Cephrael's Hand: A Pattern of Shadow & Light Book One by Melissa McPhailMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I say this book is the begining of an epic series, I'm not joking. When it arrived in the mail I thought there were two books in the envelope it was so thick. Think Game of Thrones.
Book BLURB:
"All
things are composed of patterns..." And within the pattern of the realm of
Alorin, three strands must cross:
In Alorin...three hundred years after the genocidal Adept Wars, the realm is dying, and the blessed Adept race dies with it. One man holds the secret to reverting this decline: Bjorn van Gelderan, a dangerous and enigmatic man whose shocking betrayal three centuries past earned him a traitor's brand. It is the Adept Vestal Raine D'Lacourte's mission to learn what Bjorn knows in the hope of salvaging his race. But first he'll have to find him...
In the kingdom of Dannym...the young Prince Ean val Lorian faces a tenuous future as the last living heir to the coveted Eagle Throne. When his blood-brother is slain during a failed assassination, Ean embarks on a desperate hunt for the man responsible. Yet his advisors have their own agendas, and his quest for vengeance leads him ever deeper into a sinuous plot masterminded by a mysterious and powerful man, the one they call First Lord...
In the Nadori desert...tormented by the missing pieces of his life, a soldier named Trell heads off to uncover the truth of his shadowed past. But when disaster places him in the debt of Wildlings sworn to the First Lord, Trell begins to suspect a deadlier, darker secret motivating them.
My take:
If you enjoy lengthy fantasies this is a great one for you. The storyline is fantastic. Melissa McPhail has crafted an intricate world all her own. By three or four chapters in I knew it was going to be great. My only complaint as with all fantasy novels I seem to end up reading is that we have to wait for the next installment. Even though the story is told from multiple perspectives I never felt lost or confused.
Overall this was an imaginative and magical land. Not one I would personally want to livein but I did enjoy reading about.
In Alorin...three hundred years after the genocidal Adept Wars, the realm is dying, and the blessed Adept race dies with it. One man holds the secret to reverting this decline: Bjorn van Gelderan, a dangerous and enigmatic man whose shocking betrayal three centuries past earned him a traitor's brand. It is the Adept Vestal Raine D'Lacourte's mission to learn what Bjorn knows in the hope of salvaging his race. But first he'll have to find him...
In the kingdom of Dannym...the young Prince Ean val Lorian faces a tenuous future as the last living heir to the coveted Eagle Throne. When his blood-brother is slain during a failed assassination, Ean embarks on a desperate hunt for the man responsible. Yet his advisors have their own agendas, and his quest for vengeance leads him ever deeper into a sinuous plot masterminded by a mysterious and powerful man, the one they call First Lord...
In the Nadori desert...tormented by the missing pieces of his life, a soldier named Trell heads off to uncover the truth of his shadowed past. But when disaster places him in the debt of Wildlings sworn to the First Lord, Trell begins to suspect a deadlier, darker secret motivating them.
My take:
If you enjoy lengthy fantasies this is a great one for you. The storyline is fantastic. Melissa McPhail has crafted an intricate world all her own. By three or four chapters in I knew it was going to be great. My only complaint as with all fantasy novels I seem to end up reading is that we have to wait for the next installment. Even though the story is told from multiple perspectives I never felt lost or confused.
Overall this was an imaginative and magical land. Not one I would personally want to livein but I did enjoy reading about.
Author BIO:
Melissa McPhail is a classically trained pianist, violinist and
composer, a Vinyasa yoga instructor, and an avid Fantasy reader. A long-time
student of philosophy, she is passionate about the Fantasy genre because of its
inherent philosophical explorations.
Ms. McPhail lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, their
twin daughters and two very large cats. Cephrael's
Hand is the multiple award-winning first novel in her series A Pattern of Shadow and Light.
ONLINE LINKS:
·
Website http://melissamcphail.com
·
Facebook http://facebook.com/cephraelshand
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Twitter @melissagmcphail
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Thank you for hosting Melissa today :)
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