Rae Else's Blog, page 2
April 20, 2017
The Lie Tree: YA Book Review
[image error]This is a great one to start with for my new rating system. Overall, I really enjoyed this one. The mystery and intrigue was built up well and I really enjoyed venturing with the MC, Faith to uncover her father’s secrets. And a great one to start my new watery themed rating system as at the beginning we find ourselves literally at sea. “The boat moved with a nauseous, relentless rhythm, like someone chewing on a rotten tooth. The islands just visible through the mist also looked like teeth…”
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April 8, 2017
Black Inked Pearl: Book Review
Finnegan’s Black Inked Pearl opens with our fifteen-year-old heroine, Kate. From the beginning, our surroundings are dreamlike, or rather, timeless. We are on “Donegal shore by wild Atlantic Sea. Today. Or long ago.” When is Kate? When are we? It doesn’t matter – from the beginning we are swept up in the narrative; one that has no beginning and no end.
We experience the themes of lost love and the quest for identity through Kate’s eyes, but there is a real sense that the reader, and indeed al...
March 29, 2017
Element: Descendants of Eden
The world-building in this book is detailed. The descendants (who descend from Adam and Eve) are sketched out intricately – their natures and personalities varying depending on who they originate from. I found the painting of the demons and the darker elements of this world very vivid too. For instance, the thing you fear most is the form that the demons take on – this led to lots of interesting and disturbing scenes.
Lucy, the main character, is sketched well. Someone who is conflicted about...
March 20, 2017
Wolf of the Tesseract
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Image from https://pixabay.com/en/users/TheHilar...
My leanings tend to be more Fantasy than Sci-fi, and Wolf of the Tesseract by Christopher D. Schmitz is firmly entrenched in the Sci-Fi camp. It has intergalactic travel, the characters have multiple-selves throughout the dimensions and the MCs’ nemesis is an alien warlock. That said, I’m thoroughly pleased I have broadened my reading range!
The story starts off with a fast-paced battle scene, with an introduction to one of the...
March 14, 2017
The Graces: YA Book Review
This one…I heard things about… There were whispers and rumours… People said it was like The Craft – that movie, which is a cult movie if you got into witches like I did as a teenager in the 90s. Even if I wasn’t expecting The Craft, perhaps a little bit of comic witchcraft, Charmed anyone? No, no – it was more…ah, are they witches, or aren’t they? Ah, is there a story here, or isn’t there?
Saying that, I didn’t stop reading. There was something in the MC’s desperate wish to be a part of the G...
March 7, 2017
Water Lily: YA Book Review
Water Lily is a YA, Paranormal Romance by Crystal Packard. I love YA and Fantasy, but don’t tend to stray into those that are more Romance heavy. This was a brilliant read though and where it might have got weighed down by romance, there was no chance of this happening as the author has just the right blend of humour to balance it. I found myself giggling along with some of the comic exchanges that occurred between the characters.
From the offset, I was immersed and invested in the MC, Lily, who is stifled and grieving at the beginning of the novel. It was thrilling to watch how events unfolded and how the fantasy world was introduced (no spoilers 
March 5, 2017
Descendants: The Arete Series
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Hi everyone! Sorry for being away for so long – will get back to blogging and catching up on people’s posts soon. I’ve been busy getting my first book, Descendants ready for publication the last few months. I’m self-publishing it next month on the 12th of April.
It’s inspired by Greek mythology, but instead of being about the descendants of gods, it’s about those cursed by them. Think Fallen meets Percy Jackson.
There are lots of stories about the children of gods. But what about those cursed by the gods, and their descendants…
El, a seventeen-year-old has inherited an ancient and deadly power. She loses control of it, causing a horrific accident, and becomes the prey of a secret organisation, knows as the Order.
Forced from her family and home, she hides in plain sight amidst the crowds of London, and is thrust into a world she never knew existed; one full of arete: beings with extraordinary powers like hers.
Arete are beings that can trace their lineage and powers from ancient Greece. They do not claim their inheritance comes from the gods, rather legend says they are descended from cursed beings, such as Medusa.
At the heart of their world is the kerykeion, the symbol that protects them from the humans and the humans from them. El is trapped between two factions, one that has built an empire around the kerykeion and another that is determined to bring it down.
As she is drawn deeper into the conflict, the only way to find the truth is to take matters into her own hands, and the line between friend and foe becomes dangerously blurred.
Descendants is the first book in the Young-Adult, Urban-Fantasy trilogy: The Arete Series.
If any of you would like a FREE advanced reader copy (ARC) e-book please follow the link below and sign up to my mailing list. I will be sending out the first copies this weekend on the 5th March. As an independent author, I really appreciate any help you can give me with reading and spreading the word about the book. Thank you!
November 2, 2016
Back from the Dead…
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(Image from Shutterstock)
Okay, it’s been a while, but I do feel like I’ve been temporarily departed from this world for the last couple of months. That’s because I’ve been redrafting and self-editing another version of Arete: Descendants. It’s finally done and after lots and lots of reading up on freelance editing companies, it’s been sent off to Bubblecow.
I’ve heard some really good things about them from other independent authors. Here is a very insightful review and a sample of the service in case you’re shopping around by Aidan.J.Reid, a thriller author. I found this one really thorough and it helped me decide which editing company to choose. I’m sure it’s going to be a very rewarding process too and look forward to learning how to improve the story when I get back the edited manuscript and editor’s report.
The other thing I’m looking forward to doing this month is getting on with developing an idea I started back on a writing course earlier in the year. I’ve signed up for my first Nanowrimo and aim to get the first draft of ‘Extension’, a Young Adult, Dystopian novel done by the end of the month. With book baby number one being taken care of over the next month by an editor, it seems the perfect time to get onto developing the next one. Let me know if you’re taking part. If you’re in London, especially North East, I may even be able to meet you in the real world and leave my hermitage for a write-in, where we can get back to the imaginary world, of course, that we writers inhabit best.
September 30, 2016
Smoke: Book Review
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Image from: http://londonbeep.com/nicknames-of-lo...
I got a lovely hardback copy of Smoke by Dan Vyleta for my birthday 
September 23, 2016
Book Review: An Artist of the Floating World
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(The ‘Ukiyo’ – ‘the floating world’ used to describe the urban lifestyle, especially the pleasure-seeking aspects, of Edo-period Japan (1600–1867).
From https://data.ukiyo-e.org/mfa/images/s...)
A beautiful book. A lot like ‘Remains of the Day’, but a beautiful story nonetheless.
In this story Ono, a retired artist looks back on his career and life. In a meandering (typical Ishiguro) narrative, he re-examines the patriotic and propagandist values he has endorsed. And we see how Ono is held by his family and in the wider society for this.
Through his memories, we experience a little of Japanese militarism, the Second World War, and see the rebuilding and reforming of Japan afterwards.
In amidst all the uncertainties, there is a particularly beautiful scene where Ono sits with his teacher. The teacher is reminiscing about what his and his friend’s beliefs and values in life have been:
“The best things, he used to say, are put together of a night and vanish with the morning. What people call the floating world, Ono, was a world that Gisaburo knew how to value.”
He goes on to say: “It’s hard to appreciate the beauty of a world when one doubts its very validity.”
I’ve heard Ishiguro described as preachy and moralistic lately, but who can dislike this kind of reflection when it’s so beautiful?
