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Last Prophecy #0.5
The Hidden Monastery
Captain Katarina Salisbury of the airship the Iron Lady and propaganda tool for the Illisian government, has been given a very simple assignment; to go and rescue villagers threatened with avalanches in the far southern Drezusk Mountains.
With unwelcome nobles on her vessel, diminishing part of her fame and good press from the venture, she is determined to do her duty and be done with them as quickly as possible.
They destroy an avalanche within reach of the village on their first day in the valley.
Except the fall of the avalanche reveals something beneath the tumbling snow and rock; a hidden monastery of a dead religion, never seen before this far south on the Illisian continent.
It’s stone doors are opened to reveal a secret, and something malicious moves in the shadows, to keep that secret.
Captain Katarina Salisbury is drawn to the monastery, she struggles against forces that would stop her. As the weather worsens she is forced to make choices for herself and the future of the Iron Lady .
143 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 8, 2016
15 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
E.J. Dawson
8 books126 followersBeginning a writing journey with an epic 21 book series, Ejay started her author career in 2014 and has taken on the ups and downs of self-publishing with her fantasy series The Last Prophecy since 2016. At the start of 2019, she put the series on the backburner to write Behind the Veil in 25 days, and signed a publishing contract for the gothic noir novel to independent publisher Literary Wanderlust. She resumed self-publishing a scifi series, Queen of Spades released across 2020 and 2021, as well as signing another contract with Literary Wanderlust for NA fantasy, Echo of the Evercry. Believing in more than one path to a career in publishing, Ejay pursues self-publishing alongside querying traditional publishers with multiple manuscripts.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 3, 2017
Good Start to a Promising Series
Dawson has some surprisingly good concepts in this initial volume of a promising series. I look forward to reading more.
Dawson has some surprisingly good concepts in this initial volume of a promising series. I look forward to reading more.
January 10, 2016
This book isn't written about our world, but it is a complete world. It has history, it has politics, it has airships! A lot of thought has gone into the story of this world and the people in it, and it shows. There is plenty of well-written action, scenes that keep you engaged and keep you worried about the characters (this isn't a book where nobody can die). But what really makes this book are the characters. Everyone has their own voice, has their own story, and they all have reasons for doing what they're doing. You don't have to like them to understand why they're behaving the way they are.
Captain Katarina Salisbury is in charge of her airship, and is on a fairly routine mission (if blowing up avalanches before they're a real problem can be counted as routine). Turns out that her mission isn't so routine after all... As one of the main characters, Katarina is easy to relate to (after all, haven't we all been put in charge of an airship at a young age?) She isn't a superwoman, but an ordinary person stuck in rather extraordinary circumstances.
Overall, an enjoyable and fun read. There is a hint (or more) of mystery, a splash of adventure, and an ending that leaves the reader hanging for the next in the series!
Captain Katarina Salisbury is in charge of her airship, and is on a fairly routine mission (if blowing up avalanches before they're a real problem can be counted as routine). Turns out that her mission isn't so routine after all... As one of the main characters, Katarina is easy to relate to (after all, haven't we all been put in charge of an airship at a young age?) She isn't a superwoman, but an ordinary person stuck in rather extraordinary circumstances.
Overall, an enjoyable and fun read. There is a hint (or more) of mystery, a splash of adventure, and an ending that leaves the reader hanging for the next in the series!
October 17, 2017
The descriptions of the ships and the clothes were very detailed, making it easy to visualize a world of airships and glaciers. The heroine on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired, besides being a desirable young lady. The author lets us know far more about her undergarments and attractive attitude than her as a character.
The plot is very slow and the downtime is not filled with moments of introspection as a smart author would do. The constant staling because of the travel preparations and the bad weather are not there to leave room for the characters to open up to each other and by extension the reader, but rather just for pointing out how dealing with glaciers is a very taxing and dangerous job.
The plot has to do with finding an ancient monastery buried in snow during a routine mission, which enrages the local population, as they believe the heroine unearthed something very harmful. It could be interesting to see them getting mad in front of her but the reaction is kept out of screen and we only have someone telling her all about it. In fact, we never get to see the peasants, since they evacuate the village soon afterwards. This makes the crisis distant and uninteresting despite its severity.
After that it’s a race against time, as they have to find clues for the fountain of youth before the next avalanche buries everything and everyone. It sounds exciting but the execution is fairly dull, as they are mostly talking about the weather and the terrain than actually doing something about it. At one point, someone is attacked by a tiger and we don’t even see it, as it’s just described to us after it’s over. The tiger appears again towards the end and even then it’s an almost lifeless battle despite having casualties.
The author relies too much on telling rather than showing to the point even life threatening situations feel boring. She should have invested more pages on fleshing out the characters and making the reader care about them, instead of talking almost entirely about flying ships, snow, and wooly undergarments.
The plot is very slow and the downtime is not filled with moments of introspection as a smart author would do. The constant staling because of the travel preparations and the bad weather are not there to leave room for the characters to open up to each other and by extension the reader, but rather just for pointing out how dealing with glaciers is a very taxing and dangerous job.
The plot has to do with finding an ancient monastery buried in snow during a routine mission, which enrages the local population, as they believe the heroine unearthed something very harmful. It could be interesting to see them getting mad in front of her but the reaction is kept out of screen and we only have someone telling her all about it. In fact, we never get to see the peasants, since they evacuate the village soon afterwards. This makes the crisis distant and uninteresting despite its severity.
After that it’s a race against time, as they have to find clues for the fountain of youth before the next avalanche buries everything and everyone. It sounds exciting but the execution is fairly dull, as they are mostly talking about the weather and the terrain than actually doing something about it. At one point, someone is attacked by a tiger and we don’t even see it, as it’s just described to us after it’s over. The tiger appears again towards the end and even then it’s an almost lifeless battle despite having casualties.
The author relies too much on telling rather than showing to the point even life threatening situations feel boring. She should have invested more pages on fleshing out the characters and making the reader care about them, instead of talking almost entirely about flying ships, snow, and wooly undergarments.
October 16, 2018
Katarina Salisbury, an aristocrat from Osborn, is awarded the position of Captain on her airship, the Iron Lady, at the age of twenty-two, upon graduation from a military academy. Katarina, “the propaganda tool of the Illisian government, the regime that governed the day to day necessities of the twenty-two city-state provinces across Illisia”, has received wide publicity on her adventures, but they are being embellished and engineered by the Illisian authorities to garner good press.
On her new assignment, she sets sail to the Drezusk Mountains to rescue villagers from the potential catastrophe of an avalanche. She knows what’s at stake. One misstep may tumble her career. Katarina isn’t too pleased to have civilians Lord and Lady Lindon on board to cash in on her good fame, ‘her greatness’. Carrying a dangerous load of dynamite on this trip, she has the help of Mr. Callbright, a science officer from one of the mining companies. Also onboard is the crew, the Meltons, Master Wellsy, the Requisitions Officer, Second Officer Warren Galloway, four additional scientists, the resident archaeologist and historian Professor Christopher Medliff, Boolths, two military personnel Simmons and Fencher, chef Stephniewska, Doctor Alexander Novar. Other characters include Commander Patrick Ederyth, Mayor Kelsey of Draycott, Una one of the vets, and Captain Hannin.
In blowing up the avalanche threatening the village of Bredon, “a doorway into the mountain” is revealed. Why are cat-like statues guarding the entrance to the monastery? What is the meaning of the rune? What secrets are hidden there?
E. J. Dawson crafts a tale of mystery and suspense that leaves you wanting more!
On her new assignment, she sets sail to the Drezusk Mountains to rescue villagers from the potential catastrophe of an avalanche. She knows what’s at stake. One misstep may tumble her career. Katarina isn’t too pleased to have civilians Lord and Lady Lindon on board to cash in on her good fame, ‘her greatness’. Carrying a dangerous load of dynamite on this trip, she has the help of Mr. Callbright, a science officer from one of the mining companies. Also onboard is the crew, the Meltons, Master Wellsy, the Requisitions Officer, Second Officer Warren Galloway, four additional scientists, the resident archaeologist and historian Professor Christopher Medliff, Boolths, two military personnel Simmons and Fencher, chef Stephniewska, Doctor Alexander Novar. Other characters include Commander Patrick Ederyth, Mayor Kelsey of Draycott, Una one of the vets, and Captain Hannin.
In blowing up the avalanche threatening the village of Bredon, “a doorway into the mountain” is revealed. Why are cat-like statues guarding the entrance to the monastery? What is the meaning of the rune? What secrets are hidden there?
E. J. Dawson crafts a tale of mystery and suspense that leaves you wanting more!
April 15, 2023
A fun adventure with a charming main character.
I'll definitely be reading the other books of the series.
I'll definitely be reading the other books of the series.
November 13, 2016
A novella, so good reading length but not taxing.
The airship the Iron Lady has been sent out by their government to do some more Visible Good in the area, promoting interest in military service by Captain Katarina Salisbury being dashing and attractive as she performs her work.
Aware of her role to be propaganda and beginning to chafe at it, her position becomes more annoying when she's forced to babysit some minor nobles who want to be seen Doing Good also.
The current assignment is to carefully set off explosions along the mountain lines to cause minor avalanches and prevent larger, catastrophic ones. Talk to some locals and move them out of the way, get thanked for doing such a great job, move on.
But when they talk to the locals and tell them that during one minor rockfall they set off they discovered some markers and very old writing, instead of getting thanked they get death glares, and the ungrateful locals move their whole town populace off down the mountain away from them.
It's an interesting book with tricky pacing. For something that's primarily an action book more than an introspective one, there's a lot of waiting. Delays while they're forced to wait for the weather to clear, which I hoped might be filled with details of the day to day fantasy world because I like that sort of thing, but was mostly just making me aware of the passage of time without moving the story forward much.
But the things that do happen are good, and I'm intrigued to find out answers to some mysteries. Will check out the next book.
The airship the Iron Lady has been sent out by their government to do some more Visible Good in the area, promoting interest in military service by Captain Katarina Salisbury being dashing and attractive as she performs her work.
Aware of her role to be propaganda and beginning to chafe at it, her position becomes more annoying when she's forced to babysit some minor nobles who want to be seen Doing Good also.
The current assignment is to carefully set off explosions along the mountain lines to cause minor avalanches and prevent larger, catastrophic ones. Talk to some locals and move them out of the way, get thanked for doing such a great job, move on.
But when they talk to the locals and tell them that during one minor rockfall they set off they discovered some markers and very old writing, instead of getting thanked they get death glares, and the ungrateful locals move their whole town populace off down the mountain away from them.
It's an interesting book with tricky pacing. For something that's primarily an action book more than an introspective one, there's a lot of waiting. Delays while they're forced to wait for the weather to clear, which I hoped might be filled with details of the day to day fantasy world because I like that sort of thing, but was mostly just making me aware of the passage of time without moving the story forward much.
But the things that do happen are good, and I'm intrigued to find out answers to some mysteries. Will check out the next book.
March 29, 2016
A steam powered airship named the "Iron Lady", flown by Captain Kat. The only problem is she needs more stories. Fun read.
Captain Katarina Salisbury of the airship the Iron Lady and propaganda tool for the Illisian government, has been given a very simple assignment; to go and rescue villagers threatened with avalanches in the far southern Drezusk Mountains.
With unwelcome nobles on her vessel, diminishing part of her fame and good press from the venture, she is determined to do her duty and be done with them as quickly as possible.
They destroy an avalanche within reach of the village on their first day in the valley.
Except the fall of the avalanche reveals something beneath the tumbling snow and rock; a hidden monastery of a dead religion, never seen before this far south on the Illisian continent.
It’s stone doors are opened to reveal a secret, and something malicious moves in the shadows, to keep that secret.
Captain Katarina Salisbury is drawn to the monastery, she struggles against forces that would stop her. As the weather worsens she is forced to make choices for herself and the future of the Iron Lady .
Captain Katarina Salisbury of the airship the Iron Lady and propaganda tool for the Illisian government, has been given a very simple assignment; to go and rescue villagers threatened with avalanches in the far southern Drezusk Mountains.
With unwelcome nobles on her vessel, diminishing part of her fame and good press from the venture, she is determined to do her duty and be done with them as quickly as possible.
They destroy an avalanche within reach of the village on their first day in the valley.
Except the fall of the avalanche reveals something beneath the tumbling snow and rock; a hidden monastery of a dead religion, never seen before this far south on the Illisian continent.
It’s stone doors are opened to reveal a secret, and something malicious moves in the shadows, to keep that secret.
Captain Katarina Salisbury is drawn to the monastery, she struggles against forces that would stop her. As the weather worsens she is forced to make choices for herself and the future of the Iron Lady .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2016
The Hidden Monastery is an epic, fantasy novella filled with politics and intrigue. The story is set in a richly conceived universe with airships that sail the mountainous terrain (there’s even a great map of it the author’s included!) . The characters are compelling and I thought each had great development as the story progressed. Katarina was a welcome departure from other female characters in the genre. She’s strong, smart and completely relatable. Action filled and fast paced, this story was a delight to read from start to finish. The characters share rapid fire dialogue that is really believable. The book is both hopeful and harrowing and I pray there is more of it to come. Also, I think this would be great to read with a young person (especially female). Although some scenes are violent, the themes and relationships would be beneficial to a young reader.
January 27, 2016
This is the author's first publication and it is a very easy to read book. The book feels like a cross between the Mummy movie (don't worry, no evil sorcerer in this book) and Star Trek.
This is the first book and it lays down the background (I wish there was more though but that might have gotten in the way off the story) and introduces the quest the crew of the airship will embark on in the next book.
Writing wise, it is an easy read. Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend it if you like the steampunk genre.
This is the first book and it lays down the background (I wish there was more though but that might have gotten in the way off the story) and introduces the quest the crew of the airship will embark on in the next book.
Writing wise, it is an easy read. Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend it if you like the steampunk genre.
August 12, 2016
A quick and enjoyable read. Looking forward to the next story in this
A quick and enjoyable read. Looking forward to the next story in this series. Interesting concept I am wondering what is next for our intrepid captain.
A quick and enjoyable read. Looking forward to the next story in this series. Interesting concept I am wondering what is next for our intrepid captain.
January 14, 2016
This is great book i am really happy with this book it's really great and fantastic book.
i will complete this book today also recommended to everyone for reading this book.
i will complete this book today also recommended to everyone for reading this book.
March 12, 2016
Entertaining yarn
Certainly good enough that I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Kat is more human than I expected.
Certainly good enough that I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Kat is more human than I expected.
December 20, 2016
Great start to the series. Combines the introduction of a new world with an exciting story well.
March 25, 2017
The basic story of The Hidden Monastery is very interesting! Captain Katarina Salisbury and her Iron Lady are under great pressure to create propaganda and make sure the public finds entertainment in her missions. Yet she is still a great captain, attentive to her crew, and very smart.
Unfortunately the plot takes a bit too long to move forward for me. I know some people like to read about strategy and the logistics of solving a problem, but it wasn't enough to really keep my interest for the first two thirds of the book, and I had to push through some of it. I wanted to hear more about the insidious force, which I didn't get to see enough of in my opinion, and the characters, and less about the plan with the glacier, the excavating, and the translating.
I really enjoyed the last 10% of the book when all of the research and planning and observations finally came to a head. Lots of action towards the end, and I was really interested to see where it was all going. The writing was done well and the descriptions were very good. I would just have liked more plot movement and action earlier in the book.
Alise Miller of AA Miller, authors of the upcoming Guardian Lights book series
www.guardianlightsbook.com
Unfortunately the plot takes a bit too long to move forward for me. I know some people like to read about strategy and the logistics of solving a problem, but it wasn't enough to really keep my interest for the first two thirds of the book, and I had to push through some of it. I wanted to hear more about the insidious force, which I didn't get to see enough of in my opinion, and the characters, and less about the plan with the glacier, the excavating, and the translating.
I really enjoyed the last 10% of the book when all of the research and planning and observations finally came to a head. Lots of action towards the end, and I was really interested to see where it was all going. The writing was done well and the descriptions were very good. I would just have liked more plot movement and action earlier in the book.
Alise Miller of AA Miller, authors of the upcoming Guardian Lights book series
www.guardianlightsbook.com
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews