Into the Brambles

by Daniel Roy Greenfeld, Daniel Roy Greenfeld, Audrey Roy Greenfeld (Editor)

The world was ancient, scarred from a thousand wars between gods, immortals, and heroes. Old grudges have faded but are not forgotten.

At the end of a so-called ‘age of peace’, two great nations of immortals march against each other, with humanity caught in the middle. In this world of conflict, three very different individuals are thrust into the face of danger.

Here a young man is marched off to war, a noble woman takes charge of her own destiny, and in the depths of the Haunted Lands a dark king is born. Their fates will shake the foundations of the universe.

265 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 27, 2015

About the author

Over the course of his life, Daniel has:

* Studied history
* Learned how to fight with swords
* Ridden horses
* Cycled thousands of miles
* Performed cartwheels in capoeira circles on multiple continents
* Worked as an engineer at NASA
* Married a woman he dreamed about before he ever met her

He believes this combination of skills and experiences makes him the ideal fantasy and tech author.

Reviews

[Anirudh · Rating 5 out of 5]

So pydanny is a well known figure in the Python community (Python, the programming language). As an author of Two Scoops of Django, his credentials as a non-fiction author have been quite firmly established. I was hesitant going into this book - how would he tackle fiction?

I'm glad to report that all my concerns were blown to the wind by Daniel Greenfeld's brilliant writing. The book is unputdownable and I can't wait for the next book in the series. I hope it is going to come out soon.

The book isn't pretentious in the least; without relying on tropes less confident writers would've employed, Danny has focussed on solid character development and an interesting storyline to keep his readers hooked.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it, especially to fantasy fiction fans.

[Ondrej · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of Daniel and his adventures with fiction reminds me of the one of Michael J. Sullivan. Various factors discouraged him from writing any more of fiction until he took 2 decades of break just to come back to it. Having mixed experiences with technical writers who decided to start writing fiction, I was hesitant to buy it. I wanted to support Daniel, but at the same time I didn’t want to give his book a bad or dishonest rating in case I wouldn’t like it. I’m glad it didn’t have to come to that.

Into the Brambles is a beautiful fairy tale, not unlike Peter Pan or Neil Gaiman’s Stardust (although I have to say the grim world of this story reminded me of the movie Noah). The story is fast paced and easy to read (even for non-native speaker). Author doesn’t spend too much time with descriptions and focuses instead on the story itself and character development. One thing I disliked were occasional sentences with bit awkward structure, but I guess it will improve with practice.

I’m ready for second part.

[Mark Bondurant · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent work, especially considering it's a first novel. Mr. Greenfeld bravely launches his first of a series incorporating elements of classic juvenile fantasy and fairytale into a child friendly mix fit for all ages. The characters and plot elements are all familiar, but are brought together in a charming new mix. I'm definitely waiting for the next.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good story, took a while to grab me but I'm glad I stuck with it. My only gripe is that it ends quite abrubtly.

I liked all the characters, really well thought of, none of the usual heroes in the traditional sense.

[Paul Hallett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very different plot line to your typical fantasy, from multiple interesting perspectives.

I'm looking forward to the second book! I hope more about the world is revealed!

[Vinod Kurup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I read this book faster than I've read a book in a long while. I found myself rooting for characters, making the book hard to put down. Looking forward to the next one.

[Sarah Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story has no central plot. The 3 POV characters aren't linked for the majority of the story. The writing is infantile, the editing is bad. Into the Brambles reads like something written by a teenager, and not a particularly skilled teenager.

If you want bad fantasy, this is it. (Honestly, at times I thought this was written by the twitter account Awful Fantasy.) If you want good fantasy, go elsewhere.