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The Fire Trilogy #2
The Empath
Battersea Park Station. Home of the company. The kind we all need, but nobody likes to talk about. Tristan Visconti works for the company and his clearance level has just been upgraded. Why? Simple, because he and his team have exactly one week to save our planet from impending doom.
When Tristan arrives in London, he needs to convince his client, Catherine van Dyk, of her own powers to help save our world. Problem is, Tristan believes he is on a suicide mission and so does his team. His former lover, Eve, is behaving out of character and then there is Alan, Catherine’s ex. Like Tristan, Alan’s an empath, but he’s also a master of death and the company can’t locate his whereabouts.
As Tristan, Catherine, Alan and Eve take center stage, the company is fulfilling its own agenda. Question is, are they working to save the world or to help destroy it?
When Tristan arrives in London, he needs to convince his client, Catherine van Dyk, of her own powers to help save our world. Problem is, Tristan believes he is on a suicide mission and so does his team. His former lover, Eve, is behaving out of character and then there is Alan, Catherine’s ex. Like Tristan, Alan’s an empath, but he’s also a master of death and the company can’t locate his whereabouts.
As Tristan, Catherine, Alan and Eve take center stage, the company is fulfilling its own agenda. Question is, are they working to save the world or to help destroy it?
228 pages, Paperback
Published May 5, 2017
3 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Veldkamp
14 books29 followersLisa is the author of the poetry collections Nothing is Forgotten, When Words Start To Sing, Magical Beasts & Creatures and she is the author of The Fire Trilogy. The Elemental (book I) was her first full-length novel. She has a background in social services and music, but writing has always been a part of her daily life. One night she dreamed the outlines of The Elemental and took it as a sign from the Universe to pursue a career in writing. She has stated in several interviews that the lyrics of British rockband Placebo were her source of inspiration for the entire trilogy.
She grew up in a small town in the Netherlands where her parents always taught her to think outside the box. She has a degree in social studies and joined the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids as an adult.
Lisa loves London, according to her ‘the city where magic dwells’ and can often be found there. She still resides in the Netherlands however with her partner and their dog Miss Ginger Rogers and if you’re lucky, you may find her in her favourite coffeehouse, Barista cafe.
She grew up in a small town in the Netherlands where her parents always taught her to think outside the box. She has a degree in social studies and joined the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids as an adult.
Lisa loves London, according to her ‘the city where magic dwells’ and can often be found there. She still resides in the Netherlands however with her partner and their dog Miss Ginger Rogers and if you’re lucky, you may find her in her favourite coffeehouse, Barista cafe.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 21, 2017
On The Same Wavelength As The Empath.
With The Empath, the author takes us back into the story we first saw in book one of the trilogy, The Elemental.
The same characters are there; the two skilfully written main players, Catherine van Dyk and Tristan Visconti, and their respective entourages. I had originally been unsure of how this would pan out, because the book retells the same plot as The Elemental, but this time from Tristan’s Point Of View instead of Catherine’s.
So would this lack the suspense, excitement and uncertainty of The Elemental, as we’re being led towards the same outcome, and seeing the same scenes and developments? Not a bit of it. We learn a lot more about Tristan’s world, which had been more shrouded in mystery previously.
And as a male reader I preferred identifying more with Tristan this time, rather than Catherine, finding him a more interesting character, and seeing how he manipulates her right from the start.
Overall, it’s a rather brave concept from Lisa Veldkamp, but it does work surprisingly well. Character development progresses neatly, and there’s also a startling revelation about one of the extremely important “minor” characters.
So, why the four stars, instead of five, seeing as how I love The Empath so much? Purely and simply because we know how the climax will turn out. But, of course, to anyone reading this book who hasn’t read The Elemental, it will be a complete surprise – so they may well give it five!
With The Empath, the author takes us back into the story we first saw in book one of the trilogy, The Elemental.
The same characters are there; the two skilfully written main players, Catherine van Dyk and Tristan Visconti, and their respective entourages. I had originally been unsure of how this would pan out, because the book retells the same plot as The Elemental, but this time from Tristan’s Point Of View instead of Catherine’s.
So would this lack the suspense, excitement and uncertainty of The Elemental, as we’re being led towards the same outcome, and seeing the same scenes and developments? Not a bit of it. We learn a lot more about Tristan’s world, which had been more shrouded in mystery previously.
And as a male reader I preferred identifying more with Tristan this time, rather than Catherine, finding him a more interesting character, and seeing how he manipulates her right from the start.
Overall, it’s a rather brave concept from Lisa Veldkamp, but it does work surprisingly well. Character development progresses neatly, and there’s also a startling revelation about one of the extremely important “minor” characters.
So, why the four stars, instead of five, seeing as how I love The Empath so much? Purely and simply because we know how the climax will turn out. But, of course, to anyone reading this book who hasn’t read The Elemental, it will be a complete surprise – so they may well give it five!
May 15, 2017
Veldkamp does something really daring with this book, which is basically retell the entire first book, but from a different character’s perspective. This kind of worried me that there’d be no mystery or suspense, but there really was a WHOLE other side plot going that we saw very little of in the first book. I was really impressed how well this worked. For me, this book was even stronger than the first because there was more danger, more intrigue, and more magically gifted people to get to know.
At the same time, it IS the same story. You do see a lot of repeat scenes from the first book, but again this somehow works well because Tristan has such a different take on what’s going on. For me, reading this one only made the pair of books stronger.
If anything, the plot thickens. Not only do we see more behind the scenes all the way through, but there’s quite a different surprise waiting at the end.
At the same time, it IS the same story. You do see a lot of repeat scenes from the first book, but again this somehow works well because Tristan has such a different take on what’s going on. For me, reading this one only made the pair of books stronger.
If anything, the plot thickens. Not only do we see more behind the scenes all the way through, but there’s quite a different surprise waiting at the end.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews