Book Review: Emissary by Thomas Locke

Back Cover: With his twenty-first birthday, Hyam begins a journey that will lead him to his destiny--or his doom.

Hyam has always shown a remarkable ability to master languages, even those left unspoken for a thousand years. But now the shadow of suspicion that was cast upon him as a child prodigy at Long Hall is lengthening, and he must keep his identity hidden--or face annihilation.

As Hyam's mother slips toward death, she implores him to return to Long Hall before he settles down to farm his land. This journey born from duty becomes an impassioned quest for the truth. War is coming swiftly, and Hyam must rely upon his newfound powers and the friends he meets along the way in order to unravel the puzzling past and ensure that he--and the realm--will have a future.

My Review: I don't read enough fantasy. It took me a while to understand what was happening in this novel but once I was immersed in the culture and world Locke created, I couldn't put the book down. Hyam is your typical fantasy hero. He's a farmer who discovers his parents aren't who he believed they were. He is force on a quest to right all wrongs and protect the good from the evil forces gathering in secret places. When I got to the end of this tale, I wanted to start right in on the next book in the series. Unfortunately, I have to wait a year before the next book comes out. Fans of The Lord of the Rings should really enjoy this novel. You can learn more about this novel and the series at Thomas Locke's site.

My Rating:

My Recommendation: I recommend this book to Tolkien fans and readers of fantasy.




Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Book Review: Thunder by Bonnie S. Calhoun

Back Cover: The Time of Sorrows is long past.
The future of Selah and her people is shrouded in mystery.
And the clock is ticking.

Hidden in the tall grasses along a shore littered with the rusted metal remnants of a once-great city, a hunter crouches. It is the eve of her eighteenth Birth Remembrance and high time she proves to herself and her brothers that she can stand on her own two feet. Selah Rishon Chavez waits not for game but for one of the small boats that occasionally crash against the desolate shoreline. Because inside one of these boats she will find her quarry--a Lander.

These people from an unknown land across the ocean are highly prized by the Company and bring a good price--especially if they keep the markings they arrive with.

Everything falls to pieces when the Lander whom Selah catches is stolen by her brothers, and Selah wakes the next morning to find the Lander's distinctive mark has appeared on her own flesh. Once the hunter, Selah is now one of the hunted, and she knows only one person who can help her--Bodhi Locke, the Lander her brothers hope to sell in the Mountain.

With evocative descriptions of a strange new world that combines elements of disturbing scientific advances, devious political conspiracy, and survival in a hostile wilderness, Bonnie S. Calhoun weaves a captivating tale of a society more like our own than we may want to admit. From the tension-laced first scene to the captivating last page, Thunder is an epic journey into the heart of humankind that explores how far we are willing to go when we're pushed to the limit.

My Review: Dystopian fiction is currently very popular with the rise of The Hunger Games and similar stories. Bonnie Calhoun gives us another look at what the future could hold 150 years after a nuclear holocaust. It's a deadly world where Selah lives. Women are expected to be completely subservient to men. Outsiders are captured and sold as slaves. Marauders fill the land and make travel extremely dangerous. Selah just wants to be accepted as a hunter like her brothers, but there are secrets and a destiny she can't escape. Calhoun makes the reader think about what lengths are acceptable to go to make our civilization "better." Honestly, this novel will leave you with many questions and leave you wanting more. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

To help set the stage for this novel, Calhoun has written a novella as a prequel to this story. Reading Tremors will help you get an idea about the world where Selah lives.

My Rating:

My Recommendation: I recommend this book to readers of dystopian fiction.



Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.