Imago Chronicles: Revelations, Lorna T. Suzuki

In a long series set in one world and centered around one or two main characters it is incredibly hard to sustain the energy and passion that characterizes the first few volumes.  In her landmark Imago series, Canadian author Lorna T. Suzuki has done just that. Revelations lives up to the high standards set by the previous books in this series.

The Blurb:

Time does not heal all wounds and sometimes, revenge is the only answer…

It is the end of an era. With the natural balance of the realm in turmoil since the tragic disappearance of Lindras Weatherstone, the Wizard of the West, chaos reigns supreme when a mysterious killer emerges from the most unlikely of places.

Drawn into this deadly game of cat and mouse, Nayla Treeborn and the surviving members of the Order are on the hunt to capture this fiend. To make matters worse, at the height of this misadventure, while following a trail of mass murders committed by this villain with a secret agenda, those closest to Nayla have mysteriously vanished.

Now, she and her comrades are pitted against a formidable enemy unlike any they had ever encountered and this time, their nemesis comes bearing strange and powerful weapons not even the remaining Wizards know how to combat.

Nothing is as it seems and in the end, lives will be forever altered in this final tale that brings the Imago Chronicles to its stunning conclusion.

My Review:

The Imago series now ranks as one of my all-time favorite epic fantasy series. I love Nayla the warrior and her story as it continues in this eighth book in the Imago series. Time and motherhood have mellowed her, but Nayla is still a force to be reckoned with. She is as fierce a mother as she is a warrior.

The action is nonstop in this tale, and the narrative flows from one event to the next, leaving you breathless.  Hatred and revenge are the driving forces behind the action, and the actions taken by the mysterious villainess are harsh and coldly executed. Some will die, and that is hard to handle, when we have followed them for so long. But sorrow and strife make for compelling drama.  Suzuki understands her characters well, and never loses who they are or how they would react to a given situation. Nayla a warrior and woman, and Suzuki blends both aspects of this very complex woman into the narrative with the fine hand of a master.

Revelations is a fitting and satisfying conclusion to a classic fantasy series. Imago has been optioned for a movie, and production has begun. I can't wait to see Nayla Treeborn on the big screen. 

Still Searching for the Next Great Read

Each week I try to review a book that really rang my bells.

So what happens when I have read 6 books in one week and out of those six books I was only moderately interested enough to finish 2 of them, and I still don’t have a book worth calling ‘best’?

I keep on reading, hoping to come across a new L.T. Suzuki or a young Tad Williams.

What do I look for in a book? First, because I read so much that is produced by the indie author, I don’t really expect perfection in the editing department. After all, even big name authors like Rick Riordan and Stephen King have some editing errors in their work and they have big publishing behind them. As a rule, if it is a great story I can ignore most errors as long as they aren’t too frequent.  

But if I can be forgiving about some editing errors, there is one thing I must have and that is a real, interesting and original story that is worth talking about and worth telling my friends about. I want a well-thought-out plot with great tension and characters that interest me and draw me into their lives.  I want consistent, believable magic and political systems and if you have nothing new for me, then I want new takes on old plot twists. I want a big finish if it is the first book in the series, despite that fact that the author may have a series in mind.  I want that first book to stand alone, and leave me wondering what is going to happen after that last page is turned.

In short, every time I start a new book, I am hoping to read something that moved me the way L.T. Suzuki's 'Imago, A Warrior's Tale' moved me when I first read it. The trouble is, I already reviewed it here on October 21, 2011.

I am sorry to say that this week I didn’t have time to read more than 6 books. Out of those 6 books, 2 were moderately good reads and 4 were stinkers.  The four stinkers had more problems than I could explain in one post.  I will simply say that atrocious sentence structure gagged me with overwhelming descriptions of eye-color and scenery or offended me with random, inexplicable incidents of extreme violence for the sake of the shock value. The authors had killed their own books in the first 5 chapters. 

Rather than poke needles in my eyes, I deleted them from my Kindle and moved on, hoping for a jewel in the next book.

The 2 moderately decent books began with great promise.  They had imaginative plot ideas, and wonderful characters.  In both cases, I finished the book because of the characters and I wanted to know what happened. Neither book ended well, and by the halfway point the plots were faltering and I was unable to understand how the characters used their rather muddled magic powers.  But I did like the characters and I hope that the authors continue working on their writing skills because they do show promise.

But I do have around 50 or more books queued up in my Kindle that I have not yet read (being only able to read about 6 a week) so I am sure to have something new and wonderful to talk to you all about next week!

Until then, my friends! Happy reading!