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Immortal Billy
"Well past 3D, Romyn's imagination can best be described as multi-dimensional." -- Claude Bouchard, USA Today best selling author. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk through life invulnerable to all harm, immortal and mighty? Billy Monroe has, and one day, when a bus rounds a corner and plows into him, these powers arise, saving his life. Within moments, he’s whisked away by a secretive group of soldiers to a magical underground city called Meridian, where he learns of a prophecy about a young boy with powers all too similar to those he now possesses. A boy who will save the world. Armed with immortality, Billy sets forth with his new friends on a quest to save the first home to accept him for who he is. But is he really as invulnerable as he believes?
291 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 16, 2019
34 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Luke Romyn
39 books3,335 followersA terrifying storm lashed Sydney’s North Shore on June 21st, 1975. Boats were swamped and jetties smashed in what some claim was the worst storm to hit the coast for four decades.
In the midst of the chaos, Luke Romyn’s parents battled to get to a hospital to birth their baby boy. Normally their idyllic island cottage was a near-paradise; on this night the journey to the mainland in their tiny boat seemed like a passage through Hell. Their son was born near midnight, but part of the storm never left him.
When Luke reached fifteen years of age his father was killed while working in Fiji, leaving Luke and his mother alone. At times, the only things to get Luke through his grief were the stories playing out in his head, endless fantastical tales of lands both distant and near, with characters who would protect him from any tragedy.
At eighteen, Luke began working in nightclubs as a bouncer. Unbeknownst to him, this was simply the first step on a trek which would dictate much of his life from that point on. For over two decades since, Luke has worked in the security industry; from bouncing in some of Australia's roughest pubs and nightclubs to protecting Mickey Mouse and the Disney crew from the overzealous jaws of tenacious toddlers. He's been bodyguard for celebrities internationally and chased feral pigs and snakes from jungle sets on Steven Spielberg productions. Luke has traveled the globe and spent time in some of the most amazing locations the world has to offer.
This experience fuels the Australian writer’s ever-expansive imagination, and he pours it into his novels, combining fact with fiction, history with fantasy, delivering engrossing action-thrillers which leave fans gasping for more. Luke’s quick wit has seen his social media following explode, and he is currently one of the most prolific social media celebrities in Australia, with several hundred thousand followers across the internet.
Publishing his first book, The Dark Path, in 2009 saw it voted in the top 10 horror novels of that year, even though Luke denies ever intending the novel to be classed as horror. Luke Romyn is now one of the most popular indie authors in the ever-growing eBook market and personally completes everything from cover art to final formatting, working tirelessly with editors so as to refine the best stories possible for his readers. The results are international bestsellers you’re certain to love diving into. Hundreds of thousands of readers can’t be wrong.
In the midst of the chaos, Luke Romyn’s parents battled to get to a hospital to birth their baby boy. Normally their idyllic island cottage was a near-paradise; on this night the journey to the mainland in their tiny boat seemed like a passage through Hell. Their son was born near midnight, but part of the storm never left him.
When Luke reached fifteen years of age his father was killed while working in Fiji, leaving Luke and his mother alone. At times, the only things to get Luke through his grief were the stories playing out in his head, endless fantastical tales of lands both distant and near, with characters who would protect him from any tragedy.
At eighteen, Luke began working in nightclubs as a bouncer. Unbeknownst to him, this was simply the first step on a trek which would dictate much of his life from that point on. For over two decades since, Luke has worked in the security industry; from bouncing in some of Australia's roughest pubs and nightclubs to protecting Mickey Mouse and the Disney crew from the overzealous jaws of tenacious toddlers. He's been bodyguard for celebrities internationally and chased feral pigs and snakes from jungle sets on Steven Spielberg productions. Luke has traveled the globe and spent time in some of the most amazing locations the world has to offer.
This experience fuels the Australian writer’s ever-expansive imagination, and he pours it into his novels, combining fact with fiction, history with fantasy, delivering engrossing action-thrillers which leave fans gasping for more. Luke’s quick wit has seen his social media following explode, and he is currently one of the most prolific social media celebrities in Australia, with several hundred thousand followers across the internet.
Publishing his first book, The Dark Path, in 2009 saw it voted in the top 10 horror novels of that year, even though Luke denies ever intending the novel to be classed as horror. Luke Romyn is now one of the most popular indie authors in the ever-growing eBook market and personally completes everything from cover art to final formatting, working tirelessly with editors so as to refine the best stories possible for his readers. The results are international bestsellers you’re certain to love diving into. Hundreds of thousands of readers can’t be wrong.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 20, 2019
DNF 80%
I struggled to finish but realized it wasn't worth it. It was obvious early on that this book should be classed as "middle-grade" but I was still willing to give it a read given how many five-star rating it had.
The author either has no understanding of, or sympathy for, basic physics. For example, the MC is both immovable when struck by a bus and yet so feather-light his own breath can propel him through the air. It may be that "magic" explains every inconsistency, but it's the author's job to at least imply that fact.
The protagonist is a pre-pubescent child who sometimes sounds like a four-year-old and at other times sounds forty. This difficulty with "voice" plagues the book. All the characters tend to share one voice and it is a voice largely stripped of personality. The characters are poorly developed. Even the MC is barely sketched out. We know next to nothing of Billy's motivations. Why he cares, why he makes specific choices, nothing. He is a mouse in a maze and every branching has equal value.
The author has no finesse when it comes to foreshadowing. Things either happen out of the blue, (almost always), or the foreshadowing is so heavey-handed as to be the voice of God. And when things do happen, they are rarely explained. An eight-headed council of leaders? Are they mentally linked to make gestalt decisions? I'll never know, as it is seemingly not worth comment.
This book is like watching an antiquer who is first on the scene at Churchill's deceased estate. As he rummages through the treasures, each is simply tossed over the shoulder without care, and all we get is an occasional, "Oh, that's a nice piece."
I struggled to finish but realized it wasn't worth it. It was obvious early on that this book should be classed as "middle-grade" but I was still willing to give it a read given how many five-star rating it had.
The author either has no understanding of, or sympathy for, basic physics. For example, the MC is both immovable when struck by a bus and yet so feather-light his own breath can propel him through the air. It may be that "magic" explains every inconsistency, but it's the author's job to at least imply that fact.
The protagonist is a pre-pubescent child who sometimes sounds like a four-year-old and at other times sounds forty. This difficulty with "voice" plagues the book. All the characters tend to share one voice and it is a voice largely stripped of personality. The characters are poorly developed. Even the MC is barely sketched out. We know next to nothing of Billy's motivations. Why he cares, why he makes specific choices, nothing. He is a mouse in a maze and every branching has equal value.
The author has no finesse when it comes to foreshadowing. Things either happen out of the blue, (almost always), or the foreshadowing is so heavey-handed as to be the voice of God. And when things do happen, they are rarely explained. An eight-headed council of leaders? Are they mentally linked to make gestalt decisions? I'll never know, as it is seemingly not worth comment.
This book is like watching an antiquer who is first on the scene at Churchill's deceased estate. As he rummages through the treasures, each is simply tossed over the shoulder without care, and all we get is an occasional, "Oh, that's a nice piece."
December 18, 2021
A twelve-year-old boy gets hit by a bus. The hulking steel frame smashes into him, wraps around him, trapping him, but he soon emerges without a scratch. Just as quickly a group of men converge upon the scene. They are military soldiers belonging to an enchanted underground metropolis and they have arrived to whisk Billy away to their magical city. Billy soon realizes that he is immortal and can't be physically harmed, but he also learns from the people of Meridian that he just may be the answer to a prophecy they have waited thousands of years for. Billy falls in love with these people and his new home but there is a battle waiting for him and he embarks on a mission to save his new home and the "surface home" above may be in danger also.
Can this twelve-year-old boy muster his immortality and powers to save these two worlds? It won't be easy.
Luke Romyn is a master storyteller, creating worlds and characters that come alive off the page and often, it's hard to put his books down in order to attend to other tasks that need to be done around the house, like eating and sleeping, but his talents are what we crave and want from a good writer, and he delivers again with this tale. It doesn't quite stand up to some of his other works, such as Ash, but this one, I think, will appeal to a younger audience (And the young at heart); especially Harry Potter fans who can't get enough of magic and the wonderful exploits and the innocence of youth.
This is worth the read and I loved it!
Can this twelve-year-old boy muster his immortality and powers to save these two worlds? It won't be easy.
Luke Romyn is a master storyteller, creating worlds and characters that come alive off the page and often, it's hard to put his books down in order to attend to other tasks that need to be done around the house, like eating and sleeping, but his talents are what we crave and want from a good writer, and he delivers again with this tale. It doesn't quite stand up to some of his other works, such as Ash, but this one, I think, will appeal to a younger audience (And the young at heart); especially Harry Potter fans who can't get enough of magic and the wonderful exploits and the innocence of youth.
This is worth the read and I loved it!
May 2, 2019
This was AWESOME
This book did not disappoint! From the opening scene to the last page I was completely immersed in this story. I have been raving about Luke Romyn’s books for years, and I will be hounding every one I know to read this one as well!
This book did not disappoint! From the opening scene to the last page I was completely immersed in this story. I have been raving about Luke Romyn’s books for years, and I will be hounding every one I know to read this one as well!
April 19, 2019
This needs to be a movie
It was almost impossible to put this book down, and the story was GREAT! It felt so cinematic to me. I really want to see it on the big screen!
It was almost impossible to put this book down, and the story was GREAT! It felt so cinematic to me. I really want to see it on the big screen!
April 19, 2019
Ya just gotta read this one...
I could not put it down. It's so very original, and it kept me guessing. Just read it, you will see.
I could not put it down. It's so very original, and it kept me guessing. Just read it, you will see.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews