Genre:
Epic Fantasy/ Mythology/ Adventure/ Young Adult
Description:
“Can a
Druid’s apprentice, a renegade skinwalker, and a Celtic prince find
the strength to defeat a goddess of death and war? What secrets will
a hidden faerie world reveal? What sacrifices must be made? Who will
die?”
Author:
“Kevin Fury grew up in Michigan and Florida, but you could equally say he grew up
in Tolkien's Middle Earth and C.S. Lewis's Narnia. From the first
time he walked through the wardrobe into Narnia, he knew he loved
fantasy fiction. It allowed him to dream of bright places and also of
the dark and mysterious. After finishing his English degree, he moved
to Colorado and worked for Barnes and Noble. He managed four Barnes
and Noble stores over fifteen years and during that time he worked on
his novel, Hawthorne, hoping to one day have his own work on the
shelves. He lives with his family in Denver and is now dedicated to
working full time on writing.”
Learn more
about Mr. Fury at his website or stalk him on Facebook.
Appraisal:
Rhiannon
O'Neil, Druid apprentice, lives in fear of the fae who have killed
all but her and her uncle, Brennan. Brennan has been tutoring
Rhiannon in the Druid healing arts, but there is much he hasn’t
taught her. When her uncle disappears from his home in Ireland, Rhiannon enlists her Native American fiancé, Logan, to help her.
However, Logan carries a secret burden with him which he hasn’t
shared with Rhiannon. Logan’s secret turns out to be far
larger than even he was fully aware. On their first night in Ireland,
Logan disappears. Rhiannon now has to rescue Logan from his fae
captors and find her uncle, who she’s not even sure is still alive.
Mr. Fury
has woven an epic adventure that includes at least three different
main story arcs that splinter along the path before rejoining the arc
again. His fantasy world is amazingly detailed and his characters are
well rounded with distinct personalities. Rhiannon is a strong female
heroine who is plagued with insecurities, but she finds her strength when
she has time to center herself. This isn’t always easy for her to
do because a lot of the action comes fast and furious where snap
decisions must be made. She is often pitted against egos that are
much greater than her own as well. Luckily, proving her integrity,
she is able to make a few interesting fae friends who are able to
assist her on her quest.
The
story-line takes several surprising twists where tough decisions must
be made. Mr. Fury did an excellent job weaving all of his threads
together for a dramatic conclusion. The battle scenes throughout are
all graphic and captivating. While this story is far from over the
most important story arc was brought to a satisfying close. There are
still hardships to confront, responsibilities to address, and
relationships which could prove troublesome.
From what I
could learn about the author, Kevin Fury, Hawthorne
seems to be his debut novel. He takes an elementary approach to
Celtic Mythos, if you are new to Druid mysticism, The Sidhe,
or The Fae, this is a good book to become familiar with their basic truths
and beliefs.
Now, I am
going to get nit-picky. I am giving Hawthorne a four star rating
because the author did a great job keeping the big picture in order,
which is hard to do with such an epic story. However, I found two
small inconsistencies that did throw me out of the story momentarily.
The first was when Fao, the wolf, followed Rhiannon out of the cave
(chapter 11) who was following Tinurion. He then reached down and
stroked Fao’s head. A page later Fao woke up, stretched, and walked
over to sit next to the Tinurion. The second was when Rhiannon shed
her cloak in the raging water because of its weight (chapter 33) and
in the next chapter she is pushing up the sleeves of her robe. These
were small and had no real bearing on the story whatsoever. I wanted
to warn Mr. Fury to keep an eye on the small details as well. A good
line editor should have caught these. Despite these issues I would
recommend this epic fantasy that mixes Celtic mythos with Native
American myths and look forward to the next book.
Format/Typo
Issues:
I came
across a few proofing issues that could use some attention. Mostly
missing, extra, or wrong words, but they didn’t throw me out of the
story. These could have been addressed before publication, but I have
to review the file I was given.
Rating:
**** Four stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 115-120,000 words
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