Review: Agrathias by Conor Nicholl

Agrathias

by Conor Nicholl

900 years ago, Dogane fell at the hands of Ubinion and Ramas. That day, the people rejoiced to the heavens, which had finally removed its dark veil and given them the warmth they had deserved for so long. Since then, nearly everyone had forgotten Dogane's power that almost tore Agrathias apart. 

But Ubinion and Ramas had always warned of the corruption they were never able to completely rid of the world of. A corruption that now allows one sorcerer the chance to rule Agrathias...forever...

My Take:

Dogane, a wicked sorcerer who wielded lightning, and held the world enslaved in fear and darkness for 1200 years, was dead. Dead at the hands of Ramas and Ubinion, two sorcerers who wielded fire and ice.
The world enjoyed centuries of peace, but there was a warning, left by the two sorcerers, that Dogane was only defeated, not destroyed, and would someday return. Because of this, they would return as well, to defeat him again, hopefully for good this time.

Arone had heard the stories, of Dogane, Ubinion, and Ramas. The dusty stuff of legend, buried under centuries of peace. But as armies of Arcams wiped out the town he lived in, and he escaped alone, he discovered the ability to wield fire buried within him, released by tragedy and fury. And he began to suspect that he was the returning Ramas, destined to face Dogane again, and defeat him once and for all... or die trying.

This debut book by Conor Nicholl is an action-packed, high-stakes sword and sorcery romp through a medieval country that has paid dearly for a millennium under the cruel dictatorship of the insane wizard Dogane. Filled with adventure, violence, camaraderie, as well as betrayal and rebellion, I looked forward to diving between the covers and escaping into a world of fantasy.

Plot twists, talking griffons, monsters, ghosts, wizards, sword-fighting, and alternate dimensions. What a ride!

Content:

Drug Content:

G - Though I believe alcohol might have existed in a tavern somewhere in one scene, there was really no mention of it 

Violence:

PG-13 - This is a war-torn, overrun epic fantasy novel replete with swords, archery, and monsters that want nothing more than to run you through, and wizards that burn, shock, or vaporize you. It's filled with anime-style action and a ton of violence. It's not deeply graphic but it's borderline R.

Language:

PG - I don't recall any swear words at all.

Adult Content:

G - Squeaky clean. 

Christian content:

Nothing. There's discussion at some points of reincarnation, and the afterlife actually has a place where spirits return on earth, similar somewhat to Purgatory, and even named similarly. There is a massive temple with gargantuan statues in it, and an altar, but if deities are discussed I breezed over it. It had some serious moral lessons about honesty, faithfulness, forgiveness, redemption, and remorse. Characters turned over a new leaf, went from bad to good, and some went from good to bad. Self-sacrifice and substitutionary death play a major role in this book.

Final analysis:

This was an epic story, covering a period of several months and two worlds. The world-building was immersive, though the characters seemed a bit two dimensional. For a debut novel this was an extremely well-constructed adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed the action, and the plot was wonderful. As I understand it, I was reading an earlier copy, and a professional edit was done, so I won't give it a ding on quality.

Fast-paced, immersive, high-stakes, an enjoyable read. I look forward to seeing what Conor puts out next. Five Stars!

About the Author:

Review: Dark Destiny by Thomas Grave

Dark Destiny
by Thomas Grave

Great friends. A perfect girlfriend. Life is good for 17-year-old Sebastian until tragedy shatters his blissful existence, awakening a dark power inside him. Visions of a ghostly and broken world lead to a mysterious woman who tells him that he's the reincarnation of Death. With the title comes great power. Will he use it for good? Or, will he drown in the darkness of his own selfish purposes?

Sebastian Scott is just an average video-game loving seventeen year old living in a single-parent home with his police lieutenant mom. He has the perfect girlfriend, Sara, a great set of friends, and life is looking up his senior year. But when Sara hands him an ancient book she found in his attic, his life turns upside down.
That same night Sara is killed in a tornado that destroys her home, and not a natural one. One that destroys only her home, and leaves the neighboring homes untouched. Devastated, Sebastian descends into a fog of depression, one that somehow draws him back to the book she gave him.
Upon opening the ancient tome, Sebastian learns that he is a reincarnation of the Angel of Death, and has great power. Possibly even enough power to bring his dead girlfriend back.

Dark Destiny began with more flashbacks, plot twists and jump scares than a season of Lost, and the author kept me guessing about the true nature of the story up until the very end. The book was packed with anime-style overpowered battles between Sebastian and the Archangels, not to mention the Seals, shades, poltergeists, zombies, and the ghosts inhabiting Purgatory. The action in the book was gripping and I could see it making a decent anime.

That having been said, the flashbacks got me quite confused early on, and I found it a bit difficult to keep reading until I hit about chapter 3. After that point the action was constant, and I was pretty well hooked to the exciting showdown at the end. I'd recommend reading this, with that in mind.

Content:

Violence:
R - Wow, there was a lot. Ripping souls out of chests and eating them, destroying buildings and wiping out neighborhoods, a gang beating someone to death, a demon breaking into a peaceful home and killing everyone in it. Lots of anime-level violence between the angels and Death, and other lesser beings.

Language:
PG-13 - I don't recall seeing the F-bomb, but there was a scattering of other curse words, even by some of the angels.

Adult Content:
PG - several scenes involved kissing, and one of the bad characters is a girl who dresses very provocatively. There's some teen angst, and a girl is threatened in a bad neighborhood by some thugs who aren't interested in her money.

Christian content: (Catholic?)
Well, where do I begin here? From a Catholic standpoint, there's not as much to object to, so I'll hit this from that perspective. There are the basic archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, but they dress in black and have badditudes. They obviously don't like humans and for the most part don't want to deal with them. At least at the beginning, this casts them in a negative light. Raphael is softer to the fallen humans than the others. But they sometimes drop a cuss word, which just struck me as out of character. Then, there's Purgatory, a shifted copy of our world but Zombified, and broken into rubble. Judging by the fights over there, I'm not surprised... For the most part the view of Purgatory lines up with what I know of it, a chance to process and get to heaven, or wait to end up in Hell.
The seven Seals from Revelation are depicted here as characters, rather than as wax seals, and they are more powerful than the archangels, it seems, though not more powerful than Michael. God does not intervene at all in the story, other than through the characters and events.

My biggest yellow flag I would drop here is the concept of Souls being destroyed or absorbed by those in Purgatory that want to advance in rank. That's obviously counter to Scripture, as each person gets to stand in judgement for an eternity somewhere, Heaven or Hell.
So I'll close this by saying it's a good read, but be aware of these deviations, it's not meant to be a devotional, just an entertaining read.

Final analysis:

I gotta admit, the idea of a Teen who discovers he's Death was intriguing, and kept me reading, though I had to plow through multiple flashbacks in order to get to the meat of the story. The content of the flashbacks was important but could have been (and was) touched on later in the story.
Sebastian was a Good guy turned Bad turned Good, and as he re-learned who he was and his powers, he had to make some tough decisions and learn from some rough mistakes. His character and those of the archangels were real and well-defined. Most of the supporting cast were... not so much. The principle antagonist also had dimension, but for the most part just seemed all bad.
The book was entertaining and reasonably well-written, with plenty of action and a few meaningful emotional scenes in the mix, with a touch of teen romance to spice things up a bit. Four Stars.

About the Author:
Thomas Grave stepped straight off his yacht in a crisp, pink Ralph Lauren polo, pressed khakis (no pleats), and a pair of Sperry Topsiders that gleamed in the bright sun. He'd paid $12 for that shine. Surveying the treeline, he slid the Ray Bans down his nose, leaving them just at the bridge. He said, "I'm going to write a book about Death today." After sliding the Ray Bans back up, he nodded once. He turned around, walked back up the ramp onto his luxury yacht, down the steps into his leather and mahogany study, and got to work.

Cross Academy

Cross Academy
By Valicity Garris

Fox Fire is a teen princess living in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world overrun by demons. Citizens survive in walled villages, keeping the demons at bay with concentric rings of high walls, and only the hopeless poor or the elite males from the center ring are allowed outside the city to hunt and kill the demons. Fox dreams of hunting the demons like her brothers, but as a princess that path is closed tight to her. But when her city is destroyed by the demons the people think they are safe from, she decides to join Cross Academy and train to defeat the powerful demons bent on the destruction of the human race. But what will Fox do when faced with the possibility that her best friend may be possessed by one of the most powerful demons of all?

At the outset, Cross Academy is a bit of a slow read, while the author constructs the dark post-apocalyptic world and establishes the central characters. But after the attack on the city, the pace rockets ahead at a breakneck pace. Cross Academy is filled with larger-than-life priests and demon hunters with anime-style weapons and skills, and ninja-like abilities possibly more at home in an episode of Naruto.

Content:
Violence:
This book is quite violent, and in some respects graphic. I'd definitely place it in YA or even adult fiction, as it's dark, and depicts a dark world. If you are looking for action and adventure, this is a good read, as it's packed with a lot of battle and risk. Some of the battle scenes could have been fleshed out more, and in some cases hordes of demons are eliminated with a single blow, while individual demons come into close quarters and inflict a mortal wound on supporting cast members.

Language:
Language is clean, even when adrenaline is racing or disaster strikes.

Christian element:
Right and wrong are grayed somewhat in this book, as the characters are forced to make difficult moral decisions to survive. These are definitely opportunities to discuss dilemmas like that with moral guides you trust.
I can't place where this book would fall in the timeline of the bible. With a stretch it might be post-Millennial Kingdom, as the Devil and his hordes are released for a time before the final judgment. Perhaps I'm thinking too much, as it's a good what-if.
There are a few points where the action is interrupted for a lesson on the evils of the human heart, and there is conjecture why a good God would allow demons to overrun the world like this. The concept is handled well and the question would definitely be asked in a world like that.

Quality:
There are misspellings and grammatical errors scattered throughout, but if you can get past or ignore those, it's a good read. Fast-paced, reasonable character development, good character arc, high stakes. All in all I gave it a four.


About the Author:

Valicity Garris is a recent college graduate, a youth pastor and a blogger who lives in Western New York with her family and pets. She is an active member at her church and enjoys spending time with her church family. Cross Academy is her first YA Fantasy novel but she plans to write much much more.
When she isn't writing she's watching Japanese anime or playing video games. She writes book reviews on her blog and loves to support the Indie-Author industry. Her favorite authors are CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.