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The Stolen Karma Of Nathaniel Valentine
“You may think that this place is a fairy tale, but you’re wrong.”
Nathaniel Valentine lives his life like a ghost, unnoticed, overlooked, without friends, without family. But on his birthday, Nathaniel will get the gift he always wanted: to be important. It will be the worst day of his life.
When he is attacked in his apartment, Nathaniel is saved by the volatile karma policeman Sol, a conflicted guardian of the very humans he despises. He has spent a quarter century searching for Nathaniel, who he believes is destined to stop a monster. But Sol is just as dangerous as the creature he is ushering Nathaniel toward, and he has no love for his charge. As they travel the world beside this one hunting the monster, Nathaniel unravels the mystery of Sol’s past, what the karma policeman is hiding, and what fuels his anger at humanity. With each step, Nathaniel’s peril increases, leading him to an ultimate confrontation which may give him everything he’s ever wanted…but destroy him in the process.
Includes a special preview of “The Book Of Doors,” the second volume of “The Books of Balance.”
Nathaniel Valentine lives his life like a ghost, unnoticed, overlooked, without friends, without family. But on his birthday, Nathaniel will get the gift he always wanted: to be important. It will be the worst day of his life.
When he is attacked in his apartment, Nathaniel is saved by the volatile karma policeman Sol, a conflicted guardian of the very humans he despises. He has spent a quarter century searching for Nathaniel, who he believes is destined to stop a monster. But Sol is just as dangerous as the creature he is ushering Nathaniel toward, and he has no love for his charge. As they travel the world beside this one hunting the monster, Nathaniel unravels the mystery of Sol’s past, what the karma policeman is hiding, and what fuels his anger at humanity. With each step, Nathaniel’s peril increases, leading him to an ultimate confrontation which may give him everything he’s ever wanted…but destroy him in the process.
Includes a special preview of “The Book Of Doors,” the second volume of “The Books of Balance.”
363 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 2012
18 people are currently reading
239 people want to read
About the author
Justin Bloch
5 books7 followersJustin Bloch is the author of "The Stolen Karma of Nathaniel Valentine," the first book in "The Books of Balance," and its upcoming sequel, "The Book of Doors." His short stories have appeared in "Robbed of Sleep," Volumes 3 and 4, as well as "Chaos Of Hard Clay." He lives in Maryland with a wonderful wife who makes everything he writes at least 75% better and a daughter and son who make everything he writes take at least 75% longer.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 22, 2013
This grabbed me right from the start and honestly didn't let go. Deceptively simple elegance and totally off-the cuff humour blended with a Dresden Files-like pace, mixed with a good dose of surprise and guess-what-happens suspense.
Justin uses mythology in an amazing way, sending it a familiar way but subverting it to an alternate will. A few areas were a touch bogged down, but maybe that was me aching to get further into this.
Well crafted, well done!
This is my same review and score as on Amazon.com - couldn't think of a better way to say it :)
Justin uses mythology in an amazing way, sending it a familiar way but subverting it to an alternate will. A few areas were a touch bogged down, but maybe that was me aching to get further into this.
Well crafted, well done!
This is my same review and score as on Amazon.com - couldn't think of a better way to say it :)
May 17, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was hooked almost instantly and never found myself getting into that "bored skimming" mode while I searched for the next thrilling or interesting bit. Well done!
June 18, 2013
This book was not at all what I was expecting, and I loved every page of it! Bloch's vividly descriptive scenes were wonderful, every detail came to life. Even the way he described the colors of certain objects was sensational and refreshing. The characters were realistic, with emotions and actions fitting for the situation, no superhero powers coming out of nowhere to fix everything up in a neatlybwrapped conclusion. These characters felt real! The storyline was coherent and flowed from one chapter to the next. With otherworldly experiences being brought to life, it was quite difficult to put this book down for any period of time. While I usually don't delve into the sic-fi/fantasy realm, I am SO glad I explored it via "The Stolen Karma of Nathaniel Valentine". I definitely recommend this book, it's a great summer read!
April 11, 2019
This was an "it's here and I have it" read. It takes the idea of angels and god in our lives and combines it with karma. I think it had real potential, but it didn't live up. That said, it was ok not amazing, so I probably won't read the sequel.
August 14, 2019
This was a very intriguing story as from the blurb it promised an epic story but told from a single person’s perspective. The story opens up with an attack on our titular character by a spider demon and from then on, the tale just spirals into a weird wonderland of sorts. Similar to Nathan Valentine, the reader is equally confused about the nature of the person who brought Nathaniel into the strange world and the world itself.
I read nearly a third of the story and while it was captivating with regards to the Alice In Wonderland aspect, the main character and a couple of the other characters that were introduced by then didn’t really hold my interest. I would have read more in to the story if the prose and characterization would have been more striking. As the story goes, the prose and characterization was good but not exciting enough for me to continue. The central plot mystery was a good one and I was definitely intrigued by that. Maybe in the near future, I’ll read the rest of the book to see how the book fares in its entirety.
I read nearly a third of the story and while it was captivating with regards to the Alice In Wonderland aspect, the main character and a couple of the other characters that were introduced by then didn’t really hold my interest. I would have read more in to the story if the prose and characterization would have been more striking. As the story goes, the prose and characterization was good but not exciting enough for me to continue. The central plot mystery was a good one and I was definitely intrigued by that. Maybe in the near future, I’ll read the rest of the book to see how the book fares in its entirety.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews