Thoughts and Images

  Book: The Saga of Fidonhaal: The Daughters of the East Author: Lucas Gant Pages: 450 Hard Core Scale: 2 Normal Scale: 7/10 Publish Date: 2022 About:   An abused royal daughter falls in love with a boy while an ancient evil works on weak hearts to return to the world all with a looming prophecy of three woman who can defeat such evil. Review: Some much garnished tarnished hope from the glimpses before receiving the football from the author to do my dark arts. Grant has great potential and someone’s career to watch grow as I have a feeling they can do many an amazing thing when they work the kinks out of their mechanics and understand their story layers. Mechanic wise it is mostly there.  There is an issue with wasted prologue space wasted on another summary without a frame. Then a few small hooks and nails, but that is fine for a first book. Oddly enough a strong balance of author traits. By the time something like a dialogue chain, repeat structure, or a lap...

  Book: Might and Magic the Sea of Mist Author: Mel Odom Pages: 325 Hard Core Scale: 1/4 Normal Scale: 5/10 Publish Date: 2001 About:   Praz-el, the Mary Sue's school gets attack by zombies and his Girlfriend gets kidnapped so he gets on a boat to go rescue her, but he has a Mary Sue backstory and thus has secret backstory plots that “complicates” things. Review: This is the other side of the coin, a bit to capture that sword and sorcery the other two lacked with blobs of wasteful enemies. Mel Odom is currently an English professor and I hope he does not continue to write like this and teach writing like this. However, he is respected for writing for youth (whatever that means). Perhaps though   this is a doomed fate of us teachers. I was heavily missing the wheel in the other two novels reading this.   The world is unknown, though could be Axeroth with its island and boats and “gods” (a not might and magic thing). This was written during 3D0’s fall into obl...

  Book: Might and Magic: The Shadowsmith Author: Geary Gravel Pages: 280 Hard Core Scale: 2.5/4 Normal Scale: 7/10 Publish Date:   1996 About: Hitch and the Hatchling strive to make it back to the Hatcling’s ship while Diligence travels to meet up with them. Review: Well the contract ended and the third one was not complete. Instead a book by Mel Odom was written to take the contract slot in a completely unrelated Might and Magic Story. “The Shadowsmith”was written far superior flow wise than the first novel. I found myself caring more for Hitch’s part then Diligence’s. That imagination fruits here leading to fun places. I suppose Geary captures the setting of Might and Magic well as the Wheel could easily be a place in the larger universe. However, the sword and sorcery party spelunking and questing among the WTFery is not there. I suppose the author did their job and finished the contract before the last one was pulled. Kudos to you. Again, the imagination is what d...