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The Muse Series #1
Muse: A Dreamlands Novel
A new muse arrives in the Dreamlands with three a magic Book, a supernaturally keen sense of smell, and the instinct to find a story worth writing.Mina is a brand-new muse, but she’s already in trouble with the faerie courts, the werewolves, and her mentor, Max. Together, she and her strange new allies must restore balance to the Court of Seasons before Equinox, or face the wrath of the powerful faerie queen.
- GenresFantasy
524 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2014
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10 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Jean Pope
8 books18 followersKatherine Jean Pope hates writing bios and loves writing novels. Is she even real?
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 20, 2015
Muse
By Katherine Jean Pope
Katherine Jean Pope's fantasy novel Muse has left me quite perplexed. I say that because for a change the words escape me as to how to explain how I truly felt about it other than confused but also intrigued as to what the possibilities of this novel has. With a lack of true character development and muddled plots, the unique and inventive way her descriptions were relayed to the reader is about the only reason I kept reading.
Our main character Lumina, who often reminds others she prefers to be called Mina, is a muse - or so we and she think. She lives in what seems to be a fantasy world in the building with a coffee shop on the bottom floor run by a gnome with a grumpy talking tabby cat. It's here where we meet Max, another muse in this imaginary world one assumes is of Mina's creation and what quickly becomes Mina’s nemesis. Max explains the ropes of being a muse to Mina and asks her to attend a formal fae function with him. It's at this function where Mina's adventure begins.
The character we get to know alongside Mina the most is a fae named Shade but known better as Creature. Although a bit cantankerous like you'd imagine a creature to be, there's a side of Shade you grow to love as he and Mina fight their way through their adventure. Shade is really all Mina's got.
Pope takes us through a variety of fantasy twists and turns which is why it's quite difficult for me to speculate when my aforementioned confusion began exactly. And because I'm a stickler for not going into detail enough to give a book away It compounds the confusion for you, and for that I apologize. So on we go...
Something that Pope did that I have not only never seen done quite this way but that I wish all authors would do is truly make me feel like I was there in the scenes with Mina and the others. But she didn't do it with a bunch of superfluous words, She did it with by telling the reader how things smelled. If the characters were walking next to a river she wouldn't just describe the colors and shapes and such. Pope told us what things smelled like.
Personally, smells are very impactful. I smell certain smells and they evoke memories. Oftentimes they take me back to a certain place in time. Pope's descriptions did that for me. Because I could smell it, I could also taste/see what she was describing. It was a truly unique experience.
The only exception is Pope's excessive use of the word "ozone" as a description of smell. Now I, of course, don't know what smell/description she was trying to convey using the word; however, when used in the context it was used as many times as it was, it didn't match the Webster’s definition. (Damn I wish I'd taken note of an example!!) The actual definition is a "toxic gas with pungent odor." which paints a negative image for me – out of place since the rest of the description didn't come across negatively. It made it difficult to know what she was talking about when used as often as it was.
Pope tells us in Muse that in a good book, "...the characters in it become almost alive in your mind. You live their adventures with them, they become real to you, like friends." Unfortunately, this isn't something I found to be true about her own book. The characters weren't fleshed out and the adventures when combined felt to me like a muddy mess. However, I did love her use of smells to describe things.
By Katherine Jean Pope
Katherine Jean Pope's fantasy novel Muse has left me quite perplexed. I say that because for a change the words escape me as to how to explain how I truly felt about it other than confused but also intrigued as to what the possibilities of this novel has. With a lack of true character development and muddled plots, the unique and inventive way her descriptions were relayed to the reader is about the only reason I kept reading.
Our main character Lumina, who often reminds others she prefers to be called Mina, is a muse - or so we and she think. She lives in what seems to be a fantasy world in the building with a coffee shop on the bottom floor run by a gnome with a grumpy talking tabby cat. It's here where we meet Max, another muse in this imaginary world one assumes is of Mina's creation and what quickly becomes Mina’s nemesis. Max explains the ropes of being a muse to Mina and asks her to attend a formal fae function with him. It's at this function where Mina's adventure begins.
The character we get to know alongside Mina the most is a fae named Shade but known better as Creature. Although a bit cantankerous like you'd imagine a creature to be, there's a side of Shade you grow to love as he and Mina fight their way through their adventure. Shade is really all Mina's got.
Pope takes us through a variety of fantasy twists and turns which is why it's quite difficult for me to speculate when my aforementioned confusion began exactly. And because I'm a stickler for not going into detail enough to give a book away It compounds the confusion for you, and for that I apologize. So on we go...
Something that Pope did that I have not only never seen done quite this way but that I wish all authors would do is truly make me feel like I was there in the scenes with Mina and the others. But she didn't do it with a bunch of superfluous words, She did it with by telling the reader how things smelled. If the characters were walking next to a river she wouldn't just describe the colors and shapes and such. Pope told us what things smelled like.
Personally, smells are very impactful. I smell certain smells and they evoke memories. Oftentimes they take me back to a certain place in time. Pope's descriptions did that for me. Because I could smell it, I could also taste/see what she was describing. It was a truly unique experience.
The only exception is Pope's excessive use of the word "ozone" as a description of smell. Now I, of course, don't know what smell/description she was trying to convey using the word; however, when used in the context it was used as many times as it was, it didn't match the Webster’s definition. (Damn I wish I'd taken note of an example!!) The actual definition is a "toxic gas with pungent odor." which paints a negative image for me – out of place since the rest of the description didn't come across negatively. It made it difficult to know what she was talking about when used as often as it was.
Pope tells us in Muse that in a good book, "...the characters in it become almost alive in your mind. You live their adventures with them, they become real to you, like friends." Unfortunately, this isn't something I found to be true about her own book. The characters weren't fleshed out and the adventures when combined felt to me like a muddy mess. However, I did love her use of smells to describe things.
November 27, 2014
I could not put it down! Can not wait for the next book!
Read
May 3, 2020A beautiful introduction
A fantastic first look into a world a fantasy that is amazingly rich. It draws you in, holds you in thrall, and takes you exactly where it wants you to go. I hope you will enjoy this incredible story as much as I did. I look forward to the future books, some of which are already out there.
And Kat, if you read this, I swear I thought I left this years ago!
A fantastic first look into a world a fantasy that is amazingly rich. It draws you in, holds you in thrall, and takes you exactly where it wants you to go. I hope you will enjoy this incredible story as much as I did. I look forward to the future books, some of which are already out there.
And Kat, if you read this, I swear I thought I left this years ago!
June 1, 2021
Muse is a deeply enjoyable, fast paced page turner that had moments where I audibly gasped and laughed with the twists and turns of the plot. By the end of chapter 2, I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down for 300 pages. A highly recommended read for fantasy lovers! I also suggest buying Muse 2: King of Shadows at the same time so the story can continue.
March 5, 2017
I read it in a single 24 hour period, but something must have stopped time as I did not feel those hours slip by. The author's world-building ability really shines through in this story. Despite the infinite possibilities of magic, I felt surrounded by solid boundaries and limitations. The main characters certainly end up getting themselves into some interesting situations that were enjoyable to experience along with them.
February 21, 2015
Mina is a Muse. New to this world, Dreamland, she is not sure what to expect. Instinctually, Mina knows that her purpose in Dreamland is to find a worthy character, and write an epic story to bring home with her to the Real. For every story ever told was created and lived by a Muse.
When Mina meets Max, another Muse, she is excited to meet another of her kind. While getting to know one another, Max invites Mina to a masquerade ball in the Faelands. Armed with her magic book and pen, which every Muse possesses and must keep safe at all costs, she follows Max to the royal kingdom.
At the faerie court Mina meets Shade, better known as "the Creature", and isn't sure if she should trust him. Mina quickly finds all is not well within Dreamland. The Fae King and Werewolf King are missing and it is up to Mina and Shade to find them. With the help of a few friends Mina meets along the way she must help solve the kidnappings, decide who her real friends are, and figure out what her purpose in Dreamland really is. Is Mina a Muse or isn't she?
Muse is absolutely riveting! Every moment of this fantasy novel is absolutely amazing. Katherine Jean Pope is a breath of fresh air. She did an amazing job of building this unique world and giving it life. Pope's characters are very well rounded and well developed. Mina is an outstanding protagonist and really brings life into the story.
What I loved most about Muse is that it is so creative and different from anything I have ever read. Dreamland, a place where all fairytale creatures exist, is so imaginative. The author tells a story we all wish was true, that everytime time we dream we could wake up with a brilliant book to write or story to tell! The level of detail in this book is wonderful. You can really tell how much time the author put into every scene and chapter. The author is also very descriptive. From the characters, to their clothes, and down to the floors they were walking on I felt as if I was seeing exactly what Pope decribed.
One thing I did not like in Muse, was that sometimes it felt a little repetitive. For example, when there was an important fact or discovery, I felt as if Mina had to tell every single character more times then necessary. Without giving away spoilers I will refrain from being to specific, but there were a few times I thought there was not any need for repetition. Also, there were a few punctuation mistakes and misspellings, but nothing that took away from the story itself.
Overall, Muse is a captivating read! The author really knows how to capture her readers attention, keep it until the book is finished, and have them begging for more! I rated Muse 4 out of 4 stars. I would recommend it to all readers who want something different and unique. You will not be disappointed.
When Mina meets Max, another Muse, she is excited to meet another of her kind. While getting to know one another, Max invites Mina to a masquerade ball in the Faelands. Armed with her magic book and pen, which every Muse possesses and must keep safe at all costs, she follows Max to the royal kingdom.
At the faerie court Mina meets Shade, better known as "the Creature", and isn't sure if she should trust him. Mina quickly finds all is not well within Dreamland. The Fae King and Werewolf King are missing and it is up to Mina and Shade to find them. With the help of a few friends Mina meets along the way she must help solve the kidnappings, decide who her real friends are, and figure out what her purpose in Dreamland really is. Is Mina a Muse or isn't she?
Muse is absolutely riveting! Every moment of this fantasy novel is absolutely amazing. Katherine Jean Pope is a breath of fresh air. She did an amazing job of building this unique world and giving it life. Pope's characters are very well rounded and well developed. Mina is an outstanding protagonist and really brings life into the story.
What I loved most about Muse is that it is so creative and different from anything I have ever read. Dreamland, a place where all fairytale creatures exist, is so imaginative. The author tells a story we all wish was true, that everytime time we dream we could wake up with a brilliant book to write or story to tell! The level of detail in this book is wonderful. You can really tell how much time the author put into every scene and chapter. The author is also very descriptive. From the characters, to their clothes, and down to the floors they were walking on I felt as if I was seeing exactly what Pope decribed.
One thing I did not like in Muse, was that sometimes it felt a little repetitive. For example, when there was an important fact or discovery, I felt as if Mina had to tell every single character more times then necessary. Without giving away spoilers I will refrain from being to specific, but there were a few times I thought there was not any need for repetition. Also, there were a few punctuation mistakes and misspellings, but nothing that took away from the story itself.
Overall, Muse is a captivating read! The author really knows how to capture her readers attention, keep it until the book is finished, and have them begging for more! I rated Muse 4 out of 4 stars. I would recommend it to all readers who want something different and unique. You will not be disappointed.
September 14, 2019
So, confession: I like books. (*gasp* What?! On Goodreads? Heresy!) Ok, fine, not that weird. Slightly more unusually though, I like books about books. Seriously, I read bibliographies for fun. Yeah, I'm that kind of nerd. So now here I am writing a book review for a book about an aspiring author's personified "muse" wielding a magic book, in the dream world where book ideas come from, whose only purpose in life is to write a story in her book to take back to her real world "patron" so that she can write a book. (yo dawg, I heard you like books.)
Well, spoiler alert, I liked it. I'm a man of simple tastes. You mention books this much in a book, I'm likely to enjoy it. Anyway, I think that covers... What? You want details other than my clearly-not-a-problem biblio-fixation? Ugh, fine.
The story takes place in the Dreamlands. It's either a classic fantasy world interspersed with modern elements (i.e. cell phones and t-shirts) or it's a modern world interspersed with fantasy elements (i.e. werewolves and gnomes). Either way, the resulting blend of the two does a pretty good job of suggesting the slight blurred-reality feel you would expect from a dream. In addition to the usual imaginary denizens such as faeries, vampires and at least one talking cat, there are also beings known as Muses which are the part of a writers (or presumably other type of artist, although this hasn't been established) mind which takes on it's own existence while dreaming and goes off in search of a story to bring back to "The Real". There is a fair amount of magic being thrown around in this story but it mostly stays within this world's defined rules so that it never gets too "hand-wavy" like a lot of fantasy writing. One rather unique element of the writing is the use of smells in narration. It's established early on that Mina, the protagonist, has an almost supernaturally acute sense of smell (which is explained as a Muse's "inborn ability to sniff out a story") and because smell is notoriously the strongest evoker of memory this unusual narrative device has the advantageous side-effect of making the scene descriptions feel distinctly more vivid. The plot is sufficiently wrapped up at the end that it could stand alone as a complete story, but it leaves enough unresolved threads to introduce the sequel, which I will certainly be picking up. All in all, a solid start to a series that I plan to follow closely.
Well, spoiler alert, I liked it. I'm a man of simple tastes. You mention books this much in a book, I'm likely to enjoy it. Anyway, I think that covers... What? You want details other than my clearly-not-a-problem biblio-fixation? Ugh, fine.
The story takes place in the Dreamlands. It's either a classic fantasy world interspersed with modern elements (i.e. cell phones and t-shirts) or it's a modern world interspersed with fantasy elements (i.e. werewolves and gnomes). Either way, the resulting blend of the two does a pretty good job of suggesting the slight blurred-reality feel you would expect from a dream. In addition to the usual imaginary denizens such as faeries, vampires and at least one talking cat, there are also beings known as Muses which are the part of a writers (or presumably other type of artist, although this hasn't been established) mind which takes on it's own existence while dreaming and goes off in search of a story to bring back to "The Real". There is a fair amount of magic being thrown around in this story but it mostly stays within this world's defined rules so that it never gets too "hand-wavy" like a lot of fantasy writing. One rather unique element of the writing is the use of smells in narration. It's established early on that Mina, the protagonist, has an almost supernaturally acute sense of smell (which is explained as a Muse's "inborn ability to sniff out a story") and because smell is notoriously the strongest evoker of memory this unusual narrative device has the advantageous side-effect of making the scene descriptions feel distinctly more vivid. The plot is sufficiently wrapped up at the end that it could stand alone as a complete story, but it leaves enough unresolved threads to introduce the sequel, which I will certainly be picking up. All in all, a solid start to a series that I plan to follow closely.
October 30, 2014
This is truly the kind of book that keeps you up late at night--because you can't put it down. I am an avid reader and it has been a long time since I have read a book that demanded my attention the way that Muse does.
This is the story of how books come to be, but it is so much more than that. We meet Mina, the Muse, at a coffee shop and right from the start she is instantly the unknowing heroine that we fall in love with. When we meet the next major character, Max, we are unclear whether or not we like him. He seems sinister. It turns out, we are smart to be suspect of him! It is also difficult to gage whether or not Shade, the court executioner, is going to be a "goody guy" or a "bad guy" but the more you read, the more it becomes clear that he is on our team!
The story follows Mina as she attempts to get her magic book back from Max. Without it, Mina cannot write her story and fulfill her destiny as a muse. Along the way, she has many other trials and tribulations, including attempts to return the werewolf and fairy king to their rightful thrones. There truly are a lot of twists and turns along Mina's journey and there were so many times I thought I knew what was going to happen next--but I was wrong.
My only teeny, tiny complaint is that the story ended too soon! I would have loved to have read more and I sincerely hope that there is a sequel to this story.
Pope is brilliant. Her creativity just doesn't end. How she ever dreamed up this enchanted world, these magical creatures, this incredible journey is beyond me. Even the concept itself--how is a story born?--is as imaginative as any plot I have read in a very long time. It is hard to believe that this book has not been picked up by a major publisher yet. It should be.
I will be recommending this book to every adult I know who can read (and that's most of them.)
This is the story of how books come to be, but it is so much more than that. We meet Mina, the Muse, at a coffee shop and right from the start she is instantly the unknowing heroine that we fall in love with. When we meet the next major character, Max, we are unclear whether or not we like him. He seems sinister. It turns out, we are smart to be suspect of him! It is also difficult to gage whether or not Shade, the court executioner, is going to be a "goody guy" or a "bad guy" but the more you read, the more it becomes clear that he is on our team!
The story follows Mina as she attempts to get her magic book back from Max. Without it, Mina cannot write her story and fulfill her destiny as a muse. Along the way, she has many other trials and tribulations, including attempts to return the werewolf and fairy king to their rightful thrones. There truly are a lot of twists and turns along Mina's journey and there were so many times I thought I knew what was going to happen next--but I was wrong.
My only teeny, tiny complaint is that the story ended too soon! I would have loved to have read more and I sincerely hope that there is a sequel to this story.
Pope is brilliant. Her creativity just doesn't end. How she ever dreamed up this enchanted world, these magical creatures, this incredible journey is beyond me. Even the concept itself--how is a story born?--is as imaginative as any plot I have read in a very long time. It is hard to believe that this book has not been picked up by a major publisher yet. It should be.
I will be recommending this book to every adult I know who can read (and that's most of them.)
December 27, 2014
Amazing book! Can't wait for the next one!
September 7, 2018
Cool book.
Overall lots of fun. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It is fairly fresh and original, I will have to re-read this one to justify the three star rating or give it an upgrade, my base feeling is that it is fine but not great.
Overall lots of fun. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It is fairly fresh and original, I will have to re-read this one to justify the three star rating or give it an upgrade, my base feeling is that it is fine but not great.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews