by J.D. Oswald

 

The book starts out with rather flowery language (but done well) in the Prologue and soon sets up an almost cliché fantasy story; There's a priest, a dying princess and the birth of a prince who must be hidden among common people in true Arthurian fashion. It is very atmospheric and the Welsh basis for names of both people and places as well as for some story elements, including Grym lines and the story of Gog and Magog from Welsh folklore.

 

However, on the same day is the birth of a dragon. Some of the characters in the story are talking dragons who have a magical secret village. One of them is a healer whom the human characters go to. Oh and let's not forget that there was an eclipse on the day of these two births.

 

So having set up a human-dragon symbiosis, the story goes on with the death of an old dragon and a brilliant quote about the meaning of death, which you'll have to read to find out. There is slow world building and a little confusion in the early chapters where it isn't entirely clear about the relationship between the humans and the dragons, but this is soon rectified and fully explained. I did have the constant feeling that I'd missed something or should know who someone is when I didn't.

 

From there the story bounces between the exploits of Errol, the secret prince, and Benfro, the young dragon that men must not know about because it is forbidden for dragons to breed. Young dragons actually have games to practice learning how to avoid detection by humans, much of it based in magic.

 

We also get warrior priests and a little info dumping at the beginning of chapters. Overall I didn't think the flow was very good, yet the story held my interest anyway. My review copy still had a few typos jumping out, but presumably these will be corrected before the final release as well as some over use of commas that made some of the prose jerky.

 

In some ways the story line seemed contrived, yet there were some original elements like the dragons' spiritual essence being retained in their jewels. I had mixed feelings about the story. In some ways it was child-like with anthropomorphic dragons who hunt with bows and arrows and eat bread and cheese for lunch, in other ways it was a good fantasy story that an older fantasy fan could enjoy with a lot of magic and a set up that, well, could have led to an interesting connection between the prince and the young dragon had the story gone that far.

 

There were a few niggles; a country accent that wasn't quite right and a lack of mystery about who poisoned the princess, which is suddenly revealed in the story with no preliminary build up. The biggest one though is that it stops suddenly with the story unfinished. Obviously we are meant to buy the next book to continue.

 

I much prefer series stories to have resolution at the end of each story, but the writing was good for the most part and despite the niggles, I did enjoy it.

*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Pete has the ability to live both in the real world and also his dreamworld, Twin Moon City. At the latter he has amazing adventures with a mystery blonde but doesn't realise the powers he possesses as a dreamwalker in this realm. Fate draws him to Atlantic City where St Croix, a voodoo demon possessed drug lord, is looking to destroy him both in the real world and in Twin Moon City.

This one was a really enjoyable read, the premise and world building were unique and I was pretty hooked from the first few chapters. Pete is a very likeable main character and is well supported by an array of nicely fleshed out minor characters who all add something to the story. St Croix is a nasty piece of work and his actions are chilling in how vicious he will be to get what he wants.

The pacing is fairly fast and the writing engaging enough that it was hard to put down at times. The only small niggles I had with this was the fact that some things were tied up too neatly at the end. Whilst I thought some elements of the story were taken care of too easily towards the end I do give the author major props for not copping out to a happily ever after ending.

I would recommend this and will look at some other work by the author.

Fifteen, the first book in the Dreamwalker Diaries, gave Ash a view of the future. Sixteen, the long awaited second book, will give her a view of the past. It's been six months, but the pain has remained as strong as before. Not knowing where to find relief, Ash settles for what must be the most stupid thing people have tried to (but try nevertheless), to go back in time in order to change the past!

However, before she can even start on this scheme she must be able to dreamwalk again, which ends her up doing community service for trying to buy drugs. And here Sixteen starts. All the characters from the original cast will make an appearance, but I won't go into the specifics in order to not spoil people who might want to read Fifteen first (which is what I would recommend).

Since it was about two years since I read Fifteen, I was a bit hazy on the details before I started Sixteen, and what surprised me most was how teenager-y it was. Of course Ash is just fifteen years old and when she's not fending of the demons, she is a normal teenager, but it somehow still took some getting used to it from my side. The story was still interesting, although it was a bit more of the same after a while. What I most certainly didn't like what the super sweet ending where

it turned out that Nadine was only such an annoying person because the Jumlin was near. I would have much preferred to see her being not a likable person, but still not evil. Now it made the whole, we shouldn't kill you stuff way too easy.

(spoiler show)

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Doggone It (A Dreamwalker Mystery) - Mag... This is the first book of the Dreamwalker series I have read. I wish I had of read the first 2 books before hand. The first couple of chapters of this book had me a little lost. Once I was more or less introduced to the Characters and their lives I couldn't put the book down. I really got into the characters she brought to the book. This story is a pretty fast paced story with lots of twists and turns. I love how she brought not only humans but animals into the starting rolls of the book. I will be reading the first 2 books soon and cannot wait for the 4th book to come out.

The story is about Baxley Powell. She is a Dreamwalker. She is able to travel to the spirit world and talk to the dead. She also works for the Sheriff. Lending her special abilities to help solve crimes. Her newest case is a double murder. Baxley is just learning what all she and her powers can do, it is kind of like on the job training. The more she learns the more danger she could be in in the spirit world, and on our world as well.

I enjoyed this audiobook. The story is good, it kept my interest all the way through.
I doesn't have too much angst, thought there is a little teenage drama. And of course the eternal love triangle...

 

The narrator does an ok job too. All in all this was a good way to pass the time while driving to work!

I will definitely be looking into getting hold of the rest of the series, I would like to know where it goes from here, even though it doesn't actually end on a cliffhanger and you could very easily get away with reading just this one book if that's what you would like.