Monthly Archives: November 2012

Book Review of Rhamin, by Bryce Thomas

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I grabbed this book off of the free KDP list on a whim.

Rhamin is the leader of a pack. His rival, who cannot depose him, resorts to doing bad things to try, which results in a young boy, his sister and their parents entering the story. At a time when some wolves are in need of help to survive, one of the pack discovers that it can communicate with the boy and it is the relationship that builds between the wolves and the family that leads to a dangerous and exciting adventure for them all.

With a good element of the paranormal and a couple of humourous characters as well, the story is told from the wolves’ perspective, taking readers inside the pack so that they see everything through a wolf’s eyes. Rhamin is a bestselling light, fantasy adventure with lots of danger, drama and suspense. It has an unusual twist and a knife edge climax that keeps you turning the pages to the very last page.

Review:

I don’t think the description does Bryce Thomas or the writing in this book credit. Rhamin is refreshing. The Paranormal genre is flooded with hot-blooded males, and while I like that too, I greatly appreciated the change Rhamin presents. The alpha male here is just that, an alpha in a wolf pack. Not a werewolf pack, but honest to goodness timber wolves. (Well, it never clarifies that they are timber wolves, but as large wolves residing in North America, they probably are supposed to be.) Granted they are heavily anthropomorphized, possessing intellect, speech, the concept of numerics, etc, but they’re still just wolves.

There were quite a few wolf-related info-drops that slowed things down a little, and some of the speech, especially between Rasci and Ben, seemed a little stilted and unnatural. Though, to be fair, so is their whole situation, so it might not be inappropriate for their communication to be awkward. But on the whole, I really enjoyed the book.

Because I recently had a conversation with someone about the messages that books present to readers, young readers in particular, I stopped to appraise Rhamin‘s messages. The wolves of Rhamin’s pack are fabulous role models and we could all learn a little bit from them about extended familial love and loyalty, accepting ourselves and our own skills and limitations, accepting others despite their differences, forgiving your enemies, and the importance of dedication to a task.

If you are expecting a heavy-hitting PNR, go elsewhere, but if you’d like a sweet paranormal adventure, this is the book for you. You’ll also learn a little bit of history if you read it afterward, which I always like.

tears for nanertak

Book Review of Tears for Nanertak

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Author/artist Skip Hofstrand sent me a copy of his juvenile eco-fiction book Tears for Nanertak .

What Happens When Your Home Disappears? For most of us, it’s hard to imagine our home vanishing. But for Nanertak, a polar bear cub, the melting of her Arctic homeland means that she has nowhere to live. She and her mother, Nanuck, are forced to escape. Their exit by iceberg is full of danger – the beginning of an incredible journey of survival. Many tears are shed along the way, but there is unexpected hope for Nanertak’s future…along with a solution to the problem of her disappearing Arctic homeland. Join Nanertak and Nanuck as they search for their new home in this beautiful story that is both educational and inspiring for children and adults alike.

When this book arrived my children got one look at the cover and elicited a promise to read it to them before I even finished opening the mail…with good reason. The artwork is stunning. I’m completely in love with it. I’ve always appreciated water-colours and Mr. Hofstrand has a spectacular talent. Plus, how cool is it that a book written with the intent of highlighting the plight of Arctic animals in the face of global warming has been illustrated with water from the melting Greenland Ice Cap. It forms a satisfying circle. There is an awful lot of blank space in the book though. I’m not sure if it is supposed to be a visual reminder of the white landscapes of the Arctic or just odd formatting.

The message in the book is a simple one, the next generation must be taught now to be responsible wardens of animal habitats. But I fear it might be lost on the primary audience (children). I don’t think it is particularly explicit and would likely need to be explained. However, the book could easily be used as a talking point to broach the subject of climate change with youngsters. Either way, it’s worth reading just for the artwork.

Book Review of Daniel J. Strait’s Trouganda

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Author Daniel J. Strait sent me a copy of Trouganda (Silver Tears, #1) .

Description from Goodreads:
A prophecy written over millennia ago. A baby girl is born with a birthmark matching the one described in the prophecy. Her parents feared the worst so they fled from the elders. They found solace in the small village of Jin, where Nakiata would be trained by the greatest SOT Master ever known. After years of intense training, Nakiata must face her Final Test. A test that would send her out into a world of danger, mystery, and death. Nakiata would have to use every skill she knew in order to survive the dangers and wonders of …Trouganda.

Review:

Trouganda is the first of a five-book series. It focuses on Nakiata, The First of five individuals (seeing a pattern here?) destined for some act of greatness. On the surface I really like Nakiata. She is a strong warrior woman and I generally love strong female characters. Unfortunately, I found her (and almost everyone except for Dravone) flat and emotionless. Her first response to any challenge is violence. Granted, she has been trained to be that way, but this repeated one trick left no room for variation and/or character development. She had one predictable response to all scenarios. Further, since she had mastered her art more fully than anyone else she was essentially untouchable. No one presented her with anything she was anything but confident in facing, so there was no reason for her emotional state or behavior to change at any point or for her to fear simply stating to anyone things one would expect to be a secret.

The writing is very much in the style of a storyteller. Everything is described in minute detail from the perspective of a disembodied narrator. There is very little internal dialogue or direct character interactions. Though it is my absolute least favourite literary critique, I suppose it would be accurate to say it is largely tell not show. Despite all of that I did really like the story. The concept a disembodied (or decultured) prophecy crossing millenniums, galaxies and species before fulfilment is really interesting. I suspect that as the series progresses the character list will increase, allowing for more variation. I’d be more than willing to read the second book when it is available.