Alison Henry and the Creatures of Torone

by C.J. Darlington

After being picked on at school yet again, Alison Henry seeks refuge in her favorite place, the woods behind her cabin home. Her day couldn't get any worse. At least that's what she thinks before she spots the magnificent buck. Desperate to protect the deer from a teenage gang out to shoot him, Ali has no idea she's about to begin the adventure of a lifetime. This buck is no ordinary deer, and it turns out Ali is no ordinary girl.

When she suddenly begins to hear the buck talking in her head, she thinks she's going crazy. She certainly can't be The Interpreter this buck named Artemis says she is, the one destined to bring together the men and creatures of his realm. She's just a kid who misses her deployed father and gets teased at school for wearing the wrong clothes. But Artemis is convinced. She must follow him.

Before the full moon sets Alison Henry finds herself in the strange land of Torone where evil beasts trap and devour the creatures of the woods and the rightful heir to the throne is hunted and on the run. What can one girl possibly do?

Genres: Fantasy, Clean Romance, Christian, Christian Fiction, Animals

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2017

About the author

C. J.'s love of reading began when she was a kid dragging home bags of books from the library. When she was twelve she started dreaming about becoming a published author. That dream came true when her first novel Thicker than Blood won a national writing contest. It became the first book in the Thicker than Blood series, which also includes Bound by Guilt, Ties that Bind, and Running on Empty. She has also written Jupiter Winds and Jupiter Storm the first and second books in the Jupiter Winds series. Her children's fantasy Alison Henry and the Creatures of Torone has also been well received. She lives in Pennsylvania and is the horse care manager at a stables in Lancaster County.

Reviews

[Lindsey (Books for Christian Girls) · Rating 4 out of 5]

About this book:

“After being picked on at school yet again, Alison Henry seeks refuge in her favorite place, the woods behind her cabin home. Her day couldn't get any worse. At least that's what she thinks before she spots the magnificent buck. Desperate to protect the deer from a teenage gang out to shoot him, Ali has no idea she's about to begin the adventure of a lifetime. This buck is no ordinary deer, and it turns out Ali is no ordinary girl.
When she suddenly begins to hear the buck talking in her head, she thinks she's going crazy. She certainly can't be The Interpreter this buck named Artemis says she is, the one destined to bring together the men and creatures of his realm. She's just a kid who misses her deployed father and gets teased at school for wearing the wrong clothes. But Artemis is convinced. She must follow him.
Before the full moon sets Alison Henry finds herself in the strange land of Torone where evil beasts trap and devour the creatures of the woods and the rightful heir to the throne is hunted and on the run. What can one girl possibly do?”


Series: Hopefully Book #1 in a series…? ;)


Spiritual Content- Good vs Evil storyline & Ali is determined not to let the evil side win; A couple Scriptures are mentioned; Talks about God; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of churches/chapels, a vicar, & a christening; A couple mentions of when Ali challenged a teacher who said that God didn’t exist; A couple mentions of faiths; A couple mentions of blessings; A couple mentions of godspeed; A mention of a nun;
*Note: Mentions of evil & evilness; Mentions of mythological animals; A few mentions of dark arts (magic & spells), which aren’t allowed in Torone; A mention of a demon scream.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘darn’, a ‘shut up’, two ‘idiot’s, and twelve ‘stupid’s; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); A few mention of words Alison isn’t allowed to/shouldn’t say; A bit of eye rolling & sass; Fighting, fights, threats, swords, arrows and shooting them in self-defense, & killing beasts in self-defense up to semi-detailed); Watching fighting & fights (up to semi-detailed); Pain, blood/bleeding, a fever, passing out, & a mean boy threatens Ali with a knife and ends up cutting into her leg (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of killing, dying, fighting, fights, shooting, threats, & deaths of beasts (barely-above-not-detailed to semi-detailed); Many mentions of deaths, wars, battles & fighting (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of blood/bleeding, injuries/wounds, stitches, scars, pain, screams, & passing out (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a planned execution (that didn’t happen); Mentions of murders of humans, animals, & a murder that was ordered, but didn’t happen; Mentions of a family betraying & willing to kill each other for a title/kingdom; Mentions of traps that hurt an animal very badly before it’s killed (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of fighting to the death; Mentions of violence & killing in self-defense; Mentions of a murder, body, & blood (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of deaths & bodies (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of bloodshed & terror; Mentions of the thought of dying or being eaten; Mentions of evil beats & the smells (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of dungeons; Mentions of hunting, poaching, knives, & a deer is almost shot (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of hatred; Mentions of rumors; Mentions of mean girls & their comments; Mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of a woman who was trampled to death (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of smoking, cigarettes, & cigars; A couple mentions of wanting to slap/punch someone; A couple mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of poison; A mention of drinking wine; A mention of manure; A mention of urine;
*Note: A mention of FedEx; A mention of Star Wars; A mention of the Jonas Brothers: A mention of L.L.Bean.


Sexual Content- A mention of a man looking at Ciara’s figure; A mention of a woman saying to a man that propriety isn’t her strength to a man at her room door (he doesn’t come in, though);
*Note: A mention of a busty woman in a movie; A mention of kicking someone’s butt.

-Alison “Ali” Henry, age 12
P.O.V. of Ali
293 pages

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Pre Teens- Two Stars
New Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
Early High School Teens- Four Stars
Older High School Teens- Four Stars
My personal Rating- Four Stars
I’ve said before many times that I’m really not a fantasy girl—but this fantasy I got into. This one was FUN! The characters (three words: Talking fantasy animals!) were great and Ali made me laugh many times with her comments. There was a bit more violence and fighting that I was expecting (which is why that even though Ali is 12, the Pre-Teen Age Group would only be okay for), but it is a Good vs Evil plot. Quite honestly, the parts that were semi-detailed were only barely barely-above-not-detailed, so it wasn’t over the top at all.
Sooooooo….where’s book #2? Because that ending was such a cliffhanger!


Link to review:
https://booksforchristiangirls.blogsp...


*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.

[Deena Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The magic and wonder of Narnia blended with the majesty and battle of The Lord of the Rings...that's what you'll discover in the pages of Alison Henry and the Creatures of Torone.

This is a sweeping high fantasy tale of a girl seeking purpose, and a young woman who has lost her way. Animals that talk, creatures that will give you the shivers, and a friendship forged in the fire of conflict will draw you in and refuse to let go until the last page turns.

Four out of five stars because CLIFF HANGER! I did not see it coming, and now I'm having to WAIT to see if we triumphed or failed. AUGH!

Don't miss out on this amazing book. And yes, it's audience is probably middle school and up, but a great read is a great read!

[Addison Beaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️

[T. Darlington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy this one. :)

[Lydia Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a reason C.J. Darlington is one of my favorite authors.

I've long seen this book around (well, for the last year or so anyway), but wasn't keen on picking it up because I don't do fantasy. But, in reality, the reason I don't do fantasy is because I don't like the magical elements - this book does it without any magic, and that scores so high in my book. Seriously, I wish more authors did this; it makes me so happy.

Part of the book seemed a bit slow to me and I wasn't fully into it, but by the end, I was like "I JUST NEED THE NEXT BOOK NOW!" And there isn't a next book yet which makes me sad. It's the first Middle-Grade read I've tackled in a while, and there were times when I was like "oh yeah, this is why I read older books" but most of the time I was like "I WANT TO READ MORE MIDDLE-GRADE BOOKS NOW!" because C. J. does such a great job creating the characters and the world and weaving the plot along.

Okay, folks. This didn't exactly bother me, but I feel like it needs to be mentioned: A lot of the plot felt like it came straight out of a Narnia movie. In fact, some of the scenes felt like it was the same scene, just with different characters. I didn't mind that, but I'm guessing it would bother some people.

Anyway. The characters. They were so well-written and I liked them and was amazed and rather awed at how animal like the animals were. You know, since they can talk I thought that they might seem like humans, but no, no, she did such a great job of having them be so animal-y that that alone got at least one star.

I'm not even sure why I liked this book so much. Probably just C. J.'s amazing, wonderful writing.

[history49 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always wanted to hear an animal talk, so through this book, I have! I thought that Darlington's story was great, and showed immense imagination. However, I have two suggestions to the author: First, I did not believe that Alison Henry's character acted nor spoke like a 12 year old, more like a girl more like fifteen? Second, I thought the speech of Alison Henry seemed too "perfect," as there was no slang that most kids use. Both points made the story a little less enjoyable for me, but I would still encourage anyone to read this book, especially young adults. And, I wish more stories like this were written and offered to YA's of today instead of the nasty stuff they are reading: witches, werewolves, zombies, and the like. That said, I will be anxious to read the next book in this series!

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a great book and the cover is so cool!! Loved Alison from the moment she appears, seriously great kid for one so young! There are A LOT of fantasy creatures in this book and ALL the animals are good. It was a perfect Narnian feel topped with a great hero/princess named Ciara, LOVED the names in this book!

Favorite character was Artemis the buck, he was a best friend and protector, written perfectly.

I thought this book was a stand alone, but it ends like there will be a sequel. Will definitely snatch it up when available, Darlington KNOWS what it takes to write a great story.

LOOOVED how the book ended, almost had me jumping up and down! Need more Alison Henry!

[Jennie Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good kid's book. Interesting characters. Good plot.
My main concern is that there are some things that Alison does that are not safe for a kid to be doing. I also felt that the way she kept in going, even with her injury was unrealistic, and not a good thing.
Maybe she'll be a better example in the next book, as this one leaves you hanging!

[C.S. Wachter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I don’t normally read middle-school books, I enjoyed Alison Henry and the Creatures of Torone. It was interesting to follow Alison’s growth through adversity as she experiences another realm where she hears animals speak and gets involved in a battle for the crown. I look forward to seeing where the story goes from here.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to be the next Interpreter for the animals!

[Janice Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Narnia-type adventure, with a hint of more to come. Well done.

[Tricia Hungerford · Rating 5 out of 5]

purr-fect@bak.rr.com

This Tale is one that must be treasured forever! It has all the ingredients of a story, never to be forgotten.

[Margaret Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book on a camping trip - very appropriate :-) - and thoroughly enjoyed it! Darlington has done a great job of creating another realm with believeable characters and animals. I can hardly wait for the sequel!

[Gary Deveau · Rating 5 out of 5]

CJ Darlington takes us to Torone

This wonderful journey of a tale takes readers of every age on an adventure through the Kingdom of Torone. Alison Henry learns she is the bridge between the humans and animals which the prophecies foretold of. Alison must brave her way around a world she knows nothing about while acting as the interpreter for creatures she's only read about in fantasy books as well as familiar animals like those she has loved back in her home world. There are plenty of twists and surprises in Torone that will keep you on the edge of your seats. All I wanted when the book was done was book #2.

[Gabriellyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Exciting Adventure!

Loved this story! It had a very Narnian flavor but with neat twists!

I enjoyed Ali’s character a lot. She was sweet, brave, and relatable.

The animals were so much fun! I loved Artemis!

I hope I can return to the world of Torone soon!