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Dreams of the Witches Three
"I thoroughly enjoyed Linke’s story. There’s something charming about a fantasy tale that both subverts typical tropes and pays homage to them. Linke walks that tightrope with a delicate grace." - The Quill to Live
He was trained from birth to battle the gods themselves... but nothing could have prepared him for this.
An infamous and deadly warrior, Radnor Magnusson desired only vengeance upon the gods that destroyed his homeland-until the fateful day he sought rest at a town of farmers and witnessed its destruction. With the reluctant acceptance of the survivors, Radnor must set aside his quest for revenge and protect them as they flee to the city of Wulfgeld. Meeting both friends and foes among the refugees, Radnor meets a survivor named Elena, and the pair ignite a bond that was forged by fate long before they were born.
Radnor and the refugees must learn to work together if they are to survive the journey, and they will need even the unlikeliest of allies if they are to face the horrors that await them in Wulfgeld.
He was trained from birth to battle the gods themselves... but nothing could have prepared him for this.
An infamous and deadly warrior, Radnor Magnusson desired only vengeance upon the gods that destroyed his homeland-until the fateful day he sought rest at a town of farmers and witnessed its destruction. With the reluctant acceptance of the survivors, Radnor must set aside his quest for revenge and protect them as they flee to the city of Wulfgeld. Meeting both friends and foes among the refugees, Radnor meets a survivor named Elena, and the pair ignite a bond that was forged by fate long before they were born.
Radnor and the refugees must learn to work together if they are to survive the journey, and they will need even the unlikeliest of allies if they are to face the horrors that await them in Wulfgeld.
388 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 23, 2023
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21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 13, 2024
Read this review and hundreds more at The Quill To Live.
Eric Linke’s Dreams of the Witches Three was published by “Eric’s Golden Dragon Publishing.” This fact has exactly nothing to do with my review, but what a cool name for an indie publisher. Dreams of the Witches Three is an interesting take on fantasy from a promising new author.
Radnor Magnusson is feared across the realm for his deeds. On his warpath of vengeance, Radnor leaves a wake of destruction. The citizens of Neugeld learn this firsthand. When Radnor seeks refuge in the town for an evening of rest, an innocent stop-in turns violent. Neugeld is attacked by wretched demons Radnor knows all too well. The town is razed, and Radnor agrees to escort the survivors to Wulfgeld, a multi-day journey that promises to be treacherous. Along the way, Radnor starts to feel affection for the Neugeld people—one in particular, wink wink—even as he questions his commitment to keeping them alive. Upon arriving in Wulfgeld, Radnor and his comrades must deal with a new threat looming larger than any small town could imagine.
I thoroughly enjoyed Linke’s story. There’s something charming about a fantasy tale that both subverts typical tropes and pays homage to them. Linke walks that tightrope with a delicate grace. The book’s first third reads like an escort mission, with Radnor plucking his companions from various scrapes and disasters. The warrior is a fish out of water, trying to ingratiate himself with a group of people with every reason to distrust him. Still, they need his help to survive. It’s fun to watch Radnor build relationships and work in direct opposition to his history as a thing of god-killing terror.
Just when Linke lulled me into a sense of “oh, this is a journey book,” he snagged me right out of that mindset and plopped the characters into Wulfgeld, where politics and outside threats came to the forefront. This was for the better, as I was teetering on the edge of boredom, wondering where the journey would take me. By the time Radnor and company arrived in Wulfgeld, I felt like the trek had given me a good character foundation to build on, and part two started to expand on it.
The lore ramped up, too, adding the Hexverat—a triumvirate of healing witches—into the mix as mysterious characters with their own motives. Radnor and the people of Neugeld and Wulfgeld had to face more significant threats than the ghouls they encountered on the road, upping the stakes.
My quibbles with Dreams of the Witches Three are small and mostly due to the book’s indie status. Little grammatical issues, misplaced or underused commas, awkward turns of phrase, and pacing problems are all here, but none of them were enough to shatter my experience with the book. I note them here just in case potential readers would be turned off by small copy issues.
If you’re on the hunt for an intriguing and unique fantasy adventure, Dreams of the Witches Three has you covered.
Eric Linke’s Dreams of the Witches Three was published by “Eric’s Golden Dragon Publishing.” This fact has exactly nothing to do with my review, but what a cool name for an indie publisher. Dreams of the Witches Three is an interesting take on fantasy from a promising new author.
Radnor Magnusson is feared across the realm for his deeds. On his warpath of vengeance, Radnor leaves a wake of destruction. The citizens of Neugeld learn this firsthand. When Radnor seeks refuge in the town for an evening of rest, an innocent stop-in turns violent. Neugeld is attacked by wretched demons Radnor knows all too well. The town is razed, and Radnor agrees to escort the survivors to Wulfgeld, a multi-day journey that promises to be treacherous. Along the way, Radnor starts to feel affection for the Neugeld people—one in particular, wink wink—even as he questions his commitment to keeping them alive. Upon arriving in Wulfgeld, Radnor and his comrades must deal with a new threat looming larger than any small town could imagine.
I thoroughly enjoyed Linke’s story. There’s something charming about a fantasy tale that both subverts typical tropes and pays homage to them. Linke walks that tightrope with a delicate grace. The book’s first third reads like an escort mission, with Radnor plucking his companions from various scrapes and disasters. The warrior is a fish out of water, trying to ingratiate himself with a group of people with every reason to distrust him. Still, they need his help to survive. It’s fun to watch Radnor build relationships and work in direct opposition to his history as a thing of god-killing terror.
Just when Linke lulled me into a sense of “oh, this is a journey book,” he snagged me right out of that mindset and plopped the characters into Wulfgeld, where politics and outside threats came to the forefront. This was for the better, as I was teetering on the edge of boredom, wondering where the journey would take me. By the time Radnor and company arrived in Wulfgeld, I felt like the trek had given me a good character foundation to build on, and part two started to expand on it.
The lore ramped up, too, adding the Hexverat—a triumvirate of healing witches—into the mix as mysterious characters with their own motives. Radnor and the people of Neugeld and Wulfgeld had to face more significant threats than the ghouls they encountered on the road, upping the stakes.
My quibbles with Dreams of the Witches Three are small and mostly due to the book’s indie status. Little grammatical issues, misplaced or underused commas, awkward turns of phrase, and pacing problems are all here, but none of them were enough to shatter my experience with the book. I note them here just in case potential readers would be turned off by small copy issues.
If you’re on the hunt for an intriguing and unique fantasy adventure, Dreams of the Witches Three has you covered.
September 7, 2024
This debut novel from a semi-local Nebraskan author disappointed me and failed to capture my interest. I rated this book 2 stars and wouldn't recommend. I tackled this novel as a part of my personal quest to read and support as many local authors, both indie and traditional published, as I can.
This story seemingly attempts to blend Tolkien's and Sapkowski's writing and characters into a Norse inspired fantasy (a la God of War: Ragnarok. Actually, thinking back on it, one or two sequences felt like there were directly pulled from the video game). We follow Radnor Magnusson, a man with a mysterious past, as he collects a ragtag group of survivors and protects them from the harsh world infested with all sorts of unpleasant and dangerous folk, both humans and monsters.
Linke's writing has a solid base; while there are some issues, I can see why most people have been rating it 5 stars. It's very clear the author has a background in historical swordplay and armoury that shines in the story. The world the author has in his head is large and deep and he wants to show it off, and manages to do so occasionally!
Right off the bat, the amount of technical errors drove this down a whole star. Linke struggles with grammar and structure of his dialogue in particular. For example:
The dialogue should be on the same line as the people who start the sentence, I don't know why the author makes his dialogue an entire new line. It's not even something he does consistently, sometimes he gets it right! His use of dialogue tags can be a mite excessive and often not quite correct; the tags don't match the energy of the scene and often detract from the flow of the story. There's some other grammatical errors spread throughout, something a good line editor could have caught and saved him from.
I had issues with the prose; I recognize this is a more a personal thing, but hey, this is a personal review, deal with it lol. The writing felt like the author was trying to emulate the writing style and world building of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings with the action and monsters of Sapkowski's The Witcher Saga, without the skill of either author. In trying to emulate writers who I'm sure are his literary heroes, he highlights how good of a writer you have to be to pull of the archaic, stilted dialogue and clunky exposition dumps. Unfortunately, I don't think Linke is at a stage of writing where he naturally pulls off the Tolkien aesthetic. The story drags, the descriptions pull focus from the plot, the exposition intrudes.
The characters were all fine; in all honesty, none of them really stood out to me. Radnor just feels like a walking stereotype. That wraps up the character parts, I guess.
I barely got to know the author through the writing, I met someone trying to be something he wasn't. While an author can hide behind their prose, it's still them. It's their writing. Their art. I met an author wearing a poorly fitted Halloween mask saying it's an accurate representation of the character they are dressing up as. It took me months to get through this because I could never get fully immersed in the work.
This story seemingly attempts to blend Tolkien's and Sapkowski's writing and characters into a Norse inspired fantasy (a la God of War: Ragnarok. Actually, thinking back on it, one or two sequences felt like there were directly pulled from the video game). We follow Radnor Magnusson, a man with a mysterious past, as he collects a ragtag group of survivors and protects them from the harsh world infested with all sorts of unpleasant and dangerous folk, both humans and monsters.
Linke's writing has a solid base; while there are some issues, I can see why most people have been rating it 5 stars. It's very clear the author has a background in historical swordplay and armoury that shines in the story. The world the author has in his head is large and deep and he wants to show it off, and manages to do so occasionally!
Right off the bat, the amount of technical errors drove this down a whole star. Linke struggles with grammar and structure of his dialogue in particular. For example:
... the vagabond's vacant eyes snapped to focus on the armoured rider with sudden awareness; and he began to speak with him[.]
"Be gone wanderer! This road is not for you!"
The horse stopped, and the armored warrior replied.
"I seek the pool of healing, old man. My name is--"
(Pg 4)
The dialogue should be on the same line as the people who start the sentence, I don't know why the author makes his dialogue an entire new line. It's not even something he does consistently, sometimes he gets it right! His use of dialogue tags can be a mite excessive and often not quite correct; the tags don't match the energy of the scene and often detract from the flow of the story. There's some other grammatical errors spread throughout, something a good line editor could have caught and saved him from.
I had issues with the prose; I recognize this is a more a personal thing, but hey, this is a personal review, deal with it lol. The writing felt like the author was trying to emulate the writing style and world building of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings with the action and monsters of Sapkowski's The Witcher Saga, without the skill of either author. In trying to emulate writers who I'm sure are his literary heroes, he highlights how good of a writer you have to be to pull of the archaic, stilted dialogue and clunky exposition dumps. Unfortunately, I don't think Linke is at a stage of writing where he naturally pulls off the Tolkien aesthetic. The story drags, the descriptions pull focus from the plot, the exposition intrudes.
The characters were all fine; in all honesty, none of them really stood out to me. Radnor just feels like a walking stereotype. That wraps up the character parts, I guess.
I barely got to know the author through the writing, I met someone trying to be something he wasn't. While an author can hide behind their prose, it's still them. It's their writing. Their art. I met an author wearing a poorly fitted Halloween mask saying it's an accurate representation of the character they are dressing up as. It took me months to get through this because I could never get fully immersed in the work.
April 29, 2025
My impression after reading is that the book is nothing groundbreaking, but is still a dramatic adventure in a nordic-ish medieval setting.
It’s presented like a tale of some mythical hero. The protagonist feels like one of those characters from old legends.
The book has romance, but the author has made the (in my opinion) wise decision to have it develop quietly in the background, rather than have them be all over each other right off the bat like most destined lovers are. The characters are very conscious of how they feel drawn together, and it’s refreshing.
Spoilers:
The main antagonists the book is named after are defeated a few chapters before the end. This is where I think the book should have ended, with that being the climax and a falling action sequence after. Instead, a new antagonistic force is randomly introduced in the last few chapters with very little build-up. Unlike the witches, who had development and time in the book, as well as connections to the main cast, now we have a second climax after the supposed final battle against some faceless eldritch god that has had only a few sentences of development. It felt excessive and unnecessary, and tired me out from the elongated high tensions. At this point I just wanted it to end, and for them to just kill the damn thing and get to the actual end of the book. If I could have made a recommendation, it would be to just make the witches be the end baddies and have the finale just against them, then we could spend the last few chapters mourning the lost and spending time with characters in relative peace. If you wanted to keep the witchs’ motivations intact, just have them be actually crazy from the void and believing things that don’t exist, or save the void thing for another time.
Sorry, that was longer than I thought it would be. Anyways, I still very much enjoyed it, and would recommend it to a few select friends who I know would enjoy this kind of thing.
It’s presented like a tale of some mythical hero. The protagonist feels like one of those characters from old legends.
The book has romance, but the author has made the (in my opinion) wise decision to have it develop quietly in the background, rather than have them be all over each other right off the bat like most destined lovers are. The characters are very conscious of how they feel drawn together, and it’s refreshing.
Spoilers:
The main antagonists the book is named after are defeated a few chapters before the end. This is where I think the book should have ended, with that being the climax and a falling action sequence after. Instead, a new antagonistic force is randomly introduced in the last few chapters with very little build-up. Unlike the witches, who had development and time in the book, as well as connections to the main cast, now we have a second climax after the supposed final battle against some faceless eldritch god that has had only a few sentences of development. It felt excessive and unnecessary, and tired me out from the elongated high tensions. At this point I just wanted it to end, and for them to just kill the damn thing and get to the actual end of the book. If I could have made a recommendation, it would be to just make the witches be the end baddies and have the finale just against them, then we could spend the last few chapters mourning the lost and spending time with characters in relative peace. If you wanted to keep the witchs’ motivations intact, just have them be actually crazy from the void and believing things that don’t exist, or save the void thing for another time.
Sorry, that was longer than I thought it would be. Anyways, I still very much enjoyed it, and would recommend it to a few select friends who I know would enjoy this kind of thing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2024
A captivating story that was engaging from beginning to end! I don’t typically read books of this genre, but was so impressed that despite their powers in a fantasy world, the characters were so incredibly human. Determination, grief, and a touch of romance balanced perfectly, and the story never slowed for a moment. I would recommend this book to anyone. I can’t wait for Linke’s next book!
May 22, 2024
i really like this book. there is a lot of attention to detail and all of the characters have a purpose and participate in the story in ways that make sense for their personality. the characters are also unique and there are unexpected twists, but ones that carry the story forward and still make sense
August 22, 2025
While I struggled to finish this story, I realized around the last 3 chapters it felt very much like sitting around a campfire listening to a dramatic tale being spun on a whim. So while the writing style I am not a fan of, the story itself does have a very fun appeal to it.
A tale of a demigod experiencing love at first sight while facing impossible odds. And the dare I say sappy cliffhanger ending leads you to want to read the next book.
A tale of a demigod experiencing love at first sight while facing impossible odds. And the dare I say sappy cliffhanger ending leads you to want to read the next book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews