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Rogue Series #1
The Apprentice
After five years of apprenticeship, Artamos De'spada travels north on a trial mission that will bring him to the climax of his training in the king's secretive Black Knight society. Accompanying him is his mentor, Adrian Rizzo “Rizz”, and fellow Black Knight, Falita Kain.
Artamos's mission is simple; escort of the king's betrothed safely from the Cromanian boarder to Caltania. It's a five day travel in which Artamos is required to lead Rizz, Falita, and others. But the trip is wrought with danger, and while Artamos struggles to maintain command in the face of his youth he must work to protect the king's betrothed from bandits while facing forbidden love and betrayal.
Artamos's mission is simple; escort of the king's betrothed safely from the Cromanian boarder to Caltania. It's a five day travel in which Artamos is required to lead Rizz, Falita, and others. But the trip is wrought with danger, and while Artamos struggles to maintain command in the face of his youth he must work to protect the king's betrothed from bandits while facing forbidden love and betrayal.
- GenresFantasy
127 pages, ebook
First published February 25, 2013
3 people are currently reading
369 people want to read
About the author
M.L. Hall
4 books20 followersHello,
I'm Matt Hall, Fantasy and Adventure author. I've had a life of varied experiences that have included everything from designing electrical circuits to saving lives. And I hope to share many of my experiences with you through my fantasy adventure stories.
I first learned about fantasy adventure stories from my seventh grade teacher when she offered me a copy of J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit. I devoured that book as well as The Lord of The Rings and countless other King Arthur stories. It wasn't until I encountered R.A.Salvatore's writing that I began to take a greater interest in story telling, or rather story entertainment.
And really that is my goal, to entertain you with stories that you enjoy. That's why I would like to direct you once again to the Connect With M.L.Hall tab on my website www.mlhallbooks.com. It's so important to me that we work on these books together. I'd like to hear your ideas and thoughts on where you would like to see my books go.
Perhaps we may even find we have other interests we can share. Like most writers, and for that matter, people surfing the web, I have varied interests. My wife and I enjoy gardening together, camping, and fishing.
One of my favorite past times is archery. I'm infatuated with primitive devices and have made countless longbows, some of which even shoot! There is something magical about watching the flight of an arrow.
Anyhow, check out my website, view the book samples, and send me an email, strike up a conversation.
Sincerely,
M.L.Hall
I'm Matt Hall, Fantasy and Adventure author. I've had a life of varied experiences that have included everything from designing electrical circuits to saving lives. And I hope to share many of my experiences with you through my fantasy adventure stories.
I first learned about fantasy adventure stories from my seventh grade teacher when she offered me a copy of J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit. I devoured that book as well as The Lord of The Rings and countless other King Arthur stories. It wasn't until I encountered R.A.Salvatore's writing that I began to take a greater interest in story telling, or rather story entertainment.
And really that is my goal, to entertain you with stories that you enjoy. That's why I would like to direct you once again to the Connect With M.L.Hall tab on my website www.mlhallbooks.com. It's so important to me that we work on these books together. I'd like to hear your ideas and thoughts on where you would like to see my books go.
Perhaps we may even find we have other interests we can share. Like most writers, and for that matter, people surfing the web, I have varied interests. My wife and I enjoy gardening together, camping, and fishing.
One of my favorite past times is archery. I'm infatuated with primitive devices and have made countless longbows, some of which even shoot! There is something magical about watching the flight of an arrow.
Anyhow, check out my website, view the book samples, and send me an email, strike up a conversation.
Sincerely,
M.L.Hall
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 2, 2013
A Trickster Eric Novels review
Matthew Hall asked me to read his novel "The Apprentice". It's about a knight-ninja apprentice who has to escort a noble lady to his own country's capital city where her groom, his boss, is waiting for her. I will analyze the story in terms of plot, characters, and polish, and then assign a grade.
PLOT
Allow me to list the reasons why I like this story:
It's an unorthodox plot because there is no central villain. In another story with this premise there would be a Big Bad sending out organized mooks to abduct the Damsel In Distress in order to prevent the wedding for some nefarious purpose. Instead, it's a simple escort mission besot by garden variety bandits. The main conflict is internal; Artamos' struggle with self-control, Leona's struggle with her lack of freedom, Falita's desire of a better life etc. It's more down-to-earth because of this and so the characters feel more real.
There's a role playing game feel to this story for a couple reasons. The first is that the bandit attacks aren't part of an organized gang and so they come off as random encounters; the second is 'escort a noble lady' sounds like a mission for a main plot or a side quest. Being a fan of Final Fantasy, this is another check on my list of positives.
The cherry on top is the ending. It fully resolves the story's conflict while remaining open to any number of future stories.
CHARACTERS
The characters are diverse and well rounded. There's Artamos, heroic and dedicated to his order but still struggles with things like hormones and isn't an unbeatable fighting machine. There's his mentor Rizz, who has great wit and a mentor's gravitas. Falita makes a great contrast to them with her desire for creature comforts and her substantially greater blood thirst. Leona contrasts them all because she's a noble lady and they are (essentially) ninjas. While she's introduced as a traditional Beautiful-Inside-And-Out-Lady she's more devious and rebellious than that.
On another level, there's jurisdiction friction between the Black Knights and the more traditional plate mail knights but the latter are not made into jerkasses for the sake of drama. I appreciate that because it made those knights more like characters in their own right instead of plot props. Like I said earlier, they feel more real because the plot doesn't force them to be something else.
The Black Knight Organization gets a paragraph to itself. They're like medieval black ops; they focus on stealth and scouting and hidden bodyguards duties. Because they answer directly to the king, there's a great deal of secrecy about them. In the sequel sample, one character describes them as 'stepping out of shadows'.
POLISH
This is the only area where the book losses points. There are a number of spelling errors; 'waste' instead of 'waist' and 'heal' instead of 'heel'. Also, some of the combat scenes have comma splices which occasionally makes them hard to follow. Over all it's minor; nothing an editor couldn't fix and Mr.Hall has informed me that he has proofreaders working on it.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Apprentice" an A
Matthew Hall asked me to read his novel "The Apprentice". It's about a knight-ninja apprentice who has to escort a noble lady to his own country's capital city where her groom, his boss, is waiting for her. I will analyze the story in terms of plot, characters, and polish, and then assign a grade.
PLOT
Allow me to list the reasons why I like this story:
It's an unorthodox plot because there is no central villain. In another story with this premise there would be a Big Bad sending out organized mooks to abduct the Damsel In Distress in order to prevent the wedding for some nefarious purpose. Instead, it's a simple escort mission besot by garden variety bandits. The main conflict is internal; Artamos' struggle with self-control, Leona's struggle with her lack of freedom, Falita's desire of a better life etc. It's more down-to-earth because of this and so the characters feel more real.
There's a role playing game feel to this story for a couple reasons. The first is that the bandit attacks aren't part of an organized gang and so they come off as random encounters; the second is 'escort a noble lady' sounds like a mission for a main plot or a side quest. Being a fan of Final Fantasy, this is another check on my list of positives.
The cherry on top is the ending. It fully resolves the story's conflict while remaining open to any number of future stories.
CHARACTERS
The characters are diverse and well rounded. There's Artamos, heroic and dedicated to his order but still struggles with things like hormones and isn't an unbeatable fighting machine. There's his mentor Rizz, who has great wit and a mentor's gravitas. Falita makes a great contrast to them with her desire for creature comforts and her substantially greater blood thirst. Leona contrasts them all because she's a noble lady and they are (essentially) ninjas. While she's introduced as a traditional Beautiful-Inside-And-Out-Lady she's more devious and rebellious than that.
On another level, there's jurisdiction friction between the Black Knights and the more traditional plate mail knights but the latter are not made into jerkasses for the sake of drama. I appreciate that because it made those knights more like characters in their own right instead of plot props. Like I said earlier, they feel more real because the plot doesn't force them to be something else.
The Black Knight Organization gets a paragraph to itself. They're like medieval black ops; they focus on stealth and scouting and hidden bodyguards duties. Because they answer directly to the king, there's a great deal of secrecy about them. In the sequel sample, one character describes them as 'stepping out of shadows'.
POLISH
This is the only area where the book losses points. There are a number of spelling errors; 'waste' instead of 'waist' and 'heal' instead of 'heel'. Also, some of the combat scenes have comma splices which occasionally makes them hard to follow. Over all it's minor; nothing an editor couldn't fix and Mr.Hall has informed me that he has proofreaders working on it.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Apprentice" an A
June 30, 2013
I might be biased but I really enjoyed reading this book. I found the character to be well developed and the plot moved along nicely. My favorite character was Rizz with Falita coming in a close second. I loved the back and forth conversations between the characters. I felt that this really brought them to life for me.
January 15, 2023
A Black Knight apprentice takes charge of escorting a princes to his. However, man complications come up resulting in the death of his mentor and supposedly the death of another knight. Aftrer completing his mission he in knighted but has problems accepting his worth. The future lies open and it appears the author will continue this series which I am sure will be a good reading.
July 17, 2013
I have let my Husband review this as he has read it first.
First of its a novella and back in the old Astounding Stories day it would have fit in perfectly. In true novella style (90 Pages) it cuts straight to the gist of the tale about three "Knights" protecting a princess. Now the story revolves around a young knight named "Artamos" and I must say it does impinge slightly on the Three Musketeers in part of the story but all for one and one for all it is not, in fact with a little work and no doubt Mr.Hall must have been tempted it could have made a good novel in its own right.as it is its an enjoyable read leaving one with the thought that you would like to know what happens next, always a winner for the Author. So good Novella (In fact a lot better than some books I have read lately) a cross between the "Cardinals Blade" and "The Three Musketeers" Bring on the follow up Please.
First of its a novella and back in the old Astounding Stories day it would have fit in perfectly. In true novella style (90 Pages) it cuts straight to the gist of the tale about three "Knights" protecting a princess. Now the story revolves around a young knight named "Artamos" and I must say it does impinge slightly on the Three Musketeers in part of the story but all for one and one for all it is not, in fact with a little work and no doubt Mr.Hall must have been tempted it could have made a good novel in its own right.as it is its an enjoyable read leaving one with the thought that you would like to know what happens next, always a winner for the Author. So good Novella (In fact a lot better than some books I have read lately) a cross between the "Cardinals Blade" and "The Three Musketeers" Bring on the follow up Please.
August 5, 2013
Pretty good world-building, interesting storyline (without a stock villain, which is an excellent thing), and believably flawed characters. But this one has something of a we-destroyed-the-village-to-save-it feel, [SPOILER ALERT] with honorable knights destroying their personal honor to protect that of their organization.[END SPOILER] The ending twist has such a perfect set-up that the twist is the only ending possible. One star subtracted for poor proofreading; if a new edition is released, I'll revisit it and edit the review. For now, three stars.
February 6, 2014
I think it was OK, but not more. However, I think I will give Hall another chance, and read one more in the series.
My biggest problem, was that I just didn't feel like I got to know the characters. There was a lot of time spent describing fights in detail, but not much character building. Maybe the book should have been longer, or focused on just one character.
Much of it was also a bit too cliché for me. The Lancelot and Gwenivere-story has been done a couple of times before.
My biggest problem, was that I just didn't feel like I got to know the characters. There was a lot of time spent describing fights in detail, but not much character building. Maybe the book should have been longer, or focused on just one character.
Much of it was also a bit too cliché for me. The Lancelot and Gwenivere-story has been done a couple of times before.
Read
November 10, 2014(adult situations) This book was short and I would have liked to see more plot development out of it.
August 3, 2013
Unique, creative - well worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews