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Chronicles of Gadeen #1
Ravensgem
"Citizens of Iryport, we have gathered here today to witness a challenge of honor."
After two years of running, Lucian Wade has returned to Iryport. He left the city to escape the mistakes of his youth and now, he hopes that the past — and those he left behind — have given up on finding him.
But the past is relentless, and the person chasing him is not ordinary.
Johanna Kin, the most rich and powerful noble on the peninsula, is also Lucian's only childhood friend. She wants to see him— but she doesn’t want to talk. Johanna calls a challenge of honor between her and Lucian.
A duel to the death.
Gadeean tradition demands that challenges be fought not with saber nor pistol, but with the blessings of the ancients. Within the veins of every Gadeean runs the black blood of The Mountain, and only they can ignite the power hidden in gemstones.
Separated from his allies, forced to fight for his life, Lucian clutches his ravensgem, and the power locked within.
“For too long I’ve been a victim of fate…"
M. Kirin presents Ravensgem, Book One of The Chronicles of Gadeen, a fantasy adventure novella about guilt and facing the consequences of one's actions.
For more information, and a preview chapter, please visit: mkirin.com.
After two years of running, Lucian Wade has returned to Iryport. He left the city to escape the mistakes of his youth and now, he hopes that the past — and those he left behind — have given up on finding him.
But the past is relentless, and the person chasing him is not ordinary.
Johanna Kin, the most rich and powerful noble on the peninsula, is also Lucian's only childhood friend. She wants to see him— but she doesn’t want to talk. Johanna calls a challenge of honor between her and Lucian.
A duel to the death.
Gadeean tradition demands that challenges be fought not with saber nor pistol, but with the blessings of the ancients. Within the veins of every Gadeean runs the black blood of The Mountain, and only they can ignite the power hidden in gemstones.
Separated from his allies, forced to fight for his life, Lucian clutches his ravensgem, and the power locked within.
“For too long I’ve been a victim of fate…"
M. Kirin presents Ravensgem, Book One of The Chronicles of Gadeen, a fantasy adventure novella about guilt and facing the consequences of one's actions.
For more information, and a preview chapter, please visit: mkirin.com.
- GenresFantasy
134 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2013
54 people want to read
About the author
M. Kirin
12 books71 followersM. KIRIN (they/them) is a queer author and artist.
Raised by two completely different countries, M. Kirin’s writing has its roots in the grounded personal conflict of the American novel as well as the magical realism of Mexican fiction. The works of M. Kirin are often about the clash between the fantastical and the mundane.
From their humble beginnings as an independent author, M. Kirin has been posting writing advice and inspiration on the internet. Their articles, blog posts, and videos have reached tens of thousands of aspiring authors and amassed millions of views.
M. Kirin currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with their wife KITTY, gray cat IANTO, and the chinchilla twins POPOLA & DEVOLA.
Raised by two completely different countries, M. Kirin’s writing has its roots in the grounded personal conflict of the American novel as well as the magical realism of Mexican fiction. The works of M. Kirin are often about the clash between the fantastical and the mundane.
From their humble beginnings as an independent author, M. Kirin has been posting writing advice and inspiration on the internet. Their articles, blog posts, and videos have reached tens of thousands of aspiring authors and amassed millions of views.
M. Kirin currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with their wife KITTY, gray cat IANTO, and the chinchilla twins POPOLA & DEVOLA.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 26, 2015
I'm sorry to be the buzz killer here, but I have to speak up, because I really think that the former reviews here are a bit misleading.
This story had so much potential, especially when it comes to the theory of magic that is displayed and explained - sometimes way too much sometimes way too less. Furthermore interesting was the social system the this society is living and suffering in. One could have explored this more, but obviously this was just another tool for the setting.
As to the characters: I can see no depth here. The repetition of how the eyes show that they are far older than their apparent age is annoying, and apart from that both of them do not really show this experience in their behavior or decision. They are rather stubborn and childish than anything else.
At the end I was just annoyed, hoping that the climax of the story would reward me. But it didn't.
For me, this novel rather is a draft (especially because it's far too short!) and should be edited, so that the idea might live up to his full potential.
I feel bad for being so harsh, but I really am sorry that I read it, because this is one of those books with so much potential, very good ideas but bad execution. And that is especially unforgiving because the author presents himself as expert in storytelling on tumblr, YouTube and Patreon.
June 23, 2015
I am reluctant to call this a YA book. It was more like a middle school novella.
The world is not explained or developed enough. A shame cuz it's an interesting idea. This should have been elaborated on.
The characters are flat, one-dimensional, and cliche. Lucian is a young, attractive man who is wise beyond his years and running from his past. If I had a dime for every time I've seen this character.
Nearly half of the story's length is Lucian's inner thoughts. They skip all over the place and go in circles. Can't count how many times he referenced his past, which we are never told a whole lot of. Or how many times he thought about Johanna. This should have been heavily edited down.
The prose is very simple. It's alright if this is what Kirin was going for, but it was advertised on Tumblr as a YA story. It's not. My 13 year old brother is reading more advanced stuff than this.
I follow Kirin's writing advice blog on Tumblr and he gives good tips, so I was expecting more. A lot more, tbh. What bumps it up fro one star to two is the fact that I've read worse and the magic system seems neat (what little we know of it). Definitely disappointing. Not interested to see what happens later on in the series and unlikely to buy another book by him again.
The world is not explained or developed enough. A shame cuz it's an interesting idea. This should have been elaborated on.
The characters are flat, one-dimensional, and cliche. Lucian is a young, attractive man who is wise beyond his years and running from his past. If I had a dime for every time I've seen this character.
Nearly half of the story's length is Lucian's inner thoughts. They skip all over the place and go in circles. Can't count how many times he referenced his past, which we are never told a whole lot of. Or how many times he thought about Johanna. This should have been heavily edited down.
The prose is very simple. It's alright if this is what Kirin was going for, but it was advertised on Tumblr as a YA story. It's not. My 13 year old brother is reading more advanced stuff than this.
I follow Kirin's writing advice blog on Tumblr and he gives good tips, so I was expecting more. A lot more, tbh. What bumps it up fro one star to two is the fact that I've read worse and the magic system seems neat (what little we know of it). Definitely disappointing. Not interested to see what happens later on in the series and unlikely to buy another book by him again.
May 8, 2019
I was chuffed when I finally got my hands on one of these beauties lol and the only Bad thing I can say about it is ‘why are novellas so short? ‘ They are like little gems and treasures you only hold for a little while but they do earn a place in your memory of adventures.
What I really love about the style of writing is that its true to the core of how a story should be written. Relaxing to the brain and stripped from the fuss and chaos to puff up the book so that it looks ‘mundane’ and that is what I really like. It’s like a movie you read and you’re not left gasping for air or not on a verge of an overload which I quite like. I read to escape and that is what I did. I love the details and the flow of the story.
It exactly gave me more confidence now in my own writing as all you have to do is make the characters come alive and that’s it really.
It does say book 1 so I’m looking forward to meet Lucian again as I like the guy too. He dares to be a free spirit in a world with conditioning which I personally hate. Just be free, it’s your life!
What I really love about the style of writing is that its true to the core of how a story should be written. Relaxing to the brain and stripped from the fuss and chaos to puff up the book so that it looks ‘mundane’ and that is what I really like. It’s like a movie you read and you’re not left gasping for air or not on a verge of an overload which I quite like. I read to escape and that is what I did. I love the details and the flow of the story.
It exactly gave me more confidence now in my own writing as all you have to do is make the characters come alive and that’s it really.
It does say book 1 so I’m looking forward to meet Lucian again as I like the guy too. He dares to be a free spirit in a world with conditioning which I personally hate. Just be free, it’s your life!
April 26, 2020
A reread - I don't think I like it as much this time around, although it's been about 5 or 6 years so I don't really remember my previous thoughts. Still holding out hope that the sequel will finally come out.
July 4, 2015
I discovered M.Kirin on Tumblr a while ago. Their writing advice is pretty good for those that are just starting out. But to be honest, I feel like a writer can learn most of their writing stuff by just reading and writing obsessively. And then if you're truly stuck for some odd reason, then you can look up those tips. M. Kirin is pretty impressive, I watch their Youtube channel, and M.Kirin just puts a smile on your face and they write books like breathing air. Their Youtube channel consists of writing advice, Vlogs, and recently some gameplay. Like it's pretty darn impressive, they said they wrote 12 books in one of their videos? 12 books?!
So this is the first one I chose. Kirin only has three so novellas so far. They all fall into the fantasy genre as you can tell by the cover. The artwork is pretty impressive and is fitting for the story. One thing a lot of artists do is make a nice background and then put the ugliest font possible, I am not even kidding. I don't know how many times a self-published novel with great artwork has been ruined purely because somebody decided to put bright red Times New Roman font as the title. These guys managed not to do that.
Honestly, I don't have much to say because I'm not an avid reader of the fantasy genre. I gave up Game of Thrones, I didn't finish the first book of the Song of Ice and Fire series. Fantasy stories are hard to get into for me and I find myself losing interest especially if it recycles the same tropes. Every fantasy novel that I have read that is written in the English language recycles the same Western Eurocentric tropes of the Lord of the Rings and anything in the medieval times. And honestly, I'm a bit tired of elves, chivalrous knights, and wise wizards. Maybe, the fantasy genre just isn't for me anymore, since I read Cindy Pon 's Silver Phoenix and despite that it was fresh and new with Chinese mythology, it was still on the "meh," scale, but I consider it better than most fantasy novels I have read, such as Eragon. Recently, I have found that Pon is going to be finishing off the series with a third novel, so now I am considering finishing it off, just to see how it goes, and maybe grow a liking to the genre.
This novella was great due to its dialogue and managing not to recycle some fantasy tropes. But it still had magic and a lore, it's also a series, so there wasn't much world building. I noticed that the novella shared a lot of influences from Japanese RPGs. When I read this book, I immediately thought of Final Fantasy, Golden Sun, and maybe Xenoblade Chronicles if you want to stretch it a little more. And being a fan of video games and RPGs this was the most likable detail of this book. The world descriptions were beautiful and vivid. But the characters, unfortunately, were a bit flat too me. Despite, that I enjoyed certain aspects of this book, such as the whole setting and atmosphere, I grew tired of it towards the end.
It is enjoyable and fluffy, it's cute and quirky, but a tad bit too much like the angsty main character of the Japanese RPGs I played. And oddly enough, I am listening to SmoothMcGroove's acapella adaptation of one of the overworld tracks of Xenoblade Chronicles.
Ravensgem was enjoyable enough for me to continue the series and hope that maybe the sequel is better. I will admit that it was a tad bit forgettable but executed in a way that is fun and nostalgic due to the fact that it feels like an RPG game. I will definitely read Kirin's other works.
Rating: 3/5
Originally posted: http://wordsnotesandfiction.blogspot....
So this is the first one I chose. Kirin only has three so novellas so far. They all fall into the fantasy genre as you can tell by the cover. The artwork is pretty impressive and is fitting for the story. One thing a lot of artists do is make a nice background and then put the ugliest font possible, I am not even kidding. I don't know how many times a self-published novel with great artwork has been ruined purely because somebody decided to put bright red Times New Roman font as the title. These guys managed not to do that.
Honestly, I don't have much to say because I'm not an avid reader of the fantasy genre. I gave up Game of Thrones, I didn't finish the first book of the Song of Ice and Fire series. Fantasy stories are hard to get into for me and I find myself losing interest especially if it recycles the same tropes. Every fantasy novel that I have read that is written in the English language recycles the same Western Eurocentric tropes of the Lord of the Rings and anything in the medieval times. And honestly, I'm a bit tired of elves, chivalrous knights, and wise wizards. Maybe, the fantasy genre just isn't for me anymore, since I read Cindy Pon 's Silver Phoenix and despite that it was fresh and new with Chinese mythology, it was still on the "meh," scale, but I consider it better than most fantasy novels I have read, such as Eragon. Recently, I have found that Pon is going to be finishing off the series with a third novel, so now I am considering finishing it off, just to see how it goes, and maybe grow a liking to the genre.
This novella was great due to its dialogue and managing not to recycle some fantasy tropes. But it still had magic and a lore, it's also a series, so there wasn't much world building. I noticed that the novella shared a lot of influences from Japanese RPGs. When I read this book, I immediately thought of Final Fantasy, Golden Sun, and maybe Xenoblade Chronicles if you want to stretch it a little more. And being a fan of video games and RPGs this was the most likable detail of this book. The world descriptions were beautiful and vivid. But the characters, unfortunately, were a bit flat too me. Despite, that I enjoyed certain aspects of this book, such as the whole setting and atmosphere, I grew tired of it towards the end.
It is enjoyable and fluffy, it's cute and quirky, but a tad bit too much like the angsty main character of the Japanese RPGs I played. And oddly enough, I am listening to SmoothMcGroove's acapella adaptation of one of the overworld tracks of Xenoblade Chronicles.
Ravensgem was enjoyable enough for me to continue the series and hope that maybe the sequel is better. I will admit that it was a tad bit forgettable but executed in a way that is fun and nostalgic due to the fact that it feels like an RPG game. I will definitely read Kirin's other works.
Rating: 3/5
Originally posted: http://wordsnotesandfiction.blogspot....
July 29, 2017
I'm going to peg my rating at a 3.5.
Normally I'm not big on fantasy, but I loved the way magic was dealt with in this novella. It was a unique idea that had a logical set of rules and didn't overpower the story. Admittedly, there wasn't a lot of detail about the magic itself, but perhaps that will be expanded in the sequels. I think it's my favorite form of magic I've read in a fantasy book, except perhaps for the djinn in The Amulet of Samarkand.
I'm also not usually a fan of stories where the main character is running away from their past, but once again, I liked the way this element was executed. The running away aspect created conflict and allowed the reader to get to know the main character without bogging down the story.
I liked all the characters, though I felt like I didn't get to know them as well as I could have; there wasn't a lot of development, given the length of the story, and even now I'm slightly unsure about many of the characters' personalities.
The writing was clear and concise, and it was a breath of fresh air to read. There wasn't a ton of detail about the setting, which made it easy to get drawn into the world in which the story takes place. If this is a good or a bad thing really depends on the reader; personally, I liked the style of the work, and thought it was a nice change from conventional ya books.
However, getting more into the specifics, there was a fair amount of repetition in the writing itself. I felt like certain elements such as describing eyes, making reference to a mysterious past, etc etc, were overused.
While reading, I also noticed some convention errors, such as comma splices, two spelling errors, and occasionally, too many spaces between words.
However, I really liked the aesthetics of the physical novella. The cover artwork was beautiful and the overall design of the book was extremely nice.
Overall, I thought this book was a unique fantasy story, and I enjoyed reading it. I'll definitely keep an eye out for more of M. Kirin's work!
Normally I'm not big on fantasy, but I loved the way magic was dealt with in this novella. It was a unique idea that had a logical set of rules and didn't overpower the story. Admittedly, there wasn't a lot of detail about the magic itself, but perhaps that will be expanded in the sequels. I think it's my favorite form of magic I've read in a fantasy book, except perhaps for the djinn in The Amulet of Samarkand.
I'm also not usually a fan of stories where the main character is running away from their past, but once again, I liked the way this element was executed. The running away aspect created conflict and allowed the reader to get to know the main character without bogging down the story.
I liked all the characters, though I felt like I didn't get to know them as well as I could have; there wasn't a lot of development, given the length of the story, and even now I'm slightly unsure about many of the characters' personalities.
The writing was clear and concise, and it was a breath of fresh air to read. There wasn't a ton of detail about the setting, which made it easy to get drawn into the world in which the story takes place. If this is a good or a bad thing really depends on the reader; personally, I liked the style of the work, and thought it was a nice change from conventional ya books.
However, getting more into the specifics, there was a fair amount of repetition in the writing itself. I felt like certain elements such as describing eyes, making reference to a mysterious past, etc etc, were overused.
While reading, I also noticed some convention errors, such as comma splices, two spelling errors, and occasionally, too many spaces between words.
However, I really liked the aesthetics of the physical novella. The cover artwork was beautiful and the overall design of the book was extremely nice.
Overall, I thought this book was a unique fantasy story, and I enjoyed reading it. I'll definitely keep an eye out for more of M. Kirin's work!
December 12, 2014
A bit short, but that only really hampers the book in the sense that it doesn't allow the world to be developed much, which is a shame because this story has a really interesting magic system and lore. However, in saying that, the world-building we do get is done quite effectively and peaks the reader's curiosity, and we will (I hope) get to see this world broaden in the succeeding stories in this series.
The story itself works well within the length of pages; it is told mostly concise and straightforward, without filler or overtly drawn out passages. This does happen sometimes with the musings of the central character, in that sometimes it feels like he is repeating himself to us; but again, this only became a slight distraction in my reading, and certainly not enough for me to feel any real antagonism toward the writing.
The conflict is simple (I mean really what basic components of a story aren't) but examined interestingly through the central character; he is one who does not compromise his wants and values despite his romantic interests, which is refreshing to say the least. The antagonist also sticks to her values and desires, and is shown to be very human and understandable; you will find no black-white morality here, which if you are like me is as good a selling point as any.
On the whole good, interesting, and well executed, if at times a little clunky.
The story itself works well within the length of pages; it is told mostly concise and straightforward, without filler or overtly drawn out passages. This does happen sometimes with the musings of the central character, in that sometimes it feels like he is repeating himself to us; but again, this only became a slight distraction in my reading, and certainly not enough for me to feel any real antagonism toward the writing.
The conflict is simple (I mean really what basic components of a story aren't) but examined interestingly through the central character; he is one who does not compromise his wants and values despite his romantic interests, which is refreshing to say the least. The antagonist also sticks to her values and desires, and is shown to be very human and understandable; you will find no black-white morality here, which if you are like me is as good a selling point as any.
On the whole good, interesting, and well executed, if at times a little clunky.
September 21, 2014
Ravensgem pleasantly surpassed my expectations. I loved the depth of the characters and the easy flow of the story. Lucian is interesting and determined, even though it seems like everything starts out quite terribly for him and only gets worse as the story progresses, he didn't come across as whiny, which was something I appreciated. The overall tone and style of Ravensgem made this a fun read. I particularly loved the magic system, though--the idea of the rings--and the use of color! The detail with how black was worn by the most powerful of the nobility was amazing. All in all, I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews