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Search tags: Nicole-Zoltack
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review 2017-08-11 00:00
Of Cinder and Madness (Once Upon a Darkened Night Book 1)
Of Cinder and Madness (Once Upon a Darkened Night Book 1) - Nicole Zoltack Yes, Angelique is Ella's (Eleonore's) stepmother, but she's not the bad guy. She just wanted to help the dark, troubled girl whose beauty was as captivating as her pain. But it's not that simple of a tale. And trust me, everything you know about it is wrong.

I tend to love fairy tale retellings, so I was excited to snap this one up.

I kind of expected this story to be a bit dark (I mean, just look at the title). But as I wound my way through the story, I was somewhat perplexed at the complete rewrite of the original story, having little in common besides the roles of the characters (barons, prince, step children, etc.) and the settings in which they participated. Honestly, I kept reading it wondering if the stepmother was the one who was afflicted by madness, and the Cinderella story I've come to love would be restored.

I found the pacing a bit difficult as well. The story starts not in the middle of action, but somewhere floating before the action. the opening statements make Angelique seem bitter, almost vengeful, but we find out through the story this is not the case (over and over again). Between the current story chapters are flashback chapters, detailing how they got to this place. The flashbacks skip around, and it ended up being a bit confusing at times, trying to decipher where I was in the story. Besides that, the constant back and forth, even when the current story finally got interesting, interrupted the flow.

Finally, though I wanted to like the characters, Eleonore was less than sympathetic, and Angelique's constant struggle felt overdone, and she wallowed in self pity more than I could truly enjoy. The prince was perplexing as well (was he disturbed, too?).

The story is imaginative, and it totally turns the original on its head. It was obviously not the right fit for me, but I think others who like dark and twisted fantasies/fairy tales with a more casual pace and somewhat experimental format would enjoy this book.
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review 2017-08-02 00:00
Of Cinder and Madness (Once Upon a Darkened Night Book 1)
Of Cinder and Madness (Once Upon a Darkened Night Book 1) - Nicole Zoltack Meh. This was an okay book, nothing to exciting about it. Would I recommend? Maybe, depending on the person. Overall, I feel like I wasted some time reading this.
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review 2016-04-28 23:41
A Matter of Doubt
A Matter of Doubt - Nicole Zoltack

A Matter of Doubt is the second book in the Magic Incarnate series by Nicole Zoltack. It starts six months after the end of A Question of Faith, and it maintains the level of intensity right from the start.

 

Crystal wakes up in her coffin, and tries to use her magic to move the wood and dirt. But nothing happens. Her magic is gone. Not just hidden away, waiting to be tapped like before. It's gone, completely empty. Fortunately, Gavin shows up to rescue Crystal. And fill her in on the events of the six months following her sacrificing herself to save everyone she loves during the battle between witches and shamans that threatened to end the world.

 

The pair hides out for a bit, trying to regroup and formulate a plan for anything. They decide to visit the witches, after all, they created Crystal, they should be able to help her. But they cant. They don't know why her powers are gone, but there is one person who might. But they'll have to search mightily to find the Seer. And on the way, the duo meets Shira, a shaman, and the trio keeps on the trek to locate the Seer.

 

There aren't many answers from the Seer, but that won't deter Crystal. She's on a mission, and nothing is going to stop her. Not trying to defeat Gavin's father the witch hunter. Not trying to teach Gavin how to use his magic. Not helping Shira to find her second form. And probably not Crystal's new ability to shift form, even though her ability to shift could put her life and sanity in jeopardy.

 

The book was great. The intensity that was built up in A Question of Faith never fell, and the story didn't disappoint. Gavin got more fleshed out, and the addition of his acceptance and beginning usage of his magic only added to his character. Crystal grows too, struggling with the loss of her magic, the loss of her friends and family who think her dead, and the uncertainty of where she's supposed to go from here. The addition of Shira was lovely. She's a fledgling shaman, one who hasn't found her second form, and that learning is thrust upon her in a most abrupt way.

 

I'm recommending this book to the same groups I did the first one. And the knowledge that Ms. Zoltack is busily working on book three helps to ease my frustration at how this book ends. Don't get me wrong, it's a brilliant place to end this section of the story, but it's also incredibly frustrating because you need to know what happens next. But it's going to be worth it. I've got the faith that Crystal is beginning to doubt.

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review 2016-02-17 01:41
Black Hellebore (Heroes of Falledge #1) - Nicole Zoltack

I enjoyed the interactions and romance between Julianna and Nicholas. Nicholas loved Justina, Julianna's twin, who died when they were young, and he had to work through his feelings. He realizes that he needs to let go of the past in order to move on. Julianna admits that her feelings of friendship are actually love the more time she spends with Nicholas. Between everything, Nicholas becomes a superhero and has to deal with all that entails, including capturing the super villian. This was an enjoyable story.

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review 2016-02-05 21:21
A Question of Faith?
A Question of Faith - Nicole Zoltack

Imagine being a regular High School student, confident that your life is normal. Then just days before your 16th birthday, you find a chest that turns your entire world topsy-turvy. That's just what happens to Crystal Miller, or rather Crystal Wynter to be more correct.

 

Crystal learns that her mother struck a bargain with local witches to allow her to conceive a child. But her mother may not have known just what she would have to trade for her miracle.

 

Crystal has always had unwavering faith in God, after all, he answers her prayers. Well, most of them. Which is one reason she has such a difficult time coming to terms that she is of magic. Not just a practitioner of magic, like the witches or the shamans, but made up of magic itself. Is there place in religion for magic, and a place for God in magic? This is a question Crystal must answer for herself, there is no one else like her to help her answer this.

 

Shortly after learning she is magic, things begin to go wrong in Mount Claymore. There is the accident that almost kills her boyfriend's mother, then the mugging of her mother/aunt. Just which is Crystal supposed to think of her as? Patricia Miller did raise her, but Patricia is also her aunt. Yet another question for Crystal to sort out.

 

Then the new boy in school comes clean that he is the latest son in a long line of witch hunters. A witch hunter who is in town to "cleanse" the world of the witches responsible for Crystal's existence. And then there are the shamans, who want to use Crystal to further their purpose. Crystal is enmeshed in a drama centuries in the making.

 

I really liked A Question of Faith. I'm avowedly an agnostic Heathen, but the question of reconciling faith in a singular omnipresent God with the practice of magic is an interesting one. And not one I've seen posed this way before. Faith in something beyond you, and faith in yourself and your powers, makes for an interesting premise, and one that is handled very deftly by Ms. Zoltak. It's also not guilty of being "preachy" about the religious elements, and that takes a light hand. Books heavy on the religious side don't sit well with me, but the threads of the different kinds of faith wove together quite seamlessly.

 

I'd very much recommend this book. It's aimed at YA readers, but it does certainly have an appeal to adult readers as well. There isn't much focus on HS, and it's daily grind. The focus is on the characters as opposed to the physical HS setting, so it's not tightly marketed there. There is some lovely character development in Crystal, and I genuinely care for her. She's having a crisis of faith, in every possible way, but she picks everything up and mends it into armor to help her fight. The supporting characters, at least the "main" supporting characters have some development, but the book is strongly about Crystal, as it should be.

 

I'd recommend it to YA readers, adult readers who like light fantasy, readers who like a touch of Christian faith in a fantasy novel, readers who like having strong female protagonists. I'd actually recommend it to most of my friends, there's a bit in it that will appeal to just about everyone.

 

I did receive an ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an unbiased review, in the interest of disclosure.

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