Official Book Review: The Rivers Brothers and the Prince of Shadows by R. Antoine

I have finished The Rivers Brothers and the Prince of Shadows by R. Antoine and, as the author requested, now give it an Official Book Review.

Unexpected parentage and parental mysteries, an enchanted city, a school of magic, and stirring rebellion amid ethnic tensions that go back at least a couple generations. An improvement on living with a deranged and desperate uncle? Technically yes, but Krys and Kide could not have chosen a messier pot to land in – not that choices have been a big part of lives – and, better yet (or worse), it seems they are the key ingredients for several different recipes of trouble. The real question moving forward still being whether, and for how long, can family loyalty can survive rebellion and prejudice. And of course what recipe for the future Rivers Brothers themselves want to make.

(P.S. If you, dear reader, are an author/publisher and reading this review makes you want to ask me for a review too then PLEASE read my Contact Me? page. Do not bother now, though, as I intend to start a long series within day, so if any reading this are thinking I am becoming a Reviewer then you had better think again.)

Strange dream

Despite my vocation in life, I rarely dream about Fantasy (or dream much at all, for that matter). So dreaming of about a fleet of longships getting attacked by an undead leviathan was rather startling. Worse, my alarm clock rang just as the battle began.

My father and I just finished The Treehouse Library, Book Five of Anna James' Pages & Co. series.

My father and I just finished The Treehouse Library, Book Five of Anna James' Pages & Co. series.

It is Milo and Alessia's story now, and when botany and bookwandering blend in a hunt for the cure to an evil supergenius' imagination-based alchemical poison you sure go to some interesting and odd places, both on and off-board the Sesquipedalian (and that has got to be one the strangest sentences I have ever written). From Rosa the Botanist's Treehouse Library which also houses a rather amoral grandmother, tis off to sort of rob Robin Hood, seek in the Secret Garden, pluck a strange spoon off a swooning owl and cat, and jab the Jabberwock by the Tumtum tree. "'And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy." Only the joy did not last as now all of bookwandering, imagination itself, and their families lives is at stake – for nothing and no one is safe against the Alchemist's ambition. Which means tis time for Tilly, Oskar, Alessia, Milo, and Rosa to find the Book that holds the key and the myth-made man, man-made myth, who guards it in a place that feels very, very fitting.

I have started The Rivers Brothers and the Prince of Shadows by R. Antoine.

I have at the author's request started The Rivers Brothers and the Prince of Shadows by R. Antoine.

Unique Fantasies are definitely a draw, and while orphans with magical secrets getting sent to a crazed uncle is hardly new, spit fire that turns into half moons and shadows rebelling against fae is – and I am fairly certain the crazed uncle situation is temporary as well. My chief concern is whether family loyalty can survive that rebellion.

(Naturally the Official Book Review will come after I finish the book. And I intend to start a long series after this, so if any reading this are thinking I am becoming a Reviewer then you had best think again.)

Official Book Review: Kingdom Society: The Black Hood by Nathan Helm

I have finished Kingdom Society: The Black Hood by Nathan Helm and, as the author requested, now give it an Official Book Review. (And if  it seems like I read it surprisingly swiftly well, that is what a week of unexpectedly free evenings and a three-day weekend will do.)

Will somebody tell me how to write a review for something when almost everything one can think of writing would constitute a not insignificant spoiler? So I shall focus on what makes this book special: its uniqueness.

Every author has things they do best, and Nathan Helm's is a very fast plot and flashy – very visual – magical battles so well described that it is like watching an anime (which comes as no surprise since the book was partially inspired off such). Add that to merging Sci-Fi with Fantasy, time-travel, Eight Kingdoms instead of the stereotypical Seven, and a startlingly talkative and very hard to kill enemy in the Black Hood Lord Zallrahn or whatever the fiend chooses to call himself, and one has a book which you literally never know where the next page will take you. In short, Kingdom Society: The Black Hood bends and blends genre tropes and tricks into a most unexpected knot. Goodness knows I do not envy Alyeth, Cindril, the rest of House Zane plus Xylock trying to untie it.

(P.S. If you, dear reader, are an author/publisher and reading this review makes you want to ask me for a review too then PLEASE read my Contact Me? page.)

Four Hundred Turns (Dragonriders of Pern) - Anne McCaffrey (with lyrics)

"Four Hundred Turns" from the Dragonriders of Pern series by the honored Anne McCaffrey. The lyrics are, of course, written by Anne McCaffrey. I merely used AI to provide the music and generate the image.

I am adding "you look like you could live in any century" to my list of favorite compliments from my students.