dragonauthors

[dragonauthors]

Apollo review. With stick figures... and haiku. Would he approve? Yep.

http://dragonauthors.com/bookwyrms/

[dragonauthors]

Oh, yeah. Stick figure BookTube. We went there.

First up, Colt Harper: Esteemed Vampire Cat, by Tyrolin Puxty.

(No spoilers, we promise.) Want to make sure you never miss these? Visit our book blog and sign up to get them by email at http://dragonauthors.com!

[dragonauthors]

What could be better than FREE books? FREE book boxes!!!

What??? That’s right! To celebrate the launch of The Intuitives, Trash Dogs Media is giving away FREE book boxes on Goodreads! A new box every nine days through July 25! Check it out!

[dragonauthors]

The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett

ISBN: 978-0399585111

5 stars!

An Excellent, Unexpected Read

If you go into this book expecting the usual dystopian fodder (one terrifying attempt after another just to stay alive… or to find other survivors… or to save what’s left of humanity), then you’re not going to like this book. And I’ll admit, that’s how I started out, based on the novel’s premise. But then something interesting happened…

I found myself on a parallel journey to the protagonist herself–letting go of the past; letting go of expectations; living from one breath (or one paragraph) to the next; letting the characters be who they were, instead of who I wanted them to be.

And then I became fascinated by the story in a whole new way.

It’s really a story about loss, and about living with that loss, on so many levels. It isn’t about stopping the plague. It’s about when the plague wins. And what comes after. It’s a human story about surviving the unthinkable, and then trying to re-imagine life as something different–not as a step backward, and maybe not as a step forward either…

In a way, it’s a book about learning how to step through life without making that kind of judgment in the first place. Without being tormented by what was, or by what might have been.

In fact, this book is so much about that, that it gets a bit heavy-handed in the moral-of-the-story department here and there, but I’m giving it five stars anyway because the theme is one that the protagonist is genuinely dealing with. Her thoughts are true to her character, so the real problem was not that I didn’t like the story, but that I didn’t like the character sometimes.

She’s broken inside, and not just by the plague. She struggles with her past. Like a real person. Sometimes she overcomes it, and sometimes she doesn’t. Like a real person. And sometimes she ends up in uncomfortable situations that she can’t quite figure her way out of. Like a real person.

In essence, Corlett has created a character so real that I actively disliked her from time to time–before remembering the things I did like about her, forgiving her for being human, and moving on. I related to the character as though she were a real person. Which is, in my opinion, the book’s greatest draw.

So don’t go into this story expecting dystopian fiction. It is a story about survival–but it’s more about emotional survival than physical survival. Read it for what it is–read it for that–and you will love this novel.

Goodreads | Amazon | iBooks | B&N | IndieBound

[dragonauthors]

A Masterpiece of Story and Literature

ISBN: 978-0316341684

5 stars!!!

Lazlo Strange is a war orphan, born without a name and raised without any sympathy for his plight—or for his vast imagination. But as he is playing in the orchard one day, pretending to be a famous Tizerkane warrior of… of… of where? The very name of the mystical city that lies across the desert is suddenly erased from his mind.

Erased from everyone’s mind, as it turns out. But what sort of magic could steal a name? Most people don’t even seem interested in the question, but Lazlo is determined to find out. And his quest leads him on one of the greatest adventures it has ever been our pleasure to read.

Lazlo is, in our opinion, one of the most sympathetic characters ever to grace the written page. The supporting cast is wonderfully rich, the dialog is so natural that you will believe every single word, and the story itself is a multi-layered masterpiece. But the writing… oh, the writing!

The writing is literature—lyrical and elegant. It rises from the page and envelops you in a world of art and mystery and magic. The vocabulary is advanced for a young adult novel, but it is never stilted. It flows… in as many senses of that word as you can imagine.

Taylor’s storytelling flows like the silk of a nomad’s tent unfurled in the desert heat... like the slow promise of spring... like the torrent of a waterfall. It flows like the wind, and like the waves of the sea, and like the sun as it slips beneath the horizon.

It meanders and then careens and then meanders again, its pacing delightfully varied and clearly intentional, signaled by meticulous word choice and by attentive punctuation in which every single comma (and ellipsis)… matters.

We read a good bit of it out loud to each other because we just couldn’t help ourselves. And then we finished it separately because we just couldn’t put it down. (And then we bought one for our local library because we just couldn’t stand the idea of it not being there.)

If you love language and literature and imagination, if you love strange worlds and deep characters and beautiful dreams, if you love magic and puzzles and adventure and feels… then you will love this book as thoroughly as we do.

[dragonauthors]

FREE GIVEAWAY! Enter for a chance to win an advance reading copy of THE INTUITIVES! A YA fantasy, coming July 25! http://thndr.me/kkcqKF

[dragonauthors]

The Crimson Throne, by Christi Stallard

Surprising, Entertaining, Screen-worthy

ASIN: B06X3SHYW2

4.25 stars!

If you love monsters and fantasy creatures, you’ll love Christi Stallard’s The Crimson Throne. Vampires, dragons, sirens, pixies, werewolves, ghouls… they all live side by side in a world that no longer belongs to humankind, which is a real problem for Sadie Carlisle, the teen heroine who has spent her entire life surrounded by the walls of Section 18. When the city gets raided, Sadie is forced to fight for her very survival.

If that sounds at all cliché, trust me, it isn’t. The world Christi Stallard has created is masterful, from its invented history to the setup of day-to-day life. Movie companies and TV networks, take note: the reimagining of so many mythical creatures into one seamless, dystopian nightmare makes this universe ripe for acquisition.

Yes, some details were left unexplained and there were a few grammatical issues, but that didn’t hurt the read. At least, not for me. When I love a world and an overall plot, I’m happy to suspend disbelief and accept the author’s premises about the world she has designed. (I also believe life is too short to focus on the negatives, especially where there’s so much artistry to be found.)

The world of The Crimson Throne is rich and intricate, the plot is surprising and entertaining, and the characters won me over. I have the feeling this series is only going to get better, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Goodreads I Amazon

--For more NA/YA/MG reviews, visit our book blog at http://dragonauthors.com/bookwyrms

[dragonauthors]

The Kingdom of Oceana, by Mitchell Charles

A Quick, Colorful Read

ISBN: 978-0692508411

The Kingdom of Oceana is a classic story of sibling rivalry—a novel based on action and adventure that we’d recommend for readers twelve and up. Set in a fantasy version of a timeless Hawaii, it has fire walking and surfing and sharks and zombie fish… plenty of thrills to capture the imagination. It also has magic, mystery, and a message of environmentalism weaving a natural thread throughout the story. Many books for younger readers attempt to merge entertainment with education, but few do it well. This one does. It’s a short, quick read—appropriate for the age group. The only catch for some will be the Hawaiian words peppered throughout the novel. The words are explained, so there’s no confusion, but pronunciation will be tricky for those not familiar with the language. The story takes some predictable turns, and there are a few plot elements that are either unexplained or left hanging. Not so much in a cliff-hanger way as in a never-got-back-around-to-it kind of way. Still, the plot moves along well, and the interactions between the brothers—not to mention their intertwined relationships with a strong supporting cast—are both realistic and entertaining. Add to all that a gorgeous, mystical setting, and Mitchell Charles has created a pearl of a book: colorful and quick, the perfect white magic to heal any reading slump. --For all our MG/YA/NA reviews (with ratings), some written together and some individually, visit our Dragon Authors blog at http://dragonauthors/bookwyrms!  

[dragonauthors]

Enter our GOODREADS GIVEAWAY for a chance to win one of 5 free autographed print ARCs! We only printed 100 copies of this FIRST EDITION ARC, and there will NEVER be any more!!!

IMAGINATION JUST BECAME OUR GREATEST WEAPON

What makes you different... might save the world.

A YA Fantasy, coming July 25, 2017. Ages 12 and up.

“I love, love, love The Intutives by Erin Michelle Sky & Steven Brown.” --Readers’ Favorite 5-star review!

See the book on Goodreads, or enter the Giveaway!

[dragonauthors]

This Book Is Wearing Dignity. So Much More Beautiful Than Pearls.

ISBN: 978-0544586505

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life is a brilliant story of youth at an end, adulthood on the horizon, the meaning of family, the many faces of love, and the difficulty of knowing how to hold on while at the same time letting go.

It’s a fitting theme for readers who loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Some of us are having a hard time letting go of that one, and for good reason. But if we hold on to it too hard, looking only to the past, we’ll miss the captivating beauty of this next one. And that would be a tragedy.

“Sal used to know his place with his adoptive gay father, their loving Mexican-American family, and his best friend, Samantha. But it’s senior year, and suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and realizing he no longer knows himself.”

That's about as much as the blurb has to say. Pretty short for a 464-page book. Is that really all there is to it? Of course not. But to reveal any details of complication or plot would be sure to spoil something. That said, it’s not a plot-driven book. It reads more like a cross between a journal and a memoir, written by a modern teen with an old soul.

If you like the sound of that, you'll flat-out love this book.

Yes, the novel has diverse characters—rich, magnificent characters. No, it does not have romance. It has joy. It has anger. It has kindness. It has fear. It has painfully long moments of holding your breath, and it has the inevitable surrender of taking the next one.

Because eventually you have to. Because life goes on.

But what this book has most of all is grace. It is the grace that stays with you--and what you will hold on to--long after you have turned the last page.

-- Visit Book Wyrms for more reviews (with ratings) and giveaways!

[dragonauthors]

WINDWITCH by Susan Dennard

An Instant Classic! One for Your Permanent Collection!

ISBN: 978-0765379306

5 STARS!!!

We love books. In fact, we adore them. We don’t have time to read as many as we would like, so we only finish the ones we love. And we only review the ones we finish. As a result, we give out a lot of four- and five-star ratings, and we mean every one of them.

But every once in a while, a book comes along that truly stands out. A book (or series) that belongs with the likes of The Hobbit, or Ender’s Game, or every book Anne McCaffrey ever wrote. A book we insist on adding to our permanent collection in autographed hardcover.

Windwitch is just such a book.

We discovered the series this past summer. We bought Truthwitch in hardcover and then again electronically because we couldn’t put it down, reading through every spare moment we could find. (As a result, we imposed upon Susan Dennard at Dragoncon to sign both the hardcover edition and the iPad cover upon which her book resides. She was kind enough to do both.)

When you love a first book that much, it’s a hard act to follow. You hope the next one will be just as good. You prepare yourselves to forgive it if it isn’t. I mean, who could do that twice, right?

But Windwitch is even better.

It follows all our favorite characters from Truthwitch and adds several new ones, moving back and forth among them. And with each new chapter, a different character became our new favorite. Not once were we tempted to rush through one story line to get back to another. In fact, we found ourselves reading more and more slowly, wishing it never had to end.

The world is magnificently rich. The plot is breathtakingly intricate. The characters are heart-wrenchingly real. We’re grateful, at least, that the series is not at an end. The next book is already our most anticipated title of 2018. If we disappear for a few days after it comes out, you’ll know why.

[dragonauthors]

Trapped in Silver by Emily Sowden

This Debut Author Is One To Watch

ISBN: 978-0995636507

5 STARS!

Here’s the thing about real people. They’re complicated. Okay, fine. We’re complicated. We can stand up to a pack of wolves with nothing but a knife at dusk and then shiver in a warm bed until dawn, terrified by a nightmare we don’t even remember. It doesn’t make any sense. Real people don’t always make sense. Emily Sowden gets that. She gets how real life works.

Take Ava. She might not be great at fighting, but she’s a survivor. She knows how to depend on herself. When her mother dies and her father starts disappearing, she holds the family farm together. So what if women aren’t allowed to conduct business in her misogynist, backwater town? She’ll dress herself as a young man and get the job done. That’s practical strength. That’s real strength.

When her life takes a turn and she finds herself far from home, surrounded by demons and berserkers and dangers she never even imagined, she doesn’t pick up a random weapon, master it in two weeks, and start slaying monsters left and right. Why not? Because no real person could do that. What a real person can master quickly is learning how to take advantage of what they already have. That’s what Ava does, and she does it in spades.

But the world of Trapped in Silver is just as impressive as its characters. From struggling towns to magical wilderness, Sowden has created a reality with breadth, depth, and a history so rich it practically jumps off the page. With a wonderful cast of supporting characters to provide both protection and new challenges at every turn, Ava’s sassy and headstrong journey to discover her true place within this realm is well worth the read.

Goodreads | Amazon

[dragonauthors]

May the new year be filled with books you love!

[dragonauthors]

Did you say "Mice?"

[dragonauthors]

Our new cover!!! Read it for FREE at https://www.patreon.com/posts/wendy-season-one-4865420 !!!