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Golden Threads Trilogy #1
Thread Slivers
She desires fame. He wants freedom. When their worlds crumble, even survival may not be an option.
The world is driven by wizards, gods, and an imperial space marine 20,000 years into our future. Fame-hungry female mercenary Ticca is willing to skirt the edges of her warrior's code if it brings her the fame she desires. Her hopes of making a name for herself by spying on assassins are dashed when she's forced to kill the assassin she was hired to watch.
Lebuin is a rich journeyman mage who's just discovered his new rank involves actual journeying. He hires Ticca to help him advance to master and return to a life of comfort as quickly as possible. He's willing to spend all he has to make it happen, but the mage and his mercenary get much more than they bargained for.
Trapped in the crossfire of a vast power game, Ticca and Lebuin must survive a battle between rulers, guilds, and gods. In a land of magic and technology, they'll need to give everything to keep the world and themselves in one piece.
Thread Slivers is the first book in an epic fantasy/speculative sci-fi trilogy set in a distant future. If you like heroic, humorous, and exotic characters in a world that mixes elements of paranormal and hard sci-fi, then you'll love this beautiful, original, and thought-provoking adventure.
The world is driven by wizards, gods, and an imperial space marine 20,000 years into our future. Fame-hungry female mercenary Ticca is willing to skirt the edges of her warrior's code if it brings her the fame she desires. Her hopes of making a name for herself by spying on assassins are dashed when she's forced to kill the assassin she was hired to watch.
Lebuin is a rich journeyman mage who's just discovered his new rank involves actual journeying. He hires Ticca to help him advance to master and return to a life of comfort as quickly as possible. He's willing to spend all he has to make it happen, but the mage and his mercenary get much more than they bargained for.
Trapped in the crossfire of a vast power game, Ticca and Lebuin must survive a battle between rulers, guilds, and gods. In a land of magic and technology, they'll need to give everything to keep the world and themselves in one piece.
Thread Slivers is the first book in an epic fantasy/speculative sci-fi trilogy set in a distant future. If you like heroic, humorous, and exotic characters in a world that mixes elements of paranormal and hard sci-fi, then you'll love this beautiful, original, and thought-provoking adventure.
350 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 30, 2013
61 people are currently reading
1341 people want to read
About the author
Leeland Artra
12 books104 followersI live in the Emerald City (Seattle, Washington) with my beautiful wife and seriously idea-inspiring son.
The first half of my life was "wasted" (as my mother said once) on endless hours of roleplaying games. I was also an avid science-fiction/fantasy reader. Then real life came along, and I had to earn money. I joined the US Navy to "see the world". The Navy trained me to be a computer scientist, and I got to see Chicago, Orlando, and San Diego (not quite the world, but a fun chunk of the US).
With my personal time I worked on "more important" projects (aka my long-running table-top games). For all the gaming time (roleplaying, table-top, and video) I spun stories about the games just to add color. I told my friends the stories and even wrote some of them down on paper. Everyone enjoyed it and said I should publish game modules. (I did, but, only for friends.)
After twenty years of thinking, I should publish I finally got serious in 2012, pulling out all the notes and ideas stored away, and set down to learn how to be a professional writer. I spent 4 to 8 hours almost every day reading on how to write, exploring the publishing world through articles and books. I liked the idea of being an "Indie Author" so I started chatting with more and more Indie authors developing some wonderful friendships. They encouraged me and in only a year of hard labor, I had my first book and enough materials for dozens more ready.
I learned that I get as much joy from writing my books as I do from reading books by other authors. My goal is to be a full-time author. For now, there is the reality of mortgage, student loans, and family.
By day, I'm the humble code janitor, endless pushing my digital broom around cleaning up the electronic crud messing up the brilliant halls of the internet. At night, I help people take fantastic trips of the imagination.
If you like, Fantasy and Science-Fiction feel free to drop me a note I'd love to hear from you. I am still an avid science-fiction/fantasy reader and enjoy finding new books and authors to talk about and friends to enjoy talking about such things.
Thank you for being interested enough to read all this.
The first half of my life was "wasted" (as my mother said once) on endless hours of roleplaying games. I was also an avid science-fiction/fantasy reader. Then real life came along, and I had to earn money. I joined the US Navy to "see the world". The Navy trained me to be a computer scientist, and I got to see Chicago, Orlando, and San Diego (not quite the world, but a fun chunk of the US).
With my personal time I worked on "more important" projects (aka my long-running table-top games). For all the gaming time (roleplaying, table-top, and video) I spun stories about the games just to add color. I told my friends the stories and even wrote some of them down on paper. Everyone enjoyed it and said I should publish game modules. (I did, but, only for friends.)
After twenty years of thinking, I should publish I finally got serious in 2012, pulling out all the notes and ideas stored away, and set down to learn how to be a professional writer. I spent 4 to 8 hours almost every day reading on how to write, exploring the publishing world through articles and books. I liked the idea of being an "Indie Author" so I started chatting with more and more Indie authors developing some wonderful friendships. They encouraged me and in only a year of hard labor, I had my first book and enough materials for dozens more ready.
I learned that I get as much joy from writing my books as I do from reading books by other authors. My goal is to be a full-time author. For now, there is the reality of mortgage, student loans, and family.
By day, I'm the humble code janitor, endless pushing my digital broom around cleaning up the electronic crud messing up the brilliant halls of the internet. At night, I help people take fantastic trips of the imagination.
If you like, Fantasy and Science-Fiction feel free to drop me a note I'd love to hear from you. I am still an avid science-fiction/fantasy reader and enjoy finding new books and authors to talk about and friends to enjoy talking about such things.
Thank you for being interested enough to read all this.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
June 5, 2014
This book could have been really great.
I initially found this book engaging-- the heroine, Ticca, is a pretty charming mix of new to this level of her job and well trained. Basically, she's clearly competent and well trained, but hasn't had a lot of time and experience on the job yet, and she shows it with things like her flashy moves claiming her Dagger table. This isn't actually a combo I see a lot of with heroines-- well-trained but new; cocky, but justifiably so. So that was nice. The dude, Lebuin, was also a pretty charming mix of vain but competent, albeit in his research areas. (Very Ivory Tower, Lebuin is.) I found his surprise at having to go on a Journyman's Quest rather incredulous, but I was willing to buy it.
Where things really started to go downhill was about a third of the way through, when Duke starts getting involved. I'd had some vague suspicions about what the Daggers were patterned on from pretty early on, but then I read a LOT of mil. sci fi, so it's not a new trope to me. Until this point, the world building had been interesting-- focusing on the story, but with intriguing hints of backstory. However, when Duke started to get POV bits, it started becoming VERY clear that the author had spent A LOT of time on his world building and Really Wanted You To Notice It.
He tried to be clever about it, and reveal it with the story, but that meant introducing so many new threads and POVS that I VERY quickly started losing interest. It wasn't intriguing anymore, it was dicking the reader around. And then he had so many pieces in play that he had to start shorting the "main" plot with Ticca and Lebruin, and doing things like having Lebruin spend AN ENTIRE YEAR in a magical dream, training to be a fighter over the course of maybe two pages. Ticca later does a similar thing. AN ENTIRE YEAR. TWO PAGES. The pacing was a bit rocky the first third, but in the second half of the book, it's really, really terrible.
When you finally get the reveal about how this world way made the way it is, it's in the midst of a cliff hanger ending, and buddy. I know cliff hanger endings are supposed to be cool or whatever, but you still have to end enough threads that the books feels complete. This book does not feel complete. It felt like he couldn't stand to look at the damn book anymore and said screw it, I'm done. Regarding the world building reveal, I really sympathize with his desire to show it off, because it sounds like a really cool idea! Displaced space marine helps organize a world after a magiopoclypse? No wonder he goes for structures he knows. But at this point I was so tired of this book and just wanted it to end, so I just sort of rolled my eyes and skimmed the author's note at the end.
Shitty pacing, really bad handling of POV switching, and too much obsession with showing off how clever the world building is. Really disappointing, because it's so highly rated AND the characters were interesting.
I initially found this book engaging-- the heroine, Ticca, is a pretty charming mix of new to this level of her job and well trained. Basically, she's clearly competent and well trained, but hasn't had a lot of time and experience on the job yet, and she shows it with things like her flashy moves claiming her Dagger table. This isn't actually a combo I see a lot of with heroines-- well-trained but new; cocky, but justifiably so. So that was nice. The dude, Lebuin, was also a pretty charming mix of vain but competent, albeit in his research areas. (Very Ivory Tower, Lebuin is.) I found his surprise at having to go on a Journyman's Quest rather incredulous, but I was willing to buy it.
Where things really started to go downhill was about a third of the way through, when Duke starts getting involved. I'd had some vague suspicions about what the Daggers were patterned on from pretty early on, but then I read a LOT of mil. sci fi, so it's not a new trope to me. Until this point, the world building had been interesting-- focusing on the story, but with intriguing hints of backstory. However, when Duke started to get POV bits, it started becoming VERY clear that the author had spent A LOT of time on his world building and Really Wanted You To Notice It.
He tried to be clever about it, and reveal it with the story, but that meant introducing so many new threads and POVS that I VERY quickly started losing interest. It wasn't intriguing anymore, it was dicking the reader around. And then he had so many pieces in play that he had to start shorting the "main" plot with Ticca and Lebruin, and doing things like having Lebruin spend AN ENTIRE YEAR in a magical dream, training to be a fighter over the course of maybe two pages. Ticca later does a similar thing. AN ENTIRE YEAR. TWO PAGES. The pacing was a bit rocky the first third, but in the second half of the book, it's really, really terrible.
When you finally get the reveal about how this world way made the way it is, it's in the midst of a cliff hanger ending, and buddy. I know cliff hanger endings are supposed to be cool or whatever, but you still have to end enough threads that the books feels complete. This book does not feel complete. It felt like he couldn't stand to look at the damn book anymore and said screw it, I'm done. Regarding the world building reveal, I really sympathize with his desire to show it off, because it sounds like a really cool idea! Displaced space marine helps organize a world after a magiopoclypse? No wonder he goes for structures he knows. But at this point I was so tired of this book and just wanted it to end, so I just sort of rolled my eyes and skimmed the author's note at the end.
Shitty pacing, really bad handling of POV switching, and too much obsession with showing off how clever the world building is. Really disappointing, because it's so highly rated AND the characters were interesting.
June 10, 2014
Leeland Artra drew me completely into the world he created in Thread Slivers. This story has something for everyone with action, adventure and magic as a reality in settings and situations that invite the reader to believe and cheer on Ticca and Lebuin in their quest.
The illustrations at the beginning of each chapter are beautiful and thought provoking and added immensely to my enjoyment of the book. Written in an interesting style, the plot develops at a good pace, feeding just enough information to allow speculation, and held my interest throughout. The fight scenes kept me on the edge of my seat, with specialist knowledge put to good use without becoming too technical.
The characters are fresh, exciting, and oftentimes quite dangerous. They develop nicely throughout, and the relationships are intriguing. The divide between Lebuin and Ticca lessens dramatically, and in further instalments, I do hope to see their relationship develop further.
This is a book that highlights the virtues of trust, friendship and honour in a world that is truly magical, but primitive, barbaric and harsh at times.
I did not want this story to finish, but with a fantastic cliff-hanger, Leeland Artra sets up nicely for the next in the series. I would heartily recommend Thread Slivers to all fantasy/ paranormal/ action- adventure enthusiasts.
The illustrations at the beginning of each chapter are beautiful and thought provoking and added immensely to my enjoyment of the book. Written in an interesting style, the plot develops at a good pace, feeding just enough information to allow speculation, and held my interest throughout. The fight scenes kept me on the edge of my seat, with specialist knowledge put to good use without becoming too technical.
The characters are fresh, exciting, and oftentimes quite dangerous. They develop nicely throughout, and the relationships are intriguing. The divide between Lebuin and Ticca lessens dramatically, and in further instalments, I do hope to see their relationship develop further.
This is a book that highlights the virtues of trust, friendship and honour in a world that is truly magical, but primitive, barbaric and harsh at times.
I did not want this story to finish, but with a fantastic cliff-hanger, Leeland Artra sets up nicely for the next in the series. I would heartily recommend Thread Slivers to all fantasy/ paranormal/ action- adventure enthusiasts.
August 30, 2013
Be warned, there is a cliff hanger ending.
I had a difficult time deciding how to review this book because the author chose to end it with an apology about the cliff hanger ending. The book had interesting characters, lots of action, and a magical setting that is worth exploring. The only downside is the cliff hanger ending. I enjoy trilogies, but I believe there should be a satisfactory end to the story in each book. A new reader often feels cheated by a cliff hanger, especially since the next book is not even published! I hope no one considers this review a spoiler. I believe a reader should be warned that the story does not end with the first book before making the decision to start the series.
Having aired my displeasure, I must say the author spun a fascinating tale that is sure to please some readers--those who are willing to wait for the next episode. There are a few editing errors but nothing that made me grind my teeth. I enjoyed the glimpses into the society's history (as long as unanswered questions are explored in the rest of the series), and I especially liked the character Ticca, the Dagger. She is clever and gutsy, a great role model for our daughters. The wizard Lebuin is naive but he learns about the real world quickly enough to keep us interested. Of course my very favorite character is Duke. (I won't describe him as I believe that would be a spoiler.)
Magical worlds run by their own set of rules and it's fun to explore how this one works. Although I felt miffed about the cliff hanger, I do believe the series is worth exploring and recommend it to new readers. It has all the elements of a fantastic trilogy and I hope potential readers can be patient until all three books are published. We're waiting to see what happens, so don't make us wait too long!
I just increased my rating from 4* to 5* because I've read the next book. This is an epic series, so if you're willing to get started, you have more of the story to sink your teeth into. Read this one now and move right onto the next. I'm sure book 3 will come out before you're ready to attack the author with pitchforks.
I had a difficult time deciding how to review this book because the author chose to end it with an apology about the cliff hanger ending. The book had interesting characters, lots of action, and a magical setting that is worth exploring. The only downside is the cliff hanger ending. I enjoy trilogies, but I believe there should be a satisfactory end to the story in each book. A new reader often feels cheated by a cliff hanger, especially since the next book is not even published! I hope no one considers this review a spoiler. I believe a reader should be warned that the story does not end with the first book before making the decision to start the series.
Having aired my displeasure, I must say the author spun a fascinating tale that is sure to please some readers--those who are willing to wait for the next episode. There are a few editing errors but nothing that made me grind my teeth. I enjoyed the glimpses into the society's history (as long as unanswered questions are explored in the rest of the series), and I especially liked the character Ticca, the Dagger. She is clever and gutsy, a great role model for our daughters. The wizard Lebuin is naive but he learns about the real world quickly enough to keep us interested. Of course my very favorite character is Duke. (I won't describe him as I believe that would be a spoiler.)
Magical worlds run by their own set of rules and it's fun to explore how this one works. Although I felt miffed about the cliff hanger, I do believe the series is worth exploring and recommend it to new readers. It has all the elements of a fantastic trilogy and I hope potential readers can be patient until all three books are published. We're waiting to see what happens, so don't make us wait too long!
I just increased my rating from 4* to 5* because I've read the next book. This is an epic series, so if you're willing to get started, you have more of the story to sink your teeth into. Read this one now and move right onto the next. I'm sure book 3 will come out before you're ready to attack the author with pitchforks.
June 17, 2013
This was the Indie Club Book of the Month in June.
I really enjoyed this fantasy adventure. A lot of work has gone into producing a believable and detailed world, including a well thought out and complex monetary system, although you do need to use the glossary to truly appreciate it.
The characters also are complex and well rounded. Ticca is fascinating and it is refreshing to see a female hero who does not take any nonsense nor need a man to protect her. There is a lot to the Daggers, their society and codes and the rivalry with the more base Knives.
I loved Lebuin, he was extremely funny. Vain, over-confident and rather shallow he soon discovers the world beyond the mage-guild is dangerous and people keep trying kill him. He is obsessed with cleanliness and when forced to dress as a peasant his inner dialogue is great. The magic is described well enough, especially the artefacts although these seem to diminish a little later on. There is a little vagueness about his relationship with Magus Cune, ranging from hostility to hints that not all is not as it seems.
Duke is not what he first appears but he soon becomes the main focus of the latter part of the book. He is rude, arrogant, dangerous and amusing but he gets things done and he is very powerful. There are hints about his past, some of which are expanded.
The plot itself is more complex than it seems, there is a lot of politics happening and a lot of factions and I did find the it a little confusing keeping up with who was working with whom.
I did find myself wanting more from the ending as it was a cliff-hanger but many people like that. I will definitely check out the next installment.
I really enjoyed this fantasy adventure. A lot of work has gone into producing a believable and detailed world, including a well thought out and complex monetary system, although you do need to use the glossary to truly appreciate it.
The characters also are complex and well rounded. Ticca is fascinating and it is refreshing to see a female hero who does not take any nonsense nor need a man to protect her. There is a lot to the Daggers, their society and codes and the rivalry with the more base Knives.
I loved Lebuin, he was extremely funny. Vain, over-confident and rather shallow he soon discovers the world beyond the mage-guild is dangerous and people keep trying kill him. He is obsessed with cleanliness and when forced to dress as a peasant his inner dialogue is great. The magic is described well enough, especially the artefacts although these seem to diminish a little later on. There is a little vagueness about his relationship with Magus Cune, ranging from hostility to hints that not all is not as it seems.
Duke is not what he first appears but he soon becomes the main focus of the latter part of the book. He is rude, arrogant, dangerous and amusing but he gets things done and he is very powerful. There are hints about his past, some of which are expanded.
The plot itself is more complex than it seems, there is a lot of politics happening and a lot of factions and I did find the it a little confusing keeping up with who was working with whom.
I did find myself wanting more from the ending as it was a cliff-hanger but many people like that. I will definitely check out the next installment.
January 10, 2015
I've had this on my Kindle for over a year and finally started it. I got into it very quickly and really enjoyed it; so much so that I finished it in just over a day. I bought the next one immediately.
My favourite characters are Ticca and Duke. Lebuin is growing on me.
My favourite characters are Ticca and Duke. Lebuin is growing on me.
July 21, 2014
Thread Slivers, the first book of the Golden Threads -trilogy is a start for an epic fantasy series, depicting events in very detailed and intense fantasy world. It is very well written, and the author is in his best territory when he depicts the nuances and details of his world. Characters and descriptions flow smoothly and it is altogether an enjoyment to read.
The building blocks of this book are drawn from classic elements. Two main characters are young and inexperienced, yet proficient and blessed with abilities and gifts of training. The ancient evil is lurking around and fate of the world seems to be at stake, even though the details are very vague at this point. This is the most "dangerous" aspect of this book, as I feel that it is at times bordering cliches and overused elements. Still, there are wondrously original concepts as well that are developed quite well, I especially liked Duke and how he was introduced to the story.
What I wish is that the author manages to do next is to breathe more life into his main characters through internal conflict. They haven't really met any dilemmas or moral choices yet that define them as heroes. Sure, they are good-willed and exceptionally talented, but I think they need to grow in the story to become what they are to become. Ticca suffered injuries but she didn't really suffer in a personal level that the reader could relate to. I hope Lebuin's inexperience with the world could be developed more as well. For this I didn't like so much Kliasa as she seemed to pull the flaws of the characters away from them.
I struggle to determine whether to give four or five stars to this book. I ended up giving five, because of the potential, but the following book(s) will show if I made a right decision.
Even with these slight problems I would say this is a very good book and I am eagerly waiting for the next in the series. I hope the author can pull it off with the characters as I think it would make this good series into a classic.
The building blocks of this book are drawn from classic elements. Two main characters are young and inexperienced, yet proficient and blessed with abilities and gifts of training. The ancient evil is lurking around and fate of the world seems to be at stake, even though the details are very vague at this point. This is the most "dangerous" aspect of this book, as I feel that it is at times bordering cliches and overused elements. Still, there are wondrously original concepts as well that are developed quite well, I especially liked Duke and how he was introduced to the story.
What I wish is that the author manages to do next is to breathe more life into his main characters through internal conflict. They haven't really met any dilemmas or moral choices yet that define them as heroes. Sure, they are good-willed and exceptionally talented, but I think they need to grow in the story to become what they are to become. Ticca suffered injuries but she didn't really suffer in a personal level that the reader could relate to. I hope Lebuin's inexperience with the world could be developed more as well. For this I didn't like so much Kliasa as she seemed to pull the flaws of the characters away from them.
I struggle to determine whether to give four or five stars to this book. I ended up giving five, because of the potential, but the following book(s) will show if I made a right decision.
Even with these slight problems I would say this is a very good book and I am eagerly waiting for the next in the series. I hope the author can pull it off with the characters as I think it would make this good series into a classic.
June 23, 2013
Thread Slivers focuses primarily on Ticca, a new(ish) Dagger [a sort of elite mercenary] and Lebuin, a Journeyman mage with a fashion fixation. The pair is brought together by chance when they both end up embroiled in a nefarious plot by a group that murdered a magus.
There’s rather more description than I’ve become used to, but this doesn’t slow the pace as might be imagined and I quite liked it (fashion descriptions aside). Ticca and Lebuin are likeable, and I thought the story was at its best when following them (which it does almost exclusively for the first half).
The author does have a tendency to info-dump through exposition (whether dialogue or inner monologue). It’s not done in huge slabs of text, thankfully, but I do prefer a show-don’t-tell approach.
The world is well-realised and it’s clear (from both the appendices at the back and some discussion on the Indie Book Club forum) that a lot of thought and work went into making it a coherent, detailed world. Strangely, therefore, certain terms did stand out as incongruous, but later references suggest that they will actually fit in and make sense once more of the history of the world is revealed (in later books).
When the story drifts from Ticca and Lebuin some of the focus was lost, and I think a bit more of the central plot (ie why the gang of nefarious fellows were doing what they were doing) could have been revealed.
The writing style is easy to read. The only time I found myself going back to check something was when someone’s name unexpectedly changed, but that was entirely deliberately and explained shortly thereafter.
On the whole, I liked Thread Slivers, particularly the parts that focused upon Ticca and Lebuin. The pace seemed to slow in the latter half and when those two weren’t the focus the story drifted a little.
Thaddeus
There’s rather more description than I’ve become used to, but this doesn’t slow the pace as might be imagined and I quite liked it (fashion descriptions aside). Ticca and Lebuin are likeable, and I thought the story was at its best when following them (which it does almost exclusively for the first half).
The author does have a tendency to info-dump through exposition (whether dialogue or inner monologue). It’s not done in huge slabs of text, thankfully, but I do prefer a show-don’t-tell approach.
The world is well-realised and it’s clear (from both the appendices at the back and some discussion on the Indie Book Club forum) that a lot of thought and work went into making it a coherent, detailed world. Strangely, therefore, certain terms did stand out as incongruous, but later references suggest that they will actually fit in and make sense once more of the history of the world is revealed (in later books).
When the story drifts from Ticca and Lebuin some of the focus was lost, and I think a bit more of the central plot (ie why the gang of nefarious fellows were doing what they were doing) could have been revealed.
The writing style is easy to read. The only time I found myself going back to check something was when someone’s name unexpectedly changed, but that was entirely deliberately and explained shortly thereafter.
On the whole, I liked Thread Slivers, particularly the parts that focused upon Ticca and Lebuin. The pace seemed to slow in the latter half and when those two weren’t the focus the story drifted a little.
Thaddeus
July 1, 2013
This is a decent book that could have been awesome with more judicious editing. I generally overlook minor grammar errors and typos, perhaps because I read so much free fiction, and while present, these didn't bother me here. My complaint is the over zealous descriptions used. I don't mean just by the dandy wizard, Lebuin, although that trait grates after a while. The level of detail used to describe what people are wearing, their weapons, the architectural features of rooms, really weighs the book down. these passages were relatively short and able to be skimmed without losing content, but they should have been omitted.
My second complaint is more of a problem than the first. I liked the two main characters quite a lot in the beginning. Both are out to prove themselves, both show surprising competence and even brilliance in their areas, and their worlds collide in a believable way. I like that Ticca is more competent, more worldly, more wise. I like that Ditani is along to shepard the young ones along. Then the whole thing goes off the rails! Suddenly these two novices are godlike. They are beneficiaries of genetic skills and they get additional skills in dreams! There is no need for this.
It seems that the author fell for the device she is using to advance the story; that the enemy believes Ticca and Lebuin's inexperience is all a ruse. The story would have been so much stronger if the characters had been able to grow up, make mistakes, learn about one another, themselves, and their skills, while bumbling along from one near disaster to another. It affected my enjoyment.
My second complaint is more of a problem than the first. I liked the two main characters quite a lot in the beginning. Both are out to prove themselves, both show surprising competence and even brilliance in their areas, and their worlds collide in a believable way. I like that Ticca is more competent, more worldly, more wise. I like that Ditani is along to shepard the young ones along. Then the whole thing goes off the rails! Suddenly these two novices are godlike. They are beneficiaries of genetic skills and they get additional skills in dreams! There is no need for this.
It seems that the author fell for the device she is using to advance the story; that the enemy believes Ticca and Lebuin's inexperience is all a ruse. The story would have been so much stronger if the characters had been able to grow up, make mistakes, learn about one another, themselves, and their skills, while bumbling along from one near disaster to another. It affected my enjoyment.
October 19, 2015
As I enjoy fantasy, I was pretty certain I'd like this book, but I so much more than just liked it!
Thread Slivers gives a developed world, with interesting characters and plot that kept me hooked. At times it could get a bit confusing, but the writer managed to draw it back so as you could get your bearings quickly enough.
I found the writing style easy to read and flowed very well, which helped because sometimes I was reading very late at night because I couldn't put the book down.
Overall, this book was a great read which I think any fantasy fan would really enjoy. I'm looking forward to reading the next one now!
Thread Slivers gives a developed world, with interesting characters and plot that kept me hooked. At times it could get a bit confusing, but the writer managed to draw it back so as you could get your bearings quickly enough.
I found the writing style easy to read and flowed very well, which helped because sometimes I was reading very late at night because I couldn't put the book down.
Overall, this book was a great read which I think any fantasy fan would really enjoy. I'm looking forward to reading the next one now!
July 19, 2013
*review coming soon*
September 19, 2016
Thread Slivers by Leeland Artra
This is one of those books I had many mixed feelings about. I liked the main characters Ticca and Lebuin. There's clearly a lot of detail that went into the world-building, but it was too much of a good thing. It was, as if to make up for the other characters being uninteresting or to introduce the 'epic' part of epic fantasy earlier in the story, Artra added 800 POVs to this story. They're all unnecessary. Finding a way to introduce plot elements while maintaining the focus completely on Ticca and Lebuin would've improved the pacing of this story, even if it would've made it shorter. I skimmed through everything else because the level I cared was 'meh'.
When you manage to make a giant, immortal wolf general boring, your story has a problem.
There is initially a lot to like about Thread Slivers. Ticca is a Dagger, a warrior for hire, and she is tasked with solving the mystery of who killed a powerful mage while protecting another mage, Lebuin, from the Knives that want to murder him, too. Lebuin thinks another mage, Magnus Cune, at the guild wants him murdered, which is a fairly safe assumption seeing how the two act together. It becomes clear that there's something more--much more--going on around these two, and it was a fine little mystery as to what that plot was. There's a hint of time travel and some sci-fi/fantasy blending, which is a theme that I've read in other books and like a lot. This plot is clearly being saved for later, and it feels like a lot of interesting plot elements are being saved for later. And not in a good way, either.
But when we do get answers, they kind of suck. This isn't because the plot wasn't cool (time travel! immortal warlords! lost magic! special bloodlines!) but because we find out all of these things from characters that have never met the main characters or have only met the main characters tangentially. These characters all revolves around Duke, and he monopolizes like a third of this story and made every moment suck because he's conceptually awesome without doing anything for emotional aspects of this story. He has no POV chapters himself, but all of these boring characters that interact with him get special chapters. This is the real problem in this story--all the major plot twists are doled out several chapters before the main characters even get a hint of what they are. Ticca and Lebuin feel like footnotes in what should be their own story.
When we do get back to Ticca and Lebuin, who are journeying to collect the mage's things in hopes of finding clues to his death, we're treated to the most annoying character in the novel--Klaisa. She sucks. She's bland, and she appears in Lebuin and Ticca's dreams to info dump. She tells them things we've already known for some time, and if her appearance weren't supposed to be This Big Thing at the end, maybe I could've tolerated her. But I couldn't. She was The Worst. She was the final distraction in a novel that unraveled from a strong first half.
And cliffhangers only work if you care about the ending.
Rating: 3 stars and only because I liked Lebuin, Ticca, and the details around those characters.
This is one of those books I had many mixed feelings about. I liked the main characters Ticca and Lebuin. There's clearly a lot of detail that went into the world-building, but it was too much of a good thing. It was, as if to make up for the other characters being uninteresting or to introduce the 'epic' part of epic fantasy earlier in the story, Artra added 800 POVs to this story. They're all unnecessary. Finding a way to introduce plot elements while maintaining the focus completely on Ticca and Lebuin would've improved the pacing of this story, even if it would've made it shorter. I skimmed through everything else because the level I cared was 'meh'.
When you manage to make a giant, immortal wolf general boring, your story has a problem.
There is initially a lot to like about Thread Slivers. Ticca is a Dagger, a warrior for hire, and she is tasked with solving the mystery of who killed a powerful mage while protecting another mage, Lebuin, from the Knives that want to murder him, too. Lebuin thinks another mage, Magnus Cune, at the guild wants him murdered, which is a fairly safe assumption seeing how the two act together. It becomes clear that there's something more--much more--going on around these two, and it was a fine little mystery as to what that plot was. There's a hint of time travel and some sci-fi/fantasy blending, which is a theme that I've read in other books and like a lot. This plot is clearly being saved for later, and it feels like a lot of interesting plot elements are being saved for later. And not in a good way, either.
But when we do get answers, they kind of suck. This isn't because the plot wasn't cool (time travel! immortal warlords! lost magic! special bloodlines!) but because we find out all of these things from characters that have never met the main characters or have only met the main characters tangentially. These characters all revolves around Duke, and he monopolizes like a third of this story and made every moment suck because he's conceptually awesome without doing anything for emotional aspects of this story. He has no POV chapters himself, but all of these boring characters that interact with him get special chapters. This is the real problem in this story--all the major plot twists are doled out several chapters before the main characters even get a hint of what they are. Ticca and Lebuin feel like footnotes in what should be their own story.
When we do get back to Ticca and Lebuin, who are journeying to collect the mage's things in hopes of finding clues to his death, we're treated to the most annoying character in the novel--Klaisa. She sucks. She's bland, and she appears in Lebuin and Ticca's dreams to info dump. She tells them things we've already known for some time, and if her appearance weren't supposed to be This Big Thing at the end, maybe I could've tolerated her. But I couldn't. She was The Worst. She was the final distraction in a novel that unraveled from a strong first half.
And cliffhangers only work if you care about the ending.
Rating: 3 stars and only because I liked Lebuin, Ticca, and the details around those characters.
July 21, 2013
Thread Slivers by Leeland Artra is a refreshing fantasy book. Focusing on Lebuin, a journeyman mage with almost no real world experience and Ticca, a Dagger (highly honorable mercenary) who is trying to build her name in the business.
The world that Leeland has established was fantastic. The book has a lot of information, but nothing that is in overwhelming chunks. The presence of nearly immortal beings and gods allow for a first hand perspective on some of the events that built the world into what it currently is. Duke is by far my favorite of these semi-immortals. There quite an interesting twist with him and I'm hoping that there is a lot more about him revealed in the later books in the series.
The Daggers are another fascinating aspect of the book. It's refreshing to see a group of mercenaries that operates with honor instead of one that you expect to betray the main character at a critical point. The Blue Dolphin was very cool as well.
Another thing that I would like to see a little bit more of is explantion of how the magic works. Lebuin has a few thoughts about how he maintains his shields and readies certain magics when he is going out on the town, but there weren't any specifics involved. I know Lebuin is a magical prodigy with better than average strength, but what are his limits? Again this is something that could be easily resolved in the second book in the series though.
The worst part about the book was the ending. I don't mean that it was bad, but it was a very intriguing cliffhanger and at the time that I first read this book the second was in the future with no planned release date. Now from my understanding the next book should be out next month, but I still don't want to wait that long.
Review copy provided by the author.
The world that Leeland has established was fantastic. The book has a lot of information, but nothing that is in overwhelming chunks. The presence of nearly immortal beings and gods allow for a first hand perspective on some of the events that built the world into what it currently is. Duke is by far my favorite of these semi-immortals. There quite an interesting twist with him and I'm hoping that there is a lot more about him revealed in the later books in the series.
The Daggers are another fascinating aspect of the book. It's refreshing to see a group of mercenaries that operates with honor instead of one that you expect to betray the main character at a critical point. The Blue Dolphin was very cool as well.
Another thing that I would like to see a little bit more of is explantion of how the magic works. Lebuin has a few thoughts about how he maintains his shields and readies certain magics when he is going out on the town, but there weren't any specifics involved. I know Lebuin is a magical prodigy with better than average strength, but what are his limits? Again this is something that could be easily resolved in the second book in the series though.
The worst part about the book was the ending. I don't mean that it was bad, but it was a very intriguing cliffhanger and at the time that I first read this book the second was in the future with no planned release date. Now from my understanding the next book should be out next month, but I still don't want to wait that long.
Review copy provided by the author.
September 2, 2013
One of my favorite elements of Thread Slivers (Golden Threads Trilogy) was the lead female character. Ticca is a very strong and driven female. She desperately wants the approval of her superiors and peers. Ticca’s need is to be the best she can be, and her long held and achieved wish is to be a Dagger and to fit in with her Dagger peers. She relishes sitting at the Dagger table in the Blue Dolphin though when she does, the other Daggers don’t sit with her. So much for acceptance at the cool table. None of that matters once the story gets going. Seems the life of a Dagger, or at least Ticca’s life, is as dangerous but less glamorous than she might have imagined when she’s hired to protect and escort Lebuin.
When Ticca, Lebuin and his servant Ditani come together, no one is quite sure who to trust which adds an element of excitement for the reader. When faced by the ancient evil, will one of them betray the others? We do get a bounty of internal dialogue to the point where it is a bit much but we don’t really get to know the characters as a result. As much as we know about the trio, much of who they are develops over the course of this story so that the ending feels less a cliffhanger and more like we’ve only read half of the first novel. Thread Slivers (Golden Threads Trilogy) (Volume 1) really feels as though it ends at an awkward place. It must be difficult for an author creating such a completely new world to self-edit and contain the facts necessary to lay out a cohesive world and strong characters. Artra’s writing style lends itself to a promise of an interesting future in, at times, laborious first novel.
If you are a lover of epic fantasy, you will find Thread Slivers (Golden Threads Trilogy) (Volume 1) by Leeland Artra a solid start to a promising series. The second novel in the series is out this month.
When Ticca, Lebuin and his servant Ditani come together, no one is quite sure who to trust which adds an element of excitement for the reader. When faced by the ancient evil, will one of them betray the others? We do get a bounty of internal dialogue to the point where it is a bit much but we don’t really get to know the characters as a result. As much as we know about the trio, much of who they are develops over the course of this story so that the ending feels less a cliffhanger and more like we’ve only read half of the first novel. Thread Slivers (Golden Threads Trilogy) (Volume 1) really feels as though it ends at an awkward place. It must be difficult for an author creating such a completely new world to self-edit and contain the facts necessary to lay out a cohesive world and strong characters. Artra’s writing style lends itself to a promise of an interesting future in, at times, laborious first novel.
If you are a lover of epic fantasy, you will find Thread Slivers (Golden Threads Trilogy) (Volume 1) by Leeland Artra a solid start to a promising series. The second novel in the series is out this month.
June 25, 2013
-Zero Spoilers, don't worry!-
From start to finish this book has a great pull on the reader, where you do not want to put it down (Even if it is on the kindle for me); So few books these days really attract viewers, so it was great to actually have a novel really snag me into it. At first you begin to speculate what will happen and believe you understand the plot and all of the characters, but then you realize the twists and turns that come unexpectedly. But not only that, but the characters themselves are unique and get their own moments in the spotlight. I'd easily recommend this book to nearly everyone (A few cuss words, but whose kid doesn't hear that anyways these days), and would hope that it gets shared all around by book lovers.
I mean who doesn’t want a fun reading adventure novel with a main woman as the character? A strong, cunning, with natural beauty women... an excellent role model even for young adults who are reading it!
I'm sure a few may discover and assume this rating is biased, but I can only say that I took too long to leave it on the "shelf" to read. I should have gotten to it sooner. I would say that regardless of who I am, this book is incredible and you should just find out for yourself what a wonderful novel it is!
From start to finish this book has a great pull on the reader, where you do not want to put it down (Even if it is on the kindle for me); So few books these days really attract viewers, so it was great to actually have a novel really snag me into it. At first you begin to speculate what will happen and believe you understand the plot and all of the characters, but then you realize the twists and turns that come unexpectedly. But not only that, but the characters themselves are unique and get their own moments in the spotlight. I'd easily recommend this book to nearly everyone (A few cuss words, but whose kid doesn't hear that anyways these days), and would hope that it gets shared all around by book lovers.
I mean who doesn’t want a fun reading adventure novel with a main woman as the character? A strong, cunning, with natural beauty women... an excellent role model even for young adults who are reading it!
I'm sure a few may discover and assume this rating is biased, but I can only say that I took too long to leave it on the "shelf" to read. I should have gotten to it sooner. I would say that regardless of who I am, this book is incredible and you should just find out for yourself what a wonderful novel it is!
February 2, 2017
Great find!!
I had this book offered to me in exchange for an honest review. I only review those books that I find worthy to do so. I loved that this book was very detailed and imaginative in a no holds battle type of way. All the little details were done very well, I appreciated said details as it is hard to strike a balance of Dean Koontz exciting details and I just got lost in a Stephen King's out of left field type of book. Also the ending was very Alfred Hitchcock, that being said I would plan on buying the other books in the series if I were you. I will be 'following' this author and checking out any other works he has. FYI: it is safe from any Adult scenes, I don't consider this an adult scene but there is one part where Lebuin see's Ticca in her bath at the Inn, while he is in the forest, he uses magic to do so and quickly becomes embarrassed as he finds her attractive. There is some humor in the situation with Ditani, and well, you need to read it yourselves since I am not a spoiler. Definitely of-13 ;)
I had this book offered to me in exchange for an honest review. I only review those books that I find worthy to do so. I loved that this book was very detailed and imaginative in a no holds battle type of way. All the little details were done very well, I appreciated said details as it is hard to strike a balance of Dean Koontz exciting details and I just got lost in a Stephen King's out of left field type of book. Also the ending was very Alfred Hitchcock, that being said I would plan on buying the other books in the series if I were you. I will be 'following' this author and checking out any other works he has. FYI: it is safe from any Adult scenes, I don't consider this an adult scene but there is one part where Lebuin see's Ticca in her bath at the Inn, while he is in the forest, he uses magic to do so and quickly becomes embarrassed as he finds her attractive. There is some humor in the situation with Ditani, and well, you need to read it yourselves since I am not a spoiler. Definitely of-13 ;)
March 7, 2013
I won a digital copy of this book as well as a signed copy. I read the digital copy and I was very pleased. I have read a lot of fantasy novels that have inconsistencies in the world building, magic use and such, but there was none of that here. Mr. Artra did a great job of building his world and the characters are deep and interesting. He introduced a lot of new ideas and the action was very fast paced. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys speculative fiction. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
March 28, 2014
This was a really enjoyable read!There are a few grammatical errors, but I found that I didn't mind since I liked the characters and stories so much. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a bit of light fun with decent pacing and character development.
August 18, 2016
This was one hell of a book. I read Lebuin's Lexicon first which is at the back of the book. Found it a great help to appreciate the lingo more. Top notch book and yes, I fell in love with Ticca. The story allows you to follow easily along and draws you in. The description gives the feeling that you are there with the characters. And OMG another cliffhanger. Now I must have the next book.
March 8, 2013
I liked the concept and ofcorse main charater Ticca , however it could have been easier to read with out so much detail in decribeing borning settings. I found my self skipping to the talking or thinking seens.
December 4, 2019
Ticca is a mercenary who wants to make a name for herself. Lebuin is a sheltered mage who finds himself targeted by people who want him gone. The two are thrown together, trying to uncover why a powerful mage was murdered and what secrets they both carry, all while trying to stay one step ahead of the dangerous people who follow them. Meanwhile, Duke, a powerful… werewolf-type person, has his own plans for the world, plans that involve taking down the reigning Princes and bringing back the history he once lived.
Thread Slivers is a complex story, or rather a complex mix of stories that all tie together in various ways. A good story should have more to it than just a straightforward and uncomplicated A-to-B plotline. And when it does all come together, it’s rather satisfying to see the way all the stories intertwine and become more cohesive. But I have to admit, at first, it didn’t seem like there was much cohesion at all. We start off from Ticca’s perspective, then later switch to Lebuin’s, and they’re the focus of the story for a while. Until other characters start coming in, and sections are chapters are told from their points of view, and I spent a good chunk of the book wondering who most of them were and why I ought to be interested in them, because their aspects of the story seemed almost incidental compared to what Ticca and Lebuin were focusing on.
But that isn’t to say those viewpoints served no purpose. They do. Without them, so many events and revelations would come from nowhere, and the story would come across like a big mess with poor planning. And that was, thankfully, avoided. But even so, it sometimes took long enough for it to become clear that the viewpoints were serving a greater purpose than just adding detail and flavour to the story, so I found myself often wishing that I could just get back to the main arc.
Especially because so many characters often engaged in monologues, both internal and external. Makes for tough reading sometimes, when you see it from every character you encounter.
But once you settle in for a slow build-up, Thread Slivers does end up pretty satisfying. It’s the kind of book that demands you put your expectations aside before you get going, I think, in part because while this appears at first to be secondary-world fantasy, it’s actually far-future fantasy, that kind of uncommon fantasy novel that takes place many centuries from now, a possibility of what may. But without knowing that in advance, some aspects of the novel seem a little sloppy, such as people saying Latin phrases. I admit I raised an eyebrow when a character said, “Semper fi,” because, similar to my reaction to Shakespeare being mentioned in Mark Lawrence’s Prince of Thorns, I had to wonder what a thing specifically from this world and its history was doing so incongruously in a fantasy novel. It can take a reader by surprise, and the surprise isn’t always a pleasant one.
That’s something that strikes me more than it strikes most others, though, I think. For other readers, this mention may just be glossed over and won’t be thought of again. They jump out at me, however, and I had to take a step back to look over the book’s summary to see that it is indeed meant to be that way, the world is meant to be a far-future one, and it wasn’t just an unthinking oversight on the author’s part.
Thread Slivers is an interesting fantasy novel, once you get into it. It takes a long time to really get going (the first half of the book felt like little more than set-up for when the story actually began), but the characters are interesting and rather varied, and Artra’s writing style flows well. There was clearly plenty of planning and detail that went into the creation of this world, and it pays off in the end. Not one to go into if you’re looking for something light and quick, but if you’re into books that slowly sink their hooks into you, then this is one you ought to check out.
(Received for review as part of the SPFBO.)
Thread Slivers is a complex story, or rather a complex mix of stories that all tie together in various ways. A good story should have more to it than just a straightforward and uncomplicated A-to-B plotline. And when it does all come together, it’s rather satisfying to see the way all the stories intertwine and become more cohesive. But I have to admit, at first, it didn’t seem like there was much cohesion at all. We start off from Ticca’s perspective, then later switch to Lebuin’s, and they’re the focus of the story for a while. Until other characters start coming in, and sections are chapters are told from their points of view, and I spent a good chunk of the book wondering who most of them were and why I ought to be interested in them, because their aspects of the story seemed almost incidental compared to what Ticca and Lebuin were focusing on.
But that isn’t to say those viewpoints served no purpose. They do. Without them, so many events and revelations would come from nowhere, and the story would come across like a big mess with poor planning. And that was, thankfully, avoided. But even so, it sometimes took long enough for it to become clear that the viewpoints were serving a greater purpose than just adding detail and flavour to the story, so I found myself often wishing that I could just get back to the main arc.
Especially because so many characters often engaged in monologues, both internal and external. Makes for tough reading sometimes, when you see it from every character you encounter.
But once you settle in for a slow build-up, Thread Slivers does end up pretty satisfying. It’s the kind of book that demands you put your expectations aside before you get going, I think, in part because while this appears at first to be secondary-world fantasy, it’s actually far-future fantasy, that kind of uncommon fantasy novel that takes place many centuries from now, a possibility of what may. But without knowing that in advance, some aspects of the novel seem a little sloppy, such as people saying Latin phrases. I admit I raised an eyebrow when a character said, “Semper fi,” because, similar to my reaction to Shakespeare being mentioned in Mark Lawrence’s Prince of Thorns, I had to wonder what a thing specifically from this world and its history was doing so incongruously in a fantasy novel. It can take a reader by surprise, and the surprise isn’t always a pleasant one.
That’s something that strikes me more than it strikes most others, though, I think. For other readers, this mention may just be glossed over and won’t be thought of again. They jump out at me, however, and I had to take a step back to look over the book’s summary to see that it is indeed meant to be that way, the world is meant to be a far-future one, and it wasn’t just an unthinking oversight on the author’s part.
Thread Slivers is an interesting fantasy novel, once you get into it. It takes a long time to really get going (the first half of the book felt like little more than set-up for when the story actually began), but the characters are interesting and rather varied, and Artra’s writing style flows well. There was clearly plenty of planning and detail that went into the creation of this world, and it pays off in the end. Not one to go into if you’re looking for something light and quick, but if you’re into books that slowly sink their hooks into you, then this is one you ought to check out.
(Received for review as part of the SPFBO.)
March 2, 2017
It's difficult to rate/review this book. On one hand, it has several major flaws. On the other hand, it was a thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish. First the good: The pacing is good and moves the story along from beginning to end. Enough is revealed - and enough is held back - to keep the reader guessing and surprised, even as the general outline of where things are headed becomes apparent. The characters are fairly well-developed and as the reader I come to care about them and what happens to them. This is not a character-development kind of story, so don't expect big moral dilemmas or changes, but they are a cut above cartoon cut-outs. The setting of the world, as it is slowly being revealed, is somewhat unique and intriguing. Now the bad: Mostly it just feels like it lacked the services of a good editor. Some of the dialogue and description feels a bit stilted and awkward. There are several unnecessary and (I believe) grammatically incorrect uses of commas (which probably only distracts me and not most other readers). [mild spoiler alert:] the whole U.S. military background to the "Daggers" is a bit heavy handed and over-the-top for my taste. And finally, it ends with a cliffhanger. I like a first book in a trilogy to make me want to read more to complete the story, but it also needs to have a sense of finishing some sub-story line, of being complete within itself. This does not. It simply ends. If this is not a stand-alone book, why break it up into a trilogy? I'll definitely be reading the others, and hoping this new author learns to hone his craft to be truly great.
June 25, 2013
Full Review at: http://digerbop.ca/2013/06/thread-sli...
The Good:
You can tell while reading that Arta really knows his world. There is a lot of detail put into cultural and religious concepts, currency, the way people dress, etc. Within minutes of reading, the world becomes alive and believable. This isn’t just another case of throw some heroes in a fantasy world aaaaaaand go. The book even has a fairly extensive glossary at the back to let you know about Lands/People, Gods, Places, Titles/Positions, People and Things, and even an entire section dedicated to the currency. The books also includes two elegant, well crafted maps. Arta clearly spent a lot of time shaping his world and making feel alive and believable. I applaud the author for enormous time and effort put into this.
Never before have I read an e-book with pictures in it. I am sure that they are out there, and though I cannot comment on the effectiveness or quality of such, I can say that it work well in Thread Slivers. Each chapter is prefaced with a graphic which ties into the events to unfold. Each chapter has a title (seems to be less common these days) and a pre-graphic which builds the tension and excitement for what’s coming in the pages to follow.
At the beginning, every other chapter is from one of two character’s perspectives. Often times I have seen this done, and it almost feels like two completely different stories until a lot more pages are behind the reader. In Thread Slivers, right from the start, the POV changes with each chapter, they feel connected. As the pages unfold and more characters are introduced, Arta maintains the togetherness feel of the story. A few times when a chapter started I was thinking, “I don’t know anything about this POV character. Why am I looking through his/her eyes now?” Soon, however, all my fears subsided as the new POV blended seemlessly with a character I know about. POV changes are often done very poorly, but I felt that Arta did an excellent job at keeping the story flowing and together, regardless of whose eyes we are looking through.
The story is excellent, and I think that comes from the roots of a well-crafted world and the characters there-in. All of the characters have their own history, backstory, and personality because of it. The biggest draw for Thread Slivers is how complete the world feels, thus fuelling the plot.
The Bad:
This book sounds really good, so why only 3 stars? The biggest issue that this book has is pacing. You can tell, while reading, that Arta really cares about his world, his characters, and has a great story to tell. Because of this, the author describes the dress of every character, the exact look and shape of every weapon, giving a lot of detail that you don’t often see. Though this is not bad in itself, it does make the writing drag quite a bit. Another pacing issue comes with POV changes. Often Arta skips backwards to talk about something that was happening at the same time as the previous chapter, but from someone else’s perspective. This means that the story takes a lot longer to get off of its feet that was necessary, as Arta keeps pulling us back saying, “Wait, before we move on, you need to know x.”
I feel like Arta had so much of this planning and world-building set up, that the plot fell by the way side. Oh yes, there is a good plot, but you will have to read a lot of the book before it becomes evident. Once the plot is set, a lot of sections are skipped over simply to get the characters from A to B so that the story can go on. It feels very strange that there is so much backward movement for extra explanation of certain things and then, out of the blue, giant sections are glazed over while the author waves his hands and says, “stuff happens…. aaaaaaaaaaaand moving on.” Though fleshing out some of these sections would require a lot more words to be added to the book, that is not necessarily a bad thing if it keeps the pacing more solid throughout.
The author had so many concepts, characters, and plot points to fit into the first book that it doesn’t eve have an ending. Oh yes, you reach the last page, but in the last couple chapters, so many questions come up and none of them are answered that the reader is left not only hanging, but falling. I knew while reading that the whole plot wouldn’t be summed up by the end (based on the number of pages and the scope of the story), but I was at least hoping for some minor plot points to be concluded. I realize that the book is meant to be number 1 of a trilogy, and is being marketed like that from the start, but that’s not an excuse to leave something unfinished. My guess is that when it’s done it feel like a “this trilogy should have been one book” type of deal. If that means that your one book is the size of The Lord of the Rings, that is okay. (Side note: LOTR is just one book, not 3. It had to be split in 3 at the time of publication so that the binding would keep the pages together, because there are so many pages, and the technology was not up to snuff.)
Conclusion:
If you love a world that feels real and alive and characters that draw you in, this book is for you. The author’s passion for his tale comes through, and a lot of thought has been put into this book. The writing style is magnificent, and if it weren’t for the giant pacing issues, this would have been a 5 star book. All in all, good job Leeland Arta, and I look forward to seeing how the story continues.
The Good:
You can tell while reading that Arta really knows his world. There is a lot of detail put into cultural and religious concepts, currency, the way people dress, etc. Within minutes of reading, the world becomes alive and believable. This isn’t just another case of throw some heroes in a fantasy world aaaaaaand go. The book even has a fairly extensive glossary at the back to let you know about Lands/People, Gods, Places, Titles/Positions, People and Things, and even an entire section dedicated to the currency. The books also includes two elegant, well crafted maps. Arta clearly spent a lot of time shaping his world and making feel alive and believable. I applaud the author for enormous time and effort put into this.
Never before have I read an e-book with pictures in it. I am sure that they are out there, and though I cannot comment on the effectiveness or quality of such, I can say that it work well in Thread Slivers. Each chapter is prefaced with a graphic which ties into the events to unfold. Each chapter has a title (seems to be less common these days) and a pre-graphic which builds the tension and excitement for what’s coming in the pages to follow.
At the beginning, every other chapter is from one of two character’s perspectives. Often times I have seen this done, and it almost feels like two completely different stories until a lot more pages are behind the reader. In Thread Slivers, right from the start, the POV changes with each chapter, they feel connected. As the pages unfold and more characters are introduced, Arta maintains the togetherness feel of the story. A few times when a chapter started I was thinking, “I don’t know anything about this POV character. Why am I looking through his/her eyes now?” Soon, however, all my fears subsided as the new POV blended seemlessly with a character I know about. POV changes are often done very poorly, but I felt that Arta did an excellent job at keeping the story flowing and together, regardless of whose eyes we are looking through.
The story is excellent, and I think that comes from the roots of a well-crafted world and the characters there-in. All of the characters have their own history, backstory, and personality because of it. The biggest draw for Thread Slivers is how complete the world feels, thus fuelling the plot.
The Bad:
This book sounds really good, so why only 3 stars? The biggest issue that this book has is pacing. You can tell, while reading, that Arta really cares about his world, his characters, and has a great story to tell. Because of this, the author describes the dress of every character, the exact look and shape of every weapon, giving a lot of detail that you don’t often see. Though this is not bad in itself, it does make the writing drag quite a bit. Another pacing issue comes with POV changes. Often Arta skips backwards to talk about something that was happening at the same time as the previous chapter, but from someone else’s perspective. This means that the story takes a lot longer to get off of its feet that was necessary, as Arta keeps pulling us back saying, “Wait, before we move on, you need to know x.”
I feel like Arta had so much of this planning and world-building set up, that the plot fell by the way side. Oh yes, there is a good plot, but you will have to read a lot of the book before it becomes evident. Once the plot is set, a lot of sections are skipped over simply to get the characters from A to B so that the story can go on. It feels very strange that there is so much backward movement for extra explanation of certain things and then, out of the blue, giant sections are glazed over while the author waves his hands and says, “stuff happens…. aaaaaaaaaaaand moving on.” Though fleshing out some of these sections would require a lot more words to be added to the book, that is not necessarily a bad thing if it keeps the pacing more solid throughout.
The author had so many concepts, characters, and plot points to fit into the first book that it doesn’t eve have an ending. Oh yes, you reach the last page, but in the last couple chapters, so many questions come up and none of them are answered that the reader is left not only hanging, but falling. I knew while reading that the whole plot wouldn’t be summed up by the end (based on the number of pages and the scope of the story), but I was at least hoping for some minor plot points to be concluded. I realize that the book is meant to be number 1 of a trilogy, and is being marketed like that from the start, but that’s not an excuse to leave something unfinished. My guess is that when it’s done it feel like a “this trilogy should have been one book” type of deal. If that means that your one book is the size of The Lord of the Rings, that is okay. (Side note: LOTR is just one book, not 3. It had to be split in 3 at the time of publication so that the binding would keep the pages together, because there are so many pages, and the technology was not up to snuff.)
Conclusion:
If you love a world that feels real and alive and characters that draw you in, this book is for you. The author’s passion for his tale comes through, and a lot of thought has been put into this book. The writing style is magnificent, and if it weren’t for the giant pacing issues, this would have been a 5 star book. All in all, good job Leeland Arta, and I look forward to seeing how the story continues.
June 18, 2018
Great fantasy novel
I had never heard of this author, but the story looked interesting, and there was a deal where I coukd get this book for free, so it seemed worth a try. I'm so glad that I got it! The story was rich and compelling. I couldn't put the book down! I got so excited that my husband now knows most of the plot too, since I can't stop talking about it. I've already downloaded the second book, which was only 99 cents!
I had never heard of this author, but the story looked interesting, and there was a deal where I coukd get this book for free, so it seemed worth a try. I'm so glad that I got it! The story was rich and compelling. I couldn't put the book down! I got so excited that my husband now knows most of the plot too, since I can't stop talking about it. I've already downloaded the second book, which was only 99 cents!
September 18, 2017
The Promise of Thresds
Wow! Words fail me. Hurricane Irma came over and I discovered I was Hooked on this book. In her aftermath, with no lights, bad/no water, spoiled food, clean up pending, I still could not put this book down for long. Read it and enjoy a good story--even with a hated cliffhanger.
Wow! Words fail me. Hurricane Irma came over and I discovered I was Hooked on this book. In her aftermath, with no lights, bad/no water, spoiled food, clean up pending, I still could not put this book down for long. Read it and enjoy a good story--even with a hated cliffhanger.
May 31, 2017
A great start to a wonderful tale of swords & sorcery, love & intrigue. The action is fast paced as the story takes you ever deeper into this world. I highly recommend this series as it's already a bestseller in my mind.
October 5, 2017
Thread Slivers is the first book of the Golden Threads trilogy. It tells the story of Lebuin, a bookish apprentice mage with little experience of the real world, and Ticca, a young woman who wants to make a name for herself in the guild of the mercenary Daggers. Lebuin hires Ticca for help and protection while he tries to solve the disappearance of another mage, and there is immediately chemistry between the two.
Their investigation, however, is connected with a game of power between the rulers and gods of their world, a world in which magic and the technology of a bygone era stand side by side.
Thread Slivers is an adventure with plenty of action. It is told in a light tone that never turns dark or grim. I find the relationship between the two main characters particularly captivating and I am curious to see how it evolves in the next books.
Their investigation, however, is connected with a game of power between the rulers and gods of their world, a world in which magic and the technology of a bygone era stand side by side.
Thread Slivers is an adventure with plenty of action. It is told in a light tone that never turns dark or grim. I find the relationship between the two main characters particularly captivating and I am curious to see how it evolves in the next books.
July 7, 2022
So excellent! I don't remember how many times I have read this series, but every time, I find something new to marvel at from Leeland Artra's wonderful imagination. Always a pleasure! And Now to the second outstanding volume...
August 24, 2017
Enjoyed the world thoroughly - well crafted and interesting. My only qualm is how expletive it is - there's not much room for the unexpected in the plot only new information about the story world.
September 10, 2018
4 stars
February 15, 2025
I am very clearly on a streak with the best high fantasy sci fi reads. World building was on point here. I loved the whole thing.
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