Write On! Indie Book Reviews #7: Sweet, Sweet Fantasy Edition
Hello and welcome to another round of Write On! My one stop shop for Indie book recommendations. Today, we're bringing it back to the fabulous women who break genre boundaries and do it well. This time we're talking fantasy.
Fantasy, without the word "urban" in front of it, has always been a tough genre for me to get into. Something about epic quests, world building, and hundreds of mythical creatures running about only holds my interest in video games. But fantasy isn't all talking trees and Turkish Delight. The following authors have put their own spin on the genre to bring us worlds that even the most fickle of fantasy fans can fall in love with. So without further ado, let's meet our authors and learn more about their books:
Ann Livi Andrews
The Two Lands Return
If you've been keeping up with this blog, you know Ann. For those who have not been keeping up, Ann is the founder and Supreme Overlord of Support Indie Authors, which began in January as a Goodreads group and has now expanded to much, much more. While Ann writes in many genres and I can recommend all of her books, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is my favorite. TLR is a fairytale style fantasy in that it has a princess, mythical creatures, a powerful wizard, and a prince so two dimensional you would swear Disney created him.
TLR follows the story of Keita, a princess who is described as quite ordinary, yet brilliant, which is terrible, because a proper princess should be beautiful and dull. If you aren't already hooked based on that alone, stop supporting the patriarchy! In many ways, this reminded me of Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and many other fantasy films that I loved in my youth. I admit, there is one scene in particular where I could practically hear Bowie singing As the World Falls Down.
At 490 pages and just $2.99 on Amazon or free with Kindle Unlimited, this is a fantastic bargain.
Shannon Reber
The Seer (The Seal of Solomon Prequel)
I happened upon this story when Shannon was looking for beta reader opinions and I'm glad I decided to give it a read. This is a relatively short prequel and the first full novel, The Puppeteer is now available.
This is more your typical fantasy with characters arriving into town on horseback and stopping at an inn on their way to the castle. There's world building and kingdoms and all of those things that typically lull me into a stupor, but here, I am captivated. I can attribute that to the style Shannon uses. The characters take center stage and the world building is kept to a minimum, woven into the story instead of expounded upon in all its historical glory as so many authors are wont to do. To me, this felt a bit like a western and there were some unconventional characters, including strong females, which you should know by now is an important part of making me want to read.
The Seer is only 99¢ on Amazon and The Puppeteer is just $2.99 and both are free with Kindle Unlimited.
Bb Wynter
The Lament of Sky
Rounding out the list is the multitalented Ms. Wynter, or Captain Teacup the third as she is known in the SIA. Her take on fantasy is dark, poetic, and at times, absurd and even violent.
The Lament of Sky follows Lilyth, a young woman who seems to be a fairly normal young woman studying at an academy, but that lasts for all of a few pages. Suddenly, Lilyth's world explodes in a bloody and greusome war that she somehow manages to survive, only to find that she is somewhere down Alice's rabbit hole if said hole was filled with nightmarish hallucinations and strange individuals. She soon learns that she's forgotten who she is, what her purpose is, or how it came to be that she lost herself.
What follows is nearly four hundred pages of adventure, action, more hallucinations, poetic prose offset by sudden and jarring use of base language, gods among men, men who think themselves gods, and a woman who just wants to know who she is.
Like the others, this book is just $2.99 or free to read with Kindle Unlimited, so what are you waiting for? Grab all three today!
That's all for this edition of Write On! Until next time, remember the three R's of indie support:
Fantasy, without the word "urban" in front of it, has always been a tough genre for me to get into. Something about epic quests, world building, and hundreds of mythical creatures running about only holds my interest in video games. But fantasy isn't all talking trees and Turkish Delight. The following authors have put their own spin on the genre to bring us worlds that even the most fickle of fantasy fans can fall in love with. So without further ado, let's meet our authors and learn more about their books:
Ann Livi Andrews
The Two Lands Return
If you've been keeping up with this blog, you know Ann. For those who have not been keeping up, Ann is the founder and Supreme Overlord of Support Indie Authors, which began in January as a Goodreads group and has now expanded to much, much more. While Ann writes in many genres and I can recommend all of her books, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is my favorite. TLR is a fairytale style fantasy in that it has a princess, mythical creatures, a powerful wizard, and a prince so two dimensional you would swear Disney created him.
TLR follows the story of Keita, a princess who is described as quite ordinary, yet brilliant, which is terrible, because a proper princess should be beautiful and dull. If you aren't already hooked based on that alone, stop supporting the patriarchy! In many ways, this reminded me of Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and many other fantasy films that I loved in my youth. I admit, there is one scene in particular where I could practically hear Bowie singing As the World Falls Down.
At 490 pages and just $2.99 on Amazon or free with Kindle Unlimited, this is a fantastic bargain.
The Seer (The Seal of Solomon Prequel)
I happened upon this story when Shannon was looking for beta reader opinions and I'm glad I decided to give it a read. This is a relatively short prequel and the first full novel, The Puppeteer is now available.
This is more your typical fantasy with characters arriving into town on horseback and stopping at an inn on their way to the castle. There's world building and kingdoms and all of those things that typically lull me into a stupor, but here, I am captivated. I can attribute that to the style Shannon uses. The characters take center stage and the world building is kept to a minimum, woven into the story instead of expounded upon in all its historical glory as so many authors are wont to do. To me, this felt a bit like a western and there were some unconventional characters, including strong females, which you should know by now is an important part of making me want to read.
The Seer is only 99¢ on Amazon and The Puppeteer is just $2.99 and both are free with Kindle Unlimited.
The Lament of Sky
Rounding out the list is the multitalented Ms. Wynter, or Captain Teacup the third as she is known in the SIA. Her take on fantasy is dark, poetic, and at times, absurd and even violent.
The Lament of Sky follows Lilyth, a young woman who seems to be a fairly normal young woman studying at an academy, but that lasts for all of a few pages. Suddenly, Lilyth's world explodes in a bloody and greusome war that she somehow manages to survive, only to find that she is somewhere down Alice's rabbit hole if said hole was filled with nightmarish hallucinations and strange individuals. She soon learns that she's forgotten who she is, what her purpose is, or how it came to be that she lost herself.
What follows is nearly four hundred pages of adventure, action, more hallucinations, poetic prose offset by sudden and jarring use of base language, gods among men, men who think themselves gods, and a woman who just wants to know who she is.
Like the others, this book is just $2.99 or free to read with Kindle Unlimited, so what are you waiting for? Grab all three today!
That's all for this edition of Write On! Until next time, remember the three R's of indie support:
Read, Review, and Recommend Indie Books!
And of course:
#SupportIndieAuthors!
Two Lands Return sounds good. I never really considered it, but you are right; there is quite a difference between fantasy and urban fantasy story telling. Glad you're finding some you like in both subgenres.
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