Lana AxeRezensionen

This novel has all the elements of high fantasy, including elves, dwarves, and tribal people. There's magic and gods. The characters are on a journey. Not a whole lot of meaningful dialogue. The opening chapter is lengthy, with a lot of information that I got lost in. The major killer was the head hopping. It was anyone and everyone's POV.

Not completely without merit.

A clean read that dedicated fantasy lovers will like.

I received my copy of this ebook in exchange for a fair and honest review.



Leslie Knope says it best, y'all... Even though when she said it, it was to her new husband during her wedding vows but whatever, this is a book and my sentiment is the same! I think this is one of the only ebooks for review that has made my ALL TIME FAVOURITES list I love it so much!!!!



No, really, [a:Lana Axe|7102583|Lana Axe|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1370529801p2/7102583.jpg] who are you? I had never heard of you before I picked up this book and yet, if it is as cleverly written as [b:The Golden Owl|29977627|The Golden Owl (Clockwork Calico, #1)|Lana Axe|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1461338886s/29977627.jpg|50371058], I want to read EVERYTHING that you've ever written!!!!

I am a huge animal lover (cats in particular) and I'm a sucker for stories where animals have a distinct consciousness and language. Cali, though a Calico cat who has been enhanced with clockwork implants, and her unlikely partner Emmit the mouse, are the heroes of our story. I want to say they remind me of Sherlock and Watson (with a little Mission Impossible fancy footwork and stylings thrown in for good measure!), but I'm not sure that would truly do them justice. Cali has such a personality all on her own, it's quite obviously written by an animal lover. I can't tell you about all the times I have imagined what secret adventures my feline friends must be getting up to when I leave the house for the day (although, it is much less so now that I'm older but when I was young I could come up with all kinds of different possibilities!) and I love that someone wrote a book about the heroes that I know any true feline friend would be!

This was an absolutely delightful tale (with it's own Moriarty in Morcroft) where the true evil animal (insect, arachnid whatever!) are the mechanical automatons that Morcroft crafted in the image of spiders. I hate spiders and I'm thankful that their dastardly sneakiness has been brought to light in this tale! An absolutely wonderful read for teens and adults alike. I can't wait to see more stories of this dynamic duo, right after I read the rest of the authors catalogue!!!!! Five ENTHUSIASTIC stars and two thumbs up!!!!

3.5/5 stars

The characters in this novel were endearing and worth investing in emotionally. The clockwork calico cat has been modified by the inventor Lionel Cogg to have several super qualities. But her most compelling qualities are her loyalty and compassion. This is a little superhero everyone can love. She even comes with an adorable sidekick, a mouse she spared named Emmitt who risks his life several times in her service.

When her friend (cats don't have owners), Lionel Cogg, is kidnapped by his arch enemy Jameson Morcroft, Cali and the mouse rescues him. This is where the story really takes off. Cali discovers a plot to steal the golden owl from the museum. However, the thieves are nasty, clockwork spiders with super qualities of their own and she must face them alone.

There are wonderful moments of suspense where the reader cannot put the book down until he or she knows the resolution. There are also lovely moments of friendship, without becoming saccharin.

Lana Axe creates a believable and interesting world. Kelly's modifications and the clockwork inventions are explained in detail without becoming tedious. However, I was surprised to suddenly learn that in this steam punk culture, the bank's alarm system was powered by electricity.

Axe is a polished writer, however it would be advantageous for her to avoid using so many clichés such as, "the clock released with an audible click, music to Cali's ears." As well, she tends to overuse sentences beginning with "as" or "ing," which can be wearying to the reader.

There are some very funny moments, especially with the mouse. Axe delivers with perfect timing.

I wish Axe had explained why Lionel surgically modified the cat. It is obvious in the story that both the cat and mouse are highly sentient beings able of interspecies communication. Although Kelly cannot speak to humans, I would be more comfortable if this intrusive procedure was consensual or as a result of repairs done to her damaged body from an accident or disease. Cali condemns Jameson Morcroft on suspicion that he would operate on other animals but gives no reason why she is affectionate and loyal to the inventor who risked an innovative and dangerous procedure on her. Maybe I missed this. But experimentation on animals makes me cringe.

However, there is much to recommend in this story. Middle grade readers and up will enjoy it.

I was given a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest, nonreciprocal review.

The Golden Owl (Clockwork Calico Book 1) by Lana Axe is a wonderful steampunk middle grade kids story. She is a cat that has implants that enhance her feline abilities and more. This special cat, and other animal friends, must work together to not only rescue her inventor friend, but stop a mad inventor and his horrible robot spiders. They are about to cause total havoc and steal a great treasure! The characters are delightful and the plot clever. The story tells you enough about the main characters that you feel you know them. (Good or bad) I enjoyed it and I am sure that children will enjoy it too. I received this book for a honest review.

(Different than the original "quick review" posted yesterday. I've had time for the full review now.)

My main issue with it was that it felt like the narrator was writing a list of events that happened in his life. With “memoir” in the title, the reader should expect a recollection of a life, but with that normally comes some detail, depth, and story, especially in a fictional memoir.

Due to the over telling and little showing, there wasn’t much room to get into the story. The narrator (the sorcerer from the title) wasn’t a likeable character, but that’s apparent from the start. Normally with that, an author makes other characters easy to sympathize with, to counter the dislike, but I wasn’t able to find that. The other characters were mere mentions and I didn’t feel bad for their failures against the sorcerer. There was one character that was shown to possibly fill the void, but she was short-lived and easily forgotten.

This review is a little lopsided with its “negatives,” but I do feel that, as mentioned above, there’s a bigger story here that this was just more of an outline for. The concept intrigued me. The title alone drew me in. Seeing that this author has a few novels out, I do think I’ll take a look at them. I’d like to see what her ideas can do when allowed to expand and flourish with the room of a novel length piece.

I am normally not a fan of fairytales, but this book was absolutely enchanting. The author Lana Axe does a wonderful job with this novel. She takes the reader into a magical and exiting journey to introduce you to a new world Nol'Deron, which is the home to humans and other various living species.
There you meet very intriguing characters. I must say the idea of humans and elves together never entered my mind, so it was a pleasant surprise to find myself really absorbed in this wonderful story.

The characters are very likable, Mel, River, Thinal and Mi'tal. Mel, and Thinal are elves that belong to the Wild clan, while Mi'tal and King Aelryk, are human warriors. Even though normally they are against in each other, here they develop and interesting relationship in order to come together and fight evil.

The story expends into many other made up for the story mysterious parts of the world called Wildlands, Westerling Vale, Al'marr, Na'zora. Very clever on the author's part, and it's really very captivating.
The authors mind is swirling in fantastic ideas and provides this fabulous magic world in her story of a River. There is suspense and wonder through out the plot. To find out that evil elves can capture the souls of everything living to fuel their spells is a bit creepy to me, but then that is what gives the story the wonder of it all.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I would recommend it to anyone who loves to read and has unlimited imagination. The author did a great job. It is very well written, It is a pleasurable read and an easy plot to follow.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a non-reciprocal review.
(This review will contain spoilers).

This was an overall enjoyable story. I liked the majority of the characters. I think Kaiya stuck out the most for me.

I was surprised the main characters didn't meet up with the antagonist longer than they did. The part where they cross paths was actually very short, and the rest of the book is essentially telling two different stories: one story where the protagonists are trying to solve a problem and another where the antagonist is trying to gain power. I can see this is building up to a larger battle in future volumes.

Sometimes the story over explained things.

"The nighttime air in the mountains was cool despite it being early summer. She pulled her cloak a bit closer to her skin, but the chill she felt had more to do with her nerves than the weather. She could sense the magic emitting from deep inside the cave and felt compelled to investigate."

There's nothing wrong with the paragraph, but we already know the information provided by the last sentence. We've been told it several times by this point and it doesn't elaborate on how chilly the air is, so the last sentence could be removed entirely.
Sometimes it feels like the author wants to make sure she got a certain point across and repeats things like that. This can take away the 'punch' behind some lines, though, because sometimes being succinct is better.

""She has no cause to harm them now," Kaiya argued. "She must be stopped, peacefully or not." Her words were true. She would go to any length to prevent another dwarf's death. She could not bear the sight of another devastated family."

Like the previous example, we've already been told that Kaiya would do anything to stop this, so it doesn't need repeated. Imagine if this paragraph was shortened down to this:

""She has no cause to harm them now," Kaiya argued. "She must be stopped, peacefully or not.""

Let her own words speak for her. Then the power of what she's saying isn't dulled by exposition, and the conversation is less spaced out. Or what about this:

""She has no cause to harm them now." Kaiya's eyes lingered on the mourning family. "She must be stopped, peacefully or not.""

In other words, there doesn't need to be as much hand-holding.

It certainly wasn't enough to take away from my enjoyment of the story. I can understand why the author did it, but I think it's something she can look at when she continues writing.

The love stories also didn't work for me. I didn't dislike the characters. It's just that they didn't know each other for very long, so when they were struggling with being apart it felt a bit forced. If it was something more like, "She was worried about their safety" rather than "She couldn't bear to be apart from him" it would have worked better for me. They'd only just met so it would have taken a lot more to convince me that they were sick with love.
And it wasn't that there wasn't anything for them to love about each other, but it came off more as "She's pretty, I love her" and vice versa.

I did like the parents in the book. For the brief time River's dad was around I liked him. I think Darvil is probably one of the more interesting characters in the book. He both expresses a differing opinion and plays a supportive role.

I liked the setup of the dwarven village. There's only a few places the book concentrated on, and they're established well.
The writing is very clean and clear. I never found myself confused by anything that was going on.

This is a good read for people who like fantasy, and I can see the next volume(s) building up to a bigger conflict.

This is fantastic. In a few short pages, the author manages to evoke an emotional response. Not only does it warn against the destruction of the natural world, it also warns against the apathy of mankind. This is beautifully written and leaves the reader hungry for more. I found this to be quite enjoyable.

A truly pleasurable read for any who enjoy a good work of fiction. If you like the roller coaster thrill-ride Axe's writing takes you on, then strap yourself in for a wild ride! If you seek redemption and hope, you'll find them here, as well. Axe has become a masterful storyteller and wordsmith, and in A Story of River, she proves to be at the top of her game. The silo saga is clearly destined to become a classic of speculative fiction; this entry all but guarantees it. I highly recommend.