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Eden Chronicles #4
The Wildest Woods
They tell me to take a leap of faith
They tell me to believe in myself
They tell me that I am the answer to their prayers
But I don't believe in any of it. Not myself, not the concept of faith and certaily not that prayers are ever heard, let alone answered.
In fact, the only thing that I do believe in, is freedom. I believe that I have earned it. I believe that I deserve it.
And I certainly believe that I will kill the next person who tries to tell me, or anyone else, otherwise.
So maybe that is what will keep us all safe, yes? Not the faith that I have in myself as a leader, but the burning hatred that I feel towards very other leader that there has ever been.
The hatred I feel for those that boiled the blood in my veins to begin with, when they told me that I was just a wh-
No, I won't use that word.
That's their word. That word was created by men, under God's leadership, while quoting God's rules. That word is more poisonous than the Devil's Clap sap, and more destructive than an inferno.
But not more distructive than ME.
Under my leadership, under Satan's rule, no one will ever, EVER use that foul word again.
And that, you CAN put your faith in.
They tell me to believe in myself
They tell me that I am the answer to their prayers
But I don't believe in any of it. Not myself, not the concept of faith and certaily not that prayers are ever heard, let alone answered.
In fact, the only thing that I do believe in, is freedom. I believe that I have earned it. I believe that I deserve it.
And I certainly believe that I will kill the next person who tries to tell me, or anyone else, otherwise.
So maybe that is what will keep us all safe, yes? Not the faith that I have in myself as a leader, but the burning hatred that I feel towards very other leader that there has ever been.
The hatred I feel for those that boiled the blood in my veins to begin with, when they told me that I was just a wh-
No, I won't use that word.
That's their word. That word was created by men, under God's leadership, while quoting God's rules. That word is more poisonous than the Devil's Clap sap, and more destructive than an inferno.
But not more distructive than ME.
Under my leadership, under Satan's rule, no one will ever, EVER use that foul word again.
And that, you CAN put your faith in.
561 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 6, 2017
16 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
S.K. Munt
39 books283 followersFollow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/skmunt25
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skmunt?fref=ts
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S.K Munt is an author and playwright from north Queensland, Australia. She mostly writes adult paranormal fantasies, but loves to take the sweetness, hope and innocence that makes YA so beguiling, and give it an adult twist. You could say that she has a 'Pan' complex as far as happy endings go.
Samantha has 4 children, and is happily married to her first love. So far she has penned thirty-two novels, and five plays. In her spare time, she can be found at rehearsals for her local theatre groups, surfing, reading or cleaning compulsively.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skmunt?fref=ts
Tumblr:https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thearticu...
Wordpress: https://samanthamunt.wordpress.com
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/killerslim/
Instagram: thearticulatesk
S.K Munt is an author and playwright from north Queensland, Australia. She mostly writes adult paranormal fantasies, but loves to take the sweetness, hope and innocence that makes YA so beguiling, and give it an adult twist. You could say that she has a 'Pan' complex as far as happy endings go.
Samantha has 4 children, and is happily married to her first love. So far she has penned thirty-two novels, and five plays. In her spare time, she can be found at rehearsals for her local theatre groups, surfing, reading or cleaning compulsively.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 16, 2018
I've been on goodreads now for a number of years. I've dutifully read and then rated hundreds of books, usually within a minute of finishing them and often with my pulse racing and anger or euphoria or sadness coloring my heart. It's no surprise then that the very moment I finished The Wildest Woods I opened my goodreads app and fervently mashed down on five stars, here-here! Kudos! Encore! (Please?) I would have given the author a standing ovation had I not been worried my wife would think I finally lost it, but this thing deserved it, so let's just say that I did it anyway. And still, it wasn't enough.
So for the first time since I joined goodreads, I feel compelled to write a review. Some of that is due to the grievous lack of reviews, I admit. If The Wildest Woods was as celebrated as it should be by our vibrant community, I likely would have left my voice unheard as the job would have already been done. But it's not, so here I go. I will do my best to keep it unspoilery.
It's difficult to know where to start one of these things. Do I begin with the emotional roller-coaster ride I've been on since I first dove into the Eden Chronicles? Actually, no, roller-coaster's not right. It's more apt to say the author's chained me to a pickup truck and dragged me over jagged rocks and through hot deserts and shallow lakes and every once in awhile I get to ride in the bed but inevitably we hit a bump and I get tossed out to be dragged again. Then when I'm at my very lowest I finally get to ride in the front with the air conditioner on high and the music just exactly to my tastes and maybe there's food and good beer up there too and I'm so exhausted and happy I pass out. Which means I miss the fact we're headed straight for a tornado.
Sounds fun, right? Despite my emotional bruising I thought so. At the very least, it's worthwhile.
I've never been a big fan of the good guy/bad guy dynamic that exists in so much of today's fiction, so I'm always drawn to stories that take place in the infinite gray areas of the world. When you have two opposing factions, very rarely is one simply trying to uphold what is good and right while the other is motivated by cruelty to bring it all down. That's just not how it goes, look at the world today. What you actually have is two groups of people who believe their way is the right way. They aren't inherently good or bad (though they do things we would consider good and bad), despite history often judging the loser as such. So when I saw that the tagline of the series was: 'There's no such thing as good or evil, only different colored feathers', I was powerless to resist diving in. If I wind up drowning, that's on me.
I also loved the idea of using religion - the ultimate in good/bad, black/white extremism - as the device to explore that dynamic. It's a bold, risky move, and I love it all the more for it.
Some of the reviewers of the earlier books in the series seem dumbfounded by how they can come off as both utterly sexist and thoroughly feminist, and I have to count myself among them. But my version of 'dumbfounded' is the kind that means 'totally impressed and maybe a little jealous of the author's skill.' I'm fascinated by the dichotomy the author is able to strike between the two, and the confusion she's able to engender in the reader, and the lengths to which she will go to do both. I think I understand why she is doing it, but given the way she's toyed with the things I've thought I've known so far, who knows? I never claimed to be very smart. I also know that because I am a man my perspective differs to that of the author, which is why I've recruited my wife and some other female family friends into the Eden Chronicle fold. Will they see what I see? I don't know, but I can't wait to find out.
All of the awful things that have happened to this point have fit within the parameters of the world the author has created. It's important to note that, I think. It's not gratuitous or farfetched, it's not impractical or out-of-character (though granted, often the truth of that character was well-disguised). A lot of it's horrifying, true, and to make us love, hate, like, dislike, come around on, disregard, pity, then revile characters on an individual basis is not only a neat trick, it's cruel too. But it's cruel in all the right ways because it invests us. We care what happens to these figments of the author's imagination, and I don't know about you but that's why I pick up a book in the first place. Take me away, make me care make me feel.
I will admit to never having read a book with so many, ahem, salacious moments, and I'm still sorting out how I feel about them. It's not that I'm a prude, it's just that I generally don't care for the minutiae of anything described in such detail, be it sex or future science or the look of an alien. Just give me a feel and move on, my overactive imagination will take care of the rest. That said, it didn't detract from the story in any discernable way, and the what of what was happening was imperative to the story, even if I would have been fine with a little less of the how. I also understand that I might be in the minority, that there are legions of fans of such specific minutiae, and that perhaps I should just shut up.
So, now that I've spent half a day and far too much review space explaining the many reasons I loved reading this book, I'd like you to forget all about it (this is where I would lol, if I did such a thing as lol). Because the truth is, despite all of the things I liked about it, none of that would have mattered if it wasn't a good story. Because that's the most important thing any book can do, tell me a good story. Well rest easy, good readers. This is a great story, one of the finest I've had the joy of reading. Read it for that reason, if nothing else. So here's hoping I can't say with any certainty the author will give us those things, but I'm a hopeful fool.
So for the first time since I joined goodreads, I feel compelled to write a review. Some of that is due to the grievous lack of reviews, I admit. If The Wildest Woods was as celebrated as it should be by our vibrant community, I likely would have left my voice unheard as the job would have already been done. But it's not, so here I go. I will do my best to keep it unspoilery.
It's difficult to know where to start one of these things. Do I begin with the emotional roller-coaster ride I've been on since I first dove into the Eden Chronicles? Actually, no, roller-coaster's not right. It's more apt to say the author's chained me to a pickup truck and dragged me over jagged rocks and through hot deserts and shallow lakes and every once in awhile I get to ride in the bed but inevitably we hit a bump and I get tossed out to be dragged again. Then when I'm at my very lowest I finally get to ride in the front with the air conditioner on high and the music just exactly to my tastes and maybe there's food and good beer up there too and I'm so exhausted and happy I pass out. Which means I miss the fact we're headed straight for a tornado.
Sounds fun, right? Despite my emotional bruising I thought so. At the very least, it's worthwhile.
I've never been a big fan of the good guy/bad guy dynamic that exists in so much of today's fiction, so I'm always drawn to stories that take place in the infinite gray areas of the world. When you have two opposing factions, very rarely is one simply trying to uphold what is good and right while the other is motivated by cruelty to bring it all down. That's just not how it goes, look at the world today. What you actually have is two groups of people who believe their way is the right way. They aren't inherently good or bad (though they do things we would consider good and bad), despite history often judging the loser as such. So when I saw that the tagline of the series was: 'There's no such thing as good or evil, only different colored feathers', I was powerless to resist diving in. If I wind up drowning, that's on me.
I also loved the idea of using religion - the ultimate in good/bad, black/white extremism - as the device to explore that dynamic. It's a bold, risky move, and I love it all the more for it.
Some of the reviewers of the earlier books in the series seem dumbfounded by how they can come off as both utterly sexist and thoroughly feminist, and I have to count myself among them. But my version of 'dumbfounded' is the kind that means 'totally impressed and maybe a little jealous of the author's skill.' I'm fascinated by the dichotomy the author is able to strike between the two, and the confusion she's able to engender in the reader, and the lengths to which she will go to do both. I think I understand why she is doing it, but given the way she's toyed with the things I've thought I've known so far, who knows? I never claimed to be very smart. I also know that because I am a man my perspective differs to that of the author, which is why I've recruited my wife and some other female family friends into the Eden Chronicle fold. Will they see what I see? I don't know, but I can't wait to find out.
All of the awful things that have happened to this point have fit within the parameters of the world the author has created. It's important to note that, I think. It's not gratuitous or farfetched, it's not impractical or out-of-character (though granted, often the truth of that character was well-disguised). A lot of it's horrifying, true, and to make us love, hate, like, dislike, come around on, disregard, pity, then revile characters on an individual basis is not only a neat trick, it's cruel too. But it's cruel in all the right ways because it invests us. We care what happens to these figments of the author's imagination, and I don't know about you but that's why I pick up a book in the first place. Take me away, make me care make me feel.
I will admit to never having read a book with so many, ahem, salacious moments, and I'm still sorting out how I feel about them. It's not that I'm a prude, it's just that I generally don't care for the minutiae of anything described in such detail, be it sex or future science or the look of an alien. Just give me a feel and move on, my overactive imagination will take care of the rest. That said, it didn't detract from the story in any discernable way, and the what of what was happening was imperative to the story, even if I would have been fine with a little less of the how. I also understand that I might be in the minority, that there are legions of fans of such specific minutiae, and that perhaps I should just shut up.
So, now that I've spent half a day and far too much review space explaining the many reasons I loved reading this book, I'd like you to forget all about it (this is where I would lol, if I did such a thing as lol). Because the truth is, despite all of the things I liked about it, none of that would have mattered if it wasn't a good story. Because that's the most important thing any book can do, tell me a good story. Well rest easy, good readers. This is a great story, one of the finest I've had the joy of reading. Read it for that reason, if nothing else. So here's hoping I can't say with any certainty the author will give us those things, but I'm a hopeful fool.
March 13, 2018
Dying inside
So I initially read the first two parts of this series quite some time ago and held off until recently to read the next book and for good reason. This is the best book series I have ever read. Yes, there are spelling and editing errors that need fixed but the content of these books is fantastic. The storyline is phenomenal. We grow up with Kohen and lark from age 5 and cry and mourn for them every step of the way. This needs turned into a television series that could rival game of thrones and the highlander. It's that good.
So I initially read the first two parts of this series quite some time ago and held off until recently to read the next book and for good reason. This is the best book series I have ever read. Yes, there are spelling and editing errors that need fixed but the content of these books is fantastic. The storyline is phenomenal. We grow up with Kohen and lark from age 5 and cry and mourn for them every step of the way. This needs turned into a television series that could rival game of thrones and the highlander. It's that good.
Want to read
May 31, 2021🎁 Part of The Eden Chronicles Boxset (#1-4) which is FREE on Amazon today (5/31/2021)! 🎁
February 17, 2021
The saga (because let's be real, that's what it is) continues. I can honestly not tell you what happened in this book because once I am done with one, I just get the sequel right away and start reading (I am currently reading book 7). There is often not a clearly defined ending, so really you are reading one very, very long book. And there is no stopping. This series is much better than must fantasy books you can get at your local book store. Hell, this should be sold in your local bookstore. With a bit of editing first.
Here's my adivce: If you like epic fantasy novels (and can stand some sex scenes) buy the first book from Amazon. Read on through the descriptions of the kingdom and the weather and the biblical story that is part of the first two books - it might be a tad long and boring in places but boy, will you be rewarded later.
Here's my adivce: If you like epic fantasy novels (and can stand some sex scenes) buy the first book from Amazon. Read on through the descriptions of the kingdom and the weather and the biblical story that is part of the first two books - it might be a tad long and boring in places but boy, will you be rewarded later.
August 26, 2021
5stars until the end !!
I'm so invested in this series I can't wait to jump into the next one already !!
I would normally continue reading without leaving a review but I just had to show my appreciation to S.K Munt for this amazing story.
Thank you !! I am also going to buy the books because why not invest in having good books to rave about ??
I'm so invested in this series I can't wait to jump into the next one already !!
I would normally continue reading without leaving a review but I just had to show my appreciation to S.K Munt for this amazing story.
Thank you !! I am also going to buy the books because why not invest in having good books to rave about ??
January 3, 2022
They just keep getting better
Still in love with the plot and characters. Although I do hope for some closure or redemption for Karol. I dont think that either of the twins deserve the same. Plus I want happiness for Sam and Cairo just not with Larkin. Weirdly I hope that her and Karol end up together. Great job author!
Still in love with the plot and characters. Although I do hope for some closure or redemption for Karol. I dont think that either of the twins deserve the same. Plus I want happiness for Sam and Cairo just not with Larkin. Weirdly I hope that her and Karol end up together. Great job author!
August 30, 2022
Totalmente increíble y emocionante!!!!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews