Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "magic"

Illusional Reality
Karina Kantas
Paperback: 150 pages
Publisher: lulu.com (March 8, 2016)
ISBN-10: 1326583662
ISBN-13: 978-1326583668
https://www.amazon.com/Illusional-Rea...

Reading the opening pages of this fantasy/ romance, I had the sense I was reading a modern retelling of an ancient myth, fairy tale, or legend. Perhaps it was my overactive imagination, but some of the story’s early elements sounded familiar.

For example, the book opens when an ordinary marketing executive named Becky, who at least thinks she is an ordinary human, is rescued from an attack in a dark alley by an “alien” named Salco. Unhappily, in her opinion, she is transported to a different realm where she discovers she is really Princess Thya of Tsinia, a city of light-hearted (mostly) tree-top dwellers. She had been hidden away on earth until she is expected to fulfill her prophesized role as a wife to establish an alliance with the powerful city called Senx. Much to her distaste, she is apparently obligated to wed Kovon, the son of the proverbial dark lord, Darthorn. Darthorn is no more fond of the wedding idea than Thya, preferring the conquest option which he is certain he would win.

Learning this marriage is intended to preserve and save the magical realm on the brink of destruction, Thya spends many hours being tutored about a world she doesn’t know. Thya slowly learns about her true identity including the undesirable prophecy and the fact she has supernatural powers she doesn’t know how to use or control. Along the way, she falls in love with one of her teachers who is himself obligated to marry another.

After this set-up, readers experience a series of possible paths for Thya to explore and deal with as we meet a growing set of sometimes duplicitous mentors and advisors for the Princess. I admit, my interest kicked in when Thya began to assert her will and resist prophecy, no matter what her court advisors tell her what she must do. From this point forward, I felt I was reading a completely original story based on, well, whatever Karina Kandas cooked up for her heroine and her changed circumstances in this first volume of a coming duology. Thankfully, the magical ride keeps building up speed until we get to the final third of the book where everything intensifies from the psychic battles to the emotional hits to Thya and her chosen lover, Alkazer.

A major stroke of creativity in this novel is the lofty dialect and diction Kandas has most of her characters using. I’ve read other reviews where some readers were put off or challenged by this. I don’t see the problem. Every sentence was perfectly clear to me. How tough is it to recognize “with certainty” means “Yes”? In addition, the tone used by most of these characters seemed perfectly spot on for high officials and palace courtesans, not to mention black-hearted warlords.

This book can fairly be classified as YA as there are moral lessons being taught, mainly about the importance of selflessness and putting community above yourself. So Illusional Reality is the sort of book that should be welcome under your Christmas tree, especially for those reluctant younger readers for whom this adventure should be quite inviting. Why not give them a sexy female Harry Potter with a good figure? It shouldn’t be too long before the sequel, The Quest, will belatedly debut in 2019.


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Dec. 16, 2018:
https://waa.ai/oOA3

Dragon Rider Prophecy: A Journey Begins
Author: Andrew Wichland
Publisher : DragonStorm; 1st edition (December 1, 2020)
ASIN : B08P52NK7Q
ISBN: 978-1-0879-2950-7
https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Rider-P...

I wasn't too far into Andrew Wichland's fanciful Dragon Rider Prophecy: A Journey Begins before I realized I was reading a classic YA fantasy. For one matter, the twin protagonists, the brother and sister team of Logan and Johanna Walker, are teenagers involved in the sorts of activities typical of high school students, particularly playing hockey and studying for finals. But in much of the story, we see Logan and Johanna engaged in very special kinds of education. In a very imaginative cave setting, the twins' adoptive parents teach the twins about their inherent magical abilities as well as all manner of techniques in physical combat. Later, a tutor named Naomi joins the cast and begins to teach the teenagers how to cast powerful magical spells. Hmm, not really all that typical an upbringing after all. Instead, we learn the twins were born to fulfill prophecies in a non-earth magical realm, a familiar trope in many mythologies and sci-fi series ala Star Wars.



Another fanciful trope in the story is the introduction of two jovial dragons, Phoenix and Pegasus. They are pretty much familiars, in the witchcraft sense of the term, to the twins. The dragons are spiritually bound to their respective humans, talk a lot, and serve as aerial steeds transporting Logan and Johanna wherever they need to go. I admit, Phoenix and Pegasus often seemed cartoonish window-dressing in the story without any real purpose and often contribute nothing to the action. For example, in one scene the twins get involved with some nasty pirates at sea and go to a lot of trouble to smuggle the dragons on ship and hide them in a large cargo hold. That's where the dragons stay until the twins defeat the baddies. Then everyone goes through another round of trouble to get the dragons off the ship, unseen and undiscovered by anyone on board. Why? I dunno. I have to say, the winged pair are very likeable and maybe that's the point. Some happy-go-lucky dragons aren't meant to be threatening fire-breathers but rather sympathetic talking pets.
That's until the final showdown with the evil Head Slayer, the man prepared to, well, to tell you would be a spoiler. After a series of very episodic and often unconnected adventures in the novel, the final sprawling battle is the best part of the book. In the final chapters, Wichland pulls out all the stops. He incorporates every element you might expect in a fantasy-oriented action adventure including sword and staff-fights, magical orbs, trolls, goblins, elves, a black sorceress, snapping fingers to spark fires . . . Everything except romance. I was sure when Naomi and then Salina Lightfoot the elf showed up, Logan might get a love interest. Nope.
Maybe in the sequel. It's obvious there will be at least one. Likely, many a younger reader will want to continue the journey with the Walker twins and their entourage. Have fun--fun is what it's all about . . .


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Feb. 1, 2021

https://waa.ai/JoYr