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Shroud Trilogy #1
Tearing The Shroud
Fall in love, be possessed, hunt a sorcerer and save the world — and Vincent thought calculus was tough.
1984 — Vincent expected college to be about freedom and girls, but then the nightmares of sorcery, monsters and other worlds began. Not even the surprising attention from his dream girl, Julie, could shake them.
Before he's even nailed his second date with Julie, he's possessed by Coleman, a warrior from another realm. Coleman is hell bent on defeating the monstrous Kafla who threatens to tear into Vincent's reality, changing both his and Coleman's worlds forever. They have one chance to stop Vincent must allow Coleman to share his body and wage war against the sorcerer.
Now it's up to them, the women they love, and Vincent's rag-tag bunch of role-playing and gaming friends to save the world, or see 1984 descend into the apocalypse.
1984 — Vincent expected college to be about freedom and girls, but then the nightmares of sorcery, monsters and other worlds began. Not even the surprising attention from his dream girl, Julie, could shake them.
Before he's even nailed his second date with Julie, he's possessed by Coleman, a warrior from another realm. Coleman is hell bent on defeating the monstrous Kafla who threatens to tear into Vincent's reality, changing both his and Coleman's worlds forever. They have one chance to stop Vincent must allow Coleman to share his body and wage war against the sorcerer.
Now it's up to them, the women they love, and Vincent's rag-tag bunch of role-playing and gaming friends to save the world, or see 1984 descend into the apocalypse.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2013
82 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 3, 2014
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review via Lovers of Paranormal.
WOW. I loved it. What a cleverly thought out, well written book. It made me think trying to tie in the loose ends as we went along. The plot moved along nicely and kept me gripped. The characters were brilliantly written, consistent and interesting. I loved Vincent and Coleman. They were well formed and I loved the humour and the development of shy Vincent.
The two realms, separated by The Shroud, was very interesting and slightly different to anything I have read on the subject before. The Joining of Vincent and Coleman was great, particularly their interaction mentally. The way their skills were combined was well thought out. The interaction between the characters flows well and has some good laughs along the way.
The downside? There is no mention at the end of the book of there being a sequel. I would love a follow up book as I was left with questions of what next. I need to know more about Coleman and his realm and his relationship with Jolie. I need to know where Vincent goes from here, is there any chance that he can go to Coleman's side of The Shroud? What about Mr Brown - who and what is he? I was also left with the question of just who is The Matriarch?
More I need more!! :-)
WOW. I loved it. What a cleverly thought out, well written book. It made me think trying to tie in the loose ends as we went along. The plot moved along nicely and kept me gripped. The characters were brilliantly written, consistent and interesting. I loved Vincent and Coleman. They were well formed and I loved the humour and the development of shy Vincent.
The two realms, separated by The Shroud, was very interesting and slightly different to anything I have read on the subject before. The Joining of Vincent and Coleman was great, particularly their interaction mentally. The way their skills were combined was well thought out. The interaction between the characters flows well and has some good laughs along the way.
The downside? There is no mention at the end of the book of there being a sequel. I would love a follow up book as I was left with questions of what next. I need to know more about Coleman and his realm and his relationship with Jolie. I need to know where Vincent goes from here, is there any chance that he can go to Coleman's side of The Shroud? What about Mr Brown - who and what is he? I was also left with the question of just who is The Matriarch?
More I need more!! :-)
February 4, 2014
I received an ARC {through LOP} in exchange for an honest review.
It's been a long time since I left the ole D&D world behind, so reading a book about it surprised me. Mr. Bray has a unique way of describing the gamer's perspective as the characters play their game, which showcases the author's talents as a writer.
Vincent, and Coleman, have different personalities and watching them blend together to create Vinny was a treat. Each character {no matter how small a part} jumped to life from the first page. Lots of hard work went into this masterpiece, and it shines through.
Many exciting and unexpected twists, plenty of gore and action to satisfy most readers {especially fellow gamers.}
I look forward to reading the rest of the series and discovering new adventures with these characters and perhaps some new ones.
It's been a long time since I left the ole D&D world behind, so reading a book about it surprised me. Mr. Bray has a unique way of describing the gamer's perspective as the characters play their game, which showcases the author's talents as a writer.
Vincent, and Coleman, have different personalities and watching them blend together to create Vinny was a treat. Each character {no matter how small a part} jumped to life from the first page. Lots of hard work went into this masterpiece, and it shines through.
Many exciting and unexpected twists, plenty of gore and action to satisfy most readers {especially fellow gamers.}
I look forward to reading the rest of the series and discovering new adventures with these characters and perhaps some new ones.
May 5, 2014
It's been a long time since I've read high fantasy or its cousins and Tearing the Shroud was a great return to the genre. With a complex plot line that blurs the division between two parallel worlds, I wasn't bored at any point. Combine that with a solid corp of characters, hints of a great power on its way to threaten Earth's existence, and a dash of the 1980s, and you'll understand what I mean.
Bray's characters were interesting and well-developed. It's sometimes hard for authors to strike a balance among the supporting characters, but Bray pulls it off well. Vincent/Coleman/Vinni's growth is integral to the plot. Hints are dropped that Coleman's Traveling has had some more serious side effects that first imagined; while nothing comes of those hints in this book, I'm eager to see if they factor into the other two books of the trilogy. Knife, Flea, Jule, and Mr. Brown stole the show for me; the characters from Coleman's world were intriguing, but the banter between Vincent's gaming buds had me hook, line, and sinker.
The book's conflict/subplot of the Master and the Divine was carefully done. Many fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi books show the battle between dualities, but this book re-imagined that battle in a way I haven't seen before. With lackeys for both sides existing in Vincent's world, the battle lines become even more confused. The deeper concepts of power, influence, money, charity, and faith are all nicely tangled, forcing the reader to make his or her own decisions about those topics instead of being beaten on the head by the author's viewpoints.
I know other reviewers hoped to see more of the 1980s in the story. I can understand that in some ways, but I'm glad the book didn't devolve into a campy tribute to the decade. Instead, aspects of the 80s made their way naturally into the story (Mr. Brown's cell phone, anyone?). I felt like I was reading a loving spin-off of The Monster Squad or a gamer's version of ...in other words, the setting didn't pull me out of the story and just added to the sense of nostalgia I felt.
If you get a chance, definitely pick up this book and give it a read. It's got adventure, humor, romance, and Mad Max references. More importantly, its sequel is on the way. Can't wait to read Mending the Shroud in July!
Bray's characters were interesting and well-developed. It's sometimes hard for authors to strike a balance among the supporting characters, but Bray pulls it off well. Vincent/Coleman/Vinni's growth is integral to the plot. Hints are dropped that Coleman's Traveling has had some more serious side effects that first imagined; while nothing comes of those hints in this book, I'm eager to see if they factor into the other two books of the trilogy. Knife, Flea, Jule, and Mr. Brown stole the show for me; the characters from Coleman's world were intriguing, but the banter between Vincent's gaming buds had me hook, line, and sinker.
The book's conflict/subplot of the Master and the Divine was carefully done. Many fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi books show the battle between dualities, but this book re-imagined that battle in a way I haven't seen before. With lackeys for both sides existing in Vincent's world, the battle lines become even more confused. The deeper concepts of power, influence, money, charity, and faith are all nicely tangled, forcing the reader to make his or her own decisions about those topics instead of being beaten on the head by the author's viewpoints.
I know other reviewers hoped to see more of the 1980s in the story. I can understand that in some ways, but I'm glad the book didn't devolve into a campy tribute to the decade. Instead, aspects of the 80s made their way naturally into the story (Mr. Brown's cell phone, anyone?). I felt like I was reading a loving spin-off of The Monster Squad or a gamer's version of ...in other words, the setting didn't pull me out of the story and just added to the sense of nostalgia I felt.
If you get a chance, definitely pick up this book and give it a read. It's got adventure, humor, romance, and Mad Max references. More importantly, its sequel is on the way. Can't wait to read Mending the Shroud in July!
July 29, 2016
I received this book by the Author and the “Lovers of Paranormal” (LoP) Group on Goodreads, in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity!
When I first saw the cover I was intrigued and the description pulled me in immediately. I was captivated by the creativity of the story line and all the twists and turns it took – it keeps you guessing all the way!
Captivating, Intriguing and Suspenseful
The Author did a wonderful job pulling you into Vincent and Coleman’s world. The descriptiveness of both worlds is outstanding and made the pages come alive. I love how the JM Bray was able to intertwine the game of Dungeons and Dragons with the ‘real’ world. He brilliantly weaved the two together, making the ultimate fantasy novel! I was a captive audience from the beginning.
Looking forward to reading the next installment!
When I first saw the cover I was intrigued and the description pulled me in immediately. I was captivated by the creativity of the story line and all the twists and turns it took – it keeps you guessing all the way!
Captivating, Intriguing and Suspenseful
The Author did a wonderful job pulling you into Vincent and Coleman’s world. The descriptiveness of both worlds is outstanding and made the pages come alive. I love how the JM Bray was able to intertwine the game of Dungeons and Dragons with the ‘real’ world. He brilliantly weaved the two together, making the ultimate fantasy novel! I was a captive audience from the beginning.
Looking forward to reading the next installment!
February 6, 2014
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review (Lovers of Paranormal LOP). I absolutely loved this book. The author gives you a chance to know the chatacters and their personalities. The character Vincent is such a well rounded character. As Vincent allows another to occupy his body to help stop the tearing of the Shroud, the author protrays the battle between the two heros well. I can't wait to see what's next in the series.
February 26, 2014
I received this book as a prize during the Australia Day Blog Hop, and it's not necessarily something I would have picked up on my own otherwise. So it's probably worth bearing this in mind when I say that I have mixed feelings about this novel.
There are definitely a lot of positives to it. The story was interesting - the idea of a sort of collaborative possession, where Vince chose to share his body with Coleman so that they could work together to defeat the powers of evil was creative and well-executed. I enjoyed the way these two characters became friends and the way they negotiated the whole body-sharing thing, both in terms of intimate relationships and in terms of being able to fight.
I also enjoyed the many minor characters - the women of the sisterhood in the other world, and Vince's companions, Flea, Sword and Jules, in this world. I liked their camaraderie and the way they worked together, and the dialogue was good. And the dungeons and dragons thing was fun - I haven't played that for a long time!
But I did have one issue with the book, which nearly stopped me reading once or twice, and that is with the way Bray wrote his female characters and the reactions of others to them. I feel very bad saying this, to be honest, because there was a lot in this book to like, and he clearly had put a lot of thought into giving his women agency, unique skills, and a place in the quest. He also made a point of making it clear that the male characters did and should respect their choices in life, so again, kudos for that. But it did bug me that almost every time we saw Jules or Jolie or one of the young, attractive female characters, we had to be reminded that she had nice breasts and a nice butt. And that her male friends - despite respecting her - seemed to constantly notice this and comment on it to her and to each other.
While the female characters seemed to be entirely happy with all the ogling, I found myself feeling more and more uncomfortable with it as the book progressed - it started feeling more than a little sleazy, to be honest, and this is a pity, because I really think this was the opposite of the author's intention. Given this, I think it was quite unfortunate that the one antagonistic female character was described as ugly and witch-like, and overly ready to call sexism when it wasn't there - the very model of the stereotypical angry feminist. I have to admit, I had more sympathy for her than I think I was supposed to.
(This is in no way an indictment on the author or on anyone who enjoyed this book, by the way. The impression I got was that Bray is still figuring out how to write female characters, and it did occur to me that when Vince expressed concern at the possibility of playing a woman in an RPG, because he didn't know how a woman would react to some situations, that perhaps there was a touch of the authorial voice peeking through. And let's face it - this is a first novel. If there was no room for challenging oneself further, what would be the point in writing a second one?)
I also feel as though I should comment on the pacing, which was a little unusual. There seemed to be an awfully high ratio of set-up to actual climax - we spent most of the book meeting everyone, finding out how the world worked, seeing the groups coalesce and learn to work together, and watching them hone their skills. And this was a heap of fun, by the way - I secretly tend to enjoy these parts of fantasy novels more than the 'adventure' parts a lot of the time. But the actual point at which the heroes began to engage with the villain was so late in the book that I found myself fearing a trilogy with a cliff-hanger setup. In fact, the plot did resolve satisfactorily, but it seemed to do so in a bit of a rush. And the squeamish should be aware that there were some alarmingly gory moments during the battles.
Another structural issue - made worse, I think, by the e-book format - was that there were quite a number of time-hopping flashbacks, particularly early on in the book. The sequence got a bit confusing, though, in fact, the story was strong enough to carry me on even when I was getting a bit unclear as to the order of events and just who the villain was.
Which is, perhaps, the key point: the story did keep me reading it, even during points where I was confused, grossed out, or exasperated by yet another reference to the heroine's nipples. And this is the fundamental test of a book - whether you care enough about the characters and the plot to overlook the things that you don't like because you need to know what happened next.
For all my eye-rolling, this book passed that test.
There are definitely a lot of positives to it. The story was interesting - the idea of a sort of collaborative possession, where Vince chose to share his body with Coleman so that they could work together to defeat the powers of evil was creative and well-executed. I enjoyed the way these two characters became friends and the way they negotiated the whole body-sharing thing, both in terms of intimate relationships and in terms of being able to fight.
I also enjoyed the many minor characters - the women of the sisterhood in the other world, and Vince's companions, Flea, Sword and Jules, in this world. I liked their camaraderie and the way they worked together, and the dialogue was good. And the dungeons and dragons thing was fun - I haven't played that for a long time!
But I did have one issue with the book, which nearly stopped me reading once or twice, and that is with the way Bray wrote his female characters and the reactions of others to them. I feel very bad saying this, to be honest, because there was a lot in this book to like, and he clearly had put a lot of thought into giving his women agency, unique skills, and a place in the quest. He also made a point of making it clear that the male characters did and should respect their choices in life, so again, kudos for that. But it did bug me that almost every time we saw Jules or Jolie or one of the young, attractive female characters, we had to be reminded that she had nice breasts and a nice butt. And that her male friends - despite respecting her - seemed to constantly notice this and comment on it to her and to each other.
While the female characters seemed to be entirely happy with all the ogling, I found myself feeling more and more uncomfortable with it as the book progressed - it started feeling more than a little sleazy, to be honest, and this is a pity, because I really think this was the opposite of the author's intention. Given this, I think it was quite unfortunate that the one antagonistic female character was described as ugly and witch-like, and overly ready to call sexism when it wasn't there - the very model of the stereotypical angry feminist. I have to admit, I had more sympathy for her than I think I was supposed to.
(This is in no way an indictment on the author or on anyone who enjoyed this book, by the way. The impression I got was that Bray is still figuring out how to write female characters, and it did occur to me that when Vince expressed concern at the possibility of playing a woman in an RPG, because he didn't know how a woman would react to some situations, that perhaps there was a touch of the authorial voice peeking through. And let's face it - this is a first novel. If there was no room for challenging oneself further, what would be the point in writing a second one?)
I also feel as though I should comment on the pacing, which was a little unusual. There seemed to be an awfully high ratio of set-up to actual climax - we spent most of the book meeting everyone, finding out how the world worked, seeing the groups coalesce and learn to work together, and watching them hone their skills. And this was a heap of fun, by the way - I secretly tend to enjoy these parts of fantasy novels more than the 'adventure' parts a lot of the time. But the actual point at which the heroes began to engage with the villain was so late in the book that I found myself fearing a trilogy with a cliff-hanger setup. In fact, the plot did resolve satisfactorily, but it seemed to do so in a bit of a rush. And the squeamish should be aware that there were some alarmingly gory moments during the battles.
Another structural issue - made worse, I think, by the e-book format - was that there were quite a number of time-hopping flashbacks, particularly early on in the book. The sequence got a bit confusing, though, in fact, the story was strong enough to carry me on even when I was getting a bit unclear as to the order of events and just who the villain was.
Which is, perhaps, the key point: the story did keep me reading it, even during points where I was confused, grossed out, or exasperated by yet another reference to the heroine's nipples. And this is the fundamental test of a book - whether you care enough about the characters and the plot to overlook the things that you don't like because you need to know what happened next.
For all my eye-rolling, this book passed that test.
April 10, 2014
Tearing The Shroud is an action-packed novel full of powerful fantasy and descriptive characters. A unique mix of gaming, inventive fantasy, action and drama, this novel is a one-of-a-kind novel that reaches new heights in the world of fantasy.
Fall in love, be possessed, hunt a sorcerer and save the world -- and Vincent thought calculus was tough.
1984 -- Vincent expected college to be about freedom and girls, but then the nightmares of sorcery, monsters and other worlds began. Not even the surprising attention from his dream girl, Julie, could shake them. Before he's even nailed his second date with Julie, he's possessed by Coleman, a warrior from another realm. Coleman is hell bent on defeating the monstrous Kafla who threatens to tear into Vincent's reality, changing both his and Coleman's worlds forever. They have one chance to stop them: Vincent must allow Coleman to share his body and wage war against the sorcerer.
Now it's up to them, the women they love, and Vincent's rag-tag bunch of role-playing and gaming friends to save the world, or see 1984 descend into the apocalypse.
The plot was fantastic. It was fast-paced, intricate, and definitely addicting. You have a mix of several different themes in this novel, which makes for an interesting mix. You have a bit of gaming taking place in this novel, which Bray describes perfectly. He makes the topic of this special gaming interesting even for those who have never experience nor read about it. He also adds in a great deal of action. There were several scenes of combat, violent fighting with unusual weapons. There was a lot of swords and knives, special instruments of combat I had never heard of. These weapons and action-packed fighting makes this novel also very desirable for male readers. A touch of romance for the ladies, an intricate plot for everyone, and fast action makes this novel an electrifying page-turner.
The characters in this novel were just as mesmerizing. Vincent by himself was an interesting perspective to read from and Coleman was just as equally fascinating. Together, they were "Vinnie" and twice as thought-provoking and exciting. He was a fighter, protector, warrior, friend, and lover. His bravery and simply personality makes it easy to connect with him, along with every other character in this novel. All the supporting characters were equally interesting, and all played major parts in the plot.
The writing was magnificent. Descriptive, imaginative, and majorly unique and original, J.M. weaves a terrific tale of believable fantasy and action. The only thing I would have liked to have seen more of is a bit more 80's theme. The novel is (for the most part) set in 1984. And since I love the 80's culture (music, clothes, tv, film, everything) I would have liked to have seen a bit more 80s culture spread out through the novel. Because I didn't see much of that, I felt like the novel was set in the present. Other than that small qualm, I loved this novel and I cannot wait to read the sequel and any other works by J.M. Bray. Great imaginative story.
August 19, 2014
I received a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book intrigued me. I never played D&D when I was a kid, but many of my friends did. And I enjoy a good fantasy novel with a twist. At first I was pulled into the story. I enjoyed the interactions of Vince and his new friends: Flea, Sword, and Jules. It was interesting to watch them figure out their group dynamics. However, I think the pacing of the story was a bit off. So much attention is focused on the set up that by the time the action happens there’s not enough time to really enjoy it. I know it’s the first in the series, but I’m hoping the next installment has a bit more action and less build up.
The synopsis of this book intrigued me. I never played D&D when I was a kid, but many of my friends did. And I enjoy a good fantasy novel with a twist. At first I was pulled into the story. I enjoyed the interactions of Vince and his new friends: Flea, Sword, and Jules. It was interesting to watch them figure out their group dynamics. However, I think the pacing of the story was a bit off. So much attention is focused on the set up that by the time the action happens there’s not enough time to really enjoy it. I know it’s the first in the series, but I’m hoping the next installment has a bit more action and less build up.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews