Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Godsland Series by Brian Rathbone


Welcome to my stop on the Godsland series blog tour! This is a YA epic/high fantasy adventure series by Brian Rathbone. I'm very excited to be part of this tour because I know Brian from Twitter and he does great tweets, like when he has problems parking his dragon and...

I sent Frosty the Snowman after Smaug. All that's left is a charred top hat and a steamed carrot. The carrot's not bad, though. Needs salt. @BrianRathbone

It's difficult to tweet with dragons landing around you. Windy. Time for me to fly. @BrianRathbone

Hehe! Kind of funny, huh? 

The books in the Godsland series:
Call of the Herald (Book One) - FREE
Inherited Danger (Book Two)- FREE
Dragon Ore (Book Three)
You can also find it in one bind up called The Dawning of Power Trilogy Omnibus.

~Eating Magic~

I'm reading Call of the Herald, Book 1 of the Dawning of Power Trilogy by Brian Rathbone. It's a traditional epic fantasy in the style of The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett and The Godspeaker Trilogy by Karen Miller. Let me explain. In both the Call of the Herald and The Warded Man the stories open with a group of young characters whose worlds are about to change. In both books, the character's daily routines from chores, meals, and social status are presented in great detail so that we get a strong feeling of their lives before the big change that's coming. In The Call of the Herald and The Godspeaker Trilogy an intriguing religion drives the plot. But while the religion that drives Hekat in the Godspeaker is quite dark (think scorpions, blood, and death), the religion of Catrin's world is full of light and hope. We're talking about comet storms that grant otherworldly powers and dramatic connections with nature.


"Some of the old tales refer to the first comet as the Herald of Istra, but others say it will be a person born her on the Godfist."


The Godfist (I love that name!) is Catrin's country, and the powerful Zjhon naval fleet is coming to stop the Herald of Istra… hmmm… I wonder who that might be?!?!? I always love a female protagonist.


One of the many things I'm also enjoying in the Call of the Herald are the peripheral characters: Nat, the mad man/prophet, Benjin, the trusted family friend, and Miss Mariss the innkeeper with sensitive hearing.


The pacing is even, and the straightforward story is splashed with spots of refreshing detail. I recommend it for when you're in the mood for something epic. So don't forget to enter the giveaway, because prizes include 2 print editions, 25 ebooks, and  10 audiobooks of The Dawning of Power Trilogy Omnibus! Very cool! I'll leave you with another one of my favorite quotes:


"At the end of the last Istran phase, the Varics were nearly destroyed, and they went into hiding to survive. They knew their knowledge and beliefs were important and needed to be passed on, so they formed a secret society known as the Vestrana, and my family has been a part since its inception. My grandfather swore me in when I was still a boy," he confided.


"The Vestrana opposed the Zjhon and their practice of conquering lands and then forcing the conquered peoples to convert to their religion. The penalty for refusal was death. Our secret exile has gone on for thousands of years, and we have replenished our numbers. We'll not dictate religious beliefs to others, as we wish every person to choose his or her beliefs freely and not be persecuted for them. We strictly oppose any religion that mandates killing people simply because their beliefs are different. Do you all understand?"



Godsland Book One - Call of the Herald
243 pages 
Echoes of the ancients' power are distant memories, tattered and faded by the passage of eons, but that is about to change. A new dawn has arrived. Latent abilities, harbored in mankind's deepest fibers, wait to be unleashed. Ancient evils awaken, and old fears ignite the fires of war. When Catrin Volker, a teenage horse trainer, inadvertently fulfills the prophecy of the destroyer, she becomes the most feared and hunted person on all of Godsland. With the help of her friends, she must convince the world that she wants only peace.


Godsland Book Two - Inherited Danger 
276 pages
Leaving her homeland behind, Catrin Volker goes in search of knowledge and peace, unaware that she will face the greatest evil her world has ever known.





 







Godsland Book Three- Dragon Ore
268 pages
Dragon Ore is the exciting conclusion of The Dawning of Power trilogy. Clinging to life, Catrin Volker struggles to regain her strength as her foes go in search of even greater power. Ancient enemies threaten and forgotten alliances emerge.


Brian Rathbone started out as a professional racehorse trainer, but he later transformed himself into a network engineer, programmer, and, more recently, rural broadband specialist. One thing that never changed was Brian's love of reading fantasy fiction. For years he would think of story lines for his own stories as a way to keep from dreaming about writing code. When the time came that Brian could concentrate on writing, The World of Godsland became real.