Fugitives of Destiny (Mystic Brats 2)

Available in Kindle Unlimited here, or as an audiobook.

SYNOPSIS

After the rise of a deity…

…they fled to a magical kingdom.

But can they ever return?

Nara had spent thousands of years trapped inside her deranged mother’s castle. After being enrolled at the Knight Academy, she thought she’d finally be free. She had everything – a mentor in magic, a loving boyfriend, and a group of friends she called family.

But then it all fell to pieces.

One of her friends was possessed by an ancient evil. The only way for the rest of them to stay alive was to return to her mother’s kingdom.

Nara never expected to return to Aria, let alone after switching bodies with her best friend. Nor did Nara ever think she would be reunited with her traitorous undead ex. To save the only true family she loves, Nara must play a game of life and death against an unknown foe.

The Beast will claim its first victim. And a war is coming.

REVIEW

Friends out to save the multiverse.

I liked the Egyptian aspects with Osiris as the bad guy, and the Arthurian mythology tossed into the story as well.

At the start it felt like a big info dump as the last book and events leading to the present state of things were thrown at me all at once. After I got my head around that, the story moved along nicely. Lots of twists and turns, action, and a bit of romance.

I was not fond of the voice the narrator used for Nora, but he kept her in character and maintained her accent, plus I liked the other voices.

Genre: Adventure, Coming of Age, Fantasy, Magic
Series: Mystic Brats |

Broken Worlds

SYNOPSIS

The Greshian Empire has reached across the Alorian Galaxy, using its naval might to bring its enemies to their knees. Dead planets float in their wake as the empire fights to assert themselves as the supreme race. Ensign Brendle Quinn has spent five years loyally serving the Greshian Empire in their relentless quest to dominate the Alorian Galaxy. But as his ship decimates planet after planet, he finds his sympathies swinging towards their defeated enemies.

Sergeant Anki Paro, a Luthian Marine, has been anxiously awaiting the call to deploy. As the last line of defense against the crushing Greshian forces, she hopes the time has finally come where her world can stand against tyranny and protect the rest of the worlds in her sector of the Alorian Galaxy. As her path towards war draws near, Anki begins to notice a shift in balance as her society prepares itself for imminent destruction. Questions of misplaced loyalties lead her to wonder if the world she is trying to save has any real intentions of surviving.

As Brendle and Anki’s worlds collide, they find themselves in an unlikely alliance to try to stop the full might of the Greshian Empire before there’s nothing left to fight for.

REVIEW

Well-crafted military space opera adventure. It felt a bit slower the start, but there was world building going on. Once Anki and Brenden meet things happen quickly, which is the pace for the rest of the story.

Plenty of action and battle scenes.

Rebecca Sternberg did well with the narration.

Available in Kindle Unlimited here.

Genre: Adventure, Sci Fi, Space Opera
Series: Alorian Wars |

Blood of the Dragon (Dragons of Dorwine 1)

Available in Kindle Unlimited here, or as an audiobook.

SYNOPSIS

Anuka Sandbar is the most interesting half-goblin alive. Just ask him.

Anuka’s father is a ship captain, retired Naval Commander, and genius engineer. Anuka is just a daring, handsome, witty, red-skinned, dagger-wielding entertainer. When Papa disappears, Anuka sets out to find him. While sailing to a sleazy port city to begin his search, Anuka and some unlikely companions are enslaved by pirates.

They wind up the property of an emissary for the Silver DragonLord, Shimmer. The emissary offers them manumission if they discover the source of massive amounts of illegal DragonsBlood flooding the country. DragonsBlood is the most valuable currency on the continent and is the source of all magic in the land.

With different Dragon factions on the precipice of war, revealing the truth could mean the destruction of the mortal civilization.

What will these unlikely heroes do when their failure means enslavement but their success could lead to a war between the gods?

REVIEW

Mayhem!

This was a fun fast-paced fantasy with pirates. Tons of world building, action, surprises, and twists. There was always something happening, but it wasn’t overwhelming.

Anuka is a great character — snarky and comical. There are several other POV characters, but he feels like the main one. He is searching for his missing father when he’s shanghaied into slavery, along with some unlikely traveling companions. Their only chance to escape slavery permanently is to solve a mystery for their new master, so there is always the threat of the impending deadline looming as they encounter one obstacle after another.

Michael Kramer did a good job with the narration and characterizations.

Genre: Adventure, Dragons, Magic
Series: Dragons of Dorwine |

The Black

SYNOPSIS

Under 30,000 feet of water, the experimental exploration rig Leaguer has discovered an oil field larger than Saudi Arabia, with oil so sweet and pure, nations would go to war for the rights to it.

But as the team starts drilling exploration well after exploration well in their race to claim the sweet crude, a deep rumbling beneath the ocean floor shakes them all to their core. Something has been living in the oil and it’s about to give birth to the greatest threat humanity has ever seen.

REVIEW

The Black by Paul Cooley built up from an average day for the characters as we got to know them. I liked reading about life on the oil rig. Everything was explained and put into context, so even with no prior knowledge I understood what was going on.

When the monster showed up, it was nonstop horror. The action and characters’ fears were well written and drew me in.

Joe Hempel was a great narrator. His reading gave exactly the right atmosphere to the narrative, whether it was the characters bantering between themselves at the start, or being terrified as they facd the monster they released.

A great spooky read!

Available in Kindle Unlimited here or as an audiobook.

Genre: Adventure, Horror