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The Shifter War #1
Messenger
Danil is a deadlands scavenger, his days spent searching a barren land for ancient battlefield relics and mage-crystals. When the brutal magi of Roldaer take over his village, Danil becomes the key to unleashing a powerful enemy set on plunging two kingdoms into war.Desperate and on the run, he finds unexpected aid from the Amasian shapeshifters. Among them is Hafryn, an playful wolf shifter who fights to protect Danil with sword, tooth and claw. But safety with the shifters cannot last.As the magi set their plans into motion, Danil and Hafryn must embark on a terrifying mission to a broken citadel where an ancient enemy awaits. Failure to stop the magi could cost them far more than their lives, but Danil soon discovers that courage and determination may not be enough...Book One in the complete Shifter War trilogy.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 22, 2017
64 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
K.K. Ness
6 books14 followersK.K. NESS is a social worker by day and a writer…also by day. She loves creating stories with a cast of characters whose antics and mayhem make her happy. She resides in sunny Queensland, Australia, with various family and animal friends.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 29, 2020
4.5 stars
Messenger is a quick read, and by quick I don't mean because of it's page count. The story is fast paced and has zero downtime. I wasn't expecting to jump in and be hooked from the start, because when I got this book it was a freebie on amazon at the time.
If you are a fan of shifters, magic, lgbtq+ rep and fast paced stories. You should give K.K Ness's Messenger a chance.
Also the characters are so likable, I adore Hafryn and Danil.
Book two is added to my wish-list, I hope to pick it up sooner rather then later.
Messenger is a quick read, and by quick I don't mean because of it's page count. The story is fast paced and has zero downtime. I wasn't expecting to jump in and be hooked from the start, because when I got this book it was a freebie on amazon at the time.
If you are a fan of shifters, magic, lgbtq+ rep and fast paced stories. You should give K.K Ness's Messenger a chance.
Also the characters are so likable, I adore Hafryn and Danil.
Book two is added to my wish-list, I hope to pick it up sooner rather then later.
November 4, 2018
3 stars!
Hm... this was one of the “fresher” stories I’ve read of late. And it started off great! I don’t know where it started to get kinda meh for me though...maybe halfway?
The first half of the book was exciting. But then the second half of the book...did not wow me much even though it was starting its climb to the apex of the story. I don’t even know why that is.
Anyways, I’m hoping the next book will be better?
Hm... this was one of the “fresher” stories I’ve read of late. And it started off great! I don’t know where it started to get kinda meh for me though...maybe halfway?
The first half of the book was exciting. But then the second half of the book...did not wow me much even though it was starting its climb to the apex of the story. I don’t even know why that is.
Anyways, I’m hoping the next book will be better?
Want to read
March 3, 2020🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/3/2020)! 🎁
January 27, 2018
(Originally reviewed for Love Bytes Reviews. Rated 4.5 out of 5.0 Love Bytes.)
I really enjoyed reading this book. Messenger by K.K. Ness, which is the pen name of identical twins from Australia, is one of those books that just grabs you and drags you into the story.
I really felt for Danil and his plight, right from the first page when he was described as hopeful and then his shoulders fell when he didn’t find what he was looking for in the pan he was using to try to find the rare mage-crystals. When we first meet the shifter Hafryn and he is taking the only crystal Danil found, and we know that Danil will be beaten by a member of the magi for failing to find one, I wasn’t sure about him. I did though kind of guess that this might be the introduction of the future love interest based on a couple things that were said before Hafryn ran off. When events transpire that force Danil to flee his home village, and he is rescued by that very same shifter the story begins to move even faster.
This one had it all. Good guys, bad guys, ancient evil, and a main character who learns far more about himself than he ever expected. Danil has always been the lowest of the low, spending his time scavenging the deadlands for relics of an ancient battle, and looking for the mage crystals like the one that Hafryn stole from him in the beginning of the story. But he can be so much more when it comes down to it.
Before I knew it, the authors had me at the last page and I am eager for more. Their writing style was very good, it showed me a different world, without getting too caught up in details. I was able to picture it myself in my mind. The pace was perfect.
I was happy to see that there is a second book in the series, and I’m off to read it immediately! I highly recommend this one to readers of fantasy/shifter/underdog type stories. I loved it.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Messenger by K.K. Ness, which is the pen name of identical twins from Australia, is one of those books that just grabs you and drags you into the story.
I really felt for Danil and his plight, right from the first page when he was described as hopeful and then his shoulders fell when he didn’t find what he was looking for in the pan he was using to try to find the rare mage-crystals. When we first meet the shifter Hafryn and he is taking the only crystal Danil found, and we know that Danil will be beaten by a member of the magi for failing to find one, I wasn’t sure about him. I did though kind of guess that this might be the introduction of the future love interest based on a couple things that were said before Hafryn ran off. When events transpire that force Danil to flee his home village, and he is rescued by that very same shifter the story begins to move even faster.
This one had it all. Good guys, bad guys, ancient evil, and a main character who learns far more about himself than he ever expected. Danil has always been the lowest of the low, spending his time scavenging the deadlands for relics of an ancient battle, and looking for the mage crystals like the one that Hafryn stole from him in the beginning of the story. But he can be so much more when it comes down to it.
Before I knew it, the authors had me at the last page and I am eager for more. Their writing style was very good, it showed me a different world, without getting too caught up in details. I was able to picture it myself in my mind. The pace was perfect.
I was happy to see that there is a second book in the series, and I’m off to read it immediately! I highly recommend this one to readers of fantasy/shifter/underdog type stories. I loved it.
February 11, 2020
Feb. 2020
Yeah this book wasn't for me. I couldn't finish it last year, and I had to force myself to finish it this time. Anyway, it's done now.
Original review July 2019
Not too sure why, but I lost interest at 30%.
Yeah this book wasn't for me. I couldn't finish it last year, and I had to force myself to finish it this time. Anyway, it's done now.
Original review July 2019
Not too sure why, but I lost interest at 30%.
Want to read
April 22, 2020🎁 Free on Amazon today (4/22/2020)! 🎁
March 27, 2018
Could not put it down!
This was exactly the story I was looking for, but didn’t know it! This book made me so happy, and I can’t wait to continue the series. My only criticism is that it went by too fast!
This was exactly the story I was looking for, but didn’t know it! This book made me so happy, and I can’t wait to continue the series. My only criticism is that it went by too fast!
June 28, 2019
What a great read!
Filled with magic, shifters, and a good dash of humor, this book gives those of us into such things a great time. Characters are fun and the world building is awesome.
Filled with magic, shifters, and a good dash of humor, this book gives those of us into such things a great time. Characters are fun and the world building is awesome.
April 20, 2018
Okay
For the first book, it is good enough for me to read the next book. Hopefully, I will receive more character development.
For the first book, it is good enough for me to read the next book. Hopefully, I will receive more character development.
October 22, 2018
Great!
Best book I've read in a while. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait for the next one. Very good!
Best book I've read in a while. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait for the next one. Very good!
January 2, 2019
New lands and old friends
Cant wait to read more abt this story. Line. It was a very good beginning tale and more will be appreciatef in future
Cant wait to read more abt this story. Line. It was a very good beginning tale and more will be appreciatef in future
March 3, 2020
Great read
Liked the way the plot draws you in at the beginning. Setting the scene and painting the individuals within the story line. Can be read on its own.
Liked the way the plot draws you in at the beginning. Setting the scene and painting the individuals within the story line. Can be read on its own.
November 17, 2022
A great m/m fantasy that's low steam and appropriate for younger readers. High-quality writing, likeable characters, fast-paced action and good world-building. It has enough of an ending to satisfy as a standalone book (no cliffhanger), but leaves you wanting the sequel.
The romance is mostly flirtation and innuendo and protectiveness--the two leads hold hands while falling asleep, have an almost-but-interrupted-kiss, and anything else happens off-page. Aka PG-rated romance.
Only thing keeping it from 5 stars is predictability. The good guys are all good, the bad guys are all bad, friendships are a little too perfect, rescues happen in the nick of time etc....
The romance is mostly flirtation and innuendo and protectiveness--the two leads hold hands while falling asleep, have an almost-but-interrupted-kiss, and anything else happens off-page. Aka PG-rated romance.
Only thing keeping it from 5 stars is predictability. The good guys are all good, the bad guys are all bad, friendships are a little too perfect, rescues happen in the nick of time etc....
April 9, 2017
I don’t normally read fantasy fiction but with a terrific cast of characters and great writing, this is the kind of book that could change anyone’s mind.
Danil is a scavenger in the deadlands (barren for centuries after a widespread scorching event that ended the Great War) that separate the kingdoms of Roldaer and Amas. Danil and his fellow humans live in Roldaer under the rule of King Liam and his numerous magi, powerful sorcerers. Amas is the land of shapeshifters. Born into human form, they gradually discover their true form, basically their spirit animals, and then can transform at will and back again.
Danil is one of few who can survive in the deadlands – many have died there – so he searches for the mage-crystals that the magi crave so that he can stay in their favour. But shapeshifters patrolling the deadlands like Hafryn, a wolf, usually steal the ones he does find to keep them out of magi hands. Returning from a search one evening, Danil finds his whole village has been evacuated as two powerful magi, Brianna and Ronan, and their soldiers prepare for war against Amas. The treaty has held for a long time and Danil is suspicious of their intentions, especially when they lock him up and even more so when he overhears his captors talking about the sedative they have slipped into his water. Luckily, he hasn’t drunk it yet.
When he breaks out of his cell and stumbles across a book encased in a magical ice spell that seems to be guiding the magi, he decides to steal it in an attempt to prevent the new war. Now he is what they seek. And when Danil comes across Hafryn as he hides in the deadlands, he accepts the shapeshifter’s offer of help to survive the game of cat and mouse. Danil knows he’s the mouse. But are the Amasian shapeshifters cats as much as the magi are?
Messenger contains all the traditional fantasy elements – weird names, shapeshifters, magic, crystals, warring kingdoms, ordinary people drawn into the conflict and ending up being pivotal – and the plot seems typical – an outsider, a great loss, a great quest, evil authoritarians seeking more and more power, good people faced with hard choices – but in Ness’s hands, it doesn’t come off as typical. And I think that ultimately comes down to the cast of characters she has developed. Instead of having a couple of well-developed main ones and a lot of under-developed minor ones, she has put real thought into making them all potential main characters. Considering this is the first book in a series, it’s easy to see how the stories of all the other characters could be explored. They’re interesting enough and strong enough to support their own books.
I sometimes struggle with the weird names in fantasy fiction (if I can’t figure out how to pronounce it, I spend a lot of time wrestling with the combination of letters in my head and it detracts from my ability to concentrate on the story itself). It’s not a problem here – the names were weird enough that they made sense in the genre without being distracting at all.
The one area that I thought could have been improved for that extra star was the romance between Danil and Hafryn. When we’re introduced to them, they already know each other reasonably well and so we’re prevented from seeing those first moments of butterflies and beating hearts, if indeed that’s what happened. In fact, it seems like Hafryn’s been in love (or in lust, it’s a little hard to tell) with Danil for a while. And Danil doesn’t seem to understand how Hafryn feels even though he’s been fairly obvious – in the first scene in the book, a naked Hafryn sits on Danil. It’s a romance that could have done with extra depth and feels more like attraction than real feeling. If the relationship had been developed a little further and a little deeper, the intensity of the story could have been even greater.
At 41,000 words, Messenger isn’t a novel, it’s a novella and I was a little concerned when I was buying it that its main classifications seemed to be “gay fiction”, “gay & lesbian fiction” and “lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender fiction” when the blurb clearly described a story that easily falls into the fantasy genre. Maybe my concern was because so much fiction classified in that way turns out to be erotic fiction. But it’s only because the main character and his love interest are both male. In fact, it was so subtle that I wondered if the “gay fiction” classification might put off some conservative readers when it really shouldn’t. More a marketing consideration than anything to do with the story itself.
KK Ness once read one of my unpublished books and offered some great advice so this is an opportunity for me to repay her. However, that acquaintance hasn’t impacted my review – she’s earned every single one of the four stars I’ve given this book.
Danil is a scavenger in the deadlands (barren for centuries after a widespread scorching event that ended the Great War) that separate the kingdoms of Roldaer and Amas. Danil and his fellow humans live in Roldaer under the rule of King Liam and his numerous magi, powerful sorcerers. Amas is the land of shapeshifters. Born into human form, they gradually discover their true form, basically their spirit animals, and then can transform at will and back again.
Danil is one of few who can survive in the deadlands – many have died there – so he searches for the mage-crystals that the magi crave so that he can stay in their favour. But shapeshifters patrolling the deadlands like Hafryn, a wolf, usually steal the ones he does find to keep them out of magi hands. Returning from a search one evening, Danil finds his whole village has been evacuated as two powerful magi, Brianna and Ronan, and their soldiers prepare for war against Amas. The treaty has held for a long time and Danil is suspicious of their intentions, especially when they lock him up and even more so when he overhears his captors talking about the sedative they have slipped into his water. Luckily, he hasn’t drunk it yet.
When he breaks out of his cell and stumbles across a book encased in a magical ice spell that seems to be guiding the magi, he decides to steal it in an attempt to prevent the new war. Now he is what they seek. And when Danil comes across Hafryn as he hides in the deadlands, he accepts the shapeshifter’s offer of help to survive the game of cat and mouse. Danil knows he’s the mouse. But are the Amasian shapeshifters cats as much as the magi are?
Messenger contains all the traditional fantasy elements – weird names, shapeshifters, magic, crystals, warring kingdoms, ordinary people drawn into the conflict and ending up being pivotal – and the plot seems typical – an outsider, a great loss, a great quest, evil authoritarians seeking more and more power, good people faced with hard choices – but in Ness’s hands, it doesn’t come off as typical. And I think that ultimately comes down to the cast of characters she has developed. Instead of having a couple of well-developed main ones and a lot of under-developed minor ones, she has put real thought into making them all potential main characters. Considering this is the first book in a series, it’s easy to see how the stories of all the other characters could be explored. They’re interesting enough and strong enough to support their own books.
I sometimes struggle with the weird names in fantasy fiction (if I can’t figure out how to pronounce it, I spend a lot of time wrestling with the combination of letters in my head and it detracts from my ability to concentrate on the story itself). It’s not a problem here – the names were weird enough that they made sense in the genre without being distracting at all.
The one area that I thought could have been improved for that extra star was the romance between Danil and Hafryn. When we’re introduced to them, they already know each other reasonably well and so we’re prevented from seeing those first moments of butterflies and beating hearts, if indeed that’s what happened. In fact, it seems like Hafryn’s been in love (or in lust, it’s a little hard to tell) with Danil for a while. And Danil doesn’t seem to understand how Hafryn feels even though he’s been fairly obvious – in the first scene in the book, a naked Hafryn sits on Danil. It’s a romance that could have done with extra depth and feels more like attraction than real feeling. If the relationship had been developed a little further and a little deeper, the intensity of the story could have been even greater.
At 41,000 words, Messenger isn’t a novel, it’s a novella and I was a little concerned when I was buying it that its main classifications seemed to be “gay fiction”, “gay & lesbian fiction” and “lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender fiction” when the blurb clearly described a story that easily falls into the fantasy genre. Maybe my concern was because so much fiction classified in that way turns out to be erotic fiction. But it’s only because the main character and his love interest are both male. In fact, it was so subtle that I wondered if the “gay fiction” classification might put off some conservative readers when it really shouldn’t. More a marketing consideration than anything to do with the story itself.
KK Ness once read one of my unpublished books and offered some great advice so this is an opportunity for me to repay her. However, that acquaintance hasn’t impacted my review – she’s earned every single one of the four stars I’ve given this book.
April 11, 2017
Great book by new fantasy author. I loved the characters and the way novel flowed. It was very easy to read. I am looking forward to the second novel in this series.
April 18, 2017
Grand coming of age adventure
Quirky and lovable characters drive this story. Two distinct cultures separated by geography are brought together in our heroes. Magic and mayhem and a sweet love story are the results. If you're looking to escape into a bit of light hearted fun for a few hours, K K Ness's Messenger is for you.
Quirky and lovable characters drive this story. Two distinct cultures separated by geography are brought together in our heroes. Magic and mayhem and a sweet love story are the results. If you're looking to escape into a bit of light hearted fun for a few hours, K K Ness's Messenger is for you.
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January 21, 2018Loved It
A great series starter and a great addition to the fantasy genre. An enjoyable read from start to finish. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
A great series starter and a great addition to the fantasy genre. An enjoyable read from start to finish. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews