and painful. This is High Fantasy, which is what I like best, and it's an interesting story.

Book Review: Jericho Falls by Christopher Hyde

This is a book about a government created biological weapon accidentally getting loose in the small town of Jericho Falls. It's pretty intense. Not usually the kind of thing I read, but it was well written and the characters were very realistic. But the ending was left kind of open, which is something I find a little annoying.

Book Trailers

I made video trailers on youtube for my three published novels: Flight Of Dragons, Shadow Born, and Elfblood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTnBddNxrHI&noredirect=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYYMxBQbFs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFm6_ZVTxjk

Book Review: Stephen King Goes To The Movies by Stephen King

This is a collection of five Stephen King stories that were made into movies.
1408 is about a writer who writes books debunking supposed hauntings who gets more than he expects when he tries to stay the night in a certain hotel room. It's like something out of a really bad nightmare. Very surreal.
The Mangler is about a demonically possessed clothes folder in a laundry. Who but Stephen King could write about such a thing and actualy end up making a pretty good story?
Low Men In Yellow Coats is about an old man running from mysterious and inhuman creatures. This is a really good story and it's even better if you've ever read the Dark Tower Series as they are connected.
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is about a man who is wrongly convicted of murder and gets sent to prison. Of the five stories in this book, this is the only one with no fantasical elements. Yet it's my favorite of the five, which is odd because I don't usually like more realtistic stories. It's also, in my opinion, one of the very best movie adaptations of a Stephen King story.
Children Of The Corn is about a couple who end up in a town overrun with insane, homicidal children. I don't like this story. Never have. In fact, it's the only King story I've ever read that I didn't like.

The Black Mountain

I finished the first draft of The Black Mountain (sequel to Dragonstar) today. It only ended up a little over thirty thousand words, which is shorter than I would like. I'll have to work on beefing it up the next go round.

Bookstores that carry my novel

There are now four bookstores where you can actually go in and buy my novel Time Of Shadows Book One: Shadow Born. You can also purchase it from their websites.
Constellation Books     Reisterstown, Maryland                         www.constellationbooks.com
Odyssey Books            South Hadley, Massachusetts                 www.odysseybks.com
Quail Ridge Books       Raleigh, North Carolina                         www.quailridgebooks.com
Flights Of Fantasy        Albany, New York                                 www.fof.net

Book Review: Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Shapeshifters, undead, ancient godlike beings, plauges, romance, action, and snark all rolled into a great book. The main character, Kate Daniels, is tough, powerful, witty, smart, flawed, and very human. There is a ton of kick butt action, but Kate is no superhuman. She can, and does, falter and fail despite her magical powers. Her relationship with Curran is beleivable and complicated. I also really loved the complex world of the shapeshifters and how Kate fits into it. All in all a great book.

Update

Flight Of Dragons: ebook and print                                                   (Fantasy/Adventure)
Shadow Born: Time Of Shadows Book One: ebook and print          (Epic Fantasy)
Elfblood: Elfblood Book One: ebook                                                (YA Urban Fantasy)
Shadow Of The Dragon: First edit completed                                       (YA Epic Fantasy)
The Silver Catacombs: Elfblood Book Two: Coming February 2013     (YA Urban Fantasy)
City Of Magic: Elfblood Book Three: First edit in process                    (YA Urban Fantasy)
Shadow Prince: Time Of Shadows Book Two: Coming 2013               (Epic Fantasy)
Shadow King: Time Of Shadows Book Three: Coming 2014                 (Epic Fantasy)
Firebrand: Firebrand Book One: Coming 2013                              (YA Sword & Sorcery)
Ten Kingdoms: Firebrand Book Two: Coming 2014                      (YA Sword & Sorcery)
Dragonstar: First edit completed                                                           (YA Epic Fantasy)
Rise Of The Watchtower: Time Of Shadows Book Four: First draft in progress  (Epic Fantasy)
Dragons Of War: Firebrand Book Three: Second draft in progress  (YA Sword & Sorcery)
The Black Mountain: Dragonstar Sequel: First draft in progress     (YA Epic Fantasy)
Angel (Working Title): First draft in progress                            (Dark Fantasy)
Web Of Light: Final draft in progress                                     (Epic Fantasy)