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The Black Petal #2
The Golden Lyre
The Black Petal was just the beginning. Choices need to be made.
The Seriburg Wastelands smoulder with ash, destruction, and bodies ...
But two bodies stir beneath a phoenix. With all hope of getting home lost, Jack and Blake must learn to get along, to embrace their shared soul. Tricked by an oracle, Jack feels betrayed and embarrassed. Blake doesn't know how he feels. And Lucia is dead.
Or is she?
When a mysterious bottle reveals a message for Jack, he puts all notion of returning home aside. The Underworld beckons, with its crypts and cells and tortured souls. But if Lucia can be rescued, surely Jack must do all he can? Eliza the gypsy is still intent on creating her own army of gods; should Jack ignore the whispers or find a way to stop the deranged outcast?
The Golden Lyre expands upon the mythological universe of The Black Petal. Meet new heroes and villains, battle past three-headed sea monsters and stand up to the malicious Warden of Hades. You never know, old friends may resurface.
The Seriburg Wastelands smoulder with ash, destruction, and bodies ...
But two bodies stir beneath a phoenix. With all hope of getting home lost, Jack and Blake must learn to get along, to embrace their shared soul. Tricked by an oracle, Jack feels betrayed and embarrassed. Blake doesn't know how he feels. And Lucia is dead.
Or is she?
When a mysterious bottle reveals a message for Jack, he puts all notion of returning home aside. The Underworld beckons, with its crypts and cells and tortured souls. But if Lucia can be rescued, surely Jack must do all he can? Eliza the gypsy is still intent on creating her own army of gods; should Jack ignore the whispers or find a way to stop the deranged outcast?
The Golden Lyre expands upon the mythological universe of The Black Petal. Meet new heroes and villains, battle past three-headed sea monsters and stand up to the malicious Warden of Hades. You never know, old friends may resurface.
312 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 16, 2017
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 7, 2017
Monsters, Mayhem, Magic and Myth
I love Dan Thompson’s work, which typically involves supernatural beings and exciting events which he beautifully and skilfully combines with legends from Norse mythology. I especially liked the sea monster in this instalment. I really enjoyed The Black Petal (the first book in the series) and was delighted to receive a copy of The Golden Lyre - the next book in his exciting young adult fantasy series. It was a lovely feeling to be back in one of Dan’s fantasy worlds with familiar characters who felt like friends.
After all the thrill and excitement of book one, The Golden Lyre leads you further into exploring the characters of two young men who share the same soul, Jack and Blake. Both from planet Earth, but from different time periods, each have completely different personalities. Jack, being an average teenager, who had started off unsure of himself, now leads much of the story and becomes a hero and proves true of heart. Blake was a ruthless professional Victorian assassin, very sure of himself, now is regretful of his past. He proves to be a loyal and true friend to Jack and his quest.
The story starts in a dark place. Jack only survives because of the supernatural powers of a phoenix and finds himself surrounded by the rotten stench of a battlefield. Being unprepared for the scale of the dead, he flees with Blake to the temporary safety of a nearby settlement, but is haunted by memories and the loss of his one true love.
As with all Dan’s magical writing, this story is a full and complicated one. With each turn of the page you are led through a labyrinth of the life paths of all the characters, who prove to be very human, and as they travel together, Jack and Blake talks between themselves prove to be soulful and insightful.
I have to say although I love the goodies in this series, no one writes evil like Dan! His bad characters are just so brutally evil, so tremendously colourful, that they are mesmerising.
The journey that Jack and Black go on is beautifully described that if you close your eyes you can imagine yourself travelling along the landscapes with them. Experiencing the different scenery and buildings which are below and above ground and the different types of races of people, and even the dead zombies.
You do not need to have a knowledge of ancient mythology to enjoy this series as each of the supernatural beings are detailed and described to you, from their personality to their appearance, and each of their inner thoughts and motives.
There is lot of story for your buck here even ending with two cliff hangers and well worth a read. I would most heartily recommend it. The cover is stunning also! 5 stars.
I love Dan Thompson’s work, which typically involves supernatural beings and exciting events which he beautifully and skilfully combines with legends from Norse mythology. I especially liked the sea monster in this instalment. I really enjoyed The Black Petal (the first book in the series) and was delighted to receive a copy of The Golden Lyre - the next book in his exciting young adult fantasy series. It was a lovely feeling to be back in one of Dan’s fantasy worlds with familiar characters who felt like friends.
After all the thrill and excitement of book one, The Golden Lyre leads you further into exploring the characters of two young men who share the same soul, Jack and Blake. Both from planet Earth, but from different time periods, each have completely different personalities. Jack, being an average teenager, who had started off unsure of himself, now leads much of the story and becomes a hero and proves true of heart. Blake was a ruthless professional Victorian assassin, very sure of himself, now is regretful of his past. He proves to be a loyal and true friend to Jack and his quest.
The story starts in a dark place. Jack only survives because of the supernatural powers of a phoenix and finds himself surrounded by the rotten stench of a battlefield. Being unprepared for the scale of the dead, he flees with Blake to the temporary safety of a nearby settlement, but is haunted by memories and the loss of his one true love.
As with all Dan’s magical writing, this story is a full and complicated one. With each turn of the page you are led through a labyrinth of the life paths of all the characters, who prove to be very human, and as they travel together, Jack and Blake talks between themselves prove to be soulful and insightful.
I have to say although I love the goodies in this series, no one writes evil like Dan! His bad characters are just so brutally evil, so tremendously colourful, that they are mesmerising.
The journey that Jack and Black go on is beautifully described that if you close your eyes you can imagine yourself travelling along the landscapes with them. Experiencing the different scenery and buildings which are below and above ground and the different types of races of people, and even the dead zombies.
You do not need to have a knowledge of ancient mythology to enjoy this series as each of the supernatural beings are detailed and described to you, from their personality to their appearance, and each of their inner thoughts and motives.
There is lot of story for your buck here even ending with two cliff hangers and well worth a read. I would most heartily recommend it. The cover is stunning also! 5 stars.
February 17, 2017
Sequel to the excellent fantasy romp, The Black Petal, The Golden Lyre begins with our hero, Jack, crawling out from beneath the wings of a downed phoenix. Around him is a battlefield, strewn with bodies, steel and hungry wolves. Luckily, Jack has Blake to guide and protect him, the Victorian assassin with whom he shares a soul.
I love the idea of two central characters sharing the same soul, and the interactions between Jack and Blake as they discuss and explore the concept are, for me, the highlight of the book. But there is plenty more to love too. Thompson's knowledge and use of ancient mythology to construct his fantasy world is slick and fascinating. It goes much further than the odd harpy here or there, this book is based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice; Orpheus having to travel to the Underworld in an attempt to rescue his lost love.
This brings me to Loki. A gloriously vile and evil depiction of the famous character that is wildly different to Gaiman's Low-Key or Tom Hiddleston's Avengers antagonist. There are other great characters and imagery too, from Gods shackled with black smoke to a charming crimson-haired girl occupying a flowery meadow in Jack's mind. The story ends on one heck of a double cliff-hanger as well - bring on book three!!
I love the idea of two central characters sharing the same soul, and the interactions between Jack and Blake as they discuss and explore the concept are, for me, the highlight of the book. But there is plenty more to love too. Thompson's knowledge and use of ancient mythology to construct his fantasy world is slick and fascinating. It goes much further than the odd harpy here or there, this book is based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice; Orpheus having to travel to the Underworld in an attempt to rescue his lost love.
This brings me to Loki. A gloriously vile and evil depiction of the famous character that is wildly different to Gaiman's Low-Key or Tom Hiddleston's Avengers antagonist. There are other great characters and imagery too, from Gods shackled with black smoke to a charming crimson-haired girl occupying a flowery meadow in Jack's mind. The story ends on one heck of a double cliff-hanger as well - bring on book three!!
October 11, 2021
Having finished The Black Petal I could not wait to move on to the second story in this series and thankfully I was not disappointed as The Golden Lyre continues to move the story forward whilst managing to maintain the fantastic standards achieved in the first book. This sees another well crafted story that flows well and despite being the second book you continue to see character development which I really love as this is something that a lot of authors would not pay much attention to.
February 21, 2021
Absolutely loved it, cant wait for the final book know, I need to know what happens
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews