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Immortal Writers
Young up-and-coming author Liz McKinnen has no idea that her life is about to change forever when she comes home from her first book tour. When she's kidnapped and told by her captors that she has to kill her fantasy book's antagonist, she thinks that she's fallen into the hands of crazy, dangerous fans... until her antagonist sends a real, fire-breathing dragon after her. Liz is quickly initiated into the Immortal Writers, a group of authors from throughout time whose words have given them eternal life, and whose prose is so powerful that it's brought stories over from the Imagination Field into the Reality Field. As Liz meets authors such as William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jane Austen, she has to learn how to control magic, fight dragons, and face her own troubled past before her power-hungry villain takes over the world. Will she survive the ultimate battle against the dragon lord whom she created?
391 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2016
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103 people want to read
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November 8, 2016
4.5 stars
Have you ever dreamed about meeting Shakespeare? What about Tolkien, McCaffrey, Dostoyevsky, H.G. Wells, and all the other great authors? Jill Bowers gives you the chance to not only meet them, but interact with them through her characters. And I love her for that.
Don't let yourself be fooled by the YA label. Immortal Writers is so much more than that.
I simply adore this book. It makes me want to write. It makes me think that we can exorcise all our demons, that we can bend reality and shape it any way we like.
What I love most about Immortal Writers is Liz, who she is and how she came up with all her characters.
Liz herself is flawed.
And this book is so much fun. I found myself laughing quite a few times. That happens rarely to me.
By the way, that's the great H.G.Wells there. And he's mistaken for Liz's bodyguard in that scene. It's simply amazing.
This book has it all: dragons and heroes, teleporters and forcefields, great authors and new ones. I love it! Go read it!
*I thank Jill Bowers, Blue Moon Publishers, and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
"Who are you? I'd like to know the name of my kidnapper."
The man leaned back and heaved a sigh.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said.
Liz put her hands on the desk and leaned forward. "Try me."
"I am the great writer William Shakespeare."
Have you ever dreamed about meeting Shakespeare? What about Tolkien, McCaffrey, Dostoyevsky, H.G. Wells, and all the other great authors? Jill Bowers gives you the chance to not only meet them, but interact with them through her characters. And I love her for that.
Don't let yourself be fooled by the YA label. Immortal Writers is so much more than that.
Young up-and-coming author Liz McKinnen has no idea that her life is about to change forever when she comes home from her first book tour. When she's kidnapped and told by her captors that she has to kill her fantasy book's antagonist, she thinks that she's fallen into the hands of crazy, dangerous fans... until her antagonist sends a real, fire-breathing dragon after her. Liz is quickly initiated into the Immortal Writers, a group of authors from throughout time whose words have given them eternal life, and whose prose is so powerful that it's brought stories over from the Imagination Field into the Reality Field. As Liz meets authors such as William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jane Austen, she has to learn how to control magic, fight dragons, and face her own troubled past before her power-hungry villain takes over the world. Will she survive the ultimate battle against the dragon lord whom she created?
I simply adore this book. It makes me want to write. It makes me think that we can exorcise all our demons, that we can bend reality and shape it any way we like.
What I love most about Immortal Writers is Liz, who she is and how she came up with all her characters.
Liz herself is flawed.
And this book is so much fun. I found myself laughing quite a few times. That happens rarely to me.
"That's right," Curtis said, striding forward and putting his arm around Liz. She stared at him. "We've been together for a while now. She was just professing her undying love to me when you so rudely interrupted."
Wells arched an eyebrow in interest. Liz ignored him.
By the way, that's the great H.G.Wells there. And he's mistaken for Liz's bodyguard in that scene. It's simply amazing.
This book has it all: dragons and heroes, teleporters and forcefields, great authors and new ones. I love it! Go read it!
*I thank Jill Bowers, Blue Moon Publishers, and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
October 29, 2016
Immortal Authors are authors that have become immortal throughout their books and have brought to life their characters, I mean doesn’t that sound pretty cool, I actually quite liked the concept of this book but I had so many issues with it.
First of all I really didn’t like the main character Liz, she’s supposed to have become an immortal author because of how beautiful her prose is and how she could bring characters to life, but I found her to be a very flat and annoying character, but not just her, ALL of the other characters fell flat with no emotions. The conversations could have been literally written by Siri, they just feel so robotic and dead.
Another thing I didn’t like was the relationship she had with her boyfriend in the beginning of the book, a boyfriend who apparently she really loves and I quote ¨She loved him, she really did¨ but literally 11 pages later she says ¨He was just there, a useless appendage instead of an essential organ. She didn’t need him…except for his money¨ wow well okay, now I really know what a dumb person you are Liz, you can’t say you really love a person and then say they’re useless.
But guess what, Liz falls in love with he’s the guy of every girls dream, muscular, beautiful perfect, and the stereotypical YA love interest,the only good thing I can say about this book is that at least there is no love triangle.
Concluding this review I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone, it has no depth or feeling, the plot is very boring and the characters lack any type of realness.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free digital copy.
First of all I really didn’t like the main character Liz, she’s supposed to have become an immortal author because of how beautiful her prose is and how she could bring characters to life, but I found her to be a very flat and annoying character, but not just her, ALL of the other characters fell flat with no emotions. The conversations could have been literally written by Siri, they just feel so robotic and dead.
Another thing I didn’t like was the relationship she had with her boyfriend in the beginning of the book, a boyfriend who apparently she really loves and I quote ¨She loved him, she really did¨ but literally 11 pages later she says ¨He was just there, a useless appendage instead of an essential organ. She didn’t need him…except for his money¨ wow well okay, now I really know what a dumb person you are Liz, you can’t say you really love a person and then say they’re useless.
But guess what, Liz falls in love with he’s the guy of every girls dream, muscular, beautiful perfect, and the stereotypical YA love interest,the only good thing I can say about this book is that at least there is no love triangle.
Concluding this review I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone, it has no depth or feeling, the plot is very boring and the characters lack any type of realness.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free digital copy.
August 12, 2016
Title: Immortal Writers
Author: Jill Bowers
Publisher: Blue Moon Publishers, 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy
**I received a copy of this book free from the publisher and author in exchange for am honest review**
This review can also be found on my Blog page or @ TeacherofYA's Tumblr (originally posted on my Blog)
My Review:
I honestly didn't know what to expect when I went into this book. I had read the blurb, but I still didn't really get the premise.i also thought it sounded like an adult book instead of YA, so I was nervous going in. However, the book had some interesting twists and turns...and a lot of action. I never once got bored and only put it down when I had to drive, work, or sleep. It was an adventure. One that I'll share with you now...
The book introduces us to Liz McKinnon, a young 18 year old writer who has had some success with her newly released books. Her final book in the series still needs some edits, and after a long tour, she meets her boyfriend for dinner...and he proposes to her. Liz is shocked, not thrilled: she alludes to things in her past that have damaged her, and she hurriedly leaves the restaurant without giving an answer. After getting into a nearby parked cab, she is chloroformed and passes out.
When she awakes, she is introduced to Willaim Shakespeare, a member of a group of Immortal Writers. What makes these particular people so special? Their written characters come to life. Liz is now faced with Curtis, her book's protagonist and essentially her dream man. Shakespeare tells her that the Immortal Writers are a group of writers that are, well, immortal. Her characters have come to this world, but her story's villain needs to die at her hand, as he is trying to raise a massive dragon army and take over the world. All the Immortal Writers have had to kill their villains, and now it's her turn. She has a hard time believing at first, but after meeting such great authors like Langston Hughes, Jane Austen, Tolkien, and Edgar Allen Poe, she finally starts to believe that her characters have become real.
She must train and fight because she made Kenric strong and very magical. Curtis, the hero, helps Liz all he can, but as they ready themselves for the battle of their lives, Liz starts to fall for Curtis. But something dark lurks in the memories of her tragic past, and if she doesn't battle those first, her growing affection for Curtis and her other characters might not be enough. Can Liz beat Kenric? And can she fight the inner demons that have resulted from hiding her emotional pain as well?
Is it Classroom-Appropiate?
Yes, and it even comes with a book question guide in the back for book clubs or, possibly, a class assignment. The book is pretty tame, no swears and only hints at intimacy. The authors mentioned are good for students to learn about, even in a fantasy setting. They could learn why it's so shocking that Austen only wants to discuss romance with Liz. The other authors make it a learning experience as well as a fun novel. It could be used for an example of the traditional "hero's quest," but with a spin on it. I think it would be an excellent book to use for freshman and up.
Age Range:
Easily 13 and up. No qualms about anything content-wise. I think younger readers would benefit from the adventure and the quick plot development. There is insinuation of abuse of a sexual nature, but it's not addressed too graphically.
End Result:
★★★★☆. The only downside to this book is the lack of depth in Curtis's character. We can see why Liz would fight for him, as she is her dream man, but his thoughts aren't really clear. We hear about his backstory, but the villain Kenric, who they train for the whole book, has more character than our male hero. Be that aside, the book is a fun and quick read. The dragons are well-described, and Liz's character is very strong. Shakespeare as the leader of the group also seems kind of comical. The Bard speaks like he's from the century and acts like Bosley from Charlie's Angels. I could have done without him being the leader. Maybe more development needs to be made on his character and how he became part of and led Immortal Writers.
There's a second book in the works though this seems like a stand-alone. It seems just set in the same story-world. It's called Immortal Creatures. I would really like to read that one, too. All-in-all, it is a fun and fast-paced adventure, and it seems perfect for a young adult book label.
Author: Jill Bowers
Publisher: Blue Moon Publishers, 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy
**I received a copy of this book free from the publisher and author in exchange for am honest review**
This review can also be found on my Blog page or @ TeacherofYA's Tumblr (originally posted on my Blog)
My Review:
I honestly didn't know what to expect when I went into this book. I had read the blurb, but I still didn't really get the premise.i also thought it sounded like an adult book instead of YA, so I was nervous going in. However, the book had some interesting twists and turns...and a lot of action. I never once got bored and only put it down when I had to drive, work, or sleep. It was an adventure. One that I'll share with you now...
The book introduces us to Liz McKinnon, a young 18 year old writer who has had some success with her newly released books. Her final book in the series still needs some edits, and after a long tour, she meets her boyfriend for dinner...and he proposes to her. Liz is shocked, not thrilled: she alludes to things in her past that have damaged her, and she hurriedly leaves the restaurant without giving an answer. After getting into a nearby parked cab, she is chloroformed and passes out.
When she awakes, she is introduced to Willaim Shakespeare, a member of a group of Immortal Writers. What makes these particular people so special? Their written characters come to life. Liz is now faced with Curtis, her book's protagonist and essentially her dream man. Shakespeare tells her that the Immortal Writers are a group of writers that are, well, immortal. Her characters have come to this world, but her story's villain needs to die at her hand, as he is trying to raise a massive dragon army and take over the world. All the Immortal Writers have had to kill their villains, and now it's her turn. She has a hard time believing at first, but after meeting such great authors like Langston Hughes, Jane Austen, Tolkien, and Edgar Allen Poe, she finally starts to believe that her characters have become real.
She must train and fight because she made Kenric strong and very magical. Curtis, the hero, helps Liz all he can, but as they ready themselves for the battle of their lives, Liz starts to fall for Curtis. But something dark lurks in the memories of her tragic past, and if she doesn't battle those first, her growing affection for Curtis and her other characters might not be enough. Can Liz beat Kenric? And can she fight the inner demons that have resulted from hiding her emotional pain as well?
Is it Classroom-Appropiate?
Yes, and it even comes with a book question guide in the back for book clubs or, possibly, a class assignment. The book is pretty tame, no swears and only hints at intimacy. The authors mentioned are good for students to learn about, even in a fantasy setting. They could learn why it's so shocking that Austen only wants to discuss romance with Liz. The other authors make it a learning experience as well as a fun novel. It could be used for an example of the traditional "hero's quest," but with a spin on it. I think it would be an excellent book to use for freshman and up.
Age Range:
Easily 13 and up. No qualms about anything content-wise. I think younger readers would benefit from the adventure and the quick plot development. There is insinuation of abuse of a sexual nature, but it's not addressed too graphically.
End Result:
★★★★☆. The only downside to this book is the lack of depth in Curtis's character. We can see why Liz would fight for him, as she is her dream man, but his thoughts aren't really clear. We hear about his backstory, but the villain Kenric, who they train for the whole book, has more character than our male hero. Be that aside, the book is a fun and quick read. The dragons are well-described, and Liz's character is very strong. Shakespeare as the leader of the group also seems kind of comical. The Bard speaks like he's from the century and acts like Bosley from Charlie's Angels. I could have done without him being the leader. Maybe more development needs to be made on his character and how he became part of and led Immortal Writers.
There's a second book in the works though this seems like a stand-alone. It seems just set in the same story-world. It's called Immortal Creatures. I would really like to read that one, too. All-in-all, it is a fun and fast-paced adventure, and it seems perfect for a young adult book label.
November 2, 2016
What a very different, enthralling read this proved to be - a great start to an innovative series which I really look forward to reading more in futureI
Eighteen year old Liz McKinnen has a traumatic past but she's a highly skilled fantasy author, has had her first novel win a prestigious and lucrative award and returned home from a tiring but successful book tour. She keeps seeing a strange man following her around but still hadn't anticipated the events which occur during her first evening home. Mind you, nor had she ever foreseen her characters - good and evil -coming to life. Now she's been kidnapped, taken to a mysterious castle and met some of the authors she's always admired - including Shakespeare and one of my all time favourite fantasy authors, Anne MacCaffrey (If you haven't read her books, they're well worth checking out if you enjoy fabulous fantasy novels). With her dangerous protagonist, Kenric,the Dragon Lord, threatening both the Imagination and Reality Fields, she is going to battle the fearsome dragons she created to prevent him taking over the world.
There are references to many authors whose books I've read and enjoyed throughout this imaginative novel. Get ready to eat chocolate from the factory of Willy Wonka, to here from John Tolkein, Jane Austen and many others deemed to be authors whose words were powerful enough to give them - and their most prominent characters - immortality. Initially disbelieving what she's been told, meeting Shakespeare and characters from her own novels is enough to convince Liz that she needs to fight the battle. Her training, in both swordsmanship and the use of magic, are key to helping her and her new friends survive and to defeat their foe. With different dragons, danger and romance, this is a brilliantly entertaining and action packed novel I thoroughly enjoyed reading and have no hesitation in highly recommending. I'll certainly be looking out for more from this author in future!
Many thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC of this novel. This is my honest opinion after reading it.
Eighteen year old Liz McKinnen has a traumatic past but she's a highly skilled fantasy author, has had her first novel win a prestigious and lucrative award and returned home from a tiring but successful book tour. She keeps seeing a strange man following her around but still hadn't anticipated the events which occur during her first evening home. Mind you, nor had she ever foreseen her characters - good and evil -coming to life. Now she's been kidnapped, taken to a mysterious castle and met some of the authors she's always admired - including Shakespeare and one of my all time favourite fantasy authors, Anne MacCaffrey (If you haven't read her books, they're well worth checking out if you enjoy fabulous fantasy novels). With her dangerous protagonist, Kenric,the Dragon Lord, threatening both the Imagination and Reality Fields, she is going to battle the fearsome dragons she created to prevent him taking over the world.
There are references to many authors whose books I've read and enjoyed throughout this imaginative novel. Get ready to eat chocolate from the factory of Willy Wonka, to here from John Tolkein, Jane Austen and many others deemed to be authors whose words were powerful enough to give them - and their most prominent characters - immortality. Initially disbelieving what she's been told, meeting Shakespeare and characters from her own novels is enough to convince Liz that she needs to fight the battle. Her training, in both swordsmanship and the use of magic, are key to helping her and her new friends survive and to defeat their foe. With different dragons, danger and romance, this is a brilliantly entertaining and action packed novel I thoroughly enjoyed reading and have no hesitation in highly recommending. I'll certainly be looking out for more from this author in future!
Many thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC of this novel. This is my honest opinion after reading it.
May 2, 2017
Immortal Writers!!! First things first: I received this book through NetGalley.
That is totally one of those books that surprised me a lot. I'm not sure what I expected but wow, this book was really amazing.
Summary: Young up-and-coming author Liz McKinnen has no idea that her life is about to change forever when she comes home from her first book tour. When she's kidnapped and told by her captors that she has to kill her fantasy book's antagonist, she thinks that she's fallen into the hands of crazy, dangerous fans... until her antagonist sends a real, fire-breathing dragon after her. Liz is quickly initiated into the Immortal Writers, a group of authors from throughout time whose words have given them eternal life, and whose prose is so powerful that it's brought stories over from the Imagination Field into the Reality Field. As Liz meets authors such as William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jane Austen, she has to learn how to control magic, fight dragons, and face her own troubled past before her power-hungry villain takes over the world. Will she survive the ultimate battle against the dragon lord whom she created?
The idea is just so freaking amazing and so creative, I truly love it. Also I didn't know this was going to be a series and that just makes me so excited, cause I seriously can't wait to read about other writers and their journey.
All this excitment aside. It actually took me a while to really get into the story and it took me even longer to actually connect with the characters. Except for Healer, she is just that character that shows up and that you fall in love with right from the start. The main character, Liz, really grew on me, she went through so much stuff in her past, she went through an incredible journey once she came to the castle. It was wonderful to see her grow into her power. Curtis, the hero of her books, didn't do it for me. I don't know what it is, but this is the second book in a short time, where I really don't care about the love interest or the romance at all. So yeah, that didn't work for me at all. I loved the relationship between Liz and Healer so much more and found it much more interesting.
The writing was amazing, though. Especially in the fighting scenes. Sometimes when there is lots of action, the writing can be all over the place and just really chaotic, but in this book, it was written so good. I also love that we got to see the training of Liz, that they didn't just throw a sword at her and told her she had magical powers and she could just use it perfectly.
So overall, I can really recommend it. It's a great and fun read. You will meet lots of famous writers and their characters, which was a really fun part of the book.
The book also has LOTS of dragons. DRAGONS!!!!
That is totally one of those books that surprised me a lot. I'm not sure what I expected but wow, this book was really amazing.
Summary: Young up-and-coming author Liz McKinnen has no idea that her life is about to change forever when she comes home from her first book tour. When she's kidnapped and told by her captors that she has to kill her fantasy book's antagonist, she thinks that she's fallen into the hands of crazy, dangerous fans... until her antagonist sends a real, fire-breathing dragon after her. Liz is quickly initiated into the Immortal Writers, a group of authors from throughout time whose words have given them eternal life, and whose prose is so powerful that it's brought stories over from the Imagination Field into the Reality Field. As Liz meets authors such as William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jane Austen, she has to learn how to control magic, fight dragons, and face her own troubled past before her power-hungry villain takes over the world. Will she survive the ultimate battle against the dragon lord whom she created?
The idea is just so freaking amazing and so creative, I truly love it. Also I didn't know this was going to be a series and that just makes me so excited, cause I seriously can't wait to read about other writers and their journey.
All this excitment aside. It actually took me a while to really get into the story and it took me even longer to actually connect with the characters. Except for Healer, she is just that character that shows up and that you fall in love with right from the start. The main character, Liz, really grew on me, she went through so much stuff in her past, she went through an incredible journey once she came to the castle. It was wonderful to see her grow into her power. Curtis, the hero of her books, didn't do it for me. I don't know what it is, but this is the second book in a short time, where I really don't care about the love interest or the romance at all. So yeah, that didn't work for me at all. I loved the relationship between Liz and Healer so much more and found it much more interesting.
The writing was amazing, though. Especially in the fighting scenes. Sometimes when there is lots of action, the writing can be all over the place and just really chaotic, but in this book, it was written so good. I also love that we got to see the training of Liz, that they didn't just throw a sword at her and told her she had magical powers and she could just use it perfectly.
So overall, I can really recommend it. It's a great and fun read. You will meet lots of famous writers and their characters, which was a really fun part of the book.
The book also has LOTS of dragons. DRAGONS!!!!
September 6, 2016
The premise of this book sounded very interesting. A very young writer must join with a secret society of other famous and illustrious authors to battle against the evil protagonist from her book that she has unwittingly brought to life.
From the first several pages I had a problem with the book, however. The story is told from the point of view of Liz, the young author whose debut novel series has become a world-wide sensation. Liz comes across as very immature, though. The words she chooses to use, as well as her phrasing, does not mesh with someone who has taken the publishing world by storm. I kept thinking that if Liz writes the way she thinks and talks, her books must be aimed at 5th graders. Later, when we learn that Liz is such an amazing author that her words have transcended a mystical veil and her creations have come to life, I had a very hard time believing that. Liz, at 19, is supposedly a writer on par with William Shakespeare and Earnest Hemingway. But her diction, syntax, thoughts and actions are right on track with a young teenager.
It was not the flying dragons or immortal Shakespeare that I had a hard time believing in this book. It was the fact that the main character is supposed to be one on the best authors in the world--and she certainly didn't act like it.
From the first several pages I had a problem with the book, however. The story is told from the point of view of Liz, the young author whose debut novel series has become a world-wide sensation. Liz comes across as very immature, though. The words she chooses to use, as well as her phrasing, does not mesh with someone who has taken the publishing world by storm. I kept thinking that if Liz writes the way she thinks and talks, her books must be aimed at 5th graders. Later, when we learn that Liz is such an amazing author that her words have transcended a mystical veil and her creations have come to life, I had a very hard time believing that. Liz, at 19, is supposedly a writer on par with William Shakespeare and Earnest Hemingway. But her diction, syntax, thoughts and actions are right on track with a young teenager.
It was not the flying dragons or immortal Shakespeare that I had a hard time believing in this book. It was the fact that the main character is supposed to be one on the best authors in the world--and she certainly didn't act like it.
August 27, 2016
Ummm... I think I might have been reading a different book to everyone else after seeing so many high ratings!
Reading the first chapter, I couldn't quite believe what I was reading. I honestly thought it was awful. I got no sense of the characters, the dialogue was clunky and forced, and I didn't see how I was going to get past the chapter let alone the entire book. I was sure that it would be an early 'did not finish'. I stuck with it and things did improve and there were times where I thought that it was quite fun and that I could overlook the rather basic writing.
There was stuff I liked. The idea that words are the most powerful form of magic, that words are immortal and that some writers are so gifted that they become immortal themselves. They write something that is so good and the words become part of them, causing them to become an immortal writer. I love it because I do believe that words are the most powerful form of magic. I love the idea that some writers will actually live on forever. I also liked that characters had the potential to become real. I loved the castle that the immortal writers either live in or just use as a retreat. The different wings in different styles depending on the genre, the fact that Wonderland is in the basement... it sounds great. I thought it was a great idea having all these different famous authors from across the centuries popping up in the castle. It should have been so much fun!
The plot did sound very interesting and fun. Liz, a young award winning writer is kidnapped by Shakespeare, introduced to the Immortal Writers and informed that some of her characters have become real and that her villain is planning to take over the world and she is the only one who can stop him. He even sends dragons after her! Unfortunately it was quite slow moving and the writing and characters contributed to it not being nearly as good as it had the potential to be.
Unfortunately there was also a lot that I didn't like. I found the writing very basic. It almost felt list like. Liz did this. Liz gasped. Liz did something else. Liz spoke to someone. A lot was explained during large chunks of speech and I wasn't a fan. It was a bit weird. For example, Liz asks one of the characters she created to explain the magic laws even though she wrote them herself. The character explains this in a great big chunk of speech. Another time she's talking to a character and the character says something along the lines of "but you already know that" and Liz asks her to remind her. Along comes another great speech explaining. This information could have easily been included in a different, less annoying, way.
I found the characters were like stick figures. No depth to them at all and they all sounded the same to me. I wouldn't have been able to tell who was speaking at all if it hadn't been explicitly stated. Shakespeare came across as a poundstore Dumbledore to me. At the very least, the main character, Liz, should have had some depth to her but she didn't have much at all. There was an attempt to give her some backstory - a tragic past - but it felt like it was just shoved in there for the sake of having a tragic past and it didn't really have a lot of impact on her now even though it was supposed to be. At least part of it was brought up more than once, but there were other parts that were reduced to half a sentence and never brought up again and it's like... what was the point?
The romance... ugh. I can see it from Liz's point. She wrote the character as the type of guy that she'd most want in life but there was no chemistry and it appeared almost from nowhere. I could have done with more build up, more chemistry and more... well just more. It was very blah.
I really wanted to love this so it's very disappointing that I didn't.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free digital copy.
Reading the first chapter, I couldn't quite believe what I was reading. I honestly thought it was awful. I got no sense of the characters, the dialogue was clunky and forced, and I didn't see how I was going to get past the chapter let alone the entire book. I was sure that it would be an early 'did not finish'. I stuck with it and things did improve and there were times where I thought that it was quite fun and that I could overlook the rather basic writing.
There was stuff I liked. The idea that words are the most powerful form of magic, that words are immortal and that some writers are so gifted that they become immortal themselves. They write something that is so good and the words become part of them, causing them to become an immortal writer. I love it because I do believe that words are the most powerful form of magic. I love the idea that some writers will actually live on forever. I also liked that characters had the potential to become real. I loved the castle that the immortal writers either live in or just use as a retreat. The different wings in different styles depending on the genre, the fact that Wonderland is in the basement... it sounds great. I thought it was a great idea having all these different famous authors from across the centuries popping up in the castle. It should have been so much fun!
The plot did sound very interesting and fun. Liz, a young award winning writer is kidnapped by Shakespeare, introduced to the Immortal Writers and informed that some of her characters have become real and that her villain is planning to take over the world and she is the only one who can stop him. He even sends dragons after her! Unfortunately it was quite slow moving and the writing and characters contributed to it not being nearly as good as it had the potential to be.
Unfortunately there was also a lot that I didn't like. I found the writing very basic. It almost felt list like. Liz did this. Liz gasped. Liz did something else. Liz spoke to someone. A lot was explained during large chunks of speech and I wasn't a fan. It was a bit weird. For example, Liz asks one of the characters she created to explain the magic laws even though she wrote them herself. The character explains this in a great big chunk of speech. Another time she's talking to a character and the character says something along the lines of "but you already know that" and Liz asks her to remind her. Along comes another great speech explaining. This information could have easily been included in a different, less annoying, way.
I found the characters were like stick figures. No depth to them at all and they all sounded the same to me. I wouldn't have been able to tell who was speaking at all if it hadn't been explicitly stated. Shakespeare came across as a poundstore Dumbledore to me. At the very least, the main character, Liz, should have had some depth to her but she didn't have much at all. There was an attempt to give her some backstory - a tragic past - but it felt like it was just shoved in there for the sake of having a tragic past and it didn't really have a lot of impact on her now even though it was supposed to be. At least part of it was brought up more than once, but there were other parts that were reduced to half a sentence and never brought up again and it's like... what was the point?
The romance... ugh. I can see it from Liz's point. She wrote the character as the type of guy that she'd most want in life but there was no chemistry and it appeared almost from nowhere. I could have done with more build up, more chemistry and more... well just more. It was very blah.
I really wanted to love this so it's very disappointing that I didn't.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free digital copy.
August 12, 2016
I feel like I've been hitting a lot of 3 star 'meh' reads lately. But this one (apart from the first 30%) wasn't like that. I really did enjoy this. It's still a 3.5 star read, but 3.5 entertaining and highly enjoyable stars.
I just love this concept. I mean, seriously - "authors from throughout time whose words have given them eternal life, and whose prose is so powerful that it's brought stories over from the Imagination Field into the Reality Field." What bibliophile is not going to jump at this!?
What I also found likeable about this it that Bowers has written a book about a book (and I've read a few of these lately!) and she's done it well. We get to see the worlds of both of these books, and both are well developed and believable.
The main character's world of Shethara is richly imagined and described as are the characters from these books. In fact, Liz's books are something I would love to read myself. The world of the Immortal Writers was also really well developed and thought out and (of course) I loved the characters that Bowers introduced here. Shakespeare, Hemingway, Roald Dahl, Tolkien!
This quote in particular made me wish I was right there in the castle:
“Chocolate?” Liz repeated. “Not exactly the hors d’oeuvres I was expecting for a fancy party like this.”
“It’s not just any chocolate,” Hemingway said. “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka made it.”
As I mentioned I had a few issues with the first 30%. There were some info dumps which could have been handled better and too much convenient special snowflakiness for our MC.
On learning to use magic:
"The fact that you were already able to throw magic at me means that you’re unusually proficient, so it probably won’t take you very long to master this."
On learning to sword fight:
"I’m impressed with how quickly you picked up the techniques I showed you. You just need practice."
There's a lot of action in this book - training and battle scenes. Mostly I thought this was a good thing and it was easy to visualise exactly what was happening. I also enjoyed the different fantasy world's colliding at some points and if you're even remotely a Tolkien fan you will enjoy the use of his works here. Clearly Bowers is a Tolkien fan, and it's highly possible she knows elvish fluently!
I wasn't particularly a fan of the romance in this book, but each to their own. The setup felt too predictable and even after things in general picked up after the first 30% the romance still made me roll my eyes a lot.
While it was definitely entertaining and the premise original, I did find the book predictable and there wasn't anything that really surprised me. So for this, and the first 30% not being as good as the rest of the book I stand by my 3.5 stars.
“We’re all just stories,” Liz said, looking down at him. “Wonderful or horrible, we’re just words and actions and plots and characters. Just stories... "
March 3, 2017
The concept of this book is fun and original, and what drew me towards it in the first place. I find the execution somewhat lacking though. Overall, I feel like it’s more like a Middle Grade novel. Everything is just a bit too fantastical and the plot is probably very predictable to older readers.
The writing itself was very simple. It especially hurt the story because Liz did not make a believable successful and award-winning author, judging by her phrasing and thought processes. Also, Liz frequently asked her characters to explain things, even though she already knew because she was the one that wrote the book. This was then followed by chunks of info-dumps, even way past 50% of the book.
I didn’t really like any of the characters either, except maybe Healer. They all felt very flat to me and all the side characters were a bit indistinguishable for each other. The author could have given them more personality – especially since they are based on real people. Perhaps they will be fleshed out more in the sequel.
In conclusion, I advise that the author/publisher to either market this book towards a younger audience (and perhaps leave out the horny teenager bits) or to improve in some area’s so it will fit in the YA more comfortably.
Synopsis
Liz, an eighteen year-old award-winning fantasy novel writer, gets abducted the night she returns home from months of touring. Her kidnapper calls himself William Shakespeare and really seems to believe he is. He invites/expects her to join The Immortal Writers, an elitist group of writers that have immortalized themselves through their words.
For her words have crossed the line between fantasy and reality, making her characters come to life and rendering herself immortal too. It seems unbelievable until she is introduced to Curtis, the main character of her own novels, who is exactly as she pictured. Also roaming around the castle where she is held hostage are Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allen Poe and his raven, and many other writers and their characters.
The flipside to this fairy-tale-come-true is Kenric, the villain, who has also come to life with a sole intention of ruling the earth. The author is the only one who can stop their character, and so Liz begins her training to kill off a character she herself has brought to life..
I received an advance reader copy from the publisher through Netgalley.
The writing itself was very simple. It especially hurt the story because Liz did not make a believable successful and award-winning author, judging by her phrasing and thought processes. Also, Liz frequently asked her characters to explain things, even though she already knew because she was the one that wrote the book. This was then followed by chunks of info-dumps, even way past 50% of the book.
I didn’t really like any of the characters either, except maybe Healer. They all felt very flat to me and all the side characters were a bit indistinguishable for each other. The author could have given them more personality – especially since they are based on real people. Perhaps they will be fleshed out more in the sequel.
In conclusion, I advise that the author/publisher to either market this book towards a younger audience (and perhaps leave out the horny teenager bits) or to improve in some area’s so it will fit in the YA more comfortably.
Synopsis
Liz, an eighteen year-old award-winning fantasy novel writer, gets abducted the night she returns home from months of touring. Her kidnapper calls himself William Shakespeare and really seems to believe he is. He invites/expects her to join The Immortal Writers, an elitist group of writers that have immortalized themselves through their words.
Words are the most powerful and basic form of magic. The words you’ve strung together have impacted and changed lives, and they even brought us to life and made you immortal.
For her words have crossed the line between fantasy and reality, making her characters come to life and rendering herself immortal too. It seems unbelievable until she is introduced to Curtis, the main character of her own novels, who is exactly as she pictured. Also roaming around the castle where she is held hostage are Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allen Poe and his raven, and many other writers and their characters.
Many authors get along with their characters; many do not. Some people find that they do not like their minds as much as they thought they did.
The flipside to this fairy-tale-come-true is Kenric, the villain, who has also come to life with a sole intention of ruling the earth. The author is the only one who can stop their character, and so Liz begins her training to kill off a character she herself has brought to life..
I received an advance reader copy from the publisher through Netgalley.
July 21, 2016
Immortal Writers by Jill Bowers is a sensational read. Adventure, creatures, intrigue, and suspense all wrapped into one amazing book. Imagine the characters that are created in a book suddenly come to life...and the only way to stop the bad characters is for the writer to fight the bad guys off....which is quite scary, funny, and richly entertaining. Liz McKinnen wrote such a book. After finishing her book tour she had been kidnapped by none other the hot sexy male protagonist from her book! Then meeting other famous writers and characters that one would deem are rich crazy people who need help. But are they really real of just all nuts? Jill Bowers has the raw power of drawing readers into her plot. I could not stop reading it. The story hooked me from beginning to end. The action, danger, and challenges ahead were exciting. Immortal Writers is about a bad character who makes it his mission to take over the real world. The one us human beings call home. It's up to Liz McKinnen to save the world from her protagonist...and dragons. Overall, I highly recommend this brilliant read to all.
July 26, 2016
A little known fact: When an author's Imagination is strong enough, it can pass to Reality. The characters become real, just as written. Not only do the characters become immortalized, it also initiates the author into immortality and part of heh the Immortal Writers society.
Since all this is so little known, one can forgive new bestseller Liz McKinnen for not taking to the stalker and the kidnapping and is sure they are all crazy--especially the guy purporting to be William Shakespeare. Well, that's a fine how-do-you-do.
It takes meeting one of her own dragons to convince her that something else is going on here. Burns are real enough. She finds out she alone can take down her "evil" character -- now that he has power in a new world, he wants more, wants to rule the Earth.
Can Liz and her new friends stop the evil? How many will be lost before the final battle?
Since all this is so little known, one can forgive new bestseller Liz McKinnen for not taking to the stalker and the kidnapping and is sure they are all crazy--especially the guy purporting to be William Shakespeare. Well, that's a fine how-do-you-do.
It takes meeting one of her own dragons to convince her that something else is going on here. Burns are real enough. She finds out she alone can take down her "evil" character -- now that he has power in a new world, he wants more, wants to rule the Earth.
Can Liz and her new friends stop the evil? How many will be lost before the final battle?
February 15, 2018
**FTC DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED AN E-ARC FROM NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW. RECEIPT OF THIS BOOK IN THIS MANNER DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION OF THE BOOK OR THE CONTENT OF MY REVIEW.**
Up and coming Author Liz McKinnen returns from her first book tour, having no idea that everything in her life is about to change. When she’s kidnapped on her way home, her mind races with all kinds of possibilities like being held for ransom to being murdered. But, none of her ideas are quite as crazy as the truth. Her abductors inform her that they think that she’s one of a group of writers whose words have had the power to both give her immortality and to bring the characters she’s developed to life. She’s going to need to kill her Fantasy novrl’s antagonist in order to save the world. Liz thinks they’re absolutely insane until she’s attacked by a fire breathing dragon that she dreamed up for her novels. She’s quickly initiated into the Immortal Writers, a group of other authors whose writing has also given them immortality, such as William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Langston Hughes. Liz will have to learn how to control magic, fight dragons, and face her own troubled past before she can face the nearly invincible villain that she dreamed up. Will she be able to find the power to defeat the dragon lord that she created?
This was an incredibly imaginative, interesting concept and I really enjoyed reading most of it. I admit that things dragged a bit at first and I didn’t really get into it until shortly after she arrived at the Immortal Writer’s Castle. I’m not really sure why the part with the boyfriend was included unless it was to add in a bit of drama, because he seemed to be a really useless character that I had trouble imagining Liz with. Thankfully, every other character was incredibly well written, even the villain that she was supposed to kill. It was an interesting concept having all of those authors gathered together and I enjoyed the castle, as well. I found myself crying a little a couple of times but, I won’t say why because spoilers, after all. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I am wondering how Liz will continue her series, now that she’s killed off her villain. I guess I’ll have to read book 2 yo find out. I also liked that the author tackled some difficult subjects to like undergoing similar circumstances but not letting them define you. It’s the choices that you make that define who you are, the things that you do, not the things done to you. Both Liz and Kenrick had terribly abusive childhoods, but only one chose to become a villain.
Up and coming Author Liz McKinnen returns from her first book tour, having no idea that everything in her life is about to change. When she’s kidnapped on her way home, her mind races with all kinds of possibilities like being held for ransom to being murdered. But, none of her ideas are quite as crazy as the truth. Her abductors inform her that they think that she’s one of a group of writers whose words have had the power to both give her immortality and to bring the characters she’s developed to life. She’s going to need to kill her Fantasy novrl’s antagonist in order to save the world. Liz thinks they’re absolutely insane until she’s attacked by a fire breathing dragon that she dreamed up for her novels. She’s quickly initiated into the Immortal Writers, a group of other authors whose writing has also given them immortality, such as William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Langston Hughes. Liz will have to learn how to control magic, fight dragons, and face her own troubled past before she can face the nearly invincible villain that she dreamed up. Will she be able to find the power to defeat the dragon lord that she created?
This was an incredibly imaginative, interesting concept and I really enjoyed reading most of it. I admit that things dragged a bit at first and I didn’t really get into it until shortly after she arrived at the Immortal Writer’s Castle. I’m not really sure why the part with the boyfriend was included unless it was to add in a bit of drama, because he seemed to be a really useless character that I had trouble imagining Liz with. Thankfully, every other character was incredibly well written, even the villain that she was supposed to kill. It was an interesting concept having all of those authors gathered together and I enjoyed the castle, as well. I found myself crying a little a couple of times but, I won’t say why because spoilers, after all. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I am wondering how Liz will continue her series, now that she’s killed off her villain. I guess I’ll have to read book 2 yo find out. I also liked that the author tackled some difficult subjects to like undergoing similar circumstances but not letting them define you. It’s the choices that you make that define who you are, the things that you do, not the things done to you. Both Liz and Kenrick had terribly abusive childhoods, but only one chose to become a villain.
January 26, 2018
I really like the unique plot of this novel. When an author's words stretch beyond the page, when their words are etched into the fabric of reality, the writer becomes immortal. That's what happened to Liz, a young award winning fantasy writer. She thought she was being kidnapped but she was just being taken to the castle where Shakespeare, Poe, Austen, Tolkien and scores of other authors were in residence. She meets many of the brave characters she created in her novels. They have come over to this world. But so has the nemesis she created. Liz is the only one who can keep him from his goal of taking over the world.
Besides being a rather well written novel with good character development and lots of action, there are many issues explored in it. Liz had designed the evil character after her own dark side. She designed another character to be the loving mother Liz never had. I wonder how many authors craft their characters after parts of themselves or others they know well. Another issue that features in the plot is child sexual abuse. The experiences Liz had when young have profound effects on her now.
I liked the fact that Liz had to face the characters she had created and the attributes she had given them. Shakespeare makes the observation, “Many authors get along with their characters; many do not. Some people find that they do not like their minds as much as they thought they did.” (Loc 871/4871)
Though not a Christian novel, there are religious overtones in it. There is the idea of forgiveness and that of sacrificing a life for the lives of others. Liz struggles with wanting to know where God was when she was being so horribly mistreated as a child.
I recommend this novel to fantasy lovers. You'll have some good battles with dragons and magic and special powers. I also recommend this novel to readers who enjoy an interesting and thought provoking plot.
I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
Besides being a rather well written novel with good character development and lots of action, there are many issues explored in it. Liz had designed the evil character after her own dark side. She designed another character to be the loving mother Liz never had. I wonder how many authors craft their characters after parts of themselves or others they know well. Another issue that features in the plot is child sexual abuse. The experiences Liz had when young have profound effects on her now.
I liked the fact that Liz had to face the characters she had created and the attributes she had given them. Shakespeare makes the observation, “Many authors get along with their characters; many do not. Some people find that they do not like their minds as much as they thought they did.” (Loc 871/4871)
Though not a Christian novel, there are religious overtones in it. There is the idea of forgiveness and that of sacrificing a life for the lives of others. Liz struggles with wanting to know where God was when she was being so horribly mistreated as a child.
I recommend this novel to fantasy lovers. You'll have some good battles with dragons and magic and special powers. I also recommend this novel to readers who enjoy an interesting and thought provoking plot.
I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
March 23, 2018
It's a book that takes you behind the eyes of the author and asks/answers that big WHAT IF....what if the characters written, the stories that "came to you"...CAME TO LIFE? What if they were merely creations of your fascinating mind, but stories that echoed across worlds that you were able to hone in on, putting pen to paper and immortalizing them for all the world to enjoy? What if those carefully crafted heroes personifying all the things you wanted in another half was standing right before you? What if that mother figure you created to help you move on from a history that was less than ideal was actually able to support and care for you? What if the villain that embodied all the darkness and evil you could imagine really needed to be defeated...and not simply by your hero, but by YOU...
I don't know about you, but seriously...all the what ifs were mind boggling and the extent to which they can (and seemingly WILL) be explored is fascinating. I was bemused by the beginning, wherein apparently some people...yes, Derek, I'm glaring at you...thought they knew best. I was shocked by the followup that quickly turned events in a new direction because really....kidnapping?! What the heck?! I mean, really....didn't see that one coming...thought the reasons why come to light sooner rather than later. I got lost in the world created (or is it captured?) by the author wherein the true power of WORDS is revealed. Can you imagine if your favorite authors, the ones whose work seems to transpose time, place, and page, never truly died? I mean, wow...then getting to meet many of them...mind blown. It's a heady thought, but so is what happens when that writer reaches that status because while the mighty pen strokes they took unleashed their potential, it also unleashed the worlds they created...and they still need to be boxed back up, so to speak. *ahem* Trust me, you've not read a dragon fight until you've flown and fought with J.R.R. Tolkien and Anne Mccaffrey...or Shakespeare for that matter.
**copy received for review
I don't know about you, but seriously...all the what ifs were mind boggling and the extent to which they can (and seemingly WILL) be explored is fascinating. I was bemused by the beginning, wherein apparently some people...yes, Derek, I'm glaring at you...thought they knew best. I was shocked by the followup that quickly turned events in a new direction because really....kidnapping?! What the heck?! I mean, really....didn't see that one coming...thought the reasons why come to light sooner rather than later. I got lost in the world created (or is it captured?) by the author wherein the true power of WORDS is revealed. Can you imagine if your favorite authors, the ones whose work seems to transpose time, place, and page, never truly died? I mean, wow...then getting to meet many of them...mind blown. It's a heady thought, but so is what happens when that writer reaches that status because while the mighty pen strokes they took unleashed their potential, it also unleashed the worlds they created...and they still need to be boxed back up, so to speak. *ahem* Trust me, you've not read a dragon fight until you've flown and fought with J.R.R. Tolkien and Anne Mccaffrey...or Shakespeare for that matter.
**copy received for review
October 28, 2016
Thank you Netgalley and Blue Moon Publishers for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
1.5 stars rounded up because it really felt like the writer tried her hardest even as so many things felt contrived and a mess!
Liz, a 19 year old author is coming home from her book tour. With her fantasy series almost complete her life is falling into place nicely. Then she's kidnapped, but not for ill purposes, it's William Shakespeare and he wants her to join his Immortal Writers group. Her words brought her eternal life but they also made real her power hungry villain, dragons, and her sexy hero Curtis. All that's left to secure her place is to survive the final battle with the darkest part of herself...
When I put in the request this premise sounded really great but I guess I didn't much think about what an immortal writers group would be... because the reality of it was quite nonsensical. It was very hard for me to believe that Liz's 19 year old writing could make her IMMORTAL! It wasn't mentioned that Shakespeare was only 18 or 19 either which is what he would be if it was potential greatness that made you immortal... And just because something is popular doesn't mean its well written. So none of the parameters of what made an author worthy of joining this group were mentioned in a legitimate, consistent or believable way. This threatens the entire world of the book as the Immortal Writers group is a setting unto itself.
The castle that makes up the physical location is very cool and has lots of potential development. The imagination room was another aspect that was quite a cool way to introduce the dragons and reveal at Liz's hidden darkness. I did get tired of hearing that it was the legendary sci-fi writers who came up with all of the technology... Most of them are so backwards compared to real technology. If you've ever read 50-70s sci-fi then you know what I mean... This would work for me if it was mentioned that the sci-fi writers weren't allowed to write new work under pseudonyms (once they were considered dead) so they had to funnel their imaginations into something. Or that they could only write so many books under pseudonyms before it just got boring... something along this vein to give me reason to believe they are even capable of developing these ideas!
The problem that I found inexplicably from almost page 1 was how much I disliked Liz. I despised her from the beginning and only found her tolerable by the end and that is because I didn't have to deal with her anymore! She was so full of herself in that false modesty way that modern people have, specifically modern young people. She's so ridiculously self centered that she's not even thinking properly. For example, she went on and on about how she thought they were going to poison her even though they said they needed her help! Why not just ask them for proof? It should be easy and duh it was, they have a Pegasus! No dragon attack needed! I'm expected to believe this piss poor thinker became IMMORTAL?! I just don't buy it! I've never HATED a character as fast as I do this Liz. In the beginning she's such a money grubber: "There was no way that any amount of money had created a flying, breathing pegasus and a terrifying dragon. Could it be real?" This is only like the 5th mention of money and the least damning but how can I root for this character? The insta love later is pretty bad but add it to the constant petting that the MC had to have and it was so full of herself!
This was a very ambitious premise that needed a skilled writer at the helm to work. And good writing it didn't have... the logic many times didn't work and made me roll my eyes... The different writers were another great premise but they all felt the same - it was their dialogue that set them slightly apart from one another... I'd prefer to focus on developing 2-3 writers and leave off the others for later in the series. As they were used in the story it was good to include them but they lacked presence and necessity.
I quite enjoyed Liz's book world and the dragons that were developed to inhabit said world. It was inventive the way they looked different and had different abilities and different methods worked better to kill them. The training of Liz's magic was also pretty developed if quite tedious. It was one of the few things the writer tried to draw out in real time and it was the LAST thing I wanted to experience first hand! So many details were like this! Like the unexpected blackouts with Healer, they left me wondering a little, but why isn't Liz worried for her?! And it was quite easy for Liz to overcome her past, one quick imagining and it broke a barrier in her mind?! What? That's it... One event with the proposing ex and Curtis professes his undying... well you get the picture. Individual plot points are good ideas but are left undeveloped so they don't quite work for a grander whole. There were many more examples of problems like these but in the interest of not ruining things I won't list anymore...
Still the end was the worst bit... it was so terribly contrived. The way Healer was handled was so mismanaged! As a reader I was howling and as a writer myself I was screaming at the lost potential! I really hate it when an author tells us how the next bit is supposed to play out then it proceeds to happen exactly like we were told! Boring much!! Added to the contrived bit and I wanted to DNF this... I hated how they planned everything and then it happened that way with only a slight twist here and there - so boring! And the emotions were so shallow - they talk about how someone ought to feel then they say the character says they feel that way. That's not how real life works! Nothing surprising... Even the "twists" weren't twists at all I saw them a mile away! The final battle was very overworked... I wanted to like the story but it was terribly juvenile - it read like a first draft.
BOTTOM LINE: Fed up with the self centered MC and the shallow writing.
1.5 stars rounded up because it really felt like the writer tried her hardest even as so many things felt contrived and a mess!
Liz, a 19 year old author is coming home from her book tour. With her fantasy series almost complete her life is falling into place nicely. Then she's kidnapped, but not for ill purposes, it's William Shakespeare and he wants her to join his Immortal Writers group. Her words brought her eternal life but they also made real her power hungry villain, dragons, and her sexy hero Curtis. All that's left to secure her place is to survive the final battle with the darkest part of herself...
When I put in the request this premise sounded really great but I guess I didn't much think about what an immortal writers group would be... because the reality of it was quite nonsensical. It was very hard for me to believe that Liz's 19 year old writing could make her IMMORTAL! It wasn't mentioned that Shakespeare was only 18 or 19 either which is what he would be if it was potential greatness that made you immortal... And just because something is popular doesn't mean its well written. So none of the parameters of what made an author worthy of joining this group were mentioned in a legitimate, consistent or believable way. This threatens the entire world of the book as the Immortal Writers group is a setting unto itself.
The castle that makes up the physical location is very cool and has lots of potential development. The imagination room was another aspect that was quite a cool way to introduce the dragons and reveal at Liz's hidden darkness. I did get tired of hearing that it was the legendary sci-fi writers who came up with all of the technology... Most of them are so backwards compared to real technology. If you've ever read 50-70s sci-fi then you know what I mean... This would work for me if it was mentioned that the sci-fi writers weren't allowed to write new work under pseudonyms (once they were considered dead) so they had to funnel their imaginations into something. Or that they could only write so many books under pseudonyms before it just got boring... something along this vein to give me reason to believe they are even capable of developing these ideas!
The problem that I found inexplicably from almost page 1 was how much I disliked Liz. I despised her from the beginning and only found her tolerable by the end and that is because I didn't have to deal with her anymore! She was so full of herself in that false modesty way that modern people have, specifically modern young people. She's so ridiculously self centered that she's not even thinking properly. For example, she went on and on about how she thought they were going to poison her even though they said they needed her help! Why not just ask them for proof? It should be easy and duh it was, they have a Pegasus! No dragon attack needed! I'm expected to believe this piss poor thinker became IMMORTAL?! I just don't buy it! I've never HATED a character as fast as I do this Liz. In the beginning she's such a money grubber: "There was no way that any amount of money had created a flying, breathing pegasus and a terrifying dragon. Could it be real?" This is only like the 5th mention of money and the least damning but how can I root for this character? The insta love later is pretty bad but add it to the constant petting that the MC had to have and it was so full of herself!
This was a very ambitious premise that needed a skilled writer at the helm to work. And good writing it didn't have... the logic many times didn't work and made me roll my eyes... The different writers were another great premise but they all felt the same - it was their dialogue that set them slightly apart from one another... I'd prefer to focus on developing 2-3 writers and leave off the others for later in the series. As they were used in the story it was good to include them but they lacked presence and necessity.
I quite enjoyed Liz's book world and the dragons that were developed to inhabit said world. It was inventive the way they looked different and had different abilities and different methods worked better to kill them. The training of Liz's magic was also pretty developed if quite tedious. It was one of the few things the writer tried to draw out in real time and it was the LAST thing I wanted to experience first hand! So many details were like this! Like the unexpected blackouts with Healer, they left me wondering a little, but why isn't Liz worried for her?! And it was quite easy for Liz to overcome her past, one quick imagining and it broke a barrier in her mind?! What? That's it... One event with the proposing ex and Curtis professes his undying... well you get the picture. Individual plot points are good ideas but are left undeveloped so they don't quite work for a grander whole. There were many more examples of problems like these but in the interest of not ruining things I won't list anymore...
Still the end was the worst bit... it was so terribly contrived. The way Healer was handled was so mismanaged! As a reader I was howling and as a writer myself I was screaming at the lost potential! I really hate it when an author tells us how the next bit is supposed to play out then it proceeds to happen exactly like we were told! Boring much!! Added to the contrived bit and I wanted to DNF this... I hated how they planned everything and then it happened that way with only a slight twist here and there - so boring! And the emotions were so shallow - they talk about how someone ought to feel then they say the character says they feel that way. That's not how real life works! Nothing surprising... Even the "twists" weren't twists at all I saw them a mile away! The final battle was very overworked... I wanted to like the story but it was terribly juvenile - it read like a first draft.
BOTTOM LINE: Fed up with the self centered MC and the shallow writing.
May 26, 2018
The Concept was really intriguing, but execution of it was just Ok, nothing extraordinary here.
Characters were Good, but sometomes felt a bit artificial and one dimentional.
Płot was really engaging and kept me mostly intrigued in it. What will happen when you will Her caught in The middle of fight That is happening between Her fictional characters. Will she be able to deal with Her villian?
Could be much better!
Characters were Good, but sometomes felt a bit artificial and one dimentional.
Płot was really engaging and kept me mostly intrigued in it. What will happen when you will Her caught in The middle of fight That is happening between Her fictional characters. Will she be able to deal with Her villian?
Could be much better!
April 3, 2017
3.5 Stars at best.
You ever read a book and want to know more about other characters than the main character? That's this book for me. The premise of Immortal Writers is that if an author creates a story that is so great and awe-inspiring and will probably go down for along time, the story somehow truly comes to life and the author is then immortal(literally).
The story focuses on Liz McKinnen, who is probably in her mid 20's and is a fantasy writer( like created types of dragons fantasy). She is just home from a book tour when suddenly she is abducted by some men and is thrown into this new world where Shakespeare is still alive and has read her books, and some of her characters have come to life. Part of Immortal Writer's induction is defeating the villain of their story that has come to life. Which Liz must now prepare to do.
While the romance is cliche and kinda dumb, it's very obvious that it's giong to happen. I just didn't find myself truly connecting with Liz and her characters. Maybe it's because my life and upbringing is so vastly different from Liz but i just kind felt like story wasn't as great as it could have been.
Personally i'd rather read about these other authors that i already know about. Give me Tolkein's story about defeating Smaug, let me read what Jane Austen had to do. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET ME KNOW IF ROWLING IS PART OF THIS GROUP!!!
While i thought the different dragons were cool, and the fact that Shakespeare & Tolkein want in on the action, the story itself just left me with a feeling of meh at the end.
The ebook has a sneak peek at a sequel(spinoff?) but I will probably not be picking it up.
You ever read a book and want to know more about other characters than the main character? That's this book for me. The premise of Immortal Writers is that if an author creates a story that is so great and awe-inspiring and will probably go down for along time, the story somehow truly comes to life and the author is then immortal(literally).
The story focuses on Liz McKinnen, who is probably in her mid 20's and is a fantasy writer( like created types of dragons fantasy). She is just home from a book tour when suddenly she is abducted by some men and is thrown into this new world where Shakespeare is still alive and has read her books, and some of her characters have come to life. Part of Immortal Writer's induction is defeating the villain of their story that has come to life. Which Liz must now prepare to do.
While the romance is cliche and kinda dumb, it's very obvious that it's giong to happen. I just didn't find myself truly connecting with Liz and her characters. Maybe it's because my life and upbringing is so vastly different from Liz but i just kind felt like story wasn't as great as it could have been.
Personally i'd rather read about these other authors that i already know about. Give me Tolkein's story about defeating Smaug, let me read what Jane Austen had to do. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET ME KNOW IF ROWLING IS PART OF THIS GROUP!!!
While i thought the different dragons were cool, and the fact that Shakespeare & Tolkein want in on the action, the story itself just left me with a feeling of meh at the end.
The ebook has a sneak peek at a sequel(spinoff?) but I will probably not be picking it up.
September 22, 2016
**I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review**
I am beyond frustrated trying to write a review for this book. There were aspects of the story that I absolutely loved, yet it dragged for me. There’s actually a point coming up on the climax that I
noted, “I should be anxious and excited for the climax but I just want it over so I can move on.” And I still couldn’t just be quit reading and put it under the “not finished” heading.
The whole concept of this story is wonderful. Wonderful writers are given immortal life due to the strength of their writing. The readers get to meet authors from William Shakespeare to Jane Austen to Douglas Adams. The flaw in this is that the actual author, Jill Bowers, does not include any living authors (besides the character in her book, Liz) to this mix although I feel Piers Anthony or J.K. Rowling could have been very helpful in Liz's mission. I’m sure this is due to licensing and such, but it seemed glaringly obvious to me.
The heroine of the story, Liz, is supposed to be a young up and coming author that has already won awards for her first book. It is my understanding that Liz is 18 years old. Now I know a lot of very mature 18 year old woman. The problem is Liz isn’t one of them. On one hand that works out, like at the beginning of the book when she’s not being very assertive with her boyfriend and instead allows an event to occur that she should have seen coming and should have stopped. I chalked that up to her age and inexperience. But then we’re being told that Liz has had quite the rough life and should have enough world experience to not only know better, but to stand up for herself. Somehow, Liz’s personality never quite felt defined to me. And the timeline of the life events she went through didn't seem to add up. I wish she would have been written as a 25 year old just so things could have made a bit more sense.
As I was reading there were passages I had to reread due to their clunky-ness. When I realized how clunky some of the writing was, I realized that was also one of my problems with Liz. Her dialogue seemed stilted and unnatural at times. Especially for a woman who is supposed to be an immortal writer. There’s even one part where she is told “words are the most powerful and basic form of magic” and she, as a writer, actually says she never thought of them that way. What?!? And I'm supposed to believe she deserves to be with the likes of Anne McCaffrey and J.R.R. Tolkien? Not likely!
There are times I get annoyed with books that tell me things but don’t show me. I found it strange that this book actually showed me things…and then for some reason decided to tell me, too. It got repetitive and irritating. As did the retelling of Liz’s book. Not that it is a retelling to the reader since we haven’t read Liz’s novel, but the characters had to get a refresher on how the magic worked in her fictional world and they always seemed to use the same type of phrasing. It’s very hard to explain what I mean without giving away key points, but it added to the feeling of repetition.
One last bone of contention I had was the characterization of some of the (real life) famous authors. I can’t help but think the author is not a fan of Jane Austen as she made her out to be a bit flighty and boy crazy. This is grossly inaccurate and just perpetuates a stereotype. Ms. Bowers also uses a lot of stereotypes to paint her picture of Edgar Allan Poe. If these would have been broad caricatures meant as satire I could look past them and maybe even chuckle; but that’s not how it came across. It actually came across as a tad bitter or disgruntled for some reason.
The crazy thing is, at the end of the ARC I was given to read of this book there is an excerpt for Immortal Creators that seemed very interesting. Although Immortal Writers left a lot to be desired, the concept is wonderful. I would actually consider reading Immortal Creators in the hopes that the author’s writing and execution of story have improved with experience.
I am beyond frustrated trying to write a review for this book. There were aspects of the story that I absolutely loved, yet it dragged for me. There’s actually a point coming up on the climax that I
noted, “I should be anxious and excited for the climax but I just want it over so I can move on.” And I still couldn’t just be quit reading and put it under the “not finished” heading.
The whole concept of this story is wonderful. Wonderful writers are given immortal life due to the strength of their writing. The readers get to meet authors from William Shakespeare to Jane Austen to Douglas Adams. The flaw in this is that the actual author, Jill Bowers, does not include any living authors (besides the character in her book, Liz) to this mix although I feel Piers Anthony or J.K. Rowling could have been very helpful in Liz's mission. I’m sure this is due to licensing and such, but it seemed glaringly obvious to me.
The heroine of the story, Liz, is supposed to be a young up and coming author that has already won awards for her first book. It is my understanding that Liz is 18 years old. Now I know a lot of very mature 18 year old woman. The problem is Liz isn’t one of them. On one hand that works out, like at the beginning of the book when she’s not being very assertive with her boyfriend and instead allows an event to occur that she should have seen coming and should have stopped. I chalked that up to her age and inexperience. But then we’re being told that Liz has had quite the rough life and should have enough world experience to not only know better, but to stand up for herself. Somehow, Liz’s personality never quite felt defined to me. And the timeline of the life events she went through didn't seem to add up. I wish she would have been written as a 25 year old just so things could have made a bit more sense.
As I was reading there were passages I had to reread due to their clunky-ness. When I realized how clunky some of the writing was, I realized that was also one of my problems with Liz. Her dialogue seemed stilted and unnatural at times. Especially for a woman who is supposed to be an immortal writer. There’s even one part where she is told “words are the most powerful and basic form of magic” and she, as a writer, actually says she never thought of them that way. What?!? And I'm supposed to believe she deserves to be with the likes of Anne McCaffrey and J.R.R. Tolkien? Not likely!
There are times I get annoyed with books that tell me things but don’t show me. I found it strange that this book actually showed me things…and then for some reason decided to tell me, too. It got repetitive and irritating. As did the retelling of Liz’s book. Not that it is a retelling to the reader since we haven’t read Liz’s novel, but the characters had to get a refresher on how the magic worked in her fictional world and they always seemed to use the same type of phrasing. It’s very hard to explain what I mean without giving away key points, but it added to the feeling of repetition.
One last bone of contention I had was the characterization of some of the (real life) famous authors. I can’t help but think the author is not a fan of Jane Austen as she made her out to be a bit flighty and boy crazy. This is grossly inaccurate and just perpetuates a stereotype. Ms. Bowers also uses a lot of stereotypes to paint her picture of Edgar Allan Poe. If these would have been broad caricatures meant as satire I could look past them and maybe even chuckle; but that’s not how it came across. It actually came across as a tad bitter or disgruntled for some reason.
The crazy thing is, at the end of the ARC I was given to read of this book there is an excerpt for Immortal Creators that seemed very interesting. Although Immortal Writers left a lot to be desired, the concept is wonderful. I would actually consider reading Immortal Creators in the hopes that the author’s writing and execution of story have improved with experience.
November 30, 2016
Immortal Writers isn't a book that I would normally go for. Actually, if I'm being completely honest ... I didn't mean to pick this one off of NetGalley. I received an email about this book and when I clicked the link to check the book out, it approved me on NG. So. I figured since I got it, I might as well give it a shot!
I had no idea what this book was about when I picked it up. I didn't give it a second glance once it was put onto my Kindle after the whole NG Email Mis-Click of 2016. I was pretty pleasantly surprised. I'll try to keep any spoilers out of here ... nothing I say won't be found in the first chapter or so. This author chick gets kidnapped and told that the characters she has created within the pages of her book have come alive. Her characters came alive because she's an Immortal Writer. Immortal Writers are authors like Shakespeare, Poe, Austen and hundreds more. Basically, they are the authors that have made a massive impact on the literary world. Yeah, the premise of this book is nothing like I've ever read before and to say that it grabbed me almost immediately would be an understatement. I was totally intrigued by this whole idea.
Unfortunately, I don't think that the main character (Liz) was stout enough to handle the kind of weight that the Immortal Writers author put on her. Liz was not a compelling character. I didn't really connect with her and the fact that she was this awe-inspiring author was not believable in the least. When you bring characters into a book and they are bigger than life people/fictional-characters then anything standing next to them is going to wither in their massive shadow. That is exactly what I think happened to Liz. Liz as a character didn't compare to Shakespeare. Even Shakespeare's part in the book seemed more fleshed out than Liz's. That's unfortunate. There are some books where the story-line will carry a reader to the end of the book and then there are books where the characters are what propel the book. This one should have been pulled off by the characters. But it fell short and for the first time, I was actually really irritated with a book.
Most of the time, when I read a book and it doesn't go well, I just shrug it off. It happens and it's not that big of a deal and I just move on to the next one. But this time, I wanted it to succeed so very badly that I was pissed when it was over. It had so much potential and instead of becoming an amazing book, I was left unfulfilled and questioning my initial positive feelings. I wish that Liz had been a better character for me. I wish that she had been as amazing as her author counterparts.
* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *
Check out more of my reviews at Little Miss Bookmark!
did-not-finish
October 30, 2016I think being far more ruthless than usual with my current reads. Two DNFs in a row! I'm not rating this book because I don't rate books I didn't finish, but I did have enough to say about this one to warrant my first ever DNF Review!
Ultimately, this book felt a bit bland and while I was only at 53%, I felt the story should really have been working towards climax by that point. I have no idea how another 50% was going to be padded out. Apart from that, though, there were two things that bugged me with this book.
(For background, the premise of this book is that writers of a certain degree of talent become immortal through the magic of their words, and their worlds and characters can also bleed over into reality)
1a) I felt that some of the Immortal Writers featured should not have been. It's one thing to include figures like Jane Austen and Shakespeare in your fantasy novel. Including Anne McCaffery, who only died in 2011, and even Douglas Adams and Tolkien, felt disrespectful. Not enough time has passed to start creating fictional versions of these people. A throwaway line could have been okay, but some of them had dialogue and participated on the periphery of the story.
1b) There was also this thing where each author seemed to think that their own genre was the only one worthy of any publication. There were some lines such as "Jane Austen thought Liz's books should have more romance, Douglas Adams told her there should be more satire". H. G. Wells was dismissive of fantasy because it doesn't have scope for cutting-edge technology. I'm fairly certain Jane Austen, H. G. Wells and Douglas Adams would be aware that not everything ever is included in every book ever, and that genre divides exist.
1c) They were all pretty boring, too! We got no real insight into any of these authors. I got that Shakespeare was basically running the joint, but he just struck me as a fairly generic Professor X/Dumbledore/[insert other mentor/owns the place where everyone hangs out when they're not battling anyone character] type.
2) Liz's characters, who have crossed over into reality, never seemed to need to adjust. Even though they were from fantasy novels, the only time it is ever questioned is when Liz asks one of her characters how he learned to drive. This is pretty much shrugged off with "I learn things quickly. And a car is really easier than a chariot". It would have been nice to see them freaking out a bit more, rather than taking literally everything in their stride.
tl;dr - This was a good idea, but sadly failed in the execution.
(Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me a free copy of Immortal Writers in exchange for a review)
Ultimately, this book felt a bit bland and while I was only at 53%, I felt the story should really have been working towards climax by that point. I have no idea how another 50% was going to be padded out. Apart from that, though, there were two things that bugged me with this book.
(For background, the premise of this book is that writers of a certain degree of talent become immortal through the magic of their words, and their worlds and characters can also bleed over into reality)
1a) I felt that some of the Immortal Writers featured should not have been. It's one thing to include figures like Jane Austen and Shakespeare in your fantasy novel. Including Anne McCaffery, who only died in 2011, and even Douglas Adams and Tolkien, felt disrespectful. Not enough time has passed to start creating fictional versions of these people. A throwaway line could have been okay, but some of them had dialogue and participated on the periphery of the story.
1b) There was also this thing where each author seemed to think that their own genre was the only one worthy of any publication. There were some lines such as "Jane Austen thought Liz's books should have more romance, Douglas Adams told her there should be more satire". H. G. Wells was dismissive of fantasy because it doesn't have scope for cutting-edge technology. I'm fairly certain Jane Austen, H. G. Wells and Douglas Adams would be aware that not everything ever is included in every book ever, and that genre divides exist.
1c) They were all pretty boring, too! We got no real insight into any of these authors. I got that Shakespeare was basically running the joint, but he just struck me as a fairly generic Professor X/Dumbledore/[insert other mentor/owns the place where everyone hangs out when they're not battling anyone character] type.
2) Liz's characters, who have crossed over into reality, never seemed to need to adjust. Even though they were from fantasy novels, the only time it is ever questioned is when Liz asks one of her characters how he learned to drive. This is pretty much shrugged off with "I learn things quickly. And a car is really easier than a chariot". It would have been nice to see them freaking out a bit more, rather than taking literally everything in their stride.
tl;dr - This was a good idea, but sadly failed in the execution.
(Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me a free copy of Immortal Writers in exchange for a review)
August 14, 2016
Immortal Writers takes a rather literal spin to finding immortality through the written word. Imagine learning, as an author, that your plot twists, dashing heroes, and darkest villains have come to life. Not just come to life in the minds of your readers, but in reality. All I can say is Liz has her work cut out for her.
First off, I love how the story brings to life some of the things writers often say about writing. That they’ll live on through their words, that their characters take over the story, that the story itself has to happen the way it does, despite their intentions. I’ve felt this in my own writing, but to imagine that all of this might happen because the story is becoming real is just mind-blowing.
I also love which authors were chosen to be featured in this story and how they’re portrayed. Poe is one of my favorite characters in the story, mostly because of how the other authors react to him. But as a fantasy/sci fi fan, I particularly loved how Anne McCaffrey, J.R.R Tolkien, and even Gene Rodenberry make an appearance. And not just an appearance, some of them get involved in the plot personally. There’s mostly an air of fantasy, but also a few elements of sci fi, based on the writer’s who’ve been immortalized and the aspects of their writing that have leaked into the real world.
Now, all that’s related to the premise, but the story itself, the struggle and the romance and the personal growth of the main character, Liz, are all handled exceptionally well. It’s a satisfying read, and Liz’s story seems complete at the end.
That being said, there were points where the famous authors’ cameos made me roll my eyes. Just a little cheesy at times. And it was funny that Shakespeare seems to be the leader of all the immortal writers.
For folks looking for a book club read, there are some questions at the end specifically for that. In my opinion, this story would make an interesting discussion topic, particularly in book clubs where the members also enjoy writing.
Overall, I loved this book. I think folks who like to write, whether published or not, will be entranced by this story and the way it unfolds. Fantasy and sci fi fans in particular will dig the references to their genre and likely their favorite authors.
I received the review copy of this book from NetGalley.
First off, I love how the story brings to life some of the things writers often say about writing. That they’ll live on through their words, that their characters take over the story, that the story itself has to happen the way it does, despite their intentions. I’ve felt this in my own writing, but to imagine that all of this might happen because the story is becoming real is just mind-blowing.
I also love which authors were chosen to be featured in this story and how they’re portrayed. Poe is one of my favorite characters in the story, mostly because of how the other authors react to him. But as a fantasy/sci fi fan, I particularly loved how Anne McCaffrey, J.R.R Tolkien, and even Gene Rodenberry make an appearance. And not just an appearance, some of them get involved in the plot personally. There’s mostly an air of fantasy, but also a few elements of sci fi, based on the writer’s who’ve been immortalized and the aspects of their writing that have leaked into the real world.
Now, all that’s related to the premise, but the story itself, the struggle and the romance and the personal growth of the main character, Liz, are all handled exceptionally well. It’s a satisfying read, and Liz’s story seems complete at the end.
That being said, there were points where the famous authors’ cameos made me roll my eyes. Just a little cheesy at times. And it was funny that Shakespeare seems to be the leader of all the immortal writers.
For folks looking for a book club read, there are some questions at the end specifically for that. In my opinion, this story would make an interesting discussion topic, particularly in book clubs where the members also enjoy writing.
Overall, I loved this book. I think folks who like to write, whether published or not, will be entranced by this story and the way it unfolds. Fantasy and sci fi fans in particular will dig the references to their genre and likely their favorite authors.
I received the review copy of this book from NetGalley.
September 26, 2016
I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for honest review
Immortal Writer by Jill Bowers has a really, really cool concept. I was intrigued from the first time I read the synopsis. I mean, a world where writers become immortal because their stories are so good? Count me in! I was excited to see what happens.
However, the first 30% of the book was kind of... awful. I didn't like the characters, AT ALL, especially Liz and Derek. I didn't enjoy their interaction and honestly it felt too... childish for me. I could not believe Liz as someone who had written a really powerful book. There were also so much info dump at the beginning of the book. I was considering to DNF the book.
As we got to see the real conflict, the book began to grow on me. I was not wrong about the story, it is indeed really cool. There were this castle full of amazing writers like Shakespeare and Ernest Hemmingway and OMG I seriously dig that!! Words are the most powerful words of magic, indeed <3 why hasn't anyone thought of this concept?!
Bun then again, there were more info dump. Like when Liz asked one of her character to explain the law of magic in a super detailed way. And it happened repeatedly! The characters would say 'but you already know it' and Liz asked them to explain anyway. I mean, I get that it's probably done for us readers, but that kind of writing seemed very basic. There were too many explanation and I was bored.
The story was actually quite okay. I don't hate it even if it was predictable. There were no giant plot twist and Liz's tragic didn't even make a big difference to the story. I also didn't like the romance. No real chemistry and the guy was just too plain for a love interest.
All in all, Immortal Writers has a potential to be something big. However, the execution was a bit 'meh' and the characters are not interesting enough for me. And since the writing was very basic, I feel like this book should be marketed as Middle Grade instead of YA.
Thank you to publisher and Netgalley for providing a free digital copy.
Immortal Writer by Jill Bowers has a really, really cool concept. I was intrigued from the first time I read the synopsis. I mean, a world where writers become immortal because their stories are so good? Count me in! I was excited to see what happens.
However, the first 30% of the book was kind of... awful. I didn't like the characters, AT ALL, especially Liz and Derek. I didn't enjoy their interaction and honestly it felt too... childish for me. I could not believe Liz as someone who had written a really powerful book. There were also so much info dump at the beginning of the book. I was considering to DNF the book.
As we got to see the real conflict, the book began to grow on me. I was not wrong about the story, it is indeed really cool. There were this castle full of amazing writers like Shakespeare and Ernest Hemmingway and OMG I seriously dig that!! Words are the most powerful words of magic, indeed <3 why hasn't anyone thought of this concept?!
Bun then again, there were more info dump. Like when Liz asked one of her character to explain the law of magic in a super detailed way. And it happened repeatedly! The characters would say 'but you already know it' and Liz asked them to explain anyway. I mean, I get that it's probably done for us readers, but that kind of writing seemed very basic. There were too many explanation and I was bored.
The story was actually quite okay. I don't hate it even if it was predictable. There were no giant plot twist and Liz's tragic didn't even make a big difference to the story. I also didn't like the romance. No real chemistry and the guy was just too plain for a love interest.
All in all, Immortal Writers has a potential to be something big. However, the execution was a bit 'meh' and the characters are not interesting enough for me. And since the writing was very basic, I feel like this book should be marketed as Middle Grade instead of YA.
Thank you to publisher and Netgalley for providing a free digital copy.
December 13, 2016
ARC REVIEW
It takes a very intriguing blurb for me to pick a young adult to read and review. The premise was very interesting and very much reminded me of League of Extraordinary Gentleman. The main character, Liz, is a young author whose book series hit it big, like Harry Potter big. As a result the magic in her words became real and she became an Immortal Writer. Her characters came to life, her villain and his angry horde of dragons included. Liz is 19 years old and while that would technically make this a new adult the simplistic writing style and ease of reading makes this more aimed for the younger side of young adult. I think my kids would enjoy this. I enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed Eragon, it's not something I normally read but I enjoyed reading it. Curtis as the hero seemed a little one dimensional, the fact that the book is in Liz's POV takes away from character development of the other characters, you only see things as Liz sees it and you don't get any insight to the other characters beyond that. The book was good the plot was great the romance between Liz and Curtis was obvious and a give in she wrote the perfect man for her and she was already in love with him before she meet the actual man.
Liz is exhausted, she just got done with her book tour and all she wants to do is go to sleep, but Shakespeare has something else planned. William Shakespeare the original Immortal Writer has brought Liz into the fold before her time because her creation is on the loose and has almost gained enough power to expose the living literary world to the real world. Curtis has to train Liz how to fight dragons and Healer teaches her how to use the magic all so she can defeat Kendric. There is lots of action that's broken up with scenes that set up motive and Liz's background and Kendric's background. It all leads to a very exciting climactic conclusion. I liked the interpretation of the other famous authors it was nice to see how someone might view them in a modern setting.
Overall it was a nice and easy read, there is going to be another another book in the series and what I'm liking is that it's not centering around Liz but that of another author.
It takes a very intriguing blurb for me to pick a young adult to read and review. The premise was very interesting and very much reminded me of League of Extraordinary Gentleman. The main character, Liz, is a young author whose book series hit it big, like Harry Potter big. As a result the magic in her words became real and she became an Immortal Writer. Her characters came to life, her villain and his angry horde of dragons included. Liz is 19 years old and while that would technically make this a new adult the simplistic writing style and ease of reading makes this more aimed for the younger side of young adult. I think my kids would enjoy this. I enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed Eragon, it's not something I normally read but I enjoyed reading it. Curtis as the hero seemed a little one dimensional, the fact that the book is in Liz's POV takes away from character development of the other characters, you only see things as Liz sees it and you don't get any insight to the other characters beyond that. The book was good the plot was great the romance between Liz and Curtis was obvious and a give in she wrote the perfect man for her and she was already in love with him before she meet the actual man.
Liz is exhausted, she just got done with her book tour and all she wants to do is go to sleep, but Shakespeare has something else planned. William Shakespeare the original Immortal Writer has brought Liz into the fold before her time because her creation is on the loose and has almost gained enough power to expose the living literary world to the real world. Curtis has to train Liz how to fight dragons and Healer teaches her how to use the magic all so she can defeat Kendric. There is lots of action that's broken up with scenes that set up motive and Liz's background and Kendric's background. It all leads to a very exciting climactic conclusion. I liked the interpretation of the other famous authors it was nice to see how someone might view them in a modern setting.
Overall it was a nice and easy read, there is going to be another another book in the series and what I'm liking is that it's not centering around Liz but that of another author.
August 27, 2016
The author so skillfully weaved together a uniquely intriguing must read story that took this reader deep into a world of imagination that made me wonder and probably most writers have wondered about from time to time, and have probably asked that age old question of, what if the characters of stories came to life? What could be the outcome? How would we or they react to the possibilities? In IMMORTAL WRITERS by Jill Bowers, Liz was found in one of those situations. A problem that could develop into an even bigger problem that she might not be able to get out of so quickly herself. Will she need to call in reinforcements? And, if so, will they in turn be able to help her, or have to stand by and watch as she is slowly enveloped?
Elizabeth McKinnen was suddenly abducted by the very man that had been stalking her for the last three months. Why? What did he want with her? Was he out to kill her? She knew she was tired after her long trip, but she didn't realize how tired, until after she woke up in a strange place. Liz wondered where she was, and after looking around, found herself in a huge library filled with books all the way to the ceiling. She thought it was an amazing place, but once she tried to get out she found all of the doors locked. Liz felt trapped, but for how long she didn't know. Then she tried moving some of the books that might reveal a way out, but only attempted in causing more books to fall to the floor. Liz thought herself a problem solver, and could get herself out of most situations, but this was a little different. She didn't realize how different, or how difficult to handle? dark thoughts kept clouding her mind, keeping her from thinking clearly. She wondered why when, suddenly a man came into the room and began talking with her about a problem he needed her help in solving. Liz didn't know what he was talking about, or what to think, or what to believe until the man told her who he was and what he needed her to do. Will Liz be able to help him and figure out this situation? And, if so, will she get out alive? A wonderful read!
Elizabeth McKinnen was suddenly abducted by the very man that had been stalking her for the last three months. Why? What did he want with her? Was he out to kill her? She knew she was tired after her long trip, but she didn't realize how tired, until after she woke up in a strange place. Liz wondered where she was, and after looking around, found herself in a huge library filled with books all the way to the ceiling. She thought it was an amazing place, but once she tried to get out she found all of the doors locked. Liz felt trapped, but for how long she didn't know. Then she tried moving some of the books that might reveal a way out, but only attempted in causing more books to fall to the floor. Liz thought herself a problem solver, and could get herself out of most situations, but this was a little different. She didn't realize how different, or how difficult to handle? dark thoughts kept clouding her mind, keeping her from thinking clearly. She wondered why when, suddenly a man came into the room and began talking with her about a problem he needed her help in solving. Liz didn't know what he was talking about, or what to think, or what to believe until the man told her who he was and what he needed her to do. Will Liz be able to help him and figure out this situation? And, if so, will she get out alive? A wonderful read!
August 30, 2016
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley exchange for an honest review
Summary: Immortal Writers
Young up-and-coming author Liz McKinnen has no idea that her life is about to change forever when she comes home from her first book tour. When she's kidnapped and told by her captors that she has to kill her fantasy book's antagonist, she thinks that she's fallen into the hands of crazy, dangerous fans... until her antagonist sends a real, fire-breathing dragon after her.
Liz is quickly initiated into the Immortal Writers, a group of authors from throughout time whose words have given them eternal life, and whose prose is so powerful that it's brought stories over from the Imagination Field into the Reality Field. As Liz meets authors such as William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jane Austen, she has to learn how to control magic, fight dragons, and face her own troubled past before her power-hungry villain takes over the world. Will she survive the ultimate battle against the dragon lord whom she created?
Review:
I had trouble connecting with the characters. I thought the book was overall well written. It so reminded me of one of my favorite movies Inkheart, which came out in 2008 it was for this soul reason I was able to finish the book. As someone who dreams of being a writer, I love the idea of my characters coming to life. If I could’ve connected with the characters I’d rate this book higher.
Summary:
Would you recommend this book to others? NO
Would you read other books written by this Author? Maybe
Is this book a Novel or Novella? Novel
Is this book priced correctly? No it’s over priced.
Summary: Immortal Writers
Young up-and-coming author Liz McKinnen has no idea that her life is about to change forever when she comes home from her first book tour. When she's kidnapped and told by her captors that she has to kill her fantasy book's antagonist, she thinks that she's fallen into the hands of crazy, dangerous fans... until her antagonist sends a real, fire-breathing dragon after her.
Liz is quickly initiated into the Immortal Writers, a group of authors from throughout time whose words have given them eternal life, and whose prose is so powerful that it's brought stories over from the Imagination Field into the Reality Field. As Liz meets authors such as William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jane Austen, she has to learn how to control magic, fight dragons, and face her own troubled past before her power-hungry villain takes over the world. Will she survive the ultimate battle against the dragon lord whom she created?
Review:
I had trouble connecting with the characters. I thought the book was overall well written. It so reminded me of one of my favorite movies Inkheart, which came out in 2008 it was for this soul reason I was able to finish the book. As someone who dreams of being a writer, I love the idea of my characters coming to life. If I could’ve connected with the characters I’d rate this book higher.
Summary:
Would you recommend this book to others? NO
Would you read other books written by this Author? Maybe
Is this book a Novel or Novella? Novel
Is this book priced correctly? No it’s over priced.
September 15, 2025
I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Before picking up this book, I didn't know very well what to expect. The synopsis sounded quite unique and somehow different from any other book! And it was! The book has some plot twists and action but there were some aspects which didn't sounded right.
The book starts by introducing Liz McKinnon, a 18-year-old writer whose books have been pretty successful. After a book tour, she has dinner with her boyfriend who proposes to her right there! Liz is shocked and leaves the restaurant without giving an answer. But the worst was to come: she get's kidnapped on her way home!
Some time after, she wakes up and is introduced to William Shakespeare who is a member of the Immortal Writers. These members are special, once their book's characters come to life! And now, Liz faces Curtis, the main character of her book and the kind of man she always dreamt of. But the plot twist is that Liz has to kill Curtis with the help of an army of dragons that Shakespeare is raising. She is divided and without knowing what to do but she may start thinking differently when she mets some of the other members of IW, such as Jane Austen and Tolkien. But will she be able to kill him?
The story was pretty amazing and well thought. But, there were some things that could have been better worked. Some parts of the story seemed like they had been rushed without giving much time for things to settle down. Also, the main characters were not well developed in some aspects and that could be improved.
Before picking up this book, I didn't know very well what to expect. The synopsis sounded quite unique and somehow different from any other book! And it was! The book has some plot twists and action but there were some aspects which didn't sounded right.
The book starts by introducing Liz McKinnon, a 18-year-old writer whose books have been pretty successful. After a book tour, she has dinner with her boyfriend who proposes to her right there! Liz is shocked and leaves the restaurant without giving an answer. But the worst was to come: she get's kidnapped on her way home!
Some time after, she wakes up and is introduced to William Shakespeare who is a member of the Immortal Writers. These members are special, once their book's characters come to life! And now, Liz faces Curtis, the main character of her book and the kind of man she always dreamt of. But the plot twist is that Liz has to kill Curtis with the help of an army of dragons that Shakespeare is raising. She is divided and without knowing what to do but she may start thinking differently when she mets some of the other members of IW, such as Jane Austen and Tolkien. But will she be able to kill him?
The story was pretty amazing and well thought. But, there were some things that could have been better worked. Some parts of the story seemed like they had been rushed without giving much time for things to settle down. Also, the main characters were not well developed in some aspects and that could be improved.
August 2, 2016
This is an amazing story with even a more amazing writing! The way the writers are presented and how they interact with their creations is very well done. The plot is about how if you use your imagination and create stories (whether it's a full length book, a short novel or just some ideas scribbled in a napkin) can change everything as the magic in the words turns those stories into reality, and this is exactly what happens to our main character Liz when she writes a fictional story and it crossed from being a product of her imagination to the "Reality Realm", making her and her creations immortal, (and with that making the writers have a big ego, *Shakespeare*). The story is unique, different from all the other books I have read but at the same time carrying some elements from other titles and reality.
This tale has a very captivating plot, it has action, a lot of suspense, the perfect romance and dragon slaying shenanigans!. Loved the ending, (there were some parts worth crying before it, be prepared) it didn't end in a cliffhanger (thank God) but in a perfect way to introduce its sequel, which I'm looking forward to read as soon as it comes out.
Recommend this book to anyone who likes Fantasy/Science Fiction.
Note:I received a digital copy of this title for an unbiased opinion and reviewing purposes.
This tale has a very captivating plot, it has action, a lot of suspense, the perfect romance and dragon slaying shenanigans!. Loved the ending, (there were some parts worth crying before it, be prepared) it didn't end in a cliffhanger (thank God) but in a perfect way to introduce its sequel, which I'm looking forward to read as soon as it comes out.
Recommend this book to anyone who likes Fantasy/Science Fiction.
Note:I received a digital copy of this title for an unbiased opinion and reviewing purposes.
September 28, 2016
Even though the story line was very good I had a hard time connecting with the characters. It's quite interesting book, but I couldn't help but feel as if something was missing. I'm not sure what but I think it's because characters are not so well-developed. Otherwise it's a good read. I liked the concept of immortal writers, it's quite enjoyable to read about. And I'm sure people who enjoy a good fantasy will like this book.
Liz can't believe what she is hearing. These people want her to believe that she is actually meeting the famous authors of all times. How is that even possible? Unfortunately for her, she soon realises the truth of it. It's unfortunate because not only she finds out that she is immortal but also that her characters are coming to life. If it were only the heroes there wouldn't have been any issue but villains are real too. And now she must be the hero in order to defeat the villain she created herself. She has no ides how she is going to do it but she will try her best. With the help of her creations Liz learns to control her magic and how to fight. After all she will have to fight one of the worst villains ever created, all thanks to her.
Liz can't believe what she is hearing. These people want her to believe that she is actually meeting the famous authors of all times. How is that even possible? Unfortunately for her, she soon realises the truth of it. It's unfortunate because not only she finds out that she is immortal but also that her characters are coming to life. If it were only the heroes there wouldn't have been any issue but villains are real too. And now she must be the hero in order to defeat the villain she created herself. She has no ides how she is going to do it but she will try her best. With the help of her creations Liz learns to control her magic and how to fight. After all she will have to fight one of the worst villains ever created, all thanks to her.
August 2, 2016
Immortal Writers By Jill Bowers is a sci-fi and fantasy and teens ya read.
Young up-and-coming author Liz McKinnen has no idea that her life is about to change forever when she comes home from her first book tour. When she's kidnapped and told by her captors that she has to kill her fantasy book's antagonist, she thinks that she's fallen into the hands of crazy, dangerous fans... until her antagonist sends a real, fire-breathing dragon after her.
Absolutely fantastic read.
I loved the story and the characters.
Liz was my favourite character.
Would love to see this as a movie.
With real dragon's.
I loved the ending too.
Highly recommended.
5* from me.
Thanks to netgalley for the arc.
#tbconfb.
Young up-and-coming author Liz McKinnen has no idea that her life is about to change forever when she comes home from her first book tour. When she's kidnapped and told by her captors that she has to kill her fantasy book's antagonist, she thinks that she's fallen into the hands of crazy, dangerous fans... until her antagonist sends a real, fire-breathing dragon after her.
Absolutely fantastic read.
I loved the story and the characters.
Liz was my favourite character.
Would love to see this as a movie.
With real dragon's.
I loved the ending too.
Highly recommended.
5* from me.
Thanks to netgalley for the arc.
#tbconfb.
September 26, 2016
I loved the idea of this novel but didn't really enjoy the novel itself. I found it difficult to get through and eventually reading it was just a struggle. I loved meeting authors that I knew and seeing their characters was incredibly. The ending was predictable as well as the character of Curtis. However despite that I really liked his character and found myself rooting for him. This book is part of a series but I don't think I will be following it.
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