EPIC FANTASY *With Dragons, by Stephen Swartz

Indie author, Stephen Swartz’s recent novel is an ambitious project, titled EPIC FANTASY *With Dragons. I had the opportunity to be a beta reader and liked the book in its proto version very much. I’m just going to say at the outset—this is not your grandma’s epic fantasy.


But first, THE BLURB:

CORLAN, MASTER DRAGONSLAYER, the best in the Guild, the best in the Burg!

And yet, returning from his latest expedition, Corlan discovers jealous rivals have conspired with the Prince to banish him from the city.

Sent into the Valley of Death, Corlan conjures a plan. He and his new sidekick, a runaway boy from the palace kitchen, will trek the thousand miles to the far end of the valley, where a vast marsh provides nesting grounds for the dragon horde. Once there, Corlan vows to smash dragon eggs and lance younglings, ending dragon terror once and for all time.

As dangers, distractions, and detours harry him along the way, Corlan learns ancient secrets that threaten to destroy everything in his world. Even with the aid of wizards and warriors, he must use all his guile, his bravado, and the force of his stubborn will just to survive - and perhaps return home - no matter how the gods challenge him with their harshest tests.

MY REVIEW:

I liked the early draft but enjoyed the book in its final form immensely. The world it is set in is barbaric and exotic. Corlan is a solid character, a great protagonist who is unlike most squeaky clean, modern heroes. In a purely human way, Corlan has faults and blind spots. But he attracts an odd assortment of people, wonderful characters who force him to see the world more realistically. In his travels, Corlan becomes a worthy hero, but never loses his human nature.

Swartz’s dragons are most definitely not the friendly sort of dragon Anne McCaffrey wrote about. It is Earth as we know it, but it is a future Earth radically altered by genetic tinkering. What the world was like before the genetic apocalypse is no longer even a part of their history. It is a place where dragons constantly fly overhead, snatching children and livestock, setting roofs on fire, depositing their waste everywhere. To combat such a menace, an elite corps of “gamekeepers” has evolved, and Corlan considers himself the best.

The society Corlan lives in is mysterious and dangerous. The perils are not always obvious at first glance. Violence is a fundamental part of life. At the outset, Corlan is arrogant and full of himself. He is possessed of that raw self-centeredness that many of Roger Zelazny’s greatest protagonists embodied.

All of the traditional tropes of epic fantasy are present: the princess, the wizard, the kitchen boy, the warrior, the traitor, the thief—all the usual suspects are in place, but with Swartz’s unique twist. The various cultures, the wonderful creatures he rides, all have roots in what is familiar, yet they are taken to an extreme, bringing a uniqueness to this tale.

Swartz’s prose is heavy with words, immediately establishing an atmosphere of barbaric splendor. Corlan’s purely human hubris, the unusual and mysterious settings, the people he meets who help him along the way—all these elements combine to make a story unlike any other.

Naka Wu is a wonderful character, as is Tam. Without them, Corlan would be just another dead failed hero. Corlan suffers from an over active libido, which he soon realizes is not in his best interests. In Corlan, the Heroes’ Journey is both a physical and a mental one, culminating in a complete spiritual death and rebirth.

I highly recommend this book to fans of epic tales and the hero’s journey.

Magnus Opum, Jonathan Gould

Today I am reviewing a fantasy, Magnus Opum published in 2012 by Aussie Jonathan Gould. I didn't know what to think when I began reading this book. It is a bit like Monty Python  and Weird Al Yankovic meet J.R.R. Tolkien at a fraternity party and they all get really, really drunk and decide to write a book.  Needless to say, while it is painfully funny at times, it kept me turning the pages. And I do mean PAINFUL at times, in the way Monty Python can be painful. But still we keep watching it and urging our friends to watch it too.

First off, there is NO blurb for this book, only a list of complimentary comments from reviewers that I won't post here. I admit that put me off, but the cover art is wonderful, very reminiscent of the old Tolkien covers and I always buy a book for it's cover.

The Story:

Magnus Mandalora lives in the small, homely village of Lower Kertoob.  Kertoobis are a bit ridiculous, and are quite given to celebrating the boredom of their regular, predictable lives.  One day Magnus's brother Jangos is stricken with a terrible disease that occasionally strikes the residents of bucolic Kertoob--the Grompets.  This is a terrible thing--it is a case of wanderlust in the highest magnitude.  Magnus's brother goes out into the world to see the sights and for several months his letters home are filled with delight at what he has found. Then one day Jangos's letters simply stop arriving. Magnus's worst fears are realized when he is told by  some wandering Doosies that his brother is dead, ambushed by a band of roving Glurgs.

Glurgs are a race of vile creatures with violent tendencies and apparently have no redeeming qualities.  All the histories of all the world's diverse people involve them being at war with them at some point. After all, anything that ugly and ill-mannered must be evil.

Magnus is overcome with anger at his brother's death, and decides to do something very un-Kertoobish--he decides to go join the war against the Glurgs.

Magnus meets a Cherine named Shaindor, a member of a race of people who are so beautiful it nearly hurts to look at them. Everything about them is beautiful, their art, their city, their faces. They have an army that is poised to go to war with the Glurgs and this is where Magnus's adventures really begin.

The changes Magnus goes through as he discovers the reality behind his most cherished misconceptions and discovers the true beauty of the world he lives in makes for a wonderful adventure.

Jonathan Gould's characters have a real life, even if it is one that is so obviously fantasy.  While you are reading this tale, they will seem real, even if some of the scenery and creatures described make you say "hmmm...."

I enjoyed this free-for-all and reccomend it to anyone who likes a painfully good laugh. 

Magnus Opum is available at Amazon.com for the very reasonable price of $2.99.

Ravenwild by Peter Plasse

One of the most beautifully illustrated books I have read in a long time is Ravenwild by Dr. Peter J. Plasse.  The gorgeous illustrations are by the incredibly talented Michael Longenecker. Even if the book were a dud, I would recommend it just for Longenecker's richly detailed paintings and drawings which are sprinkled thoughout the book!  However, this book is a very good read.  I spent a snowy day in March reading this tale, and I am now a confirmed fan.

Ravenwild is a fast-paced story, with a large cast of characters. In the first chapter we meet King Rolan Fairman and his second in command, Thargen.  He the king of Ravenwild, a small country in the world of Inam'Ra and has been at war all his life against both the gnomes and the trolls. He is once again under attack. His infant son is endangered, but he saves him, sending the boy and the queen to safety with his wizard, Taber.

The story switches to modern day Connecticut and Dr. Blake Strong. On his way home from the hospital one night he is tricked into a meeting with one 'Hemlock Simpleton, wizard extraordinaire' who tells him that a great many lives depend on him and on Jessica, his wife, and insists that they come to Ravenwild with him, even though it is 'interplanetary travel', or rather, 'interdimensional travel'. 

This is not a popular notion with their children, 16 yr old Orrie (son), and 10 yr old  Jaqueline (daughter). However, through a series of events, their 15 yr old daughter, Stephanie, ends up going to Ravenwild with 16 yr old Erik, the young Crown Prince.  The rest of the Strong family follow her, but they become separated.

In many books about teenaged heroes the parents are conveniently absent. In Ravenwild they were an important presence. The whole family has a sharp, sarcastic sense humour which had me chuckling along with them at times. The three children and their friends are each quite likable and are drawn with their own distinct personalities. They do share certain familial traits with their parents, which is common in a close family.

This book was definitely one of those books that began slowly, but got better as it went along.  As you read further and the Strong family is broken up and scattered, the branches of the story start to split off into this complex but exciting tale.

As the story progressess, we are introduced many other characters like Jared, the kind and lonely human who lived out in the woods of Ravenwild for years, and the deliciously evil troll Emporer Malance.


The tale is told from a variety of perspectives, from not only the 'good' side, but the 'bad' side as well. All of the different species, elves, dwarves and gnomes have distinct personality traits and mannerisms within their societies, and they are really well portrayed. Even the enemy species of the book (the Trolls), have a wide range of good and bad in their society.  There are the nasty Emperor Malance who despises humans, and the caring and helpful Daria and Forrester who do everything they can to help the Strong family.


This is an excellent first novel, and as I said at the beginning, the book is worth it for the artwork.  If you stick with it you will find a wonderful tale that is slated to be a trilogy.

Hemlock and the Wizard Tower by B. Throwsnaill

Hemlock and the Wizard Tower (The Maker’s Fire) by B. Throwsnaill

Indy author B. Throwsnaill has written a tale that is full of great characters, fantastic adventures with a riveting plot. This was the best .99 that I have spent in a long while! 

When the tale begins, Hemlock’s sister lies helplessly ill. The magic that might save her is fading. Hemlock fears that the wizards in the Tower have somehow siphoned off the magic that once infused the Warrens. Accordingly, she sets out to discover what has happened.

Using her special power to sense magic, she succeeds where no one else has and penetrates the terrible defenses of the tower. Once inside she sees many things both terrible and full of magic, and then meets Merit, a clockwork gnome who is both mechanical and magical. He answers her questions as well as he can.

She then meets a Bust (yes, a statue) that sings and enjoys rum.  I have to say that is one of the more entertaining scenes I have read in a long while!

Hemlock’s mentor, Safreon goes to great lengths to help her in her quest to restore the magic to the Warrens. He enlists the help of Gwineval, a renegade wizard, and Merit also helps her in her quest to free the magic which is controlled by the Wizard’s Guild and their leader, the rather schizophrenic Falingus. One moment he is kind and compassionate and another he is consumed with the desire for power, making Falingus an interesting character.  He has reasons of his own to want to keep Hemlock alive.

Hemlock’s effort to stop what she believes to be the siphoning of mana (magic energy) in the city goes awry, and she is inadvertently the cause of a dramatic reduction in the amount of mana, endangering her sister’s life.

This tale is very smoothly woven.  The characters are well drawn, and the magic has both a purpose and a logical basis.  The world they inhabit is clear and compelling.  Hemlock’s personal growth as she changes from a rash street urchin with a cause, to a heroine is both inventive and enjoyable.

Much of the story is told in flashbacks, which I found disconcerting at first, but the story was so gripping that I stuck with it and soon they didn’t distract me.  Indeed I soon began to enjoy the way the story unfolded through them. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys epic-quest-fantasy as much as I do. Throwsnaill draws from the modern literature of J.R.R. Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, Terry Brooks, and the myths and mythologies of many of the world's religions, without mimicking them. I think this very original tale has the potential to become a classic!