L.K. Malone

This is a wonderful book, very well written and with a deep message to the young adults in our lives. The plot of the story is simple to follow. There is a place with heavy social injustice (sounds familiar?) called Turris, where the Oresed are the ruling class and the Ramash are the oppressed ones. A legend of a better place called N'de is transmitted through generations and hope is the only thing that remains for the Ramash. Our heroine Hadlay and her friends are from families persecuted (Ramash class). She has dreams about this place and in her dreams she sees a wonderful thing that has the image of a Being that talks to her. She and her friends are tested on patience, obedience, loyalty and discretion in order to be accepted to work for the king, which is consider to be a very high honor. Hadlay and her boyfriend Nomish are selected and they have to move to the Tower, the place where the king lives with his son. Over there they start their training on different arts, including using "magic" that seems very tempting, as they can control powers to do some tasks for them. But a series of events will show them that things are not as bright as they look, and soon they will have to face decisions that change their lives forever.
This is a very easy reading that will get you involved from the beginning, cheering for your favorite characters. And the theological message behind the scenes is tremendous and will touch you deeply. Loyalty, forgiveness, friendship, trust, treason are concepts worked on every page of this book. I recommend this book to a permanent library of any reader that enjoys a very good fantasy book.

This book was written by L.K.Malone and was published in October of 2011 by Kregel Publications. Litfuse Publicity Group was kind enough to provide me a copy for reviewing. Opinions expressed here are my own.… (mehr)

Hadley lives in a world that is beautiful yet cruel. Her people are treated as underlings and slaves, forced to live very hard lives. The one thing that keeps her people going is a bedtime story passed through the generations about a beautiful city they once inhabited. Things are changing though. First, Hadley begins having dreams about a creature calling to her. Next, the mysterious emperor reappears and frees her people. Then Hadley and her friend Nomish are chosen to learn to serve the emperor. Hadley discovers there is more to the emperor than meets the eye, and there are secrets within his tower that could change everything.

This is going to be a book that lovers of fantasy will adore. It is so original. It takes some familiar fantasy ideas and combines it with some totally new things in such an original way. This book is able to draw you into the world and immerse you very quickly. Hadley is a great character. While she's certainly good and talented, she also has her flaws. She's seen the way her people have been treated and wants to be able to yield power over those who treated her so poorly. This desire for revenge is not a great one to have, but it's a realistic desire for Hadley. She has suffered a great deal in her life, so this was a natural reaction. This made it very easy to empathize and understand and even like Hadley more.

There are also things that will surprise and shock the reader. Things are never what they seem, and there were a few plot points that I really didn't see coming. I think it's great when a book can surprise you . Overall I found this to be a very enjoyable book. For me, a good fantasy can sweep you away into a totally new world, and that's exactly what this book did. It was an excellent read, and I recommend to everyone who loves magical worlds and exciting adventures.

Book provided for review.… (mehr)

This book was faced paced and difficult, in fact impossible, to put down! Just when you think you have the story all figured out....you realize you don't. You're not sure who the good guys and the bad guys are. Like one reviewer said you really don't know the WHOLE story until the end. I had a lot of admiration for Giselle. She was a very strong and smart woman. I also fell in love with Raz. He was a man of many secrets but he did have a true love for Giselle.

This story had it all...military intrigue, action, suspense and romance. I highly recommend this book. It's one that you can easily read again and again and see things you missed the first time.

I hope we see more books in the future by L.K. Malone.… (mehr)