Roses & Thorns

Roses & Thorns

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Foreshadow by Cynthia Joyce Clay, Reviewer Julie Grimm



Blurb:

Princess Royal, Tristabé-airta of Allsongs, daughter to King Freyzyn, is the darling of her father's court. Poet souled, she can never contend for the heirship of Allsongs because she is flawed. Never will she transform to demi-dragon form as her kingly father does. Nefarious magical creatures have designs against her; neighboring rulers, King Pict and the Usurper King Knag plot the overthrow of King Freyzun; and malcontents work to undermine the simplefolk’s trust in the magic of the poets. As small as she is Tristabé-airta must, for the sake of the future of her father's kingdom, make an alliance with a child as royal as she is, but this child hates her...

Review:  

Foreshadow: Book I of the Saga of the Dragon Born by Cynthia Joyce Clay is a lengthy tale with Tristabé-airta, daughter to the king, as the central figure of the story.  Although she is considered flawed, Tristabé-airta is a baby whose powers begin to show when she is very small.

I would have given this book a thorn, except I think it would have great potential if this one book could be made into several smaller books without so much detail. I could even picture it as a movie while I was reading it.  It jumps around a lot, and it would help if the characters were introduced at a slower pace.  I simply couldn’t keep track of them all. The chapters start out jumping back and forth between the nobles and the simple folk with no real reason for doing so which adds to the confusion.

What I enjoyed about the book was the main noble characters as they have special powers which are different from powers used in other fantasy novels.  I also was entertained by the simple folk who get into trouble for proselytizing.  However, the proselytizers names made me roll my eyes, and so did key words that were used that didn’t fit the time period.

I was also very unhappy with the ending.  There is a way to tell a tale without leaving the reader hanging but yet wanting more.  It didn’t make me want to read the next one.

Length:  324 Pages
Digital:  $6.00

Thank you for visiting, Rose, Julie, and Rochelle

No comments:

Post a Comment