Book Review: From a Far Land

From a Far Land
Jaben's Rift, book 1

By:  G. David Walker

Publisher:  Self Published By Author

Publish Date:  July 2010

Genre:  Fantasy

Format:  Paperback, 311 pages

Series:  Book 1 in Jaben's Rift series

Recommendation:  Yeah, this would be a great fantasy start for young adults and a nice visit for adults if you enjoy conspiracies with god like beings.

Book Synopsis:
From a far land, Jaben shall come...

One impulsive step plus one ancient prophecy equals one messed up summer vacation.  Jason Bennett never intended to change the world, his own or anyone else's.  Then a family vacation becomes a journey to Teleria, a place where magic works and humans aren't the only intelligent race.

Thought to be Jaben, a powerful figure foretold to hold the fate of Teleria in his hands, Jason gets caught in a dangerous tug of war between Teleria's ruling Circle of Nine and one of his own ancestors who opposes the Circle.  Adding to his dilemma, he finds himself at the center of a conflict between two of the Altered, a small group of godlike beings, one of whom is aiding Jason's ancestor against the Circle.

Unable to return home, Jason must learn to use power he isn't convinced he has, keep from triggering an all out war between the Altered that could devastate Teleria, and survive the plans of some in the Circle who believe his death is the only thing that will save Teleria.  Before he can do anything, he must decide who's telling him the truth, and who only wants to use him.

Not exactly the vacation he had planned.

First Sentence:
The ancient structure crouched in the middle of the Scottish woods.  For centuries, it had waited...

My Review and Summary:
A quick beginning while Jason Bennett is exploring a stone dilapidated building in the Scottish woods steps unknowingly through a rift portal.  But, someone had been waiting for him to find his way.  After seeing a kaleidoscope of colors and visuals crystallize, he is greeted by Reyga Falerian, a Loremaster, to the world of Teleria.  Jason finds it hard to believe he is no longer in Scotland, or even on his world.  Reyga has to restrain Jason and in doing so realizes there is something different in Jason.  Is it good or bad?  Reyga isn't sure.  After speaking to the High One of the Circle, Reyga agrees to bring Jason to the city where the High One and the rest of the Loremasters are to meet him and verify for themselves.  As the High One fears Jason might be the one the prophecy speaks of, which could end good or bad.  In the process Jason meets many interesting characters and gets mixed up in a ploy to overthrow the Circle.

I enjoyed this read.  I was worried after starting the book that this would be another basic story of a young one unknowingly finds and goes through a portal to a fantasy world, thinks they are dreaming, then finds there way home.  As a portion of this is true, not all of it is.  After I started getting into this fantasy world and learning more of it, I found I really enjoyed it.  The history of the world is detailed out for you, with pieces left open, but great areas to grow with in the future books.  Enough is given to understand the world and to build on as the book and future books go.  I found I liked the premises of the way the world came to be how it is now, and it was easy for me to follow and understand.

The books started with a Prologue where there was something in the descriptive words I liked.  The flow is nice and smooth here and the brief exchange caught my eye and made me curious.  There are short sections through most of the book in which you know someone is watching or waiting, but you don't know exactly who.  I wanted to get to see this character.  And I did in the end.

The characters here in this story are unique.  We have a variety and mix of races here along with dimsai, or magical, ability.  And how all these races got to this world.  It is all explained here.  I did have a little bit of a hard time with the main character Jason at times though, but I can explain why he is the way he is too.  He is an eighteen year old young man.  He does have his moments where he rages, but it was the calm moments with complete understanding and trust that caught me off guard.  I thought Jason was to understanding at the times that where big moments with heavy information.  But this is also what makes him likable to the other characters, as he doesn't act as they would have thought he would.  I really found I enjoyed the character Lenai and Crin.  But the ones I liked the set up for and made me curious about are the Altered, the godlike beings.

A great mix of godlike beings, fantasy creatures, fantasy world, and magic.  I would like to read book two to see where Jason and a few other characters go.


If you would like to visit G. David Walker's site to check more out on the book, CLICK HERE.



I received this book from the author for review.

This book qualifies for the Speculative Fiction Challenge hosted by Book Chick City, and the Young Adult Challenge hosted by Home Girl.

Looking Forward To... (19)

There are so many amazing books already on the shelves and new ones coming out.

For a list of books yet to be released I'm looking to get, you can also look on my right Sidebar at the ever growing list titled Desired Reads - just scroll down.  Of course there are tones of other new books to come out that are amazing as well, but these ones are part of series I have already started or for one reason or another caught my eye (and haven't seen much on other blogs yet). But I will highlight one here each week.

(mentioned in order of Release Date then Alphabetical if there are more than one book coming out on the same date.)

The Next Book Is...

Double Cross

By: Carolyn Crane

Due out:  September 28, 2010

This is the second book in the Disillusionist trilogy.  Many of you may know Robyn from The Bookoholic Zone and I did a book chat on the first book in the series, Mind Games.  I loved this read.  I enjoyed the book for the fun, love, and the wonderful twist on the "abilities".  If you would like to read my review of Mind Games, please click here.  If you would like to check out the discussions on the book, we did three sections, so click Stop 1 here, Stop 2 here, and Stop 3 here.  It might refresh your memory just a little to get you ready for the new release.

Good Reads synopsis:

SOME SECRETS COME BACK TO HAUNT. OTHERS COME TO KILL...

Justine Jones has lived her life as a fearful hypochondriac until she's lured into the web of a mysterious mastermind named Packard. He gifts her with extraordinary mental powers-dooming her to fight Midcity's shadowy war on paranormal crime in order to find the peace she so desperately craves.

But now, serial killers with unheard-of skills are terrorizing the most powerful beings in Midcity, including mastermind Packard - and his oldest friend and worst enemy, Midcity's new mayor, who has the ability to bend matter itself to his will.

As the body count grows, Justine faces a crisis of conscience as she tests the limits of her new powers and faces an impossible choice between two flawed but brilliant men . . . one on a journey of redemption, and the other descending into a pit of moral depravity.

Blog Book Chat: Blue Diablo part 2

We are at our second stop of the book, Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre.

If you would like to visit the first discussion you can do so, HERE.

If you are curious about our schedule for the book, here is the schedule again.  Remember, this post is here for good so if you have not read the book completely yet and want to come back later - please do.

   1st Stop: Sept. 2, 2010 pg 104, after chapter; More Than One Way to Skin a Potato

   2nd Stop: Sept. 9, 2010 Pg 210, after chapter; Have Dog, Will Travel

   3rd Stop: Sept. 16, 2010 End of the book

If you have not read the book and planning on it.  Enter with fair warning, as there WILL BE SPOILERS found here.

So, now lets get started with our questions....

From Robyn:

1.  Do you think Kel and Clayton are behind this or is there something else following them? When I say something, it could be anything supernatural.

2.  Do you think Chance's mom is still alive?

3.  Is it really Chance they want? Could they be using Chance and his mom to get to Corine?

4.  Are we starting to trust Jesse?

From Me:
1.  Corine's father was mentioned by Twila on page 117.  Who took her father & why?  What patterns bind her and Chance?  Could it be the same people who took his mother took her father?  Or just that they are similar experiences?

2.  When Chance and Corine talk to the Doc he looks off to the corner funny.  Are the Shadows watching?  What is he not sharing?

3.  What do you think Min, Chance's mother was or is mixed up in?

Favorite Fictional Character (29)

Meme Sponsored and hosted by the creative mind of Ryan at Wordsmithonia.

My character this week is from an Urban Fantasy book I enjoyed.  She has a touch of necromancy powers to her, so yes in other words she sees dead people...
 
Now, many of the readers will tell you about her co-star in the book.  He is a delicious sounding vampire, but she is the main character and is a great one at that.  The character I am talking about is Rhiannon from Dead, Undead, or Somewhere in Between by J.A. Saare. 
 
Rhiannon is one to take the bull by the horns and wrestle it down.  Okay so that may be a little bit much.  But she will definitely tell you like it is, and use some colorful flavor with that.  She is a tough girl.  Ready to bounce out any trouble at the bar she works in and will even hustle you for some money at pool.  She is a strong character to stand up to the "bad" guys.
 
She did have a rough childhood and even though this makes for a hard time with relationships she still cares for others and tries for herself.  She does finally find that one to share with and who loves her.  Even if he is a gorgeous few hundred year old vampire.  But, then there is the end to this first book that leaves you wanting more...
 
But I do enjoy the strong headed tell-it-as-it-is with flavor women here.

Teaser Tuesday (43)

Teaser Tuesday

is a weekly event

Sponsored by MizB of Should be Reading

Here's how it works:

Grab the book you are currently reading (anything at all)

Open the book to any random page.

Share 2 teaser sentences from anywhere on the page

Please Make Sure They Are Not Spoilers!

(Don't Give Too Much Away)

Just enough to pique our interests

This Week:

Harrison blushed a bit; he rarely received such recognition for his actions.  Harrison diverted his eyes from the chieftain to hide his embarrassment and obtained his first in-depth look of the structure he rested in.

People of the Sword

By Neil O'Donnell

pg 35

Monday's Beginnings (54)

So, here we are again... another Monday.

How are you faring in reading at the beginning of this week?  Are you starting a new book or finishing one up?

Well, things have been crazy around here.  We are in the process of cleaning everything out and trying to box it all up.  Yep, we are trying to get our house in some sort of order to put it on the market to sell.  That is a lot of work when you are still living there. Ha! We shall see how it works out for us.  But, at the same time we have been running around to visit a few parties for Labor day weekend.  So time has been crunched here and I have not got much of a chance to get much reading done.

I did get some reviews done late Friday night to try and leave the weekend open.  (This is the first in 3-4 days in which I have been on the computer.)  The reviews I got done are... Antiphon by Ken Scholes HERE and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins HERE.   I did get done with my current read, From a Far Land by G. David Walker.  I hope to get the review up here this week.

I'm working on reading Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre for the Urban Fantasy Blog Book Chat host by Robyn at The Bookoholic Zone and I.  The first discussion was posted on Thursday last week, CLICK HERE to hop over there to chat.  Then, the second section will be posted on Thursday, September 9th.  Please feel free to join in with us at any time.

My next read I'm going to dive into is People of the Sword by Neil O'Donnell.  This read is for a book challenge I am working on with friends over at Speculative Book Review.  I am looking forward to it.

Now to the Wishlist... Thanks to all of you I have added 9 more books to the list!  And these all sound like amazing reads.  This list is one in which I try to keep as only the books I REALLY want to and plan to read.  All these amazing authors should be so proud and happy of all these amazing books.

Books Received Last Week:

Thanks to Friends:

Thanks to Jessica at The Spinecracker sent me her copy of the book for me to try out.  I am looking forward to getting into this one.  Thank you Jessica!  And all you should stop by to say hi to Jessica, here.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Hell hath nothing worse than a Fury scorned...


As a Fury, Marissa Holloway belongs to an Arcane race that has avenged wrongdoing since time immemorial. As Boston’s Chief Magical Investigator for the past five years, she’s doing what she was born to: solving supernatural crimes.

It’s far from business as usual when the body of one of Riss’s sister Furies washes up in Boston harbor. Riss discovers that the corpse’s identity has been magically altered, but as soon as she reports her findings, she’s immediately—and inexplicably—suspended from the her job. Then a human assassin makes an attempt on her life, and Riss starts to realize that someone may be trying to stir up strife between mortals and Arcanes.

When a Fury gets mad, she gets even, and Riss is determined to untangle this case. Without the support of the mortal PD, Riss turns to the one man she can trust to watch her back—shapeshifting Warhound Scott Murphy. But since Scott is also Riss’s ex, she’ll have to keep a tight leash on more than just the supernatural rage that feeds her power as they try to solve a murder—and stop a war…

Winnings:
I won these books over at Ryan's blog, Wordsmithonia.  They do sound like fun reads.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Shamira is considered an outcast by most, but little do they know that Shamira is on a mission. Kids on Mars are disappearing, but Shamira decides to use the criminals most unlikely weapons against them, the very kids of which they have captured. In order to succeed, she is forced to trust another, something she is afraid to do. However, Valens her connection to the underworld of her enemy, proves to be a useful ally. Time is slipping, and so is her control on the power that resides within her. Yet, in order to save her brother's life she is willing to risk it all.

Goodreads Synopsis:
For most kids, a trip to space camp is the trip of a lifetime for Aadi it was life altering. After receiving a camp immunization needed for travel to Mars, Aadi finds that the immunization is the catalyst of an insidious experiment. He realizes what is happening too late for a change of fate. The full experiment is set in motion when he and his co-pilot, Eirena, crash in a distant galaxy called Shrenas, where they change and realize the full extent of their power. This turn of events forces him to grow up quickly, accept his change, and to decide to save a world, or to do what he was trained to do dominate it. His power is coveted by the warring leaders of Shrenas, and he is forced to choose sides a decision that may prove just how much humanity he has left.

I won this one on Twitter from the publisher.  I am soooo looking forward to getting into this series.

Goodreads Synopsis:
It takes a strong woman to keep the peace in a city of endless night. . . .



Deep beneath Underground, a cunning bid for power and revenge has begun—one that threatens to make Atlanta the new battleground in the ultimate confrontation between good and evil. The powers of hellish Charbydon have the upper hand after plunging the city into primordial night. And under the cover of darkness, a serial killer targets the most powerful Elysians in the city, the angelic Adonai. For Detective Charlie Madigan and her siren partner Hank, tracking deadly predators is all in a day’s work . . . but this case will test the limits of their strength and friendship as it draws them into a deadly world of power plays, ancient myths, explosive secrets, and a race against time that risks all that Charlie holds dear.

Purchases:

I of course had to go get this book.  As I love my fantasy reads and Brandon Sanderson's books.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.
 
Well, I am looking forward to another busy week.
So, how are you faring this week?  Does it look like a good reading week?
 
Here's to you having a great week in words and pages.

Book Review: Mockingjay

Mockingjay

By:  Suzanne Collins

Publisher:  Scholastic Press

Publish Date:  August 24, 2010

Genre:  YA Fantasy

Format:  Hardback, 389 pages

Recommendation:  YES!! and read the first two books too! It is so much more than YA and deadly games.

Book Synopsis:
My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed.  Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe.  Peeta has been captured by the Capitol.  District 13 really does exist.  There are rebels.  There are new leaders.  A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescu3ed from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it.  District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol.  Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans - except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem.  To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust.  She must become the rebels' Mockingjay - no matter what the personal cost.

First Sentence:
I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather.

My Review and Summary:
First, this review will have spoilers as to the first two books and some to this one as well, not much but if you want to go in unknowing the please don't read.  I tried keeping all the major issues out of this review and hope I did well in that.

One month after Quarter Quell and Katniss is still healing.  Katniss returns to the ashes of her home District 12 to see the devastation with her own eyes.  Katniss is still trying to put the pieces and players together to figure out what's true and what's not.  She feels guilty for the deaths of District 12 for her actions in the Quarter Quell ~ upsetting the Capitol to make them do this to her home district.

In Katniss's state of mind and distress over what has happened with the games she can't decide if she wants to join up with the Rebels and be the image they need her to be... the Mockingjay, to give hope to the other districts while fighting.  Yet the help with clothes, speeches and such all sound just like the position Katniss played before each game.

This book starts off slowly with learning who and how the rescued ones are.  You learn there are great worries for the ones who were captured by the Capitol, and you see how devastating it is to the ones who are alive and... well alive.  Here in District 13 you start to see there are rumors about the place and you wonder slightly on it while learning interesting details of the place, but the people are safe and accepted here. 

I was aware from the previous two books that President Snow and the games really affected these kids' minds, but it really shows in this conclusion as to how badly it really was/is.  The clouded view and instability of Katniss from the previous and even current happenings really comes into focus here.  This is also what makes this book so heart wrenching for me.  Suzanne definitely does NOT take the easy road for her characters.  She is very bold in taking this great stand with them, which makes them that much more real to me.

I was wanting to see more of the government and the views of what might have been "wrong," "right," or where they "went from here".  But again, these books are from Katniss's view so we are a little short on these explanations.  These books are of Katniss as she grows in the role here.  You do get your conclusion to the story.  But the idea implanted from this world and the reaction of these characters keeps you thinking.

As much as I loved the book and was drawn into these characters once more, I felt left wanting more in the end.  This can be a good thing and a bad thing.  Maybe the frantic pacing in parts of the book once it got rolling and then slower in others might be why.  I'm not sure.  Maybe the trauma periods for Katniss, when she is sedated, is what I felt as I'm missing things, I wasn't sure I was getting all the information or even the right information.  But I was seeing Katniss's view on everything to understand her even more.  It might be that I don't really get my closure with what happens in the government and politics.  But the book left a huge impact on me.  The thought to do what is right and needed in the bigger picture.

Is this the perfect ending to the trilogy?  I don't know.  I do know I was drawn right to the characters and the destructive world they live in.  Drawn so much I was heart broken in the end.  But there is a short ray of hope given after it all.  For me this book is about more than how Katniss chooses to be with, it is about what you choose in life to fight for and what you will do for it, but keep your eyes and ears open to not be tricked to do for others.


I purchased this book for my own reading.

This book qualifies for the Speculative Fiction Challenge hosted by Book Chick City, and for the Young Adult Challenge hosted by Home Girls Book Blog.