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The Lightning-Struck Tree
In this sequel to Beyond the Empyrean, Hel Brand—a genetically engineered hero and rebellion leader—fights demons, dragons, and wizards, encounters talking animals, and meets a few old friends and enemies along the way. Part fantasy, part horror, and part space opera, but with a science fiction explanation for everything, this exciting novel has something for everyone.
Hel wanders in the Alaskan wilderness during a blizzard. After nearly starving to death, he stumbles upon a small cabin and meets Hugh, who guides him out of the initial trauma of having transcended the fourth dimension. As his memories begin to settle, it turns out that he didn’t immediately arrive on Earth after falling through the Empyrean Gate and meeting the Ainar. He was sent somewhere else first, and he begins to tell his story.
In Part I, he must fight the demonic Asuri in a clockwork universe above a void, with only a mysterious talking crow as his guide. In Part II, he finds himself on a bizarre island where a mysterious disease is being spread by the frightening plague doctors. And then he runs into an old “frenemy.” In Part III, Hel seeks to understand the strange new universe in which he’s trapped and travels to a medieval fantasy world in which dragons and wizards actually exist, and, in a surprising twist, it’s all been created by someone very well-known to him. In Part IV, he takes over the body of a Luojai quantum magician and must master this new body’s powers in order to save a nearly extinct society from evil aliens known as the Cíthleeri.
Hel wanders in the Alaskan wilderness during a blizzard. After nearly starving to death, he stumbles upon a small cabin and meets Hugh, who guides him out of the initial trauma of having transcended the fourth dimension. As his memories begin to settle, it turns out that he didn’t immediately arrive on Earth after falling through the Empyrean Gate and meeting the Ainar. He was sent somewhere else first, and he begins to tell his story.
In Part I, he must fight the demonic Asuri in a clockwork universe above a void, with only a mysterious talking crow as his guide. In Part II, he finds himself on a bizarre island where a mysterious disease is being spread by the frightening plague doctors. And then he runs into an old “frenemy.” In Part III, Hel seeks to understand the strange new universe in which he’s trapped and travels to a medieval fantasy world in which dragons and wizards actually exist, and, in a surprising twist, it’s all been created by someone very well-known to him. In Part IV, he takes over the body of a Luojai quantum magician and must master this new body’s powers in order to save a nearly extinct society from evil aliens known as the Cíthleeri.
318 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 17, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 4, 2023
Cover: Still a no, sorry. The color palette is interesting, though.
Talk about a surprise.
The Lightning-Struck Tree is the second book of a series called Along Time’s Edge; I reviewed the first one last week, and it was a solid hard sci-fi story from start to end. Here, however, Phillips does a 180° turn and picks different genres for Hel to—ah, experience? The narrative trick he uses is clever enough, and it also acts like a red herring at the beginning. You might expect a change in scenery, but a switch from sci-fi to fantasy, say, would come out of the left field if you read this series a chronological order.
It’s a brave choice, and everything considered, it pays off in the end. I have to say it put me in a different state of mind while I was reading it. A smart choice, indeed.
The MC doesn’t change, the cast of characters do. Maybe the ones in the second part—The Plague Doctors—come off as the strongest bunch, but they’re all enjoyable.
What needs to be checked again? A few things.
First of all, the phrase in Italian and Latin (which would need a translation in the footnotes, as I do understand them both, but not everyone would) and the odd comment about the boy—isn’t Marcus Hel’s love interest? It doesn’t really add up.
Then, I’d also pay attention to the overabundance of ‘I’ and the onomatopoeias. For example, Lokki is a bird, so it caws like birds do. Fine. Adding ‘caw, caw’ to the dialogues would be more appropriate for stories meant for children, though. A little more polishing in the grammar/editing department would have made The Lightning-Struck Tree really shine.
4 stars on GR.
[Want more? Check out Bookshelves & Teacups]
Talk about a surprise.
The Lightning-Struck Tree is the second book of a series called Along Time’s Edge; I reviewed the first one last week, and it was a solid hard sci-fi story from start to end. Here, however, Phillips does a 180° turn and picks different genres for Hel to—ah, experience? The narrative trick he uses is clever enough, and it also acts like a red herring at the beginning. You might expect a change in scenery, but a switch from sci-fi to fantasy, say, would come out of the left field if you read this series a chronological order.
It’s a brave choice, and everything considered, it pays off in the end. I have to say it put me in a different state of mind while I was reading it. A smart choice, indeed.
The MC doesn’t change, the cast of characters do. Maybe the ones in the second part—The Plague Doctors—come off as the strongest bunch, but they’re all enjoyable.
What needs to be checked again? A few things.
First of all, the phrase in Italian and Latin (which would need a translation in the footnotes, as I do understand them both, but not everyone would) and the odd comment about the boy—isn’t Marcus Hel’s love interest? It doesn’t really add up.
Then, I’d also pay attention to the overabundance of ‘I’ and the onomatopoeias. For example, Lokki is a bird, so it caws like birds do. Fine. Adding ‘caw, caw’ to the dialogues would be more appropriate for stories meant for children, though. A little more polishing in the grammar/editing department would have made The Lightning-Struck Tree really shine.
4 stars on GR.
[Want more? Check out Bookshelves & Teacups]
March 18, 2023
Incredibly Awesome Story !! . . .
Heliodore Brand (“Hel”), a genetically engineered rebellion leader, wakes up in the Alaskan wilderness during a blizzard. He is having a multitude of strange visions flashing across his eyes. But he continues on and finally, at the point of utter exhaustion, he stumbles upon a small cabin and passes out against the door.
He opened his eyes just in time for a meal. An older man with long white hair identifies himself as Hubert James Walter Buchanan the third (“Hugh”). Hel was still weak and almost toppled over before he could ask where he was, which happened to be Alaska. He then devoured several bowls of turkey soup and tried to tell Hugh his story.
The story is given in four parts. As I said in my review of Book 1, this is a very well-written story line presented to the reader through amazingly visual world-building. The descriptions make everything become real and the reader is immersed into the action rather than being simply an outside observer. The author does an incredible job with this book and you won’t regret the time spent buried in the pages.
Heliodore Brand (“Hel”), a genetically engineered rebellion leader, wakes up in the Alaskan wilderness during a blizzard. He is having a multitude of strange visions flashing across his eyes. But he continues on and finally, at the point of utter exhaustion, he stumbles upon a small cabin and passes out against the door.
He opened his eyes just in time for a meal. An older man with long white hair identifies himself as Hubert James Walter Buchanan the third (“Hugh”). Hel was still weak and almost toppled over before he could ask where he was, which happened to be Alaska. He then devoured several bowls of turkey soup and tried to tell Hugh his story.
The story is given in four parts. As I said in my review of Book 1, this is a very well-written story line presented to the reader through amazingly visual world-building. The descriptions make everything become real and the reader is immersed into the action rather than being simply an outside observer. The author does an incredible job with this book and you won’t regret the time spent buried in the pages.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews