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The Twin Flames #1
Bound by Fire
An ancient promise.
A forgotten treachery.
Seven souls, bound by fire, will begin their quest for the truth.
Ilian, an apprentice blacksmith, has the heart of a god sealed within him. When Karena, the beautiful red-haired assassin, kills his father and rips his soul from his body Ilian becomes entangled in a rivalry that has spanned over hundreds of years.
However, even with his life turned upside down, and treachery at every turn, Ilian soon learns that there are worse people he can have at his side than a woman proficient in the art of assassination.
A forgotten treachery.
Seven souls, bound by fire, will begin their quest for the truth.
Ilian, an apprentice blacksmith, has the heart of a god sealed within him. When Karena, the beautiful red-haired assassin, kills his father and rips his soul from his body Ilian becomes entangled in a rivalry that has spanned over hundreds of years.
However, even with his life turned upside down, and treachery at every turn, Ilian soon learns that there are worse people he can have at his side than a woman proficient in the art of assassination.
- GenresFantasy
324 pages, Paperback
First published November 11, 2011
2 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 11, 2011
This story centers around Ilian who is kidnapped by a red-haired assassin, Karena, for a reason that he's not all too clear about. We are also treated to the journeys of Kane, who is searching for Ilian, and Rodrach, who is looking for the answers of far too many questions.
Ronald Craft has written a very interesting and fast-paced story. The main characters are well-developed and believable. They're not set to just one way of thinking and do change over the course of the story. Also, the way everything was brought together in the end was very well done.
However, the side characters much less believable. It feels like all the "villains" act in relatively the same way. They're all jerks who fight in an underhanded way and once they lose, turn into cowards who beg for mercy. Also, while ambiguity is useful for getting a reader interested, too much of is a deterrent. For the first half of the book, we don't know what's driving the "bad guys". Karena is taking Ilian to see her boss, for some reason. Rodrach wants to open this mysterious chest, for some reason. Chaerak feels compelled to go to the North, for some rea- okay, you get the point. I also felt like there were some inconsistencies between Dagfinn and Bale. They both called each other the "evil brother" at one point or another. Of course, it could be a set up for the next book. Who knows? Another thing is that Ilian acts far younger than his supposed age. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was ten yrs old! Still, his character developed and I was pleased to see him change by the end of the book.
Pros: fast-paced and interesting story, well-developed main characters with a nice backstory, plenty of action
Cons: stereotypical villains, sometimes inconsistent with age, so much ambiguity!
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read, especially fans of fantasy and action. Even though it's not perfect, the book is clearly well thought out. I had a lot of fun reading this so maybe you will too! However, I would point out that younger readers shouldn't read this as some scenes are pretty violent and others are pretty...naughty.
Won in a giveaway in return for a honest review
Ronald Craft has written a very interesting and fast-paced story. The main characters are well-developed and believable. They're not set to just one way of thinking and do change over the course of the story. Also, the way everything was brought together in the end was very well done.
However, the side characters much less believable. It feels like all the "villains" act in relatively the same way. They're all jerks who fight in an underhanded way and once they lose, turn into cowards who beg for mercy. Also, while ambiguity is useful for getting a reader interested, too much of is a deterrent. For the first half of the book, we don't know what's driving the "bad guys". Karena is taking Ilian to see her boss, for some reason. Rodrach wants to open this mysterious chest, for some reason. Chaerak feels compelled to go to the North, for some rea- okay, you get the point. I also felt like there were some inconsistencies between Dagfinn and Bale. They both called each other the "evil brother" at one point or another. Of course, it could be a set up for the next book. Who knows? Another thing is that Ilian acts far younger than his supposed age. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was ten yrs old! Still, his character developed and I was pleased to see him change by the end of the book.
Pros: fast-paced and interesting story, well-developed main characters with a nice backstory, plenty of action
Cons: stereotypical villains, sometimes inconsistent with age, so much ambiguity!
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read, especially fans of fantasy and action. Even though it's not perfect, the book is clearly well thought out. I had a lot of fun reading this so maybe you will too! However, I would point out that younger readers shouldn't read this as some scenes are pretty violent and others are pretty...naughty.
Won in a giveaway in return for a honest review
March 18, 2012
Once again I find myself in the position of wishing for a half a star. Two stars seems a little harsh, but there was too much about this book that left me wanting to allow me to go for a full three.
First of all, the story was intriguing, and for the most part the characters were likable enough. I looked through the giveaway notes and did not see where this was an ARC copy, so if it was, please disregard these next comments, but my biggest problem was with the editing. If this was an ARC, and an edited version of this book is out there, then the author needs to give his editor a big hug - he had his work cut out for him. Between the improper use of the English language, punctuation in the middle of words, and at one point a word cutting off in the middle followed by what I am assuming was an altered version of the begining of the chapter which went on for a paragraph and a half, followed by the end of the broken word and the rest of the thought. Things like this, along with an inconsistant use of itallics (I couldn't tell if it was a thought, for stress or what?) made this a very difficult read for me.
Another problem I had was with the language used. You could tell from the story line that this author likes fantasy - as I said, it's a good story! - but in most fantasy you get an old English feel for the dialect, not too flowerly, but still fantasy readers know what I'm talking about. The characters in this book went from one minute speaking in that familiar form to the next speaking in modern day high school slang - sometimes in the same sentence. It made it difficult for me to keep my mind in the world that was being presented to me, in place where blacksmiths were common, gods were among us, and the main forms of transportation were horses, and more likely a man's own feet. And never, in all the fantasy books I've read do the men where "slacks". They just don't! And the swearing was modern. I love me a good curse word, but one of my favorite things about fantasy is they way they come up with world-relevant oaths (by the light, damn you to the turn, etc.). And one more thing, if you want to have people peeing their pants and throwing up a lot in your book, find different ways of saying it - I lost count of the times someone "lost their bladder" or "emptied the contents of their stomach". Sure, they work, but it becomes monotonous. This writer has a great imagination - he should be able to come up with lots of different, world-relevant ways to say "puke".
After saying all of this, I still find myself curious about the next installment. I do believe this author has, as I've said, a remarkable imagination and a great story to tell. But I read to get lost in the story, not hung up on the inconsistancies. If this was an unedited version of the book, I would really like to know. I would even entertain reading the edited version, just to get a look at the story without the distractions.
First of all, the story was intriguing, and for the most part the characters were likable enough. I looked through the giveaway notes and did not see where this was an ARC copy, so if it was, please disregard these next comments, but my biggest problem was with the editing. If this was an ARC, and an edited version of this book is out there, then the author needs to give his editor a big hug - he had his work cut out for him. Between the improper use of the English language, punctuation in the middle of words, and at one point a word cutting off in the middle followed by what I am assuming was an altered version of the begining of the chapter which went on for a paragraph and a half, followed by the end of the broken word and the rest of the thought. Things like this, along with an inconsistant use of itallics (I couldn't tell if it was a thought, for stress or what?) made this a very difficult read for me.
Another problem I had was with the language used. You could tell from the story line that this author likes fantasy - as I said, it's a good story! - but in most fantasy you get an old English feel for the dialect, not too flowerly, but still fantasy readers know what I'm talking about. The characters in this book went from one minute speaking in that familiar form to the next speaking in modern day high school slang - sometimes in the same sentence. It made it difficult for me to keep my mind in the world that was being presented to me, in place where blacksmiths were common, gods were among us, and the main forms of transportation were horses, and more likely a man's own feet. And never, in all the fantasy books I've read do the men where "slacks". They just don't! And the swearing was modern. I love me a good curse word, but one of my favorite things about fantasy is they way they come up with world-relevant oaths (by the light, damn you to the turn, etc.). And one more thing, if you want to have people peeing their pants and throwing up a lot in your book, find different ways of saying it - I lost count of the times someone "lost their bladder" or "emptied the contents of their stomach". Sure, they work, but it becomes monotonous. This writer has a great imagination - he should be able to come up with lots of different, world-relevant ways to say "puke".
After saying all of this, I still find myself curious about the next installment. I do believe this author has, as I've said, a remarkable imagination and a great story to tell. But I read to get lost in the story, not hung up on the inconsistancies. If this was an unedited version of the book, I would really like to know. I would even entertain reading the edited version, just to get a look at the story without the distractions.
February 13, 2012
I won this through Goodreads Giveaway!
This novel is full of action and fairly fast-paced. The main characters are well-developed and interesting to follow. The relationships between the main characters are complex, with positive and negative aspects.
Unfortunately, there were issues that detracted from my full enjoyment of the book. The "villains" weren't so well-developed. Motivations of several characters were very unclear, leaving far too much ambiguity to the story. And, finally, one of my personal bugaboos -- editing issues.
There were several typos, missing words, doubled-up words, and in one case -- a minor character's name changed two pages after the character was introduced. I know that it can be exciting to get one's first novel published, but I sure wish that new novelist's would use beta readers, at the very least, to catch most the errors before putting into final print.
I do believe this writer has lots of potential, as he does tell an interesting story and seems to have a good handle on the fantasy genre. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for an entertaining, action-packed story.
This novel is full of action and fairly fast-paced. The main characters are well-developed and interesting to follow. The relationships between the main characters are complex, with positive and negative aspects.
Unfortunately, there were issues that detracted from my full enjoyment of the book. The "villains" weren't so well-developed. Motivations of several characters were very unclear, leaving far too much ambiguity to the story. And, finally, one of my personal bugaboos -- editing issues.
There were several typos, missing words, doubled-up words, and in one case -- a minor character's name changed two pages after the character was introduced. I know that it can be exciting to get one's first novel published, but I sure wish that new novelist's would use beta readers, at the very least, to catch most the errors before putting into final print.
I do believe this writer has lots of potential, as he does tell an interesting story and seems to have a good handle on the fantasy genre. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for an entertaining, action-packed story.
March 1, 2012
I had some trouble with this book because I didn't like Ilian and Karena. Luckily there was another character who had lots of 'screen time' and who I really liked.
Further on in the story another cool character popped up and along with a very decent story that made me curious where it would lead, those characters were enough to keep me reading.
All in all this is an entertaining fantasy story with sufficiently evil bad guys, cool magic, heroics and sacrifice. I'm not sure if I will read the next book in this Trilogy (Ilian didn't grow on me throughout the book and I usually like to read books where I can relate to the main character), but I will certainly keep an eye on Craft to see what other books he'll write.
Further on in the story another cool character popped up and along with a very decent story that made me curious where it would lead, those characters were enough to keep me reading.
All in all this is an entertaining fantasy story with sufficiently evil bad guys, cool magic, heroics and sacrifice. I'm not sure if I will read the next book in this Trilogy (Ilian didn't grow on me throughout the book and I usually like to read books where I can relate to the main character), but I will certainly keep an eye on Craft to see what other books he'll write.
November 29, 2011
Very good for a first novel. Definitely looking forward to the next entry in the trilogy.
I'd like to see more alchemy and magical blacksmithing.
I'd like to see more alchemy and magical blacksmithing.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews