Acadia, Book I: The Lost King and the Goddess of Time by Ali Naqvi

Title: Acadia, Book I: The Lost King and the Goddess of Time
Author: Ali Naqvi
Rating: 4/10

Description: “It was only a nightmare at first, but Damont soon realizes that he can see into the future—a curse he has to live with for being the only son of a king dead for a thousand years, with a mother who is the goddess of time.

A man in black armor with a face as obscure as the shadows mantling him laughs wickedly. Who is he and why does he continue to haunt me, Damont wonders. Appearing only in his dreams, the man in the black armor stands alone and laughs high as if to mock him while the world around him burns to cinder. “They are not dreams, my son,” a voice calls out to him in a vision after the many nightmares—claiming to be his mother whom abandoned him when he was but a child. “They are shards of a broken world to come if you so take the path of your father.” If such a path does lie ahead beyond a throne that sits vacant for centuries, with an empire in the east growling for war, then Damont Langörn realizes he has but one choice: follow the visions and seek out the truth lost to both him and the world behind his lineage—but will he be strong enough to face such a malevolent foe of his nightmares?

With a vampire and a sorceress at his side, Damont begins his journey, but such a road is not an easy one to take if the gods themselves do not wish for his return as the king who would unite the world against their existence and bring demise to their very doorstep.” – Amazon.co.uk

The Review: My Mother always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say to people then I shouldn’t say anything at all – sadly that would make this review extremely short.

Damont is a young man who finds out around half way into the novel that he is the long lost descendent of the infamous Langorn line – the one who united Acadia. He travels to the nearby country for advice, where the Queen sends him on a quest of discovery in the forest (along with two companions) to prove he is worthy to be king. From there, there’s run-ins with gods, people out to kill him and the heir to the neighbouring country planning Damont’s demise. Sadly by the time the story starts to kick in I had already decided that I had no real love for Damont, primarily down to his naive yet arrogant attitude. Instead I wanted to know more about Virden (a loner, or hunter as he’s titled in the book, who seems to like a drop or two of blood to drink) as he seems like much deeper characters.

One of the main things that I love about fantasy novels is how I can become completely and utterly lost in the World that the author has magically created for the reader to fall in to in their own way. The exploration chapters that some people find a little tiresome I absolutely adore. Sadly the first two real journeys that Damont faces are incredibly rushed over with no real depth or feeling of travel or excitement, which in turn made Acadia have no real depth or meaning to me. As the novel continues Naqvi seems to find his footing and the World does start to flourish and open up, however for me it was too late.

Sadly I don’t think I’ll be reading the next book in the series.

A Note Of Thanks: I would like to say a massive thank you to Celine from Nyx Book Reviews who I received this review copy of Acadia, Book I: The Lost King and the Goddess of Time through. Make sure you check out Nyx Book Reviews for some excellent reviews and interesting book related insights.

Assassin’s Quest, by Robin Hobb

Title: Assassin’s Quest (Farseer Trilogy #3)
Author: Robin Hobb
Rating: 8/10

Description: “The gripping finale to Robin Hobb’s classic Farseer trilogy, now reissued in gorgeous new livery. Keystone. Gate. Crossroads. Catalyst. Fitz is about to discover the truth about the Fool’s prophecy. Having been resurrected from his fatal tortures in Regal’s dungeons, Fitz has once more foiled Regal’s attempts to be rid of him. Now, back in his own body, and after months of rehabilitation, Fitz begins the painful and slow process of learning the ways of a man again. Under the watchful eye of Burrich, old King Shrewd’s Stablemaster, Fitz must learn to cast off the wild but carefree ways of the wolf and enter once more the human world: a world beset ever more viciously by the relentless Red Ship Raiders who are now left free to plunder any coastal town they please. But more immediately, a world in which he finds he is utterly alone. Regal has stripped the kingdom of its riches and retired to the inland city of Tradeford. Of Verity, on his quest to find the legendary Elderings, there has been no word; Molly, Kettricken and the Fool have all vanished. Unless Fitz can find Verity and help him in his quest, the Six Duchies will perish and there will be no safe place to live.” – Amazon.co.uk

The Review: This is my first review since launching “I Can Has Book?” and personally I think it’s a tough place to start as Assassin’s Quest is the final part in the Farseer Trilogy. I would really hate to ruin the series for anyone by giving away any major plot spoilers so I’ll do my best to exclude any main plot twists from this review.

Having started Assassin’s Quest straight after finishing  Royal Assassin (Farseer Trilogy #2), I found the first half of the book to be quite hard work, it didn’t really seem to be heading anywhere. As a matter of fact I quite easily could have put it down and moved on to something else. Thankfully I didn’t and I’m delighted to say that Hobb really does take the tale on an exciting yet unpredictable path.

When discussing the trilogy with a friend they asked me who my favourite character was, which I really struggled to answer. For me Robin Hobb’s main strength is in her character creation, through all three books there are so many characters that you find yourself loving for many different reasons. At the moment I’m torn between Nighteyes and The Fool.

If you were not sure to continue your journey with Fitz and Nighteyes into the Duchies after the sleepy start to this book, be assured that the conclusion is some of the most exciting fantasy writing I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

Continia, by Junior Wilson

Title: Continia
Author: Junior Wilson
Rating: 3/5

Description: “John was your typical average American male with a good but boring job living in the busy city of LA with not much else to claim as his. Until one business trip that took a surprising turn and sent John to meet his destiny. John finds himself upon the shores of a lake and there begins his life changing adventure. An adventure you and I could only begin to imagine in our wildest fantasy. The land is unlike anything he has ever experienced before and its people of races he has never heard of. Fortunately, he meets up with kind Eubert, a Narlin, who steers him in the right direction, where he meets up with Rogart; a huge warrior of the great nation called Werigan, who is not all he seems. Their journey twists and turns in ways John never thought possible, as he and Rogart fight their way through dangerous creatures and dangerous lands. Along the way they encounter Verdinaris the exiled prince of the small magic using people called the Morginarious and Val’laris the beautiful and sassy lady champion archer of the Plains Elves. On reaching Werigan the four are assigned tasks by the king and set out to complete them. John’s task is to find out where he belongs in this world, which leads to discovering who his true family really is and what his true role in life was meant to be and who robbed him of having that life all along. Continia is about to come into a new age…. an age of kings.” – Amazon.co.uk

The Review: I’m not really sure where to begin with my review of Continia. Just so you know I’ve tried not to include any spoilers – but there is a slight mention of a key part of the tale.  I don’t want this review to be seen as negative, so please read the complete thing before making your judgement. Do as I say, not as I do…

Prior to starting reading I had heard quite a bit of hype about the novel from other “gamer friends” and via advertising/promotion within a weekly podcast I listened to, so I was really looking forward to getting stuck in.

Sadly I really struggled to get to grips with the opening few chapters of the story due to how fast paced it felt and straight away I didn’t really care for the main character John.  At times I contemplated giving up, but due to sheer perseverance I powered on through.

Without wanting to sounds like a complete arse, I found the Continia really has an American vibe to the way it’s was written, especially from a choice of language used by some of the main characters. I know, I know, I know, this shouldn’t come as a shock considering the author is American , however I’m more use to Fantasy novels having a more “old world” feel to them, especially from a character view point.

I really didn’t like the “relationship” that John has with Val’laris and at times felt there really was a bit of a cringe factor to it. Thankfully it’s not in your face for too long!

Here’s the kicker though, I couldn’t put the damn thing down. Seriously. I was like digital crack. I’ve never been much a quick reader; however I seemed to fly through the pages reading wanting needing more.

Junior Wilson has a great way of using the mind’s eye and  I can’t help but feel he’s has only just begun scratched the surface of the World he’s created. I for one would love to read the prequel that’s rumoured to be underway.