Guest post by David Justiss
I’m a fantasy writer and hope to soon publish my first middle grade fantasy story! My brand of fantasy is not high fantasy, nor urban fantasy – I take more influence from fairy tales and mythology. Here are 4 mini reviews of enchanting fantasy tales (by Christian authors) which have inspired me.
- Book Review: An Echo of the Fae by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt
- Book Review: The Story Peddler by Lindsay A. Franklin
- Book Review: Heart of the Curiosity by H.L. Burke
- Book Review: Eternal, Everywhere, With You by Sherry Rossman
Book Review: An Echo of the Fae by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt
Rating: 5 stars!
I love the style and voice of this story. It reminds me of fairy tales or fantasy stories I read and loved as a kid. It feels like it was written a long time ago, which is perfect for a fairy tale. The other book I could compare it to is The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, as both have the feeling of a fairy story.
One time, I did a survey meant for authors asking what was the most important parts of the story, with the multiple choices of (a) plot, (b) characters, or (c) other. I answered with (c) – that the most important part of a story is the tone and feelings it conveys to the reader. I’m bringing this up now because this story conveys so well the kind of adventurous wonder that a fairy tale is supposed to give a reader.
The only little criticism I think of is that Echo really seemed younger that thirteen years old, but that’s hardly a problem when the story is otherwise so good.
Book Review: The Story Peddler by Lindsay A. Franklin
Rating: 5 stars!
I loved it, and can’t wait to read book two!
Looking forward to finding out why Gareth was the way he was. I loved Braith. She was in such a precarious situation, and I was struck by her boldness in every scene she’s in. The other characters are pretty cool too.
I love the theme too. It’s kind of a similar theme as Fahrenheit 451, but I like this kind of story way better than futuristic dystopian stuff. The feel of the story is very different. I’ll go for a hopeful story over a depressing or disturbing one any day.
Book Review: Heart of the Curiosity by H.L. Burke
Rating: 5 stars!
I beta-read this and loved it, so I had to get the finished version.
There comes a point in a lot of good books, usually somewhere around half or 2/3 of the way through, where the book becomes very hard to put down. Unfortunately, this point came after 1am both times I read this book, so I was up late…
I like the theater. Pretty much any setting with a maze-like system of hallways and secret passages can make for a fun story setting. And of course, I love the snail circus (I recently read and watched Coraline which I suspect is where the inspiration for the snail circus came from. loved that story too.)
Yes, I cried (both times) going through those tough parts to read. Leo is easy to relate to with her feeling unlovable and wondering what she’s good for.
Book Review: Eternal, Everywhere, With You by Sherry Rossman
Rating: 5 stars!
Something good about independently published books is that you get stylistic elements which don’t pass with a major publisher. (It’s a bit of a shame that you very rarely find books with this kind of unique style from major publishers.) Sherry Rossman has a poetic writing style which has a habit of leaving out details which are (usually) easily filled in by the reader’s brain. Sometimes it takes a minute to figure out what’s going on. This isn’t always a bad thing, and in this story, I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. You do have to trust the next page to tell you just enough to get the story and the feelings, but it works well here.
There’s some weird timey wimey stuff that reminded me both of N. D. Wilson’s Outlaws of Time trilogy, and of Madeline L’Engle’s stories. I loved it.
About David Justiss
Find more reviews of books by Realm Makers authors on David Justiss’ Goodreads page.
Or find old posts on his blog: https://lightingliramor.wordpress.com/
Hi, I’m Caylah Coffeen, a freelance editor and marketer of sci-fi and fantasy books. I love reading and writing and am a follower of Jesus Christ.
I’ve worked for Monster Ivy Publishing and Eschler Editing, and am currently a weekly editor with Havok Publishing. Reach out to chat about books and publishing!
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