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Shadow of the Rose #1
Adversarius
Two kingdoms. Two goals. The race of a lifetime.
The neighboring kingdoms, Paridzule and Relavia, have been at war for over five hundred years. An accidental alliance is about to be formed when Kayta, daughter to the King of Paridzule, becomes secretly engaged to Alabassin, heir to the Relavian throne.
Peace does not come without sacrifice, or challenges. Alabassin's father soon discovers his son's treason, and is more determined to prevent that alliance from forming. No matter the consequences.
When Kayta and her brother, Hedric, disappear, the world assumes the worst. Their sister threatens to abdicate, leaving Paridzule exposed, and vulnerable with no ruler.
Now, an unlikely, rag-tag group must align to make sure Relavia's king does not invade Paridzule, taking the first step in what could become total domination.
The neighboring kingdoms, Paridzule and Relavia, have been at war for over five hundred years. An accidental alliance is about to be formed when Kayta, daughter to the King of Paridzule, becomes secretly engaged to Alabassin, heir to the Relavian throne.
Peace does not come without sacrifice, or challenges. Alabassin's father soon discovers his son's treason, and is more determined to prevent that alliance from forming. No matter the consequences.
When Kayta and her brother, Hedric, disappear, the world assumes the worst. Their sister threatens to abdicate, leaving Paridzule exposed, and vulnerable with no ruler.
Now, an unlikely, rag-tag group must align to make sure Relavia's king does not invade Paridzule, taking the first step in what could become total domination.
- GenresFantasy
195 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 7, 2012
3 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
M.L. Chesley
3 books27 followersM. L. Chesley is a fantasy author and mother of four children (two human, two fur). She's fluent in sarcasm and snark, traits only her family can adore. Even though fantasy is her love, she's branching out into genres such as romance and paranormal. Should things get out of hand, her loving husband is standing by her side, straight-jacket in hand.
If you would like to learn more about her world, created in this book, go to her blog at www.caledonialass.blogspot.com.
If you would like to learn more about her world, created in this book, go to her blog at www.caledonialass.blogspot.com.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 31, 2013
First off, let me thank Mel for the opportunity to read and review her novel, and congratulations on her debut novel! She provides a solid world that is well-defined and has some great characters.
The premise of the novel is what I enjoyed the most. Rather than be a magic-filled or a action-packed tale, Adversarius focuses on the human aspect. The characters drive the story with their interactions (although I do question why some of them are on this quest) and the political stratagems of the rival nations provide a realistic interpretation of their political strife. Many of the characters are well-constructed - such as the enigmatic Black Rose, the amnesia-stricken Kayta, and the clearly evil Li'endrin being my favorites. But even the weaker comedy-relief characters like Vendras and Laria serve their purpose for the most part and do not detract from the reading experience.
Based on the above, I would happily grant Adversarius a four star rating.
However, where the book loses the fourth star is in some of the stylistic decisions that tend to mark a new author, as well as some other details. They were extremely distracting for me, and may be for others as well. If such does not concern you, then feel free to disregard the next few paragraphs and start reading again after the next set of astericks.
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Firstly: POV shifting. While many fantasy novels tend not to incorporate a single point of view for an entire chapter, some at least wait for an opportune moment to cut to another character's perspective. Adversarius jumps between characters' POV between paragraphs. The problem with this is that the reader is a disembodied ghost flitting from one point of view to the next, and each shift requires him/her to reorient themselves - only to be shifted again right after.
Secondly: action tags (the sentence before, during, or after dialogue that shows who is speaking) are not speech tags. Speech tags describe how something is said, action tags show what the character is doing at the time of speaking. One cannot shrug dialogue, nor can they smile it.
Thirdly: massive text-walls during action scenes. An action scene should be fast, with short paragraphs and clipped sentences. In the few action scenes of this novel, the paragraphs are huge and detail-riddled. This proves to be exhausting at times, since a new paragraph enables a reader to pause, take a breath, and then continue. A wall of text that the reader must first scale before resting is harder to read all the way through.
Fourth: mixing a character's dialogue with another's action. If there is a paragraph that has one character's dialogue (without a tag) and then it proceeds into the next character's actions, it logically follows that this is the action character's dialogue. But at times that was not the case in Adversarius, and requires a little more attention to follow.
Those are the main stylistic choices that distracted me while reading; while there are others, they are not as prevalent in my mind. And it may only be me, as a fellow fantasy writer and someone who has taken a novel writing class six times at his local college and was trained to look for these problems in his own writing.
***********************************************************************
Unfortunately, another set of factors working against Adversarius is that there is not much action. I can also say that I am unsure whether there was a climax. In addition, the ending provides little resolution, but perhaps the next novel picks up right after this one ends (I still feel that there should have been a little more to make the ending stand out and not just... well, end).
But was Adversarius enjoyable? Yes. While I did get hung up on details like the style choices and the fact that the climax was weak and the resolution left little impression on me, the characters did manage to drive the story forward and take me along with them. In the end, I would give Adversarius three and a half stars - and I really wish I could round that up to four, but that would do a disservice to my honest review.
The premise of the novel is what I enjoyed the most. Rather than be a magic-filled or a action-packed tale, Adversarius focuses on the human aspect. The characters drive the story with their interactions (although I do question why some of them are on this quest) and the political stratagems of the rival nations provide a realistic interpretation of their political strife. Many of the characters are well-constructed - such as the enigmatic Black Rose, the amnesia-stricken Kayta, and the clearly evil Li'endrin being my favorites. But even the weaker comedy-relief characters like Vendras and Laria serve their purpose for the most part and do not detract from the reading experience.
Based on the above, I would happily grant Adversarius a four star rating.
However, where the book loses the fourth star is in some of the stylistic decisions that tend to mark a new author, as well as some other details. They were extremely distracting for me, and may be for others as well. If such does not concern you, then feel free to disregard the next few paragraphs and start reading again after the next set of astericks.
***********************************************************************
Firstly: POV shifting. While many fantasy novels tend not to incorporate a single point of view for an entire chapter, some at least wait for an opportune moment to cut to another character's perspective. Adversarius jumps between characters' POV between paragraphs. The problem with this is that the reader is a disembodied ghost flitting from one point of view to the next, and each shift requires him/her to reorient themselves - only to be shifted again right after.
Secondly: action tags (the sentence before, during, or after dialogue that shows who is speaking) are not speech tags. Speech tags describe how something is said, action tags show what the character is doing at the time of speaking. One cannot shrug dialogue, nor can they smile it.
Thirdly: massive text-walls during action scenes. An action scene should be fast, with short paragraphs and clipped sentences. In the few action scenes of this novel, the paragraphs are huge and detail-riddled. This proves to be exhausting at times, since a new paragraph enables a reader to pause, take a breath, and then continue. A wall of text that the reader must first scale before resting is harder to read all the way through.
Fourth: mixing a character's dialogue with another's action. If there is a paragraph that has one character's dialogue (without a tag) and then it proceeds into the next character's actions, it logically follows that this is the action character's dialogue. But at times that was not the case in Adversarius, and requires a little more attention to follow.
Those are the main stylistic choices that distracted me while reading; while there are others, they are not as prevalent in my mind. And it may only be me, as a fellow fantasy writer and someone who has taken a novel writing class six times at his local college and was trained to look for these problems in his own writing.
***********************************************************************
Unfortunately, another set of factors working against Adversarius is that there is not much action. I can also say that I am unsure whether there was a climax. In addition, the ending provides little resolution, but perhaps the next novel picks up right after this one ends (I still feel that there should have been a little more to make the ending stand out and not just... well, end).
But was Adversarius enjoyable? Yes. While I did get hung up on details like the style choices and the fact that the climax was weak and the resolution left little impression on me, the characters did manage to drive the story forward and take me along with them. In the end, I would give Adversarius three and a half stars - and I really wish I could round that up to four, but that would do a disservice to my honest review.
April 5, 2013
This is a solid debut novel, and I'll be looking forward to a continuation of the story as the author pretty much cliff-hangs the book.
Adversarius is not a sword and sorcery novel, but one that builds the world through the dialogue of its characters. Right off the bat, we are introduced to pyrates (spelled with a "y") and thrown into a storyline that quickly introduces a half-ogre, a bad-ass female assassin, and a priest with a direct line to his god but with the last name "Rose" which took me a moment to overcome my prejudice that this surname when referred to by itself, is not feminine.
It's excellently written, and the dialogue is accented depending on whether it's a pyrate's sea-farin' brogue or the half-ogres, which I'm still trying to figure out (but I liked it). Writing phonetically is a huge endeavor and to see a debut author tackle this is pretty incredible. It shows she has the chops to make an epic series similar to anything that Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss have produced.
The two characters I loved the most were Nightshadow and Rose. I have a soft spot for assassins and despite the fact that Nightshadow is female, you wouldn't want to cross this woman. She has a strong sense of honor which is really appealing, but one scene in the book where she hung a man by his own entrails really underscores what a vicious killer she truly is. Rose on the other hand is just an immense vessel of awesome power. I like power. And I can't wait to see Rose do more with his god-given abilities.
Then of course we also have a dragon named Aun. This character didn't do much except be all dragon-ey. This novel basically felt like setup for a huge storyline, so I'll be excited to see where it goes.
I didn't like Katya and Alabassin. These two are supposed to be married. We get introduced to Katya in the first page, and I kind of latched onto her because I thought "this is a protagonist." But not really. She suffers bad wounds and the rest of the novel is all a response to the fact she can't remember anything. That kind of seemed like a cheap way to throw together a plot. So because Katya can't remember anything...she does absolutely nothing through the entire book. The same goes for Alabassin. His dad's the villain and early on throws him in the dungeon. Well halfway through the book he gets out because Rose rescues him and then he basically doesn't do anything either.
So to finish: I did like this book, and I want to read the sequel. The other characters are just too interesting to not want to follow where they go or how they develop from here. I recommend this book to people who might like the books by R.A. Salvatore or those by Ed Greenwood. It definitely has a D&D flavor to it :)
Adversarius is not a sword and sorcery novel, but one that builds the world through the dialogue of its characters. Right off the bat, we are introduced to pyrates (spelled with a "y") and thrown into a storyline that quickly introduces a half-ogre, a bad-ass female assassin, and a priest with a direct line to his god but with the last name "Rose" which took me a moment to overcome my prejudice that this surname when referred to by itself, is not feminine.
It's excellently written, and the dialogue is accented depending on whether it's a pyrate's sea-farin' brogue or the half-ogres, which I'm still trying to figure out (but I liked it). Writing phonetically is a huge endeavor and to see a debut author tackle this is pretty incredible. It shows she has the chops to make an epic series similar to anything that Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss have produced.
The two characters I loved the most were Nightshadow and Rose. I have a soft spot for assassins and despite the fact that Nightshadow is female, you wouldn't want to cross this woman. She has a strong sense of honor which is really appealing, but one scene in the book where she hung a man by his own entrails really underscores what a vicious killer she truly is. Rose on the other hand is just an immense vessel of awesome power. I like power. And I can't wait to see Rose do more with his god-given abilities.
Then of course we also have a dragon named Aun. This character didn't do much except be all dragon-ey. This novel basically felt like setup for a huge storyline, so I'll be excited to see where it goes.
I didn't like Katya and Alabassin. These two are supposed to be married. We get introduced to Katya in the first page, and I kind of latched onto her because I thought "this is a protagonist." But not really. She suffers bad wounds and the rest of the novel is all a response to the fact she can't remember anything. That kind of seemed like a cheap way to throw together a plot. So because Katya can't remember anything...she does absolutely nothing through the entire book. The same goes for Alabassin. His dad's the villain and early on throws him in the dungeon. Well halfway through the book he gets out because Rose rescues him and then he basically doesn't do anything either.
So to finish: I did like this book, and I want to read the sequel. The other characters are just too interesting to not want to follow where they go or how they develop from here. I recommend this book to people who might like the books by R.A. Salvatore or those by Ed Greenwood. It definitely has a D&D flavor to it :)
January 9, 2013
ADVERSARIUS
SHADOW OF THE ROSE – BOOK 1
By M. L. Chesley
(Published by Hellfire Publishing, 2012)
The king and queen of Paridzule are dead, seemingly accidentally. Kayta and Hedrik are presumed dead. The only surviving heir to the throne, Senweis, is unwilling to take the succession. Fizanu, Goddess of Justice, has entrusted her priest, Black Rose, with a mission; the future of Paridzule depends on. Alabassin, son of the king of Relavia, was engaged to Kayta and has been thrown into the darkest recess of a dungeon by his father. His father wants to take over Paridzule and now would be a good time.
Black Rose has hired Nightshadow, an assassin, and four of the best warriors. His mission is to escort Kayta back to Paridzule. Kayta was rescued by the Pyrate Sorcha. She is physically recovering, but has lost her memory.
The characters of this fantasy novel made it a great read. I was pleased to see strong female characters like Nightshadow perfectly capable of standing for herself and of protecting her friends and allies. Even a female heir to the throne is expected to fight and serve her country, and Kayta can do it as skilfully as any male.
'Adversarius' is the first instalment of the trilogy 'Shadow of the Rose'. For many of its characters –elven, humans and ogres–, it is a quest for a better future. Their destinies could very well be entwined with the future of this world created by M. L. Chesley.
The story is flowing; the characters and their interactions are captivating, made even more alive by their accents. While I would have liked more details, M. L. Chesley's carefully polished style kept me reading and the cliffhanger left me looking forward to the sequel.
SHADOW OF THE ROSE – BOOK 1
By M. L. Chesley
(Published by Hellfire Publishing, 2012)
The king and queen of Paridzule are dead, seemingly accidentally. Kayta and Hedrik are presumed dead. The only surviving heir to the throne, Senweis, is unwilling to take the succession. Fizanu, Goddess of Justice, has entrusted her priest, Black Rose, with a mission; the future of Paridzule depends on. Alabassin, son of the king of Relavia, was engaged to Kayta and has been thrown into the darkest recess of a dungeon by his father. His father wants to take over Paridzule and now would be a good time.
Black Rose has hired Nightshadow, an assassin, and four of the best warriors. His mission is to escort Kayta back to Paridzule. Kayta was rescued by the Pyrate Sorcha. She is physically recovering, but has lost her memory.
The characters of this fantasy novel made it a great read. I was pleased to see strong female characters like Nightshadow perfectly capable of standing for herself and of protecting her friends and allies. Even a female heir to the throne is expected to fight and serve her country, and Kayta can do it as skilfully as any male.
'Adversarius' is the first instalment of the trilogy 'Shadow of the Rose'. For many of its characters –elven, humans and ogres–, it is a quest for a better future. Their destinies could very well be entwined with the future of this world created by M. L. Chesley.
The story is flowing; the characters and their interactions are captivating, made even more alive by their accents. While I would have liked more details, M. L. Chesley's carefully polished style kept me reading and the cliffhanger left me looking forward to the sequel.
October 21, 2013
I had great difficulty getting into this story. As an avid fantasy reader, my attention is not that difficult to grasp. However, I found my interest in this book waning soon after the first page. The presence of fantasy tropes became quickly overwhelming. The writing was bland and choppy, the action was not thrilling, and the plot was vague. About 1/3rd of the way through the story I found little things were beginning to grate on my nerves, such as the typical fantasy name construction (multi-syllable with too many vowels), and the distracting use of dialect. The characters themselves were not much to write home about.
I think what really pushed me over the edge were the characters such as “Black Rose” and “Nightshadow”. They serve as a perfect indication of how unimaginative this world is.
I feel as though the writer has potential. If more time were spent on character development it could do a world of good for this story. If I could make one recommendation to the author, it would be to work on world and character building. Fleshing out your character’s voices is imperative to constructing a riveting tale.
I do not usually like to dole out such heavy criticism, but I honestly could not bring myself to enjoy this book. I really did try. But I never managed to become fully immersed in its world, which felt more like I was dabbling in a college D&D session. Actually, if I could compare this book to anything, it would be the Zarryiostrom series by Steven Plagman. Cliché and unimpressive.
This review is actually in conjunction with http://roomwithbooks.com/ - head over there to check out other reviews, excerpts, and much more!
I think what really pushed me over the edge were the characters such as “Black Rose” and “Nightshadow”. They serve as a perfect indication of how unimaginative this world is.
I feel as though the writer has potential. If more time were spent on character development it could do a world of good for this story. If I could make one recommendation to the author, it would be to work on world and character building. Fleshing out your character’s voices is imperative to constructing a riveting tale.
I do not usually like to dole out such heavy criticism, but I honestly could not bring myself to enjoy this book. I really did try. But I never managed to become fully immersed in its world, which felt more like I was dabbling in a college D&D session. Actually, if I could compare this book to anything, it would be the Zarryiostrom series by Steven Plagman. Cliché and unimpressive.
This review is actually in conjunction with http://roomwithbooks.com/ - head over there to check out other reviews, excerpts, and much more!
January 25, 2013
This book is High Fantasy and it’s High Fantasy done right. Set in a world that is not like our own the author doesn’t waste a lot of time or space boring the reader with every little detail of this world. It is similar enough to our own that the reader won’t get lost and what points do need to be explained she works into the story in such a way that they don’t feel like a history lessons. It’s straight to the action with this one and I mean straight into it. The opening scene of the book is a ship battle between pirates, which she spells ‘pyrates’, and a boat full of the land’s nobility and it just keeps rolling from there.
There is so much going on within the story line of this book and there is such a large cast of characters I won’t even try to summaries it further. It would literally take me pages to do so, but there are magical beings, goddesses, pyrates (as I mentioned), kings, queens, warriors, assassins, lovers, a young woman with no memory of who she is, and more than a couple secret plots. Don’t worry, it all makes sense and is woven together seamlessly.
I really can’t say enough nice things about this book. It is a great and fun read. My only complaint is that it ended rather abruptly and without much being resolved, but so is to be expected from the first book in a series.
This is a series to keep an eye on, for future releases...which I hope come soon.
There is so much going on within the story line of this book and there is such a large cast of characters I won’t even try to summaries it further. It would literally take me pages to do so, but there are magical beings, goddesses, pyrates (as I mentioned), kings, queens, warriors, assassins, lovers, a young woman with no memory of who she is, and more than a couple secret plots. Don’t worry, it all makes sense and is woven together seamlessly.
I really can’t say enough nice things about this book. It is a great and fun read. My only complaint is that it ended rather abruptly and without much being resolved, but so is to be expected from the first book in a series.
This is a series to keep an eye on, for future releases...which I hope come soon.
March 10, 2013
Adversarius: Shadow of the Rose(Book One) is a High Fantasy novel with a lot of action and a lot of characters. At first, I had a hard time keeping track of all of the many different characters and their names. After that was figured out, it was more of a smooth read for me. There are many characters that would vie for status as "main" characters because you have several story-lines going on in this novel. Some of my favorites would have to be Nightshadow, the woman assassin, and the priest named Rose( there is nothing feminine about him!) They had some of the best lines and plots in the book. Of course the evil villain, the King of Relavia, Li'endrin,is about as bad as bad gets. I didn't see any goodness in him at all. Anyone that did what he did, to his own children, is an awful creature. Speaking of creatures, there were many different kinds in the story, including dragons, elves, and ogres to add to the excitement.I really did like the half-ogre, Farrehn. He made me laugh a lot, and really did have a good heart.
There is a lot to like about this first novel, by Author M.L. Chesley. If you don't get distracted by the strange names and the many characters, you will find a good fantasy that will keep you involved. Be ready for a cliff-hanger at the end,which will leave you itching for book #2 in the series
There is a lot to like about this first novel, by Author M.L. Chesley. If you don't get distracted by the strange names and the many characters, you will find a good fantasy that will keep you involved. Be ready for a cliff-hanger at the end,which will leave you itching for book #2 in the series
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February 18, 2013If an adventure of pyrates and assassins kicking ass under a two-sunned world sounds like it’d rock your boat, then you may love Adversarius by ML Chesley. Here you’ll find bilge rats aplenty, an ogre who is uncomfortably short of stature, a prince learning to stand up to his tyrant father, flaming ships, and burning betrayal. (Betrayal is the syrup on the adventure-story pancake.)
Adversarius is an Indie novel that features a princess rescued by a dread pyrate, Sorcha, of all people. She then elicits the help of cutthroat mercenaries to secret her away, past murderers hired by royalty. Another brutally powerful woman, Nightshadow, features in the story, and the prince is also a viewpoint character, who is engaged to the marked-for-death princess.
A tale of intrigue, strong women, and, most of all, swashbuckling.
Adversarius is an Indie novel that features a princess rescued by a dread pyrate, Sorcha, of all people. She then elicits the help of cutthroat mercenaries to secret her away, past murderers hired by royalty. Another brutally powerful woman, Nightshadow, features in the story, and the prince is also a viewpoint character, who is engaged to the marked-for-death princess.
A tale of intrigue, strong women, and, most of all, swashbuckling.
December 18, 2012
The first installment of ML Chesley's series reads like you're living in an RPG. It's awesome, calling to mind those days when my characters were as real to me as anything. I love her villain. You don't get much of him from his perspective, but the way others react to and around him tells you a lot--along with the way he treats his only son.
I liked that, with so very much going on in the world, the reader didn't have to guess at who was alive and who was on which side (good or evil). I also enjoyed the banter between some of the characters, and, especially, the assassin with heart.
Love, love, love this book. HATE that I have to wait for the next one!
I liked that, with so very much going on in the world, the reader didn't have to guess at who was alive and who was on which side (good or evil). I also enjoyed the banter between some of the characters, and, especially, the assassin with heart.
Love, love, love this book. HATE that I have to wait for the next one!
January 26, 2013
3 1/2 stars. Enjoyable story. At times I struggled with name I couldn't pronounce, phrases repeating, and too much introduced all at once to keep track of, but I liked the characters and the story is engaging. Full review coming Jan. 28, 2013. www.minreadsandreviews.blogspot.com
September 1, 2016
I really enjoyed reading this book! Strong characters, forced into a tough situation. With war on the horizon, where political strife and intrigue leads you deep into the story with some very nice twists. The allure of mystery is also there as well as things unfold, yet leave more questions in its wake. This book shines as the characters interact, by pointing out some of our worst traits, yet showing the finest too. I look forward to reading more and finding out just how loyalties and hope, love and hate and the invisible wounds that can be left behind will show itself and change the future of the kingdom, as it hangs in the balance.
March 22, 2013
Adversarius is a gripping story that you can't put down. I was intrigued with the cross of supernatural (ogres, vampires, and such with assassins and pyrates (with a "Y"). The characters are intriguing, and this book leaves you hanging at the end, demanding more! For a debut novel, I'm highly impressed, and can only see Mel Chesley rising higher with her talent. A definite recommendation for Sci-Fi lovers. And Rose- Please give us plenty more of this guy. I love him. Shadow will just have to move over! ;)
October 26, 2013
I loved the characters in this book. Black Rose, Nightshadow, and Aun were well written. Even the character responsible for the attack against Kayta was amazing, but taken too soon in my opinion.
I did have problems relating to Kayta since she looses her memory early in the book, but I do understand this is only book one and she will be developed more fully later.
Some of the characters had a heavy dialect which was a little hard to follow.
Overall, a great read and I will look for more by M.L. Chelsey.
I did have problems relating to Kayta since she looses her memory early in the book, but I do understand this is only book one and she will be developed more fully later.
Some of the characters had a heavy dialect which was a little hard to follow.
Overall, a great read and I will look for more by M.L. Chelsey.
October 26, 2015
I liked it. It has the potential, with the plotline, to broaden into something on a grander scale, but we'll see.
I would have, however, liked to have seen an expansion of character/world development. The story is good, but the writing mainly focused on the action, rather than descriptive elements, and I was left with wanting more detail: Why did this guy do this, or who is that, there's this god - are there more, etc, etc...
It was light and entertaining, with some interesting characters and one or two intriguing ones. Looking forward to reading the next one.
I would have, however, liked to have seen an expansion of character/world development. The story is good, but the writing mainly focused on the action, rather than descriptive elements, and I was left with wanting more detail: Why did this guy do this, or who is that, there's this god - are there more, etc, etc...
It was light and entertaining, with some interesting characters and one or two intriguing ones. Looking forward to reading the next one.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews