Echoing Sacrifice: Captive

by Jessica N.A. Dodson

Though Khyl fulfilled her promise to Litha and freed her from the clutches of Tumulus, she only now begins to realize the true consequence of her sacrifice back at SallowLake. The EastKeeper is determined to recapture the SouthPrincess at all costs, and to Khyl’s horror, the SlaveSpine poison now flowing through her might just be the key to his success.

Rever came dangerously close to his vengeance at SallowLake, and it’s all he can do to keep from hunting the Betrayer down and destroying him once and for all. Yet, Khyl needs him now more than ever. Torn between his duty to his new friend and the overwhelming lust for revenge, Rever faces a choice unlike any he’s ever faced before. If he chooses wrong, he could lose Khyl forever.

Far from his home, King Athius rejoices at the news his daughter is free. But he finds no rest, even with such joyful news. Tumulus’ forces converge upon the West, and for the sake of his daughter and new allies, the young King of Ithana has no choice but to mount his army and prepare for war.

With the help of their friends, Khyl, Rever, and Athius face life, death, and everything in between in order to rid the West of Tumulus and his allies. All the while, the “Great Foreboding” hangs over their heads, threatening to come crashing down upon them.

None more so than Khyl.

686 pages, Unknown Binding

Published March 1, 2017

Reviews

[Lex Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The leading characters from “Echoing Sacrifice: Traveler,” both pro and antagonists, are back in another fascinating episode to the Gates of Dolimar Series. In “Echoing Sacrifice: Captive,” Khyl, a teenager from our world, needs her mentor/protector Rever, a dragon of the Echo Dragon Clan, to join forces with Athius, king of Ithana, in a continuing battle of good versus evil. With the help of their friends, Khyl, Rever, and Athius face life, death, and everything in between in order to—once and for all—rid the West of Tumulus (a half-human dragon) and his allies.

In keeping with Henry David Thoreau’s quote, “This world is but a canvas to our imagination,” Dodson excels in painting a word picture of an imaginary world worthy of the great masters J.R.R. Tolkien and George RR Martin. Dolimar is the canvas, a world full of people, creatures, landscapes, and physics that simply boggle the mind. Dolimar, a parallel universe to our own world, is the stage Dodson uses to spread her imaginative talents. Her characters are unforgettable and completely believable. The amount of effort put into making this story perfect in every detail is evident and accomplished. Dodson established herself as an up-and-coming authoress with book one in this series. With book two, “Echoing Sacrifice: Captive” she stakes her claim far beyond the average writer with two novels under her belt. She writes with authority, technical expertise, and a writing style, different, but indubitably equal to the masters mentioned above. To put it simply, Jessica NA Dodson tells a helluva story, and this series is a helluva magnificent story.

[Anon · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I appreciate the author's desire to make Dolimar a living, breathing place populated by fully realized characters I found myself skimming parts of the first volume and actually a great deal of this book, past lengthy blow-by-blow descriptions of every thrust, parry and wound received and delivered in the many combat scenes, repetitive internal conflict and dialogue, characters' memories and motivations explored and then re-explored, tales about and explanations of Dolimar mythology, and detailed descriptions of locations that, for me, ground the story to a halt again and again. I think the premise and the storyline, the place and the characters are great but I found that the essence of the tale for me would get lost as I flipped through page after page after page looking for a passage that got things moving forward again. In my opinion it's a good story that could have been told effectively and engrossingly in much fewer than 600+ pages.