Mother of Creation

The Creation Saga #1

by Amanda J. McGee

Not all that is right comes from the gods. Sometimes, they demand much that is wrong. Liana and her twin are an anomaly at the heart of a kingdom bound by unyielding tradition. The crown princess is the first female marked as Herkun’s heir, and her existence has unfortunate consequences. When her uncle leads a coup with the intent to kill her, Liana and her twin brother are spirited away to a place where not even the stars are the same. Lost and alone, with only her father’s pact with a foreign goddess to guide her, Liana must decide whom she can trust. Time is running short, and the will of the gods is all.

Mother of Creation is an epic fantasy that tells the story of the coming of age of a royal heir, a brother’s quest to save his sister, the machinations of the son of a god, a blind oracle’s dreams, and the struggles of an ordinary soldier.

Genres: Fantasy

228 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 11, 2014

About the author

Amanda lives in Southwest Virginia with the love of her life and numerous plants. Her hobbies include hiking, growing things, cooking, baking, reading, and writing. These last two she attempts to do every day. When in doubt, she believes in consulting her mother. Luckily for her, she does not always do what her mother says. In general, she believes tea cures all ills.

Reviews

[Shantal Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title: Mother of Creation
Author: Amanda McGee
B&N: (Paperback) $10.99, (Nook) $2.99
Pages: 279
Rating:

Synopsis:
Not all that is right comes from the gods.
Sometimes, they demand much that is wrong.
Liana and her twin are an anomaly at the heart of a kingdom bound by unyielding tradition. The crown princess is the first female marked as Herkun's heir, and her existence has unfortunate consequences. When her uncle leads a coup with the intent to kill her, Liana and her twin brother are spirited away to a place where not even the stars are the same. Lost and alone, with only her father's pact with a foreign goddess to guide her, Liana must decide whom she can trust. Time is running short, and the will of the gods is all.
Mother of Creation is an epic fantasy that tells the story of the coming of age of a royal heir, a brother's quest to save his sister, the machinations of the son of a god, a blind oracle's dreams, and the struggles of an ordinary soldier.
Review:
¡Hola Vixens!

Soo… Let’s get right to it, I’m kind of a semi fan of Mother of Creation but not all the way. My foremost problem with this read is that it had too many POV’s for me to keep up, (I have a very short attention span y’all), although I did not favor the different POV’s the continual flow in between them was clear and concise. McGee’s development of her characters was flawless most of them having had a background which explained their presence now, which brings me to my second issue. I would have like to have read more about the twin’s uncle. All we know about Lord Drummond is that he is a traitor to the crown and almost had his niece and nephew killed. I would like to have known (other than the heir was a girl) why he felt such animosity towards his brother. My attention problems aside, I did enjoy Liana and Liander’s story; having to overcome traitor’s people and making new unsuspecting allies and equally as many enemies is a hard thing for anyone to take in, let alone at the tender age of 15. Sadly (because of the whole attention thing) I gave this book a 3 out of 5 hearts, but Mother of Creation still makes it on to my top ten list of favs.

[Gates Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most interesting books I have read in a while. The story of Liana, Liander and Jei was well written and kept me engaged throughout. The characters were well developed, the plot fast paced. I am interested to see where the next book in the series takes me.

[Sheina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start of an intriguing tale of Liana, Liander and Jei. Fighting what fate has decreed and trying to find their own place in history.

I look forward to reading the next book.

[JamalT · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not expect to tag this as a horror novel when I started, but I'm happy to do so. This novel has a fairly traditional fantasy opening, but it as it progresses, it develops some creeping, truly horrific moments. The slow shift as things become more frightening made those scenes all the more impactful. There's also a balance of big-scale existential horror and smaller, intimate horror. The ending reminded me a little bit of Shirley Jackson, although I don't want to say exactly what and spoil anything, but in terms of paranoia and tension, it was excellent. Beyond that, the writing is very good, managing to world build and develop these characters and religions/cultures without ever getting heavy. A lot happens in about 200 pages.

The story is a nuanced and mature, and I thought the author handled some particularly dark ideas extremely well. I really liked the multiple perspectives; I didn't find it confusing or hard to follow. It helps that the chapters focus on defining each POV character by their social roles--but almost all of them lose those roles as the story progresses. This is a story about change, and it's interesting that the character I found most clearly villainous was also the one who never truly strayed from their prescribed role. I found the relationships between the characters to be nuanced and constantly changing, which helped keep tension in pretty much every storyline.

My main criticisms would be:
(a) I wish there were a few more character-focused scenes in the village. Although I do think there's enough written, and I recognise adding more might slow down the overall story, as I read, I thought to myself that I wanted a little more time spent on certain moments/dynamic shifts to flesh them out a little more.

(b) One of the scenes involves our blind character, and there's so much happening in the scene that it's hard to follow. It becomes clear, and the implications are really horrific and stuck with me, but in the moment it was hard to understand exactly what was happening to/around the character.

(c) Although I liked all of the POV characters, one of them has a plot that involves a lot of sitting and being bored. And I get that's the point, but it did slow down my reading a little.

It's a good thing when I'd like more of a story. I don't really want to spoil what happens for anyone reading, otherwise I'd go into more detail on how certain topics are handled, but this was gripping, and an exciting start of a series. I'm curious to see what will happen in the next book, because based on this first novel, it's going to be a wild ride.

[K.R. Gastreich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mother of Creation presents a beautifully imagined world. The prose is dark, lyrical and engrossing. McGee is a gifted writer and I very much look forward to seeing more from her as an author. The story fell short for me when, about a third of the way through the novel, all of the main characters lost their agency. One character was trapped in a small attic; the others confined to a remote village where they either acquiesced to their fate or, in the case of one who appeared to exhibit some (very brutal) agency, were later revealed to be under the control of the gods. As a result, the reader has the sense that the characters actually moving things - for example, the king's brother, the goddess of the lake, the daughter of the horse master - are hidden from our eyes. We are trapped in the attic too, and so don't get to experience the broader reality of this intriguing world. It makes for a frustrating read, exacerbated by the fact that some truly terrible things happen to this cast of likable but powerless characters. That being said, I was never disappointed enough to be turned away entirely. I recommend Mother of Creation for all readers of dark and lyrical fantasy.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Mother of Creation, in part because it surprised me. When you read extensively in a genre your entire life, it becomes harder to find that level of surprise when reading. But every time I thought I knew what type of book this was or where it was going, the tables shifted. And they did so in a well-written, well-plotted way that made sense — McGee foreshadowed cleverly, so while the reader is surprised, they are rarely disjointed.

Mother of Creation is an epic fantasy with multiple points of view, including Liana and Liander, royal twins facing the aftermath of betrayal; Jei, warrior and son of a goddess; Nicola, a seer; and Bertrun, an honest guard captain thrown suddenly into a world of intrigue. McGee does a good job with chapter titles to indicate which POV is up to bat, and I didn’t find the transitions confusing at all. I enjoyed seeing the larger story play out across people of such diverse backgrounds, motivations and societal levels. I also enjoyed the way McGee balanced light and darkness, cruelty and hope, throughout the story.

I was sick with the flu when I started reading Mother of Creation, and that coupled with the multiple third-person limited POV made this a book I savored slowly over the course of about 1.5 weeks. And I enjoyed it the entire time. The pacing was nice, with a fast burst to hook you in the beginning, some enjoyable slower pacing in the middle, and quickened pacing toward the end.

Who would I recommend this book to? Readers who enjoy epic fantasy would likely enjoy this book. I’d personally recommend it to older teens and adults. If you’re looking for something with new takes on familiar fantasy tropes or a story that digs deep and isn’t afraid to peer into dark places, Mother of Creation may be for you.

This is the first book in a series, and it does end on a cliffhanger. Almost literally so. I’m looking forward to reading the second.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book I have read by the author, and I have to say I am pleased.
The world building is much better, and the characters are very interesting. It did get a little confusing going between the different characters points of view, but not so confusing as to warp the continuity of the storyline.
I have to say, I think the most interesting characters were the Seer and the Captain. Many epic fantasy stories involving royalty tend to just focus on the important leaders, but these characters were just thrust into their situations, and yet serve as big players.
It was interesting to see they relationship between the twins Liana and Liander, and how Liana's mark affects their circumstances. Liana is a very strong character, but I wish we got a little more into Liander's head.
Jei was interesting, because I liked him at the beginning, but slowly his selfishness came to the forefront, and then I just became angry with him. It did throw me for a loop, and I find that interesting.
This story ended on one hell of a cliffhanger, and I can't wait to read what happens next!