Genre: YA fantasy, Historial
Publisher: Clink Street
Goodreads Summary:
This story begins in modern Chicago then moves to fifth-century Transylvania.
The teenage protagonists, Glenda and Traveler, are sent
by Theo, their sanctuary god, deep into the primeval
forests of the Carpathian Mountains. They must locate
then neutralize an ancient demi-god called a “fire beast”.
The two must also survive the daunting challenges of
isolated fifth-century Transylvania. Rome is now in its
final death throes and the hoofbeats of Attila the Hun
echo across Europe. Civilization and Pax Romana
are distant memories.
Magic, wits, and youthful courage must combine to
face the fire creature. Survival, much less winning,
is up for grabs.
The teenage protagonists, Glenda and Traveler, are sent
by Theo, their sanctuary god, deep into the primeval
forests of the Carpathian Mountains. They must locate
then neutralize an ancient demi-god called a “fire beast”.
The two must also survive the daunting challenges of
isolated fifth-century Transylvania. Rome is now in its
final death throes and the hoofbeats of Attila the Hun
echo across Europe. Civilization and Pax Romana
are distant memories.
Magic, wits, and youthful courage must combine to
face the fire creature. Survival, much less winning,
is up for grabs.
Today is my stop on The Blighted Fortress blog tour! This book immediately caught my attention while looking through my emails as it combines two of my favourite genres, Fantasy and Historical. We get a little of everything in this book, from modern Chicago to Ancient Egypt and fifth century Transylvania. After reading the first book (review on that to come!) I was looking forward to seeing where Traveller and Glenda’s adventures would take them next, and I wasn’t disappointed!
I’ll go into more detail on this in my review, but I found the first book to be a little too slow and lacking action, so I was happy to discover that this one was more action packed. Traveller and Glenda have to face all sorts of problems, from being hunted by a pack of dogs to avoiding getting eaten by a huge bear. I loved that we got to see their special abilities in action more in this book, as the first one focused more on the theory of the skills rather than the practical, as they spent a good part of the book studying. Instead of practicing in a safe space, they finally have to put their skills to the test in life threatening situations, which made everything far more interesting! There were however a few things that annoyed me in the first book that came back to annoy me in this one too, such as the constant mentions of them eating, sleeping and bathing. Honestly, there’s only so many times you can talk about taking a bath without making it boring.
I was disappointed that two of my favourite characters from the first book, M and Theo were barely in this one. We learned a lot about M’s past near the start of the book, something that I was looking forward to and found really interesting, but then M sends Traveller and Glenda on a quest while he presumably stays in the Sanctuary sipping tea and reading books. It didn’t make much sense to me to go through the trouble of giving us a back story for M when he wasn’t going to be around for the majority of the book. I felt the same about Theo, the giant cat God. For me, the book would have been a lot more interesting if Theo and M had joined them on their adventure rather than being established as characters only to be left behind. I would have loved to have seen M continue to make meals for them in this new setting!
Even though my favourites were sadly left behind, I did end up having a new favourite, which was Olaff, a huge but friendly man who helps Traveller and Glenda capture the jinn. He was an interesting character and I loved his stories about his adventures. It was just a shame that he came into the book so close to the end, as I would have loved to have got to know him better. I also loved the addition of Attila, as I always love when real life historical people end up in fiction! Again we don’t see much of Attila, but one of my favourite scenes in the book was his interaction with the jinn. I loved how it took an unexplained historical event and put its own twist on what had happened.
Even though there were some things I didn’t enjoy, I did enjoy it a lot more than the first one. One of my main problems with the first book was that the author described every single little detail, and this was toned down quite a bit in this one. I love seeing authors improve over time, and in my opinion, David’s writing has definitely improved from the first book! I’m not sure if these books were intended as a duology, but I definitely think Traveller and Glenda’s adventures could continue, and I would love to read more as long as M and Theo are invited along for the ride next time!
I’ll go into more detail on this in my review, but I found the first book to be a little too slow and lacking action, so I was happy to discover that this one was more action packed. Traveller and Glenda have to face all sorts of problems, from being hunted by a pack of dogs to avoiding getting eaten by a huge bear. I loved that we got to see their special abilities in action more in this book, as the first one focused more on the theory of the skills rather than the practical, as they spent a good part of the book studying. Instead of practicing in a safe space, they finally have to put their skills to the test in life threatening situations, which made everything far more interesting! There were however a few things that annoyed me in the first book that came back to annoy me in this one too, such as the constant mentions of them eating, sleeping and bathing. Honestly, there’s only so many times you can talk about taking a bath without making it boring.
I was disappointed that two of my favourite characters from the first book, M and Theo were barely in this one. We learned a lot about M’s past near the start of the book, something that I was looking forward to and found really interesting, but then M sends Traveller and Glenda on a quest while he presumably stays in the Sanctuary sipping tea and reading books. It didn’t make much sense to me to go through the trouble of giving us a back story for M when he wasn’t going to be around for the majority of the book. I felt the same about Theo, the giant cat God. For me, the book would have been a lot more interesting if Theo and M had joined them on their adventure rather than being established as characters only to be left behind. I would have loved to have seen M continue to make meals for them in this new setting!
Even though my favourites were sadly left behind, I did end up having a new favourite, which was Olaff, a huge but friendly man who helps Traveller and Glenda capture the jinn. He was an interesting character and I loved his stories about his adventures. It was just a shame that he came into the book so close to the end, as I would have loved to have got to know him better. I also loved the addition of Attila, as I always love when real life historical people end up in fiction! Again we don’t see much of Attila, but one of my favourite scenes in the book was his interaction with the jinn. I loved how it took an unexplained historical event and put its own twist on what had happened.
Even though there were some things I didn’t enjoy, I did enjoy it a lot more than the first one. One of my main problems with the first book was that the author described every single little detail, and this was toned down quite a bit in this one. I love seeing authors improve over time, and in my opinion, David’s writing has definitely improved from the first book! I’m not sure if these books were intended as a duology, but I definitely think Traveller and Glenda’s adventures could continue, and I would love to read more as long as M and Theo are invited along for the ride next time!
| Amazon | Book Depository
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