Colin Frake On Fire Mountain

by Nick Phoenix, Otto Bjornik (Illustrator), Thomas Bergersen (Music Composer)

The world of Reanne has a secret bigger than the night sky. It lies buried deep under the town of Vigerock. It lives in the thoughts and dreams of the royals in Nightchurch. It is protected and observed by a mysterious woman named Shore. It is cultivated and revered by the witches of Fire Mountain. It is bestowed upon unsuspecting young men who live out their days as giants, shunned by the lowlanders. Some call it magic or witchcraft, but others know better. Reanne is a unique place in the universe, an outpost the holds clues to the origin of our existence. Colin Frake knows nothing of these things and spends his afternoons wandering Owlfoot Canyon. He is fifteen years old, a lowlander, who is about to be drawn into an adventure of epic proportions.

400 pages, ebook

First published June 26, 2014

About the author

I was born in London England, but grew up in New Haven CT, where I learned how to fight off stray dogs and unfriendly classmates. I attended Hopkins Grammar and UCONN, where I majored in creative writing. I studied classical piano for ten years and have played in rock bands since I was 12. In 1997, I began composing music for film trailers. Over the years I have either scored or placed music in over 1000 major motion picture trailers. I have also scored TV shows and worked on films with Hans Zimmer. Living in Los Angeles gives me amazing opportunities to work with talented artists and I recently did a project with Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead and released my first rock album called "Hillbilly Starship". Thomas Bergersen and I formed Two Steps in 2006 and I believe we have a great partnership. Two Steps From Hell has grown into something much bigger than we ever expected. Working with someone as talented as Thomas inspires me. Thomas and I always strive to push the envelope and explore new possibilities. Colin Frake feels like the next stage of our evolution. I am currently writing book 2 of the Colin Frake series.

Website: www.colinfrake.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/TwoStepsFromHell

Reviews

[Daniel Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

To just review Colin Frake as a work of literature would be completely unfair to the experience this book gives. I am a big fan of Two Steps from Hell, and frequently when I listen to their music, I can see stories unfolding in my head. The writing style of this book may not be comparable to Tolkien or Rowling, but it doesn't have to be, because the simplicity of the story telling is magnified immensely by the emotional guidance of the music placed throughout the narrative. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough music to backdrop the entire story. It was easy to get hooked in the tale when the music swells and you feel like you're in the moment with the characters - and then the track ends, and it's almost as if you are pulled back out and remember that it's just a story. But boy, those musical moments provide the most immersive experience I've ever had with a book. The music helps tell the story in such a way that the words don't have to - in fact, I think if it had been more wordy it would have been detrimental to the immersion presented by the score. As for the story itself; it's incredibly unique and feels as though it pulls from several different sources of inspiration. It's not just another medieval fairy tale. There's a smattering of other themes that present a unique world that I won't go into for fear of ruining your own experience. And as for the writing style, I'll be honest: at the beginning of the book I was a little skeptical. There was a lot of abrupt jumping around to different characters' points of view in both the present and in flashback sequences, and chapters seemed to end a little abruptly as well. And some of the story elements seemed pretty random. But throughout the novel, you start to see all the random loose ends start tying together, and things that didn't make sense or seemed a little non-sensical begin to take shape as plausible and even compelling pieces of a much larger puzzle. Don't get me wrong: not every question is answered in this book. It is very clearly left open for sequels. But this is a complete narrative, and at the last few chapters you are very clearly hooked into the story and left with a satisfying ending that feels both complete and leaves you wanting to know what happens next. TL;DR - The gorgeous music greatly enhances literary immersion; to the point that I wished there was more score to cover the whole book. And though the writing style in the first part of the book feels a bit jumpy and builds slowly, by the end you're hooked and eagerly looking forward to Book 2. I'm excited to see what happens next!

[Godly Gadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great music, merely average story (3 stars)

I love TSFH's music, and I love fantasy literature, so I was eagerly anticipating this eBook. The writing style was very mediocre, however, and failed to draw me in. The things one looks for in a good story (e.g. suspenseful plot, good characterization, evocative setting, and good writing) were all missing. Everything from the story-line to the dialogue just felt very amateurish; I even noticed some spelling mistakes.

The main plot basically concerns several characters on separate journeys and coming together in the end, and while the story and world of the novel held promise, it just wasn't well executed. The music clips throughout are a nice idea, but quite honestly I'd recommend just skipping the novel, and buying the audio album instead. This musical ebook is a nice concept in theory, but given that the story is of inferior quality, the end result was quite disappointing.

My advice: skip the ebook, buy the audio album.

[Beth Cordy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two Steps from the Future of Literary Evolution

Colin Frake: On Fire Mountain -By Nick Phoenix


The world of Reanne Has a Secret Bigger than the Night Sky, and an impressive tale that follows it.

After producing music for major franchises such as Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain America and X-men, Two Steps from Hell are well known and loved within the film and music industries. Now, it seems, they conquering the mountain that is the literary industry as well, with their new E-book: Colin Frake, on Fire Mountain.

Written by Nick phoenix, Colin Frake offers it’s readers a whole new and engaging world to devour. This 75,000 word book is accompanied by forty six of the most awe inspiring pictures I have ever seen, which were, impressively, hand drawn by Otto Bjornik. These delightful pictures allow readers to visualize the compelling world that is Reanne, and all the strange and mysterious characters that live in it.

As well as these images, the E-Book is accompanied by a soundtrack full of unforgettable, captivating music, composed by Thomas Bergersen (with additional music by Nick Phoenix.) which follows the book through every twist and spiral within the text.

The E-Book features interesting and three dimensional characters, as opposed to the many bland and two dimensional characters found in novels all over the world. It’s this three dimensionality in characters, which makes this E-Book so much more memorable than any other I have read. Not only that, each character is presented with a unique back-story which contributes to the individuality of each character, and highlights them from one another.

Packed full of imaginative metaphors, similes, and vivid descriptions of people and settings, Nick Phoenix makes trees leap out at you, mountains grow and soldiers swipe out of the pages and into your imagination, as vivid as daylight, and certainly as bright as Colin’s yellow jacket.

This E-Book, merged together with impressive images and a superb soundtrack, creates an Epic child of literary genius, which will grip you and never let you go until you've read that last page. It expands and daringly pushes at the very boundaries of literary development, and will, I am sure, continue to expand it and raise the bar for all novels to follow.

The World of Reanne has a Secret Bigger than the Night Sky, and to find it out, buy Colin Frake: on Fire Mountain today!

[Lucas Berghuis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is true. The epic music duo Thomas Bergersen and Nick Phoenix from Two Steps From Hell wrote a book. And, of course, it’s a fantasy novel. However, it is not the story in particular which makes Colin Frake on Fire Mountain such a special book, it’s the music and artwork.
As can be expected from Two Steps From Hell, the music is nothing short of fantastic. The enchanting music sets the tone (pun intended) for the atmospheer en perfectly accompanies you during your journey through the world of Reanne. You can also choose to read in silence if you are without earphones or if you simply feel like it, or you can just take a break from reading and sit back to enjoy the music. Nothing is forced upon the reader. Although, of course, you want to listen to the music. More often than not I wished the music scores were longer. The beaty of the music is that it is not just some bonus feature. It is perfectly incorporated in the story and really adds to the experience.
And there is more. Gorgeous artwork of illustrator Otto Björnik makes Colin Frake on Fire Mountain als visually pleasing. The ink drawings are marvelous and leave enough room for your own imagination.
Colin Frake on Fire Mountain is not a masterpiece, but then, Two Steps From Hell is not aiming to get in the Oxford World’s Classics. What it is though, is light-hearted, fast-paced read with unique characters and an original story line, that even seasoned fantasy-readers will find it a refreshing read due to the wonderful music and artwork.
I myself thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Reanne captured my interest and my heart, and I will look forward to the sequel. In the meanwhile I will enjoy the beatiful album some more.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a long time TSFH fan, I was immediately interested in reading this book. I thought having new TSFH music that is embedded in specific locations of the book was an exciting idea.

Unfortunately, the writing itself was not good at all. There are too many characters and many of them have very little personality. The first half of the book is a bit of a mess with a multitude of locations, characters, and time periods. There is also a lack of a real villain. But this is not your Machiavellian plot line such as Game of Thrones. Everyone is nice in his/her own way. There was no compelling conflict for me.

The embedded music was good, but by TSFH's superior standards I would call it just adequate.

So I'd give this book 2 stars but adding a star for the sheer audacity of blending music and illustrations into the text. One can tell that a lot of effort was put into this work, but sadly it didn't turn out as I was hoping it would.