My oldest son reviews In the Shadow of the Dragon King.

I Wish I had a tape recorder on while he was reading over the past few weeks to catch all his comments along the way… Very refreshing as my picky reader has DNF’ed half the books I’ve given him lately.

Apparently, he’s very into knights and dragons … who knew?

This book is about a realm called Fallhollow in a parallel universe to earth where there is a dragon called Einar that attacks the good kingdom of Hirth.

Meanwhile, on Earth, the Paladin David is summoned, but his good friends Charlotte is accidentally taken also, sending them on their epic journey to fight the dragon.

There is also this “main” character Eric who is not used to his full potential, much to my chagrin. (Because I was team Eric for the first half of the book) He is an honorable, brave young man, squire to the Epic Knight Trog (because Trog was pretty cool).

Trog was the best character in the book by the way… by far. Well, maybe a tie between Trog and Mangus – The larger-than-life mage dude. – Who is also underused. He is only in a few scenes of the book, but manages to stand out as pretty awesome.

Back to Eric – I think he was underused because he seemed to be a main character in the book, but some of his chapters were a page long, where most of David’s chapters were 10-20 pages long. What’s up with that? Definitely wanted more Eric.

Charlotte, I felt for her. [Dude places his hand over his heart] I like how she was strong, and tried to reach for what she wanted, but kept going even when she was unjustly denied.

David at points annoyed me, especially when he was with Charlotte. Ugh. You like her, she likes you. Just get together already! [Dude shakes his chair enough to rattle the springs – I take that as being annoyed in a good way] What was awesome about David is that he can do spells! He can teleport and go invisible, which is everything I’ve ever wanted to do in my whole life, but he underutilized his abilities. I mean … there is a dragon chasing you. Don’t run. Just teleport!!!

The overall plotline was good, but there were a few forced plot points. But they were miniscule enough (like the teleporting things) to not degrade my reading experience.

And Dragons! Let’s talk about the dragon. I think that Einar was pretty, like, creepy and scary. He was Huge! Like, seriously, building size. You couldn’t even describe him because he was crazy huge. But then you also had this tiny dragon (Mirth) who could fight the big dragon with lightniiiiing! So cool. [Insert several rambling comments about how cool the dragons were – mom couldn’t type fast enough]

Shadow morphs were creepy. They scared me. And they were annoying because they would brush you with a sword and you had to have your flesh cut away. Trog was, like, cut up all over the place. Blahhhhh! That’s nasty.

In conclusion, this book had dragons and knights and parallel universes that made me contemplate my human existence.

I give it a four out of five stars losing one half star for under using some great characters and losing another half a star because freaking teleport already!

But yeah, I really liked it a lot. I mean, dragons and knights, you know?

Next book please!

Rock on! Here’s where you can pick up a copy of

IN THE SHADOW OF THE DRAGON KING

Purchase Links:

About the Book:

Seventeen-year-old, Eric, is a kick-butt squire to the most revered knight in Fallhollow. Well he would be if Sir Trogsdill allowed him to do anything even remotely awesome. Determined to prove his worth, Eric sets out to find the mythical paladin summoned to protect the realm from the evil lurking nearby.

Sixteen-year-old, David, spends his days collecting school honors, winning archery tournaments, and trying not to fall in love with his scrappy best friend, Charlotte.

Right when things start to get interesting, he is whisked away to the magical realm of Fallhollow where everyone thinks he’s some sort of paladin destined to fulfill a two-hundred-year-old prophecy. He’s supposed to help kill a dragon with some sort of magic key. The same key that happens to adorn the neck of an annoying squire who’s too wrapped up in proving himself to be much help to anyone.

With egos as big as the dragon they need to destroy, Eric and David must get over themselves, or watch everything they know and love, burn.

About the Author:

J. Keller Ford (known to all as Jenny) is a scribbler of Young Adult and New Adult speculative fiction. As a young Army brat, she traveled the world and wandered the halls of some of Germany’s most extraordinary castles in hopes of finding snarky dragons, chivalrous knights and wondrous magic that permeated her imagination. What she found remains etched in her topsy-turvy mind and oozes out in sweeping tales of courage, sacrifice, honor and everlasting love.

When not torturing her keyboard or trying to silence the voices in her head, Jenny spends time collecting seashells, bowling, swimming, screaming on roller coasters and traveling. Jenny is a mom to four magnificent and noble offspring, and currently lives in paradise on the west coast of Florida with a quirky knight who was silly enough to marry her, and a menagerie of royal pets. Published works include short stories, The Amulet of Ormisez, Dragon Flight, and The Passing of Millie Hudson. IN THE SHADOW OF THE DRAGON KING is her debut novel and the first installment in the Chronicles of Fallhollow Trilogy.

Giveaway Information: Contest ends June 17, 2016

CHICK HERE TO ENTER

One (1) winner will receive a scrabble tile book cover charm (US ONLY)
Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of In the Shadow of the Dragon King by J. Keller Ford (INT)

Thanks Jennifer for having me as a guest today.

It’s great to be here. My name is Rosalie Skinner and I write Epic Fantasy with a twist of Science Fiction.

Why did I choose this genre?

Well, we are surrounded with science facts. Gene mapping, clones, implants, microchips, GPS and nanobots and satellites are all factual. The idea of computer obsession and total immersion virtual worlds are not so far out of our reach. So when I started writing, the temptation proved too great. I wanted to include these ideas in my epic Fantasy. Strangely they fitted in well.

My hero comes from a world where space travel is common place. His background as an obsessed teenager, totally focused on his progression through a virtual reality game, works in well with his epic fantasy quest. He must learn to survive in a world similar to those he has experienced while competing in the Game.

The world of The Chronicles of Caleath include magic, dragons, alien species, heroes and heroines. There are visitors from other worlds, but most of the characters are home grown in a world where magic happens.

Caleath’s adventures include several seafaring journeys. Book One opens when he survives a shipwreck. His plan to escape back to the stars begins to unravel soon after. He must survive being hunted by off world assassins while trying to help the people of the southern continent destroy another alien species that threatens them.

It is the little twists of combining science fact, science fiction and fantasy that has made writing the Chronicles so much fun. There are no limits to what you put into your stories, as long as you follow a few simple rules.

Keep your readers believing. Share your ideas with simple concepts, familiar ideas and common sense characters. Even outrageous ideas must have some basis for belief.

Keep your plot moving. Every scene should push the plot forward.

Keep your characters true to their nature. No matter what they face, they must behave consistently. They should grow and develop as they face challenges, but only within the realms of believability.

Have fun!!

The first four books in the Chronicles of Caleath are now available from Museitup Publishing.

You can find more about the Chronicles at

https://www.facebook.com/ChroniclesofCaleath

http://www.RosalieSkinner.blogspot.com

http://www.Rosalieskinner.com

As a special treat, one person who comments below will be choosen to recieve a Kindle version of book one of the Chronicles of Caleath “Exiled: Autumn’s Peril”

Thanks for dropping in today.

Rosalie Skinner lives on the east coast of Australia. When not immersed in her fantasy writing she enjoys watching the humpback whales migrating in winter and all the coastal environment has to offer during summer. There is nothing she enjoys more than hearing from readers who have enjoyed Caleath’s adventures.