Category: Book Review
Echo Prophecy by Lindsey Fairleigh
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000037_00039]](https://i0.wp.com/themadreviewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/echo-prophecy-by-lindsey-fairleigh.jpg)
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Discover what’s hidden–a powerful, mythic race, an ancient Egyptian prophecy, and a love strong enough to shatter the boundaries of time.
Alexandra Larson isn’t human…but she doesn’t know that. As far as Lex is concerned, she’s simply an ambitious and independent archaeology grad student with a knack for deciphering ancient languages, especially the various forms of Egyptian. When she’s recruited to work on her dream excavation, her translating skills uncover the secret entrance to an underground Egyptian temple concealed within Djeser-Djeseru–the famous mortuary temple of Queen Hatchepsut. Lex is beyond thrilled by her discovery…as is the enigmatic and alluring excavation director, Marcus Bahur.
As the relationship between Lex and Marcus heats up, a series of shocking revelations leave the young archaeologist reeling. Once Lex discovers the truth of her ancient Egyptian roots–the truth of her more-than-human nature–the people she trusts most make one final, terrifying revelation: Lex is the central figure of a four-thousand-year-old prophecy. She is the only thing standing between the power to alter the very fabric of time and an evil megalomaniac…who also happens to be her father. As events set in motion over four millennia ago lead Lex and Marcus from Seattle to the heart of Egypt, the fate of mankind depends on one thing: the strength of Lex’s love.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
As you guys all know, I’m an ancient Egypt fanatic. There’s just something about ancient Egypt that appeals to me, so it was pretty much a guarantee I’d pick up this book and at least give it a try. So did Echo Prophecy measure up to my expectations?
Absolutely! Lindsey Fairleigh knows far more about ancient Egyptian mythology, culture and language than I ever could have hoped for. She actually knows something about how hieroglyphs are translated and that there isn’t only one form of Egyptian (i.e. Middle Egyptian is an entirely different animal from New Kingdom Egyptian). I very nearly fainted when she actually used the properly translated names of the Egyptian gods like Heru, Aset and Set instead of the more commonly used Greek translations like Horus, Isis and Seth. I was just blown away by the way she incorporated the Egyptian mythology into the story and used it to create a believable explanation for the Egyptian gods.
As for the characters, I loved Lex. She was believable because not only does she react like a normal person would to finding out about a whole secret race, she is also flawed. Throughout the story she seems pretty unsure of herself until she gradually grows more and more confident. It’s a natural progression and I love Lindsey Fairleigh for doing it that way rather than having her accept everything all at once. Marcus was also a great character and I found that his actions were very well explained by his major secret. I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say that obviously Marcus isn’t everything he appears to be.
In the beginning the plot is pretty slow. That didn’t really bother me because it let me get my bearings for a little bit as Lex’s dreams became more and more frequent. But Lindsey Fairleigh didn’t dawdle for too long because soon everything was happening at once and Lex’s world changed completely. Despite the insanely fast pacing at some points, I never felt like the character development was forgotten. Even in the moments where there was huge suspense, everyone grew as a character either through their actions, words or when more backstory was revealed.
Even if you aren’t the biggest ancient Egyptian fan, I highly recommend Echo Prophecy. It’s a well-written, fast-paced novel with just enough romantic tension to keep the slow parts interesting. I can’t wait for the next book to see how Lindsey Fairleigh handles that huge cliffhanger she left at the end.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Sia by Josh Grayson
(Cover picture courtesy of Always YA at Heart.)
When seventeen-year-old Sia wakes up on a park bench, she has no idea who or where she is. Yet after a week of being homeless, she’s reunited with her family. At school, she’s powerful and popular. At home, she’s wealthy beyond her dreams. But she quickly realizes her perfect life is a lie. Her family is falling apart and her friends are snobby, cruel and plastic. Worse yet, she discovers she was the cruelest one. Mortified by her past, she embarks on a journey of redemption and falls for Kyle, the “geek” she once tormented. Yet all the time she wonders if, when her memories return, she’ll become the bully she was before…and if she’ll lose Kyle.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
After reading books with plenty of tragedy in them recently (Othello, The Hittite, The Iron Traitor) I saw this book on NetGalley and knew I had to request it. I absolutely knew what I was getting into: a shamelessly inspirational book that helped restore my broken faith in humanity just a little bit.
If you’re feeling down now or just want to see a YA book with a happy ending, Sia is perfect for you. It’s a cinematic story of a young girl who, when given a second chance at life, becomes a better person and changes the people around her for the better as well. Sia used to be a spoiled, bratty rich girl and after losing her memory through the rare fugue amnesia she has to confront the person that she was and all the damage she had done. Instead of letting this revelation destroy her, Sia chooses to move forward and become a better person rather than reverting to her old life.
The thing about Sia is that it’s not just your stereotypical inspirational novel. It’s actually well written! Josh Grayson just has this way of describing the scenery and the people that makes you feel like you’re really there. You can feel the tough reality of life on the streets just as well as you can feel the air of indulgence at the Oscar party in Hollywood. That, my friends, is what you call cinematic writing. It’s very easy to picture this book on the big screen.
Obviously Sia is a well-rounded three dimensional character, but the supporting cast is as well. Kyle felt very real to me as did Sia’s parents. The sort of villain in the end will never go down as one of my favourites, but her motives were believable enough in the context of the story. He won’t get any awards for completely unique characters from Sia, but the way Josh Grayson writes them more than makes up for it.
Overall, if you’re looking for a good light read or maybe even a little inspiration, I’d highly recommend Sia. You can’t go wrong with this book.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
From the Ashes by K.L. Kerr
(Cover picture courtesy of K. L. Kerr’s website.)
For a simple eternity, all Michael Roman has to do is let it all go: the mystery surrounding his maker’s murder, the memory of his mortal life, and the basic idea that killing is wrong.
“From the Ashes” chronicles Michael’s early vampire life spent fighting on the Tournament circuit and falling for another vampire’s familiar.
This is a Blood of Ages Companion Novel. It can be read independently of or in addition to the Blood of Ages series by K.L. Kerr; if reading as part of the series, it is advised to read at any point after “The Genesis (Blood of Ages, #1)”.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
In The Genesis we got to see Fox through the eyes of another person. But in some ways I actually like the companion novel From the Ashes even better because we get to see Michael’s evolution from regular guy to Fox, the toughened Tournament fighter.
The plot is not exactly fast-paced in the beginning because it focuses more on Michael’s character and his transformation to a vampire. Of course in the beginning he has no idea he’s a vampire until the mysterious Vincent rescues him from a police officer determined to turn him in to the ACA. After that the plot is a little slow while Michael gains his bearings in this terrifying new world of vampires. But then the plot starts to pick up when Vincent decides it’s time Michael became useful and throws him into the Tournaments to prove his fighting capabilities.
It’s there that poor Michael meets Amy, who is the familiar of Chino, the Tournament organizer. Falling for another vampire’s familiar isn’t exactly the greatest thing to do and it explains why Michael is so distant toward Catrina in The Genesis. Sometimes companion novels or novellas don’t really add any backstory or greater understanding of the world of the original novels, but this is certainly not the case with From the Ashes.
Sure, I suppose you could read From the Ashes before you read The Genesis, but then The Genesis won’t be nearly as awesome if you already know Fox’s tragic backstory. I don’t think reading From the Ashes will be required to understand the second book in Blood of Ages, but it certainly gives Fox and Dayson city a lot more depth. If you loved the first book, I highly recommend reading this companion novel.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
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The Hittite by Ben Bova
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
This is the tale of Lukka, the Hittite soldier who traveled across Greece in search of the vicious slave traders who kidnapped his wife and sons. He tracks them all the way to war-torn Troy. There he proves himself a warrior to rank with noble Hector and swift Achilles. Lukka is the man who built the Trojan horse for crafty Odysseus, who toppled the walls of Jericho for the Isrealites, who stole beautiful Helen–the legendary face that launched a thousand ships–from her husband Menaleus after the fall of Troy and fought his way across half the known world to bring her safely to Egypt.
I wasn’t really sure what I expected of The Hittite, but it certainly wasn’t what I got. The opening scene takes place amidst the chaos of the sack of Hattusas where Lukka is desperately trying to keep discipline in the garrison while finding his family. The once mighty Hittite empire has been thrown into chaos by a bloody civil war and once Lukka learns that his wife and sons are bound for Troy as slaves, there’s only one place he can go. Except when he gets there, not all is as it seems.
The thing I like most about The Hittite is how Ben Bova portrayed all of the famous characters from the proud (and vain) Achilles to Helen. I love how Achilles is the proud fool he was in the original legend while Helen is an independent woman desperate to survive in a world where women are, for the most part, chattel. The most heartbreaking part of the whole novel is when we hear Helen’s tale from Apet her nursemaid and see just how much she really did suffer in Sparta. It’s a much more realistic portrayal of Spartan life than I’ve ever seen and had I been in Helen’s place I would have done the exact same thing: use Paris to escape to Troy.
The other thing I liked was that Ben Bova’s writing style has the perfect balance for historical fiction. He is able to describe everything so that I felt like I was there, but he never really gets into the long-winded descriptions that some authors of historical fiction do. I liked how he explained the implausible things from the Trojan myth (Achilles’ weakness, the Trojan horse) in a way that makes you believe it really could have happened that way and the story could have just grown into something more.
Overall, I absolutely loved The Hittite. I wasn’t going to pick it up at first, but it was in the bargain bin at my local bookstore so I figured I had nothing to lose. Trust me, you’re pretty much guaranteed to fall in love with The Hittite once you start reading it. It’s well worth the cover price.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Desired by Shadow by Cynthia Luhrs
(Cover picture courtesy of Paperblog.)
Betrayed…A modern-day ghost story with a twist.
Kidnapped on her way home from work, Maggie is thrown into a terrifying world of shadow. Narrowly escaping death, she flees her kidnappers only to come face to face with her greatest fear.
Helping a dying stranger, Maggie unleashes a terrible curse when she saves Robert. Now with only a week to break the curse, time is running out as they are locked in a deadly fight with forces that will stop at nothing to destroy them.
Intensely romantic and thrilling, Desired by Shadow portrays the struggle between redemption, retribution and the desire to find a love that transcends time.
If you enjoy persnickety gods, supernatural creatures and ghosts with the ability to manifest physical bodies, then Desired by Shadow is for you.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
What I found interesting about Desired by Shadow is that it continues on where Lost in Shadow left off by telling the story of someone else. That someone else is Maggie, a woman who can see Shadow Walkers and is kidnapped by the Day Walkers to spot them so they can be hunted down and killed. She already knows a little about this mysterious world when she accidentally saves Robert, the charming pirate from the last book, on the anniversary of his death while trying to escape from the Day Walkers. As for Robert, he is a typical playboy and doesn’t want anything to do with the whole soulmates thing his friend Colin and Emily went through.
Maggie is a very different woman from Emily in the first book. She’s spent most of her life out on the streets and things are finally starting to look up when she’s kidnapped by the Day Walkers. Maggie is a very capable woman and successfully escapes from the clutches of the Day Walkers all on her own, which was quite impressive. However, what I like the most about her character is that she learns to trust again. She learns to trust people in general, but more importantly she learns to love and trust Robert when circumstances bring them together.
The romance between Robert and Maggie develops similar to Colin and Emily’s but there are some nice, notable differences so it doesn’t feel like a complete repeat episode. The only thing I can really criticize is that the proofreading doesn’t seem to be as good as it was in the last novel. I caught way more typos than before and I’m not sure if it’s because I just noticed more or that there were actually more. None of them really take away from the story, but it’s certainly worth mentioning. They may have been corrected in the actual ebook now that it’s been out a few weeks and I was reading an ARC through NetGalley.
If you liked Lost in Shadow, you’ll probably like Desired by Shadow even more. It expands on the world-building from the first book, the characters are believable and the plot is fast-paced if a little predictable.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.