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Books

Review: The Guardian’s Apprentice

The Guardian’s Apprentice (Beyond the Veil, book 1) by J. Michael Radcliffe

I give this book a 4, almost a 4 ½, but I’m sticking with a 4.

 

Keegan Whitestone just found out he is descendent from wizards, which he thinks is a horrible thing, but he soon realizes that it’s just a part of life and he needs to suck it up. Besides, it’s not like his old life was all that great anyway.

This is classic high-fantasy and I like it.

The reasons I didn’t give this a higher rating are:

1. Keegan is a little annoying throughout the whole book. I grew to like him more as the story progressed, but I still found that all the other characters in story were more interesting than him, by the end.

2. The depiction of time felt off to me. There were times when it took some rereading for me to figure out whether a little or a lot of time had passed in between scenes.

3. The whole idea of Keegan’s power overtaking him also seemed a little off to me. He may all of sudden become powerful enough to defeat his enemies, but then he’s told to control himself and hold back. I’m still trying to decide if that’s a necessary subplot or just annoying.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed the story and will be reading more from this series.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Books

Review: The Woodcutter

The Woodcutter by Kate Danley

I give this book a 5.

 

The Woodercutter is tasked with keeping the balance of the Fae World and the Human World while he, himself is something a little different. In efforts to keep the balance, The Woodcutter must now take on the mantle of detective in order to solve, and hopefully prevent, the murders of young people in his woods.

I am not familiar with the story of a woodcutter and for me, this was an entirely new look into the typical fairy tale world.  It was a little confusing and off-putting at times to see how the many old and new tales intermingled, but in the end I liked it. It can sometimes be risky to mix stories (especially fairy and folk tales) and genres, but I like the way Danley has done it.

The slow pace of the story, I feel, added to the suspense that would build up from time to time and capture my heart. The Woodcutter is reminiscent to an investigative noir character trying to solve a case but with sprinkles of magic all around him. That is, however, when he isn’t taking on the role of nurturer. It’s not unusual to see men as father figures, but nurturer is a little different. The way he is connected to the trees and the way he seeks to help the fairies and the children make him a very unique character that I’ve grown to love.

I think this is a good adult and teen read.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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About Toi Videos

ToiBox Blog Weekly Recap: 11/22/14

weeklyrecap


Check out my Recent Posts links or visit the ToiBox Topics to see what I was up to this week, but first try…

Unbreakable – ToiBox Movie Reviews

[youtube=http://youtu.be/oTXS1YOLRsg&w=320&h=240]

and this cool Pin board.


Last Saturday I only posted a Weekly recap, but over at You Tube I posted an episode of, So Yeah, Cards for Success.

I started out this week with Sample Sunday 59- EC: Battleground.

On Monday, I posted my Listography of fast food places.

On Tuesday, I added to my Character files Paul’s opinion on the Eternal Curse.

On Wednesday, I posted my November Blogdom.

On Thursday, I posted a Count Your Blessings about books.

And yesterday, I posted a Friday Forecast.

Thanks for hanging out with me this week. I hope to see you again next week.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords