Girls Can't Be Knights by Lee French

It's been a while since I had the time to post a review. Today's review, Girls Can't Be Knights, by Lee French, is a wonderful rainy afternoon read, one I stumbled on while looking for a book for my granddaughters. It is an action adventure, the tale of a girl who is stronger than she thinks. It's also a tale of friendship and courage.

But First, THE BLURB:

Everybody knows girls can't be knights...

…Nobody told Claire.

Can she survive proving them wrong?

After 6 difficult years in Portland's foster care system, sixteen-year-old Claire has given up all her dreams. Hope and trust? What are those?

But she'll need both.

Portland has a ghost problem, and it doesn't care about her issues.

Armed with a magical locket, the only thing she has left of her family, will Claire find the strength to accept the help offered by a would-be mentor?

You'll love this heartwarming young adult urban fantasy because finding family is best done in strange places.

Get it now.

MY REVIEW:

Claire is an immediately relatable character. She is angry, and rightfully so—she is bullied at school and no one takes her side. She warehoused in yet another uncaring foster home. 

Starting over once again in a new school, Claire is afraid, feeling cast adrift. One of her few friends in the system is Drew, a smart boy with whom she has formed a friendship.

Worse than being bullied, she sees things, weird things no one else does. One of those strange things is a knight on a white horse. Justin is dressed exactly like her father often did, in armor, complete with a sword.

The horse, Tariel, looks at Claire, makes a choice, and her life changes forever.

This is the story of a girl discovering her strengths and learning to trust again. In the process she learns that she can make good decisions and be a good friend. Claire’s personal journey and her discoveries about the paranormal side of Portland is epic, filled with fantastic action and adventure.

I highly recommend this novel to adults of all ages.

Al-Kabar, By Lee French

I have to say, Al-Kabar by indie author, Lee French has one of the best covers I've ever seen.


The Blurb:

Without a Sultan, corrupt Fire Dancers and their pompous Caliphs abuse power and wage fruitless wars across the parched sands of Serescine.


Fakhira wishes her family could afford to solve their problems with magic. Sometimes, wishes come true. In the worst possible way. A simple peasant, she'll have to find the strength to survive and shoulder her fate before the desert is bathed in the blood of innocents.


The Fires blaze in dozens of wild, capricious Dancers.

The Waters anoint only one champion, one Al-Kabar to serve--and save--the people of the desert.



My Review:

This is a complex tale about complex characters. Fakhiri has many layers, and is made of stronger stuff than she imagined. Al Kabar teeters on the brink of becoming that which he fights to over throw, and Tahjis the Rat tries to hold everything together. Korval becomes what he always believed he was, but not without a struggle.

The setting is vivid, and the action is pretty much non-stop. There are several places where twists I hadn't seen coming made their appearance, which made it a real reading adventure.

This is a good, immersive, stand-alone fantasy novel. I give it 5 stars and look forward to reading more novels by Lee French.

Dragons In Pieces, Lee French

Dragons in Pieces, book one of the Maze Beset Trilogy by indie author Lee French is a creative, modern take on the old superhero story.

But first, THE BLURB:

All Bobby wanted was a girl to come home to after a hard day of work. Like the last one said before she left, he was going exactly two places - no and where – and he was happy with that. But somebody had other plans for him. A murder. The Terrorist Watch List. For what? Underage drinking? Things couldn't possibly get worse. Right?

Oh yes, they could.

A lot.

He wouldn't believe superheroes were real if he wasn't one himself.

Tiny robot dragons send him chasing his humanity and his future, on the trail to discovering his past and a place to call 'home'. If he's lucky, maybe he can get a beer there.

MY REVIEW:

I have to say, I like Bobby a lot.  He is a bit of a dumb-ass, who  has been on a certain watch list all his life. He gets picked up for some stupid thing, and instead of Juvenile Detention, they take to a secret facility where they torture him and he goes to pieces--literally.  His physical body fragments in a cloud of tiny dragons the size of an American coin, the quarter.

There is a logic to his superpower. In this state he can think, he can free the others who've been kidnapped and tortured, and he can escape the facility. He can't lift anymore in that state than he can as a human being.  There are limits to his ability, which makes this improbable superhero so enjoyable.

Bobby's fellow inmates, Jayce, Alice, and Ai, all seem to demonstrate superpowers too.  The one other thing they have in common is their eyes are an odd shade of blue, leading them to some conclusions about their personal histories and why they are where they were targeted to be kidnapped by the government. 

Lee French writes well and clearly. Bobby's adventures, while completely improbable, seem perfectly reasonable when you're reading them. The logic behind the superpowers all four demonstrate is what keeps this entertaining book on track.

I highly recommend Dragons in Pieces as a great urban fantasy adventure, with wonderful, well-written characters. It's a complete departure from the usual urban fantasy fare.

Harbinger (The Greatest Sin Book 2), Lee French and Erik Kort

Harbinger is the second book in The Greatest Sin series--and it is  written in such a way that even f I hadn't read the first book, The Fallen, I'd be sucked in. Indie authors Lee French and Erik Kort have written a seamless classic in this series.

But First--the BLURB:
Adjusting to her new life as a soul-bound agent of the Fallen has Chavali pushing herself harder than ever before. Between learning to fight, dealing with idiots, and climbing stairs - lots of stairs - she has little time to waste on thoughts of the future. Or the past.

When another agent fails to report in, Chavali is sent on the mission to discover her fate. Ready or not, she saddles up for a new adventure with new dangers.

The search takes her to Ket, a coastal city slathered in mystery. There, she faces ghosts from her past and demons of her future as she seeks answers. All she seems to find are more questions.

Plague, murder, lies, espionage...this city harbors much more than meets the eye, and maybe too much to handle.

My REVIEW:
Once again, there are several times I would have liked to slap Chavali--but that's part of her charm. She is arrogant, self-centered, and completely uncaring of other people--until she is forced to see that they have feelings too. She stumbles through the afterlife like a bull in a china shop, but she somehow manages to pull it out of the fire.

Once again Chavali is teamed up with Colby and Portia, and a new character, Harris. As in the first book, the surrounding world is vivid and clear. Once character I am waiting to find out more about is Karias, Colby's horse-that-may-not-be-a-horse.

The characters are sharply drawn and their motives drive the plot. Pale, the villain, is a strong, crafty woman, and I really liked that. Robin, Pale's mentor, is still pulling the strings, but he comes into focus more in the tale, as do his plans. 

Harris, the new character, is an excellent foil for Chavali--and provides a little drama as far as Colby's continuing interest in her goes.

All in all, this book is a great way to while away the winter day. But be warned--once you get started reading it, it's hard to put down!

The Fallen, by Lee French and Erik Kort

This week we are going deep into a character study, set in an amazing post-apocalyptic world, where magic and mayhem are as natural as breathing. The Fallen, by indie authors Lee French and Erik Kort is one of the better books I've read so far this year.

But first, THE BLURB:
For hundreds of years, the Blaukenev clan has wandered across Tilzam, from one end to the other and back. Each wagon carries history, love, laughter, pain, sorrow, and secrets. Their greatest secret of all may be Chavali, the clan Seer.

Spirits claim/use/save/damn her.

With her gift/curse, nothing surprises her anymore, no one keeps secrets from her. She, on the other hand, has more than enough secrets to keep. Secrets of her own, secrets of her clan, secrets of the world, secrets she even keeps from herself.

There are always people who want secrets.
Some will do anything to get what they want.

The Fallen is the foundation of the story of The Greatest Sin, of a world adrift from its God that desperately wants Her back. Chavali's comfortable, predictable life will be ripped apart and burnt to ashes as she's forced into the middle of that struggle. Change, she hates it passionately. It hates her right back.

MY REVIEW:

Chavali is flat out an awesome character. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to smack her as I read this story. She is feisty and full of passion, stubborn and wrong-headed at times. The Blaukenev clan is unique, joyous and full of life, an enclosed nomadic society that lives in the world and yet outside it at the same time. Their passion for life leaps off the pages.

The contrast between the two societies that Chavali finds herself living in is night and day. In both societies she is forever apart from the rest, both because of her gift and because she is something entirely separate--Blaukenev, and later, Fallen, and a seer cursed with a gift she has little control over.

This is not a romance, though there are tender moments, this is not a book of battles, although there are plenty of those. This is a book about the human journey of life and death that one woman experiences, and it is gripping.

The greatest accolade I can give any story is to say I didn't want it to end. The sequel to this book is due out on October 27, and I intend to be there to get my copy.