Eric Alan Westfall

Surrender was written for the M/M Romance Group's Love Has No Boundaries picture prompt event. Told in first person from the young man, Karel, who is the warrior in the picture. The photo prompt is really, really cool. I wish it was used for the book cover.

Be warned there are some very graphic torture and rape scenes toward the end of the story.




You know, I can honestly say that I have absolutely no idea what happened in this story. I was confused through the whole thing. Something about a painting that pulled Karel, into and he becomes the warrior in the painting or something like that. Karel also ends up sort of dying at the end. But it's more like the movie Ground Hog Day it seems where the warrior ends up repeating death after death but never allowed to die. I'm not sure if he's not allowed to die by the Goddess or by the 'it' that has him captured. But it's for some reason. Karel's tortured, raped and other horrid things for what reason I don't know. There's an 'it' that hates Karel and Caaroc and considers them 'Abominations' because of their love for each other. 'It' captures them both, extracts a promise from Karel, manipulates Karel's mind and then forces him to kill Caaroc. After Caaroc is dead, 'It' continues to torture Karel through his mind and I 'think,' I'm not sure, also in real time. So confusing. Don't know how long Karel will be tortured but the one light 'memory' he has is of his lover, Caaroc, telling him that he loves him and would come back for him.

Can someone honestly tell me that Karel would not go insane from the mental and what appears to be physical rape and torture after what will likely be years upon years of torment? And why doesn't the Goddess grant Karel death instead of letting him be tortured? Did Karel displease her? Or is it because Caaroc made the oath so that in order to fulfill the oath Karel has to stay alive? Is Caaroc going to be reborn? If so, Karel would have been tortured for possibly years. Then that could make Karel quite a bit older than Caaroc when they meet again, unless Caaroc's soul gets reborn or 'transfers' to another being's body upon his death and then he has to find his way back to Karel's world or where Karel is held captive. Or maybe the 'it' keeps Karel young by letting him rejuvenate. Does reborn Caaroc's people send someone to destroy the 'it' like the other three 'its' that were destroyed? I love mysteries as you can tell by all the questions, but this story left too many holes about what's going on, especially surrounding the background. I find reading stories with holes leads to confusion which makes a story very annoying to read and as if I wasted my time. However, I plowed my way through the story and made myself finish it hoping to find answers.

So I guess this is supposed to be a love story mixed with the ultimate homophobia and hatred of interspecies relations (xenophobia), then throw in some gratuitous torture and rape through mind games and by physical control of other people. I think... I'm not sure :

I do have to say that the ideas about the type of worlds they lived in and the 'Worlds Beside' I think it was called, was an interesting concept. I would have much rather read about that and also about the species Kalen and Caaroc where rather than the violence and torture. It's harder to create a unique world with history and unique species with unusual abilities than it is to just write out violence and torture. However the story read choppy and disjointed which I find hugely annoying. I like stories to flow nicely from one idea to the other, not stutter and stop or jump from one mini-scene to the next.

In the end I enjoyed the world building and what little info we got about the species. I also enjoyed the bit we learned about oaths and the Goddess, but all the interesting best stuff was kept very, very minimal. So I can only give this story 1.5 stars because this story confused the heck out of me since it leaves out so much information that I need to make sense of the story. I was always going "What?" It's not my kind of story either, although I can usually get past dark stories, for example another fic in this prompt event I gave five stars to, if I understand what is going on because of the excellent writing and it makes sense. But Surrender had me nothing but confused. I guess this is where I'll diverge from those other readers who will probably love this story because of the darkness and horror. For me if a story even if it is dark, doesn't make sense and doesn't contain enough background about the characters and the world they live in, then I can't give it a high rating. 1 Star final score.

… (mehr)

I generally enjoy fantasy and m/m romance, so when you put them together, I expect to really love a well-written story. And I've read and enjoyed other work by this author, so I guess I had some expectations going into this book. And while this is technically well-written, it just didn't work for me. Not really my kind of story and I found it very difficult to connect to the characters in any meaningful way. Though I think it likely that someone with more of a penchant for darker stories might have a more enjoyable time with this one.… (mehr)

What do you get when you cross the paths of a warlord prince and a bard in front of a vague prophecy and then toss in a meddling goddess and a bit of sex? Something wonderful if The Warlord and the Bard is any indication. Something wonderful, indeed.

The reader is thrown immediately into this rich world that Eric Alan Westfall has created. And because of this it can all be a bit difficult to follow at first, but I found that once can easily catch up as the story goes along. It is a masterful literary device in this case, though, because it helps the reader to feel some of what Jerril and DarkFire are feeling themselves as their worlds collide and fill them with uncertainty.

There is some mention of past sexual assault, so I feel the need to warn for that. But otherwise, this is a great story and is wonderfully written. I'm definitely left wanting to know what happens next.

(eBook copy provided by the author via the Goodreads M/M Romance Group's 'Don't Buy My Love' program in exchange for an honest review.)… (mehr)

Writing a book about a country/language you don’t know? ASK. A. NATIVE.
Here is "Ask An Expert" link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/249694?group_id=20149 . There is a "Regional Experts" thread. Please, use it.

I ventured as far as I possibly could into the story (20%), until I finally admitted to myself that this book is not for me. The twisted Russian part aside¹, I could not find enough of the meager microscopic breadcrumbs to follow the actual tale and to enjoy it.

Not sure if this book is a weird nod to Lev Tolstoy, considering insanely long and convoluted sentences - after all he was wedged into this story, albeit sideways, - or if this is the actual author’s style.

Concerning the names²: Andrei L’vovich, not Andrei Levovich.
Если, конечно, энтот Андрей налево не ходит.... ну а если ходит, то - Левович… (mehr)