Wotan's Dilemma, Hank Quense

Publishers: Strange World Publishing

Pages: 77

Main Characters:

Wotan, Fafner, Alberich

Wotan’s Dilemma is the latest book in Hank Quense's Strange World series. Much like Hank’s Falstaff's Big Gamble, Wotan’s Dilemma seems at first to be quite a random book. However, with Hank’s humour and style, he manages to bring all this randomness into a really funny and unique novel!

Wotan’s Dilemma is based in a post-apocalyptic Earth far into the future. In this new world, humankind has resorted back to its medieval ways of living in small towns and clans, whilst fighting with primitive weapons such as the sword and the spear. However, what’s different about this new (but old) world is that Earth is inhabited by aliens, some bad and some good. The most evil of the aliens living on Earth is Fafner, a black, slimy, octopus-like monster who is a professional criminal on the run from the Inter-Galactic Police.  Another alien living on earth is Alberich, a puny pale-green Nibelung who was exiled to Earth. Alberich may be puny but he has a brilliant mind and after finding some magical gold, invents a helmet and a chip that can see into the future. Fafner hears about Alberich’s great invention and as a criminal mastermind, robs Alberich and steals his inventions, setting himself up as an Evil God and ruling over the local populace.

Meanwhile, the Norse god Wotan has a dilemma. The gold that Alberich found was the Rhinegold, the magic gold that gives the gods their powers. Without the gold, Wotan and the other Norse gods will become old and weak and eventually have to go to the Old God’s Retirement Village and live with other forgotten gods such as Ra, Horus, Zeus and Jupiter. However, Wotan cannot just take the gold back as it has to be given freely, and after it is stolen by Fafner, he knows that it will never be given back willingly.  

Nevertheless, Wotan is resourceful and plans to create a mighty, if slightly dim, warrior to battle and kill Fafner and return the Rhinegold to the gods. However, to create this warrior will take a generation (which the god doesn’t have) and his plan doesn’t go as smoothly as he planned…

As I said, this was an entertaining, amusing and interesting book. I especially liked all of the Norse mythology and the link between Wotan and the composer Wagner. I also thought Hank left the ending open for another novel in the series, so it will be interesting to see if another book comes out of this story!

I would suggest this book to anyone who is a fan of sci-fi and fantasy, especially novels such as The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett as Wotan’s Dilemma has that same quirky, humorous feel. I’d also suggest it to anyone who would like to try something a little different as this book won’t disappoint!

If you’d like to purchase this novel, it is available for Kindle at Amazon.co.uk and at Smashwords.com.

For author’s website click here.

My Top Five Highly Anticipated Books of 2013

It may not feel like it in Britain at the moment but summer is not far away. Alongside (hopefully) the nice weather, lighter evenings and a break from school or university, the summer also brings along the release dates for some of the biggest ‘blockbuster’ books of 2013. And after looking through my ‘recommended’ list on various websites like Amazon, I decided to name the Top Five Books I’m most looking forward to reading this summer.

5. The Fall of Arthur, J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien- 23rd May 2013.

Like many of the Tolkien releases after the Lord of the Rings movies, this new book was started before Tolkien’s death and was eventually finished by his son Christopher. The new Tolkien book was started in the 1930’s in the form of a poem. The book was written before the release of The Hobbit and is not based in Middle-Earth, but instead in the almost fantasy realm of King Arthur. I’m looking forward to reading this new book/poem because it will be interesting to see how the Tolkiens write about history and not just Middle-Earth.

4. Emperor, The Blood of Gods, Conn Iggulden- 23rd May 2013

This is the fifth book in Iggulden’s amazing Emperor Series. It sees us return to Brutus after the murder of his old master Julius Caesar.  Most of us thought that the series was finished with Emperor: Gods of War, however, Iggulden thinks that he ended the series too abruptly with Caesar’s death and thought the story needed tying off with one more novel.

3. Inferno, Dan Brown- 14 May 2013

It will be interesting to see who Dan Brown angers in his new book Inferno. Once again we return to the charismatic university professor Robert Langdon as he travels to Europe to uncover the secrets of one of the world’s most famous literary pieces.

2. Hannibal: Fields of Blood, Ben Kane- 6 June 2013

This is the second book in Ben Kane’s Hannibal series and tells the tale of one of the most famous battles in Roman and world history; the Battle of Cannae. Hannibal: Enemy of Rome was the first book of Kane’s that I ever read and really got me hooked on his novels. So, it will be exciting to return to the series that greatly captured my imagination and see how Kane depicts the infamous battle!

1. Emperor of Thorns, Mark Lawrence- 1 August 2013

This series blew my (and many other’s) mind when I first read it! So much so that I voted the first book in the series Prince of Thorns my favourite book of 2012! I can’t wait to get back to Jorg and see where his grim but epic journey takes him.

Alongside these novels there are some other great books coming out this year! Bernard Cornwell says he expects to get his new book out this year and there are rumours that Patrick Rothfuss might be publishing his final novel of the Kingkiller series. There are also some great books from other great, if less well known authors coming out this year. Currently I’m reading Hank Quense's new book Wotan’s Dilemma, which so far has been great!  I believe Kelley Grealis's new novel The Search is due out this year and I think Gordon Doherty's sequel to Strategos: Born in the Borderlands is also set to be released sometime later this year!

So, 2013 is set to be an exciting year for reading! What books are you guys looking forward to reading over the summer and the rest of the year? Let me know in the comments below or over at my Facebook page by clicking here.

The Waste Land, Simon Acland

 Publishers:Beaufort Books

Pages: 384

Main Characters:

Hugh, Blanche, the Best-Selling author,

The Waste Land tells two very different but interlinking stories. The first and main story in the novel is based at the end of the eleventh century and revolves around a young man called Hugh de Verdon. Hugh is the youngest son of a minor French noble and has always dreamed of been a fighter and a knight, just like his father. However, after his father and brothers are killed in an ambush, Hugh is forced to take on a clerical life, as his mother cannot cope with the death of his father and sends Hugh to become a monk. Hugh is enrolled as a novice at the great Monastery of Cluny, where because of his quick mind and his family connections, rapidly becomes secretary to the Prior of the monastery. Although Hugh enjoys been able to read and study at the monastery, he feels that the clerical life is not as fulfilling as he wanted. Hugh still wants to be a fighter like his father; he still wants to feel the exhilaration of riding a horse and chasing down pray. Luckily for Hugh, the declaration made by Pope Urban, stating that there would be a Crusade against the Saracens of Jerusalem, answers Hugh’s preys. Also, with the emergence of the Duke of Lower Lorraine (Godfrey Boulogne, who is a distant cousin of Hugh’s) at the monastery, finally convinces Hugh that been a Crusader is his path. Hugh manages to gain leave from Cluny and heads east with Godfrey. However, unluckily for the young knight, Hugh soon finds out that war and Christianity are not as glorious as he believed in his dreams, as he is introduced to secrets and stories that reveal the true nature of Christ’s death.

The second story is that of a group of Oxford professors and scholars. The school has come under a lot of financial pressure over the last few years, resulting in a new Master being employed to sort out the mess. The new Master knows that money has to be brought into the university and with the emergence of an ancient manuscript from the Crusades, written by none other than Hugh de Verdon himself, the Master comes up with a plan to get the university out of debt. He employs a Best-Selling author who used to go to school at the university and who, like the university, has also fallen on hard times. The professors help the Best-Selling author to tell Hugh’s extraordinary tale and help fill in some of the gaps which are missing from the era of the Crusades. However, with the discovery of Hugh’s manuscript comes jealousy and envy, as it is the school and not the finder of the manuscript who will make all the money off the new book. This causes a chain of events that leads to sabotage, arson and even murder as the individual tries to kill the university professors who will deny him his fame and fortune.

I really enjoyed reading The Waste Land! As many of you know, I am a massive fan of historical-fiction but have never really read any fiction based around the Crusades, and only have the most basic of knowledge about what happened during the First Crusade in 1096. For me, The Waste Land was an excellent book to read to get an introduction and an interest in the Crusades, as Hugh’s story is so interesting and takes him all over the various battles and cities in the Holy Land. Furthermore, Acland does a brilliant job in describing the battles and cities in his novel and to say that he describes himself as a ‘modern linguist’ and not a historian, really shows how well written and descriptive this novel is, as it emerges you in the history and makes you feel like you were there, fighting alongside Hugh! Moreover, the added aspect of the murder-mystery of the university and the witty-and-often-malicious banter between the professors adds some humour and a further dimension to the book, which I really liked!

However, I did have one minor issue with the book; towards the end there was a lot of Hugh riding and walking. I felt that this slowed the pace of the book down as the riding often took place between two major events. Now obviously I understand that marching and riding was a major part of any Crusader’s life, but I still felt that towards the end, Hugh’s travelling did slow the book down. Also, this is not really a problem for me (I really liked it in fact) but the novel does end on a cliff hanger! Like I said, I really like this as it sets up the next novel of the series and makes you really excited to read it. However, I know some readers do not like cliff hangers! But do not worry! Simon’s next book in the series The Flowers of Evil is already released, so if you wanted to, you could just buy this book straight after The Waste Land and continue reading Hugh’s tale!

Nevertheless, even though I did have this small issue, I still really enjoyed the book! It was a great historical-fiction novel mixed interestingly with murder mystery and medieval Grail romances. I would suggest this book to anyone who is interested in the Crusades or has an interest in historical fiction as a general. I would also suggest it to fans of other historical grail quest novels such as Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell or the Templar novels written by Michael Jecks.

If you would like to purchase this novel it is available at Amazon.co.uk or for Apple products at iTunes.

For author’s official website click here.

Guest Post : Sources for The Waste Land by Simon Acland, author of The Waste Land

Hey everyone! Here's my first ever guest post! The post is written by Simon Acland the author of The Waste Land, a Grail Quest story with a bit of a twist! Here's a short synopsis of the book from Goodreads:

The Waste Land chronicles the adventures of Hugh de Verdon, monk turned knight, during the extraordinary historical events of the First Crusade. He journeys from the great Benedictine monastery of Cluny to Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem. He encounters the Assassins, endures a personal epiphany and discovers the ‘truth’ behind the Holy Grail.

Hugh de Verdon’s tale is retold by a group of desperate Oxford professors, based on his autobiographical manuscript, discovered in their College library. Their humorous - and murderous story also provides a commentary on the eleventh century events and shows that they are perhaps not all they seem.

In his guest post, Simon writes about his experience in researching and writing The Waste Land. I hope you enjoy!

Sources for The Waste Land     

By Simon Acland, author of The Waste Land

“So are you a historian then?”

That’s the first thing many people ask me when I tell them I have written a novel set in the First Crusade. When I say, “No, a modern linguist actually”, and that my inspiration came from studying the 12^th and 13^th Century Grail Romances, they normally say “Wow, you must have done a lot of research.”

At that point I feel a bit of a fraud. To me, research implies toiling in libraries among dusty documents, written in ancient languages in indecipherable script. For me it was much easier than that.

Because the First Crusade is such an extraordinary period of history, and occurred at a pivotal point as Europe was making the transition from the Dark Ages to medieval times, there is a wealth of good books about it. The modern Granddaddy is Stephen Runciman’s  A History of the Crusades (Cambridge 1951), but has been followed by many other distinguished works. The main historians other than Runciman on whom I relied are Jonathan Riley-Smith, Christopher Tyerman, and Thomas Ashridge. And I was able to find some specialist works, for example about Cluny, the great Benedictine Monastery where my hero Hugh de Verdon starts his journey, about the fabric of the City of Jerusalem, and the intricacies of medieval warfare.

For the novelist it is also fortunate that many of the contemporary chronicles are available in print and in translation. These fascinating texts were mostly written by monks who accompanied the leaders of the Crusades to the Holy Land. They tend to support the image and reputation of the individual leader in whose entourage the authors travelled, for the prominent Crusaders were always at each others’ throats. But texts such as the Gesta Francorum, the Gesta Tancredi, and the Historia Hierosolimitana provide an invaluable direct insight to the way the Crusaders thought.

The picture would not be complete without the Muslim point of view, especially because the Arab world was far more civilised, tolerant and advanced than Christendom at the end of the 11^th Century. Ibn al-Athir is the most distinguished near contemporary Arab historian, and there are several useful summaries of his and others’ work such as Francesco Gabrieli’s 1957 Arab Historians of the Crusades. Then Usama ibn-Munqidh wrote a delightful diary about his life, starting early in the 12^th Century, published as An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades. Although it postdates the First Crusade itself, and so does not provide any information about the events themselves, it shows the Arab life at the time and the barbarism of their Christian attackers.

A third perspective is provided by the Alexiad, the biography of her father written by Anna Comnenos, the daughter of the contemporary Byzantine Emperor Alexios I. She also shows the Crusaders in fairly uncivilised light, although she clearly fancied Bohemond of Taranto!

So the lucky novelist is spoiled for choice. Partly because of this, and unusually for a novel, I did include a bibliography of the works I found most useful at the end of my book. A word of warning, though. It is not just an academic bibliography. You may be surprised to find references to adventure classics such as John Buchan’s Greenmantle and Henry Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines. This is because there are a couple of episodes in The Waste Land that pay homage to these books. And you may be surprised to see Monty Python and the Holy Grail included on the list. Well, see if you can spot the knight who says “Ni” in The Waste Land! Or watch my video at http://www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/1915.html, and then you will understand!

ABOUT SIMON ACLAND

Simon Acland worked as a venture capitalist for over 20 years and wrote several books on investing and leadership. The Waste Land is his first novel. For more information, visit his website at :http://www.simonacland.com/wasteland.htm

My review of Simon's book, The Waste Land will be posted tomorrow :)

Wrath of Iron, Chris Wraight

Publishers: Black Library (Games Workshop)

Pages: 416

Main Characters:

Morvox, General Nethata

I don’t really know what I thought of Wrath of Iron. After reading Gav Thorpe’s novels on the Dark Angels, I was extremely excited to get stuck into another Space Marine Battle Novel, as The Purging of Kadillus was so brilliant! However, for me, this book did not live up to that expectation. Nevertheless, it does not mean that I did not enjoy it.

The novel tells the tale of The Iron Hands and their allies- The Imperial Guard and the Titan Battlegroup Praxes. The Space Marines and their allies are sent to purge the world of Shardenus, which comes under the control of the Chaos Gods. Shardenus is an industrial waste with most of its inhabitants living underground to avoid the poisonous fumes that inhabit the world’s surface. The synopsis sets the book up to be an epic battle. The Marines are tasked with breaking into the planet’s underbelly, fighting off Daemons and Mutants and finally, destroying the Chaos Leader that is corrupting the world. However, I felt the one problem that let this epic-ness down was the Iron Hands!

I have never really read into the Iron Hands before this book. The chapter revolves around the belief that the human form is weak and that the only way they, as machines of war, can overcome this weakness is to literally become machines. The Iron Hands do this by firstly removing one of their hands and replacing it with an iron one. Then over their many decades of service, they remove other body parts and replace them with implants and machines. This leads to many of the Marines losing their human feelings and compassion. I think this explains why I didn’t take to this book as much as I did with other Space Marine novels. This is because there is no real depth to any of the Iron Hands as they have no real feelings or back story. I thought that as a reader, you didn’t get any real feel for who the Iron Hands are, like you do in other Space Marine Battle novels. I also think this is why the book is taken up with the stories of The Imperial Guard and the Titans, as much as it is with the Iron Hands. I think this is because without these subplots in the novel, the plot of the Iron Hands would have only taken about 100 pages to read.

Nevertheless, as an author and writer, I really liked Chris Wraight and when the Iron Hands did get interesting towards the end, his description of the gory battle and their last push really captivated me and made me want to read more of his novels.

All in all, I felt a little disappointed with this book but I think this is because I am not a fan of the Iron Hands, however, the ending is great and definitely made this book worth a read. I would suggest it to anyone who is a Warhammer 40k fan, specifically if you’re an Iron Hands player. I’d also suggest it if you like sci-fi and have never read a Warhammer 40k novel before. The Space Marines Battle series is a great way to get into the wonderful world of Warhammer, so why not give one of the excellent novels in the series a try!

For author's official website click here.

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Book of the Month Competition for your chance to win three FREE copies of  Wish by C. H. Aalberry! To enter, just follow the instructions on this post and for more information click here.

Interview with Susan Cartwright, author of Wolf Dawn and Wolf Revenge.

Here's my interview with Susan Cartwright, author of Wolf Dawn and Wolf Revenge. Susan is an amazing author and the first two books of her Forsaken Worlds series are amazing, especially Wolf Dawn, which I placed as my second favourite novel of 2012. I hope you guys like my review, please check out my reviews of Susan's books and please, if you like sci-fi, check out Susan Cartwright's novels!

1) Wolf Revenge is the second book in your debut series. What inspired you to write Wolf Dawn and Wolf Revenge as your first books?

I had them in my mind for years. Dune, Ursila Le Guin and other SF author’s. But Wolf Dawn is a coming of age story, and I perhaps my own childhood and experiences were coming through there.

2) In Ash’s world, I really liked the idea of Icom and the description of planets such as Opan.  I thought the idea of the red coloured sky was brilliant and made Opan a unique planet in the book. As a sci-fi author, what inspires you to come up with these great ideas for your novels?

I have no idea! I just saw the world that way, and then I imagined a scientific reason for it to be that way. As for Icom, well I think that is the way of the future. People will have computers they can access right from their brain. If you had that chance, to have instant computing power and Google on tap wouldn’t you take it? Already they have found that human thought is a wavelength. The brain should be able to understand and use an internal Wi-fi computer. There you are. That is my prediction for what will happen in the next 300 years.

3) Both Wolf Dawn and Wolf Revenge are a mixture of science fiction and romance. I always refer to your novels as sci-fi books, but how do you see your novels and yourself as an author? Do see yourself as a sci-fi writer, a romance writer or a mixture of both?

Ha! Well, that is the problem isn’t it? It is SF, because these things could happen in the future. Who could say they couldn’t? But it is Fantasy, or even paranormal because hey – that kind of stuff doesn’t happen yet. As for romance, I like a little romance and /or sex in a book. Not to the realms of erotic, but honestly, sex and romance is part of life and thus some part of my books. Not unlike eating or sleeping, or any other bodily need. Anyone who says otherwise is in denial or has lost all their hormones! So I guess for a sense of realism, I like to throw a bit of romance and or sex in, why not?

4) In both of your books, there are many different and unique characters such as Ash, Larren and Neopol. Is there any particular character in the two novels that you relate yourself too? If so, who would it be and why? (I hope you don’t compare yourself to Neopol!)

Humm. Well. I guess it would have to be Ash. Let us just say I am familiar with guilt and self-doubt, and Ash is too. As for Neopol!  I used to work in jails as a nurse, and in psych units where the clients had committed capital crimes. Neopol is a combination of some of the people I actually knew. He is a messed up man/ woman. Then there is Larren. Who wouldn’t love Larren? He is an all around normal sort of guy, just trying to do the right thing. I think a lot of people can identify with both Ash and Larren.

5) What novels do you enjoy reading in your spare time?

Oh my gosh. I read them all. Herbert, Lois McMaster Bujoid, David Gemmel, Bernard Cornwell, JK Rowling and Georgette Heyer. I went through a WW2 phase, and pretty well covered the subject from German, Japanese, the US, British, American and even Russian authors. I even like Westerns, so there honestly isn’t much I don’t enjoy as long as it is well written.  

6) Finally, as an author who has just released their second book, what advice would you give to any aspiring authors out there that want to write their own novels?

1. Work out your style. Are you a 1^st person or a third person author.

2. If you don’t know your style, find a good author you like, and model your writing style from that. Don’t worry that you will copy them. You will write differently anyway. You are unique! And you have a unique story to tell.  It took me a long time to figure out my style, and I wish I had just copied someone else’s rather than reinventing the wheel as I did. I did it the hard way! I wish someone had given me this simple advice before I wrote my first 100,000 words!

3. Get your point of view POV straight. Don’t go back and forth between POV – lots of new authors mess that one up.

4.I used Online Writers Workshop (OWW) they really are great. You can submit a story and people will review it and you review others. It is fun. The only catch here is in getting really terrible advice! But you have to go with what you KNOW in you heart. If it is good for you, to hell with everyone else’s POV.

5. When I finally finished a manuscript, I paid a real author to go through it. David Bischoff has written 80 different books and he gave me all sort of tips re: keeping the reader on track and such. You can’t beat a professional for good advice.

6. Finally, the only good authors are writing! You have to write and write and write. After your first 200,000 words you will have an idea of what you are doing, that is for sure. No one can really tell you how to do it in the end. It can be hours in the chair, day after day, fighting with your self-doubt and insecurities. But so many times the words just fly out and I find that I am so happy. I LOVE reading, but writing is SOOOOOO much better because you are really living the story as you write it. So the pay back is worth it. But as I say, it is not for the faint hearted. Like any artist someone will dislike what you do. But who cares? I get a kick out of my fan mail. When people really GET what I was trying to say, that is a fun reward for me. That and when I am in the writing zone, and I know my characters and I can hear them speaking. OMG there is such joy in writing then. It makes it all worthwhile.

I hope you enjoyed! I'd like to say a massive thank you to Susan for talking the time to answer my questions! Please check out her novels here.

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Book of the Month Competition for your chance to win three FREE copies of  Wish by C. H. Aalberry! To enter, just follow the instructions on this post and for more information click here.

The Painted Man, Peter V. Brett

Publishers: Harper Voyager

Pages: 416

Main Characters:

Arlen/The Painted Man, Leesha, Rojer

I was suggested this book a while ago by Billy who is a follower on my Facebook page. He said that since I’m such a fan of Mark Lawrence’s epic fantasy books that I would probably love this novel. I decided to take his advice and download this book as my free credit on Audible.

Now I have to say that as an audiobook I really didn't like this book. I think this was down to the narrator- Peter Joyce. Now don’t get me wrong, Joyce did have a great voice for narrating a fantasy novel, it was eerie and slightly dark which fit in with the atmosphere of the novel perfectly. However, when it came to acting the characters’ voices, they were somewhat… random. In a village that is populated by a few hundred people there was English, Irish, American and German accents and many of the men in the novel always sounded like they were out of breath? I just thought this let the audiobook down a little. Plus, the audio quality wasn’t that great and it made me glad I hadn’t paid for the download. Nevertheless, I did finish listening to the audiobook in about two weeks which I think shows how good the actual novel was!

The novel takes place in Thesa, a world of magic and ancient legends. By day, the inhabitants of Thesa are driven hard to scratch a meagre living out of the earth and by night are tormented by the evil Corelings. Corelings are magical demons that appear every night to hunt humans. The Corelings come in many different forms such as fire, wood, wind and rock and the only thing that protects humans from the demons are magical ‘Wards’. Wards are painted over door frames and on walls to stop demons getting into houses. However, many of the secrets of Wards have been lost over the centuries and many humans are killed nightly because their Wards are not strong enough.

Out of this terrible world, three stories emerge. The first is that of Arlen who is a very skilled Warder, even though he is still a young boy. After the death of his mother at the hands of a Coreling, Arlen runs away from home. He vows that he will fight the demons one day and to do this he becomes an apprentice warder. With his new profession  Arlen hopes that these new skills will help him become a ‘Messenger' and ultimately, help him kill Corelings.

Leesha is a young girl who is abused by her mother and told that she will never become something. However, after a Coreling attack, she finds herself helping the local Herb-gatherer Bruna.  Bruna sticks up for Leesha and takes her on as an apprentice, teaching her secrets that many healers have forgotten. After seven years, Leesha finishes her apprenticeship and travels to the city to further her knowledge about the art of herb gathering. After spending a few years in the city, Leesha hears of a flux that is affecting her home village of Cutter’s Hollow and returns as quickly as she is able, with a Jangler called Rojer.

Rojer, like Arlen, is the victim of a savage Coreling attack in which his mother and his father are murdered and in which Rojer loses some fingers to a Coreling’s bite! Rojer is taken in by a famous Jangler called Arrick who agrees to raise Rojer after the murder of his parents.  However, because of his weakened hand, Rojer is seen as a poor Jangler as he cannot juggle.  However, his skills with a fiddle gain him recognition and even gain him the nickname of Rojer ‘Half-grip’. His skills are so great that when on the road between the hamlets and the city, Rojer’s fiddling even manages to calm Corelings. Unfortunately, on this same trip, Rojer’s mentor is clawed by Corelings, forcing him to return to the city in which he meets Leesha and agrees to travel with her to Cutter’s Hollow.

This was a good novel and I really enjoyed it. It did start a little slow for me and I don’t think it really picked up until ‘The Painted Man’ was introduced. Nevertheless, from then on is really fast-paced, action filled and exciting! I can’t wait to read the second book in the series The Desert Spear, however, I think I will actually read that book instead of listening to it as an audiobook.

I would suggest this book to anyone who is a fan on fantasy novels such as The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, Prince of Thorns by Marl Lawrence or It Began with Ashes by D. E. M. Emrys as they all have the same fantasy feel to them and they are all great books!

For author’s official website click here.

Book of the Month Competition- March

Hello everybody! It’s the first day of a new month and you know what the means…it’s time for another Book of the Month Competition! This month I have a great giveaway for you guys as I’ll be giving away three FREE copies of Wish by C. H. Aalberry. Wish is a great fantasy novel with some fairy-tale aspects thrown in. In my review of the novel I described it as a ‘fairy-tale of epic proportions’, so if you love a great fantasy novel and a heroic journey, then this is the book for you!

As I said above I have three copies to give away! However, the copies will be e-book copies for the Amazon Kindle so please bear that in mind if you’d like to enter. I’d also like to say a massive thank you to Colin for donating his great novel to my Competition!

So, if you’d like to win this great fantasy novel, all you have to do is click on this link to my Facebook page, ‘like’ my page and then write a comment saying you would like to enter the competition. If you are not on Facebook but are a member of Blogger, you can enter the competition by following my Blog directly through Blogger, by clicking on the ‘join this site’ button on the right hand side of the page. You can also enter by subscribing to my Youtube page by clicking on this link here.

Remember it’s FREE to enter and it will not cost you a penny to get the book in the post. So why not have a go? You could win one of three excellent novels for absolutely FREE!

Good luck to everyone that enters, I hope you’ll have as much fun with the competition as I will.

I'll be choosing the winner on the 31st March. For further details on the competition, such as how the winner will be chosen and how the winner will be announced please click here.