Book Spotlight: Call of the Herald (The Dawning of Power Trilogy, Book 1—A World of Godsland Novel) by Brian Rathbone

Good Ev'ning, Beardies!

This Spotlight has been long overdue, and I sincerely apologize to Brian Rathbone for its delay. Reading it required a Kindle, and whereas I have the Kindle App on both my phone and laptop, reading on either one is a nightmare! Alas, my birthday rolled around, as they usually do, and not only did I get a year older (though, technically, I only aged a day!), I also received my now-beloved Kindle.  That beautiful, monogrammed case you see is via DODOcase, and its interior is my favorite shade of purple!

At any rate, Rathbone's was the first title I read on my Kindle—and what a refreshing read it was! So, without further ado...

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Premise:

"Echoes of the ancients' power are distant memories, tattered and faded by the passage of eons, but that is about to change. A new dawn has arrived. Latent abilities, harbored in mankind's deepest fibers, wait to be unleashed. Ancient evils awaken, and old fears ignite the fires of war."

I normally premise a book in my own words, but that quote was too precise not to share. As far as the details not divulged by the quote, however...

Catrin, a simple farmer's daughter, discovers her world as she knew it is much different than once imagined. Strange occurrences begin to manifest—and they're all centered around her. She must flee her pastoral life to protect her kinfolk and her homeland. War seems inevitable, despite her attempts at peace; the only question that remains: Does she continue to run...Or does she stay and fight?

Gems for Writers:

World Building. It seems a little cliché that this is almost always one of my Gems, but I am a World-Building nut. As a writer, I feel that another writer should be able to clearly convey everything about their own world. Rathbone doesn't disappoint. The world is complete. The characters and their surroundings are described with perfect detail, and both seem to jump off the page. The world even has its own mythos as well as alluding to various languages within the land.

Source of Majick. I admit it—I'm a stickler for Majickal systems, too. It's a subset of world-building, but deserves its own praise just the same. Brian's majickal system is unique in that Godsland's source of majick comes from a comet. Several actually. Ingenious and unique, something hard to come by in recent literature.

Description.  Rathbone's attention to detail is impeccable. His descriptions aren't all for naught, either, as what seems unimportant at the time will reappear later as an important point. An Aha! moment, if you will.

Rating:

Conclusion:

The only flaws in this book were its (minor) editorial shortcomings; I would highly recommend it to all my followers despite them, and I can't wait to see what the next book in the series has in store. Be sure to keep your eyes open for a Spotlight on all future books in the series, as well as an exclusive interview with the author, Brian Rathbone—coming soon!!

Écrire souvent, bien écrire, et écrire avec bonheur,

***Call of the Herald (2008) by Brian Rathbone, is published and copyright White Wolf Press, LLC. It is available in stores, online (see above), and (hopefully) at your local public library.