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Gatewalkers #1
Keystone
Save the princess. Save the world.
Charlie knew it would be one of those days. Saturdays were always crowded at the mall's virtual reality arcade, but she never imagined it would end in being kidnapped by fairies and bitten by a vampire.
A pair of mischievous pixies have decided that Charlie is the hero who will save their world - whether she wants to or not.
To return to her own world Charlie must rescue a kidnapped princess and find the broken pieces of an ancient artifact. It also couldn't hurt to convince her vampire guide that he doesn't want to defect to the enemy horde. Staying alive would be a nice bonus too.
It was one of those days. But this time, the monsters were real.
Charlie knew it would be one of those days. Saturdays were always crowded at the mall's virtual reality arcade, but she never imagined it would end in being kidnapped by fairies and bitten by a vampire.
A pair of mischievous pixies have decided that Charlie is the hero who will save their world - whether she wants to or not.
To return to her own world Charlie must rescue a kidnapped princess and find the broken pieces of an ancient artifact. It also couldn't hurt to convince her vampire guide that he doesn't want to defect to the enemy horde. Staying alive would be a nice bonus too.
It was one of those days. But this time, the monsters were real.
- GenresFantasy
ebook
First published December 21, 2012
460 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Frederickson
11 books25 followersAmanda Frederickson holds a B.F.A. in Creative Writing and Communications, was a quarter finalist in the Writers of the Future contest, and has published several pieces of short fiction. Keystone is her debut novel.
She blames most of this on her fantastically artistic mother, who encouraged her love of reading from an early age and let her answer questions like "How was your day?" with tales of fairies and troll invasions of the preschool. She completed her first novel length manuscript in fifth grade. The subsequent intrusion of something called the "real world" is being slowly and methodically thrown out the window in favor of her first loves: reading and writing fantastic stories.
She blames most of this on her fantastically artistic mother, who encouraged her love of reading from an early age and let her answer questions like "How was your day?" with tales of fairies and troll invasions of the preschool. She completed her first novel length manuscript in fifth grade. The subsequent intrusion of something called the "real world" is being slowly and methodically thrown out the window in favor of her first loves: reading and writing fantastic stories.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 3, 2015
3.5
Let me start this review by saying how disappointed I am in this book. It has a wonderfully spunky heroine, a sexy hero, a dangerous antagonist, an engaging quest-based plot, a lot of humour and a whole host of fun side characters. What it does not have, is an ending. Worse than that, it doesn't even pretend that it does. There is NO attempt at a wrap-up or winding down of the plot before breaking for the next book. The book just literally ends out of nowhere.
Now, it's 200+ pages long, so it's an appropriate length. But it still feels exactly like someone handed me the first 200 pages of a 400 page book and then denied me the rest. And a denial it is, since there isn't a second book yet. Someone tell me why authors feel the need to publish half novels? Is it impatience? I enjoyed reading this, but consider it a COMPLETE waste of my time. I don't like bothering with stories I'll NEVER see the end of.
Of what there is...I really enjoyed the silliness here. There are a few funny pop references. The characters are witty and largely unflappable, the writing is pretty good and the story itself is interesting. Unfortunately, it's a relatively complex one. There are a fair number of characters, some history and two different worlds, both of which are only minimally sketched out. For example, Charlie is apparently from some earth-like world in what resembles out near future. It's not clarified, but it must be near enough for Twilight jokes to still be relevant, but far enough in the future for virtual reality arcades and ultra-pocket computers to be developed, not to mention open acceptance of garish hair colours.
I also thought that the romance was clumsily done. The reader isn't given any clues about it until suddenly Charlie is endangered and something in Rhys 'snaps.' I thought they were a good match, but the author seems to have depended on the predictability of the relationship to situate it, instead of allowing it to develop.
I'm rounding the rating up simply because I did enjoy what I read and a three would be too miserly for the quality of the writing and the bones of the story. But a four is also more than it deserves for having set up soooo many threads and then just walked away and left them ALL hanging without conclusion. But since 1/2 stars aren't allowed I was forced to choose one way or the other.
Let me start this review by saying how disappointed I am in this book. It has a wonderfully spunky heroine, a sexy hero, a dangerous antagonist, an engaging quest-based plot, a lot of humour and a whole host of fun side characters. What it does not have, is an ending. Worse than that, it doesn't even pretend that it does. There is NO attempt at a wrap-up or winding down of the plot before breaking for the next book. The book just literally ends out of nowhere.
Now, it's 200+ pages long, so it's an appropriate length. But it still feels exactly like someone handed me the first 200 pages of a 400 page book and then denied me the rest. And a denial it is, since there isn't a second book yet. Someone tell me why authors feel the need to publish half novels? Is it impatience? I enjoyed reading this, but consider it a COMPLETE waste of my time. I don't like bothering with stories I'll NEVER see the end of.
Of what there is...I really enjoyed the silliness here. There are a few funny pop references. The characters are witty and largely unflappable, the writing is pretty good and the story itself is interesting. Unfortunately, it's a relatively complex one. There are a fair number of characters, some history and two different worlds, both of which are only minimally sketched out. For example, Charlie is apparently from some earth-like world in what resembles out near future. It's not clarified, but it must be near enough for Twilight jokes to still be relevant, but far enough in the future for virtual reality arcades and ultra-pocket computers to be developed, not to mention open acceptance of garish hair colours.
I also thought that the romance was clumsily done. The reader isn't given any clues about it until suddenly Charlie is endangered and something in Rhys 'snaps.' I thought they were a good match, but the author seems to have depended on the predictability of the relationship to situate it, instead of allowing it to develop.
I'm rounding the rating up simply because I did enjoy what I read and a three would be too miserly for the quality of the writing and the bones of the story. But a four is also more than it deserves for having set up soooo many threads and then just walked away and left them ALL hanging without conclusion. But since 1/2 stars aren't allowed I was forced to choose one way or the other.
July 2, 2013
I'm enjoying the book -about two-thirds finished. The author is having to spend a lot of time creating the backdrop for the story since this is the first in a planned trilogy. Sometimes I am overwhelmed with the amount of description of places and characters and wish the plot moved a bit faster.
Update-I finished yesterday and I was sad it was over. It took me a bit to get into the story, but I am really interested in seeing what happens next with these characters. It's a very reach world that Frederickson has created and I want to know more.
Update-I finished yesterday and I was sad it was over. It took me a bit to get into the story, but I am really interested in seeing what happens next with these characters. It's a very reach world that Frederickson has created and I want to know more.
July 2, 2013
loved this book it was awesome
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2013
Great read, original story, funny!
January 21, 2020
Some cute ideas, but the writing is not very good. DNF.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews