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Embers at Galdrilene – Well written fantasy
By Carol / November 1, 2012 /
When I read fantasy, I trust the author to build a world that is real and believable and help me as a visitor to this new world navigate without difficulty. Author A.D. Trosper doesn’t disappoint in her novel Embers at Galdrilene (Dragon’s Call).
From the first pages, the story drew me in. In this world, people who have magic skills have been raised to believe they’ll go insane if they use those skills. Magic users are required either to voluntarily surrender to the authorities or others will turn them in. Once in custody, magic users are executed. It isn’t a difficult leap to see frightening parallels to situations in our own world in the not-so-distant past and even in parts of the world today.
Embers at Galdrilene follows several magic users who defy the authorities to learn the truth, link with the dragons who have called them, and eventually fight the evil that has spread in the world since magic was suppressed.
I particularly enjoyed the way the author created vivid and unusual scenes, including: living people traversing the world of the dead; dragons and humans bonding and communicating to help each other; men and women becoming bondmates; and evil people using vile shadow magic.
The story is told from multiple points of view, but Trosper handled this transition with skill and I was never confused about whose head I was in. As the story progresses, there is a time when all the main characters are seeing a new place for the first time. These chapters slow the pace and offer duplicative material but not so much that I grew bored. If there is a fault in this novel, it lies in missing words. Nothing that hinders the meaning but sufficient occurrences to draw my attention away from the story.
Though I’m not a regular reader of fantasy, I enjoyed my time in this world. I’m invested in the characters and look forward to Trosper’s next book in this series. If you enjoy reading fantasy, I recommend you give this book a read.
NOTE: Embers at Galdrilene was re-edited and re-released in December 2012. I interviewed Trosper on my blog during the re-launch. Kudos to the author and publisher for making a terrific story an even better experience for readers.
Carol, I read your article on Indie Author Crests the Mountain. I, too, am a independent author. I enjoyed what you had to say. I’ve made a mental note about what you said. Thank you I have just begun writing my second book, but still marketing my first.
I am an artist and writer, I am just coming to the party. I’ve been posting for the last year, been doing social marketing. Everything is due process. I’ve got a lot to do on my website. I think for the past year I’ve been finding out who I am. My market coach says I’m in an identity crises. I don’t know if I’m an artist or a writer. The truth is I am a Bible teacher and this is where my heart is. But I am having a romance with writing. I can’t help but write. I’ve been painting for 45 years, it’s not wooing me today, it is the writing.
Hi, Betty, Thanks for reading my post on LiveWriteThrive and for visiting my blog. It’s a juggling act or balancing act or some such act to write a new book at the same time you market the current book. Some days it feels like all of those! I don’t think you have to choose artist or writer. They’re both creative ventures. One just takes precedence at any one moment. Have fun!
Agree there were a few very minor glitches like missing letters, but I wouldn’t have dreamed a book about magic and dragons could hook me the way Embers at Galdrilene has. Aside from the human characters, the author did a splendid job of developing the personalities of each dragon, and the dragons’ relationships with their human riders is touching. I only have a few pages of the book to go. I’m almost glad. I only have a chance to read at night and this one has been keeping me up until all hours.
I’m with you, Joan. Audra’s story and story-telling ability really hooked me. I love getting lost in a story!
Dragons. Who would have thought I’d be reading about dragons? I really admire fantasy writers. Not sure I could swing that level of creativity. Of course, completely forgot to say what a great review you did.
Thanks, Joan. I know what you mean about level of creativity. The language, the names. Wow! I have a hard enough time naming my characters in simple English!
I am so glad you both enjoyed it so much! Thank you Carol for the great review and if Amazon doesn’t hurry up and send out the email with the update for all of my previous buyers, I will send you a clean copy myself. I think even Joan has one that still has a few errors in it. We didn’t have time to proof read before the re-release date, so had to do that after. The final clean copy didn’t get uploaded until December 4th.
I wrote this review before you re-launched. I’m delighted you’ve cleaned up the copy. Audra. I need to post an update letting readers know you did that.
No worries. You have the re-release post up. 🙂
Have a wonderful year!