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Coren
Ages have passed into time immemorial since the Ancient Ones displaced the Old Magic of the Dragons with their New Magic. But the New Magic fostered hatred and jealousy, with factions warring among themselves until they were lost to myth and legend - now nearly forgotten. And the New Magic faded. But there was a time to come, a time for healing and renewal. And there were those chosen to protect the relics from generation to generation, until the time of prophecy should be fulfilled. Until the time of Coren. It begins on a peaceful night. A stranger is attacked. When Ben tries to help him, the dying man makes Ben promise to protect an old pouch. It contains a strange dagger and a scrap of parchment. But the dagger is cursed, the scrap is a myth, and the stranger was not.
270 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 2011
46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 12, 2012
One of my close friends and I are beyond similar regarding the types of books we like to read. So, many years ago, when she expressed her shock that I had not ever read The Hobbit, I jumped on it like a boulder-throwing giant on, well, a boulder. After smacking my head repeatedly against the Lonely Mountain for the first three-quarters of the book, I finally wound up enjoying it (the book, not the smacking) and being glad I read it. Did I read Lord of the Rings? Did I see the LOR movies? Absolutely not. I won’t say never (I never do), but as of now, the queue in front of that series, in either format, is miles long.
There is something about the manner of speaking and the fantasy in these types of books that I find difficult to get past. It takes me a long time to stop snickering at the made up names and monsters in which these books absolutely drip. OK, so it just boils down to what you, as the reader, like. Duh. In my excitement to actually be given the opportunity to review others’ works, I accepted some genres that, in hindsight, probably would have been better reviewed by someone who appreciates it more than I do. Regardless [aside: it is NEVER “irregardless.” Never. That’s not even a real word], I will go forth and conquer and who knows, maybe I will end up liking it after all.
After a brutal attack on the peaceful village of Embrien, a dying stranger named Naerian thrusts a pouch into the hands of Ben, a soldier sent to protect the village. To Ben’s confusion, the fading man insists that Ben is the only one who can deliver the pouch to the Order. The man apologizes to Ben while he insists that something that happened to Ben wasn’t his fault. “You hold the key...to everything,” he says as he expires. These words set off a chain of events that Ben never dreamed to be his destiny.
Accepting this duty that was seemingly thrust upon him, Ben follows a path to the Order to discover the meaning of the map with the ancient writing and why he is the only one who can touch a mysterious dagger without harm. Along the way, people with hidden agendas begin to join the group - but is that part of a bigger plan? Meanwhile, there are those who plot against Ben and his quest, but they remain in the shadows...for now.
Coren is very well written in the sentence structure/grammatical sense. Arbethai aside (that’s the language made up by the authors), the story flowed well, but was predictable. The characters were many and mostly underdeveloped. Their actions were expected which made them rather bland. While there was a lot of fighting, intrigue, stabbing, robbing, slicing and traveling in the tale, it seemed like the story was going to chug on to despite all of that. It was on a track and if the doings happened alongside the track, they got left behind. Though I couldn’t have told you exactly how it would “end,” I would have been close.
I won’t continue with the series, but chalk that up to the genre. For you true fans of J.R.R. Tokein and his kin, I think you will enjoy Coren. I’ve decided it’s a style to be henceforth and forever known as QuestLit. This is the Elven version, complete with new language. Arbethai is the new Klingon, yo.
3 of 5 Stars
Adult Fiction; QuestLit Fantasy
Read more reviews at http://inkandpage.me
There is something about the manner of speaking and the fantasy in these types of books that I find difficult to get past. It takes me a long time to stop snickering at the made up names and monsters in which these books absolutely drip. OK, so it just boils down to what you, as the reader, like. Duh. In my excitement to actually be given the opportunity to review others’ works, I accepted some genres that, in hindsight, probably would have been better reviewed by someone who appreciates it more than I do. Regardless [aside: it is NEVER “irregardless.” Never. That’s not even a real word], I will go forth and conquer and who knows, maybe I will end up liking it after all.
After a brutal attack on the peaceful village of Embrien, a dying stranger named Naerian thrusts a pouch into the hands of Ben, a soldier sent to protect the village. To Ben’s confusion, the fading man insists that Ben is the only one who can deliver the pouch to the Order. The man apologizes to Ben while he insists that something that happened to Ben wasn’t his fault. “You hold the key...to everything,” he says as he expires. These words set off a chain of events that Ben never dreamed to be his destiny.
Accepting this duty that was seemingly thrust upon him, Ben follows a path to the Order to discover the meaning of the map with the ancient writing and why he is the only one who can touch a mysterious dagger without harm. Along the way, people with hidden agendas begin to join the group - but is that part of a bigger plan? Meanwhile, there are those who plot against Ben and his quest, but they remain in the shadows...for now.
Coren is very well written in the sentence structure/grammatical sense. Arbethai aside (that’s the language made up by the authors), the story flowed well, but was predictable. The characters were many and mostly underdeveloped. Their actions were expected which made them rather bland. While there was a lot of fighting, intrigue, stabbing, robbing, slicing and traveling in the tale, it seemed like the story was going to chug on to despite all of that. It was on a track and if the doings happened alongside the track, they got left behind. Though I couldn’t have told you exactly how it would “end,” I would have been close.
I won’t continue with the series, but chalk that up to the genre. For you true fans of J.R.R. Tokein and his kin, I think you will enjoy Coren. I’ve decided it’s a style to be henceforth and forever known as QuestLit. This is the Elven version, complete with new language. Arbethai is the new Klingon, yo.
3 of 5 Stars
Adult Fiction; QuestLit Fantasy
Read more reviews at http://inkandpage.me
April 18, 2012
I won this book as a part of the goodreads giveaways. I try to enter only into giveaways whose books sound like something I would like. I had thought I would like this book better than I did. I don't LIKE to give less than 3 star reviews. Keep in mind though, that 2 stars doesn't mean it was bad, just that it was ok. Even though the book was gifted to me, and I greatly appreciate that, I feel responsible for giving an honest review. So here is my opinion.
I liked the plot idea, premise of the book. It has an interesting feel to it. I liked the characters. The problem I had with them, was that there were so many! And some were introduced in a confusing manner. The girl whose name started with X, I have no idea where she came from, why she was doing as she did. It was as if she appeared and was suddenly a major player, and I had yet to accept her as a character. The main character, who I guess was Ben, was very likeable, if not well fleshed out. I understood certain aspects to his character, but I never really got the chance to connect with him. The other characters, about 10 or so of them, were all seemingly main characters too. It was hard to keep track of where the import in the story lay. It also made it hard to keep track of who was who and why. Some of the factions I never did understand who they were and if they were the bad guys or the good guys.
The ending was good. Most of the plot work solidified at this point. It just seemed to me that much of what preceeded it was either superflous or insufficient. Perhaps if I were better capable of keeping track of the characters it would have helped. Perhaps this is an area of fantasy that I just haven't encountered yet and am not experienced in navigating. I don't know. I just know that I felt confused quite often. I also tired of a new set being introduced by a dark intruder, secret listener, unknown person, quite shadow and such. Sometimes the person was revealed, sometimes not, sometimes they remained a mystery, sometimes I felt like I was supposed to have known who they were. I got tired of trying to figure out who the cloaked figure was every 5 pages. I still don't know which council member was attacked at the end, or even if it's important. I don't know why I had to read about the council at all. It was of no relevence to this book, though it is likely setting up difficulties for the next. Still, it was one more piece of superflous reading that I didn't understand.
I was fortunate enough to be recipient of this book, and I feel bad giving it a less than stellar review. I can only hope that others will like it better than I did and that some of the kinks will get worked out as the series continues.
I liked the plot idea, premise of the book. It has an interesting feel to it. I liked the characters. The problem I had with them, was that there were so many! And some were introduced in a confusing manner. The girl whose name started with X, I have no idea where she came from, why she was doing as she did. It was as if she appeared and was suddenly a major player, and I had yet to accept her as a character. The main character, who I guess was Ben, was very likeable, if not well fleshed out. I understood certain aspects to his character, but I never really got the chance to connect with him. The other characters, about 10 or so of them, were all seemingly main characters too. It was hard to keep track of where the import in the story lay. It also made it hard to keep track of who was who and why. Some of the factions I never did understand who they were and if they were the bad guys or the good guys.
The ending was good. Most of the plot work solidified at this point. It just seemed to me that much of what preceeded it was either superflous or insufficient. Perhaps if I were better capable of keeping track of the characters it would have helped. Perhaps this is an area of fantasy that I just haven't encountered yet and am not experienced in navigating. I don't know. I just know that I felt confused quite often. I also tired of a new set being introduced by a dark intruder, secret listener, unknown person, quite shadow and such. Sometimes the person was revealed, sometimes not, sometimes they remained a mystery, sometimes I felt like I was supposed to have known who they were. I got tired of trying to figure out who the cloaked figure was every 5 pages. I still don't know which council member was attacked at the end, or even if it's important. I don't know why I had to read about the council at all. It was of no relevence to this book, though it is likely setting up difficulties for the next. Still, it was one more piece of superflous reading that I didn't understand.
I was fortunate enough to be recipient of this book, and I feel bad giving it a less than stellar review. I can only hope that others will like it better than I did and that some of the kinks will get worked out as the series continues.
December 20, 2012
Reviewed on Clean Adult Fiction
2.5 Stars
This book wasn't for me, but let's start with what I liked. The characters were interesting making me want to know what would happen to them. The overall plot also was great with action and suspense.
The problem was that it was a little slow in between the action. I also didn't like how the narration skipped from character to character. It felt sporadic and all over the place. I don't mind the POV from 2 or 3 characters, but this was too much with views from lots of side characters and villains. I don't like villain view points because that normally gives away part of the mystery surrounding the plot. I know these dislikes are my own opinion, and other people enjoy that in a book. I might have missed it, but I never knew how old the main character Ben was. That was just a small annoyance. I pictured him around 20.
With that said, there were some really great entertaining scenes that I enjoyed. If you like books with an overall view of all the characters then try this one out, you might like it.
Content Ratings:
sexual: none
language: none
violence: mild/moderate
*This book was given to me by the author. I was not paid for my review. My review is solely my opinion.*
2.5 Stars
This book wasn't for me, but let's start with what I liked. The characters were interesting making me want to know what would happen to them. The overall plot also was great with action and suspense.
The problem was that it was a little slow in between the action. I also didn't like how the narration skipped from character to character. It felt sporadic and all over the place. I don't mind the POV from 2 or 3 characters, but this was too much with views from lots of side characters and villains. I don't like villain view points because that normally gives away part of the mystery surrounding the plot. I know these dislikes are my own opinion, and other people enjoy that in a book. I might have missed it, but I never knew how old the main character Ben was. That was just a small annoyance. I pictured him around 20.
With that said, there were some really great entertaining scenes that I enjoyed. If you like books with an overall view of all the characters then try this one out, you might like it.
Content Ratings:
sexual: none
language: none
violence: mild/moderate
*This book was given to me by the author. I was not paid for my review. My review is solely my opinion.*
August 2, 2012
I received this book in the Goodreads book giveaway.
I enjoyed this book. The story-line seemed to be similar (but not the same) as several other books I have read (such as the Eragon series). As usual with me, it was a little hard to follow at the beginning but after I had read it for a while I was finally able to follow where the story was taking me.
I enjoyed this book. The story-line seemed to be similar (but not the same) as several other books I have read (such as the Eragon series). As usual with me, it was a little hard to follow at the beginning but after I had read it for a while I was finally able to follow where the story was taking me.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews