Redstone

The Ammolite Adventures #2

by C.E. Johnson

Delve deeper into the captivating world of The Ammolite Adventures with Redstone, an enthralling sequel that unveils new layers of mystery and adventure. Join Emily as she embarks on an epic quest across the enchanting realm of Acacia, where danger and magic intertwine.

Having crossed the portal to Acacia in Bluestone, Emily now finds herself within the grand walls of Angkor, a magnificent castle nestled amidst this parallel world. Mounted on the awe-inspiring Bronte, a horse of impressive prowess, she sets out on a journey like no other. Accompanied by Pendon, a wise and reliable companion, Emily's path is fraught with challenges and discoveries.

In her quest for knowledge and self-discovery, Emily aspires to become a powerful mage, capable of harnessing the depths of magic within her. Her determination to unlock her true potential propels her forward, despite the looming presence of Cyril—an archmage with dark intentions. Cyril's enigmatic influence adds an air of mystery and suspense to Emily's adventure, testing her resolve and resilience.

As Emily's powers grow and her destiny unfolds, she sets her sights on a prestigious school of magic located on the mysterious Island of Bashan. Here, she must undergo a series of trials that will test her mettle and push her abilities to their limits. Alongside her loyal bondsmate, Xena, Emily strives to master the arcane arts and emerge as a force to be reckoned with.

Redstone immerses readers in a world where magic reigns supreme and danger lurks around every corner. With its compelling blend of mystery, adventure, and the timeless themes of self-discovery and resilience, this captivating novel appeals to readers of all ages. Join Emily on her spellbinding journey as she unravels secrets, forms unbreakable bonds, and confronts the forces that threaten to shatter her dreams.

Genres: Fantasy

578 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2016

Reviews

[Stjepan Cobets · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a reader, I really enjoyed the fantastic world of “Acacia” that created the writer C. E. Johnson, a world that is woven of magic where the mighty dragons ruler from the shadows that hold the balance of the world Acacia. In this world through the portal from Earth comes fourteen-year-old Emily Whayne. Emily was like a little baby left at their foster parents with a cryptic message in the cradle. Emily was like a little baby left at their foster parents with an encrypted message in the cradle. The man who left the Dr. Andrew Dalton who became her godfather and mentor on Earth, and he told her the truth about her, the origin. Before he could tell Emily all about her origins; Dr. Dalton kidnapped paramilitary organization "Blacksky" of the CIA, which explores people with mental powers. But before he was kidnapped Dr. D gives her instructions on how to find a portal for Acacia and instructed to go to Magic School to the Island of Bashan. Emily was fascinated with the world Acacia and their fantastic residents. Although unprepared for the task to learn all about magic on its way to the island of Bashan they will encounter enemies who will want to kill her. Emily will have to find allies who will help her to reach the magical school. An adventure that she follows will reveal many secrets that she did not know and expose the enemies who want to dominate the entire Acacia. I enjoyed reading this book because the author with elegant style introduced the world full of secrets and fantastic creatures that inhabit the planet Acacia. The book I would recommend to all fans of fantasy because the world in which the story is set is beautiful and wonderful. As I read with ease I could imagine all areas and characters that are described in the book.
"I received a free copy from the author without an obligation to review."

[H.M. Christi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is certainly deserving of the solid 5 star rating that it has! I have been trying to finish this book for days but my schedule just wouldn’t allow and tonight was stormy, and turned out to be a perfect free night to get lost in this awesome read! Emily is a beautiful, brilliant and talented young girl determined to do it all and has the powers to complete the mission! This novel is so well developed and I absolutely loved every one of the characters that I grew to know very well!
I stayed highly engaged throughout the entire read and LOVED the creativeness within the pages, it was full of vivid imagery and textual scenery that allowed to me to just lose myself in the magic, illusion, the fantasy. I loved following Emily on her journey and getting to know all those she encountered on the way. Dragons, elves, magicians…..action packed, great plot and very well written!
I highly recommend you grab a copy and dive in!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The continuing adventures of Emily kept me enthralled from the first page to the last. Being able to join her on her journey to another world to find out who she truly is was fascinating to me. I laughed with her, cried with her, and held my breath in anticipation at critical moments within the story. I hope that Emily’s story continues to be told as she is very relatable for a character that lives such an unordinary life. The book’s conclusion simply left me wanting more and caring what happens to Emily next on her journey of self- awareness.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I, a 12 year old boy (6th grader), previously read The Ammolite Adventures Bluestone (volume 1) and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a perfect combination of science fiction and fantasy. Earlier this month, it came to my attention that The Ammolite Adventures Redsone (volume 2) was on the shelves so I asked my parents to purchase the book for me. The first volume was certainly a great read; the second volume was seriously an even better one! I took it on our road trip from Austin, TX to Panama City Beach, FL and never put it down. To all my Middle School friends, add the books of C.E. Johnson to your list of summer break reads. They will give you hours of pure reading pleasure. I am a total fan of this newly discovered author and hope to see much more of him in the future.

[Steve Pillinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! The unexpected plot twists in this second volume in Ammolite Adventures are a delightful surprise.

As with the first book Bluestone there are places where it could have been better edited—careless errors and poor word-choices—and one prolonged section of exposition/explanation that would have been better broken up with action or dialogue. But these are minor blemishes that don't detract from the overall story.

I will definutely be reading all the stories in this series.

[Madison Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Sequel

So many things happened in this story I didn't expect at all! I also felt so many emotions as Emily went back and forth between worlds.

Most of the story takes place in Acacia and the ending does a great job of revealing new vital information that'll help tell the next installment in the series.

I'm so excited to get started on the third volume!!

[Leo McBride · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the same vein as one never judging a book by its cover, I might suggest a new rule for readers coming new to this book - never judge a sequel by its first chapter.
I hadn't read the first book of this series but had been provided a free copy to read, so as ever on reading I plunged into a review. The first chapter might be a little off-putting for many readers, though, as it has quite the infodump bringing those who haven't read book one up to speed. Readers of book one can safely leaf past a chunk of this, but the action gets underway partway through the chapter, so don't skip it completely. A "Previously" chapter might have done the job better here for newcomers.
The story picks up the saga of Emma Whayne, a 14-year-old girl who has found herself propelled into the world of Acacia, a magical realm, along with her pet Doberman Xena (who she refers to as Z, slightly confusingly to those who pronounce that letter Zed rather than Zee).
A year in Acacia is equivalent to a day on Earth, so Emma's adventure - including dragons and pirate ships, schools of magic and evil conjurers - zips along, with months passing and her absence hardly noticed back on Earth.
It's an epic adventure - albeit one I was never quite sure where it was going. The motivations of those opposing Emma never seemed entirely clear, nor indeed her own, while she seemed to possess talents far beyond your average 14-year-old, becoming a teacher of tai chi, for example.
We are too often told what is happening rather than getting to experience it for ourselves, alas, such as when we are told of one character that "he spoke with conviction and Emily could tell he missed his homeland", when in truth he's hardly said anything about his homeland, and we could have done with learning that for ourselves.
That, and a fair bit of character hopping to characters who sometimes barely feature in the book otherwise, tends to get in the way a little of the story, which otherwise would be a fine tale for young teenagers of adventure in an exotic, faraway, magical land.
Emma makes for a strong role model for such readers, confident and assured in a world she barely knows, and able to rise to the top through focus and dedication.
The book ends looking ripe for a sequel - so I'm sure there will be a return to the adventures of Emma Whayne and the land of Acacia.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

NB I have not read book one, but received a synopsis to use as an overview. So, this book is a review of book two in the series.
The story starts with the main heroine, Emily Wayne, being transported to the world of Acacia from Earth. Acacia is a fairy world of dragons, magicians, the undead plus many other creatures. Emily, along with her Doberman bonds mate Xena, hope to travel to the greatest magic school in Acacia in order to grow as a magician and learn more about her family, including her parent’s lineage and her twin brother. But to get there she must brave the wild oceans, evil magician adversaries and the perils in just joining the school. Does she have what it takes to fight on, or will the seductive power of her growing abilities cloud her judgment?
The characters are well designed with the main protagonist being strong and intelligent.
I do like stories about dragons and other mystical creatures, but unfortunately this is not really the genre of fantasy that I usually read. In saying that the author has built an intricate, awe inspiring, and fantastical land called Acacia and created a theory of magic which is interesting. Unfortunately, you tell us all about the land and how it works, heavy info dumps, rather than show. For example, you did a good job showing me how magic worked in the beginning and I had a fairly good understanding of it then, but you followed up with several lectures on magic and magical beasts throughout the book, which you really didn’t need to. This may have also lent itself to the length of the book which is substantial at 500 pages.
I did lose the main story in between all the different character perspectives and chapter changes. You would engage me for a while then jump away to some other part of the story, with characters that didn’t seem to have purpose at the time. NB I will assume that you were introducing them so they can be used in future in the other books, but their introduction was usually brief and confusing.
So, while I will probably not read the next book in the series, I would recommend this to people that like stories of dragons and magicians having adventures in fantastical lands.
BTW good cliff hanger at the end and I tip my hat to your graphical designer, I can tell some effort went into designing the cover, titles and all the extras throughout the book.
From me I will give you 3.5 stars.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly good

When a book starts with a glossary of terms I start to wonder how convoluted it might be. My concern was misplaced in this case. Great story. Well written. Amazing characters. Part of a series, but fully functional stand alone book. Looking forward to the rest of the Ammolite Adventures. Giveaway win.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully imaginative novel, Redstone has something for everyone--dragons, magic, animal bondsmates and adventure. It is truly a fantasy novel for all ages. I received this novel as part of the Goodreads Giveaway program.

[Shari S · Rating 3 out of 5]

My issue with the first book was lack of character development. I felt the only ones I got to know was the main character and her dog. The rest were just there but I didn’t know anything about them. I like books where I get to know the characters better. I went ahead and read the second book and found the same issue.

Another thing I did not like was that the first book was filled with a character who was looking for the main character. All sorts of plans to kidnap her. In the second book she literally walks into his place and nothing happens. He obviously doesn’t like her but what the hell? Why, in the first book, was he so intent on kidnapping her and then when she literally presents herself to him....nothing! Made no sense!

So, I have given the first two books a chance but I will not be finishing the series.

The most annoying thing to me was a lack of character development. I like to really get to know the characters on different levels and there was none of that except for the main character.

[Chrys Cymri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many readers have enjoyed this book, and the story certainly shows imagination. I like the fact that the central character is a strong young woman, and the idea of bondsmates (animals with which a person is telepathically connected) was intriguing.

However, I found the novel to be page after page of telling, not showing. This begins with the first chapter, which provides a major info dump of what had happened in the first novel (which I have not read). This sheer amount of background detail is piled on throughout the tale. Often dialogue exchanges were nothing more then the provision of yet more information.

As they rode, Emily continued to learn from her companion. “Pendon, tell me about this sector.”

“Tell me more about the Alitis.”

“Please tell me a little more about our plans.”

The other difficulty I had was with the main character herself. Emily is perfect. She has special powers, is admired by everyone she meets (except for the bad guys, who of course are supposed to not like her), and becomes the youngest arch-mage ever created. I thought, during the course of the novel, that all she lacked was a dragon at her beck and call. But by the end of the book, that too has been rectified. There were no greys to her, no inner conflict, not even pride in her talents.

Minor characters received chapters of their own, which added little to the tale.
Nor is the book is not helped by the number of typos, most of them in punctuation.

Not a story I enjoyed, and although the book ends on a cliffhanger, I won’t be picking up the inevitable third one in the series.

[Stefan Teodosić · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Ammolite Adventures: Redstone" is the second novel in the C.E. Johnson's fantasy series. Centered around Emily Whayne, a more than ordinary fourteen-year-old girl following the routine regimen of going to school in Austin, now with her life in disarray.

Emily has the ability to travel to another world, Acacia, and now she has four important advantages that made her feel like a superhero. First, she had with her a formidable bondsmate, an enormous Doberman named Xena, with whom she was able to share thoughts and sensations. Second, she had skills amassed from years of training on Earth in sports selected by Dr. D: martial arts, swimming, horse- back riding, and fencing. Third, she was already adept with the basics of the physics of magic, taught to her by her godfather. And lastly, and per- haps most importantly, she had undergone a process called the ‘heightening.’

If you look for another good fantasy and adventure book, this would be an excellent choice.

[Lauren Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first two books, they should be read together