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Lawless Ink #1
Hound of The Mountain
The weight of the world shouldn’t rest on a 17-year-old’s shoulders, but that’s what it feels like for Chase Craig. With his daddy’s last breath, he was given a save Momma from The Mountain.
Escaping this monstrous shadow will take money, lots of it, and Chase’s best option is to join The Rangers—an elite group who hunt dangerous ink-touched beasts that spawn from The Mountain’s depths. Only one person will be chosen out of the several dozen who apply, and if he doesn’t get a magic tattoo before the Trials, he’ll be out of the running.
Escaping this monstrous shadow will take money, lots of it, and Chase’s best option is to join The Rangers—an elite group who hunt dangerous ink-touched beasts that spawn from The Mountain’s depths. Only one person will be chosen out of the several dozen who apply, and if he doesn’t get a magic tattoo before the Trials, he’ll be out of the running.
- GenresFantasyYoung Adult
460 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 28, 2019
88 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Stephan Morse
14 books82 followersStephan Morse was born the year 1983 in San Diego. The next fifteen years were spent slowly escaping California and surviving a public education system. Thus far he's made it to the Seattle (WA) region with little desire to go further. When not trying to shove words together into sentences Stephan spends time reading, catching up on sleep, and otherwise living a mundane life.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 4, 2019
Chase Craig is a teenager who has been given a gigantic task by his father on his deathbed. He's been told that his mother is trapped at the top of a nearby mountain and he must save her if she still lives. The problem with this task is that it isn't going to be very easy considering that there are hideous beasts who reside amongst the crags and peaks of said mountain.
Not only that, but to even attempt to undertake this mission alone would be sure and certain suicide. Chase's only option in his mind is to join THE RANGERS, an elite squad who are trained in hunting and killing the mythical beasts that inhabit the mountain. Adding to the daunting task of becoming a ranger is the fact that only one person among the many who apply actually get the chance to become a Ranger.
To become part of this special unit, Chase must go through a series of gruelling trials aimed at singling out only the best of the best for selection. The reward for passing is a magic tattoo that will endow the new Ranger with certain powers. Powers that Chase hopes will propel him to finding his mother and bringing her down from the mountain safe and unharmed. But will he be able to pass the test? Or will he have to journey alone into the perilous mountain facing danger without the backing of the much vaunted Rangers?
HOUND OF THE MOUNTAIN was a book that I felt had a lot of unrealized potential. The story was very original and I thought the concept of a magic system based on tattoos is a cool idea. While this was a fun fantasy tale in general with a western-style theme, where it lost me was in both the juvenile tone of the main character and also the long time period that takes place before any real action happens.
Part of this was the fact that the Ranger trials were so detailed and lengthy in description. What I kept wanting to get to was Chase's journey into the mountain, but it felt like that took forever to happen. Ultimately this is where I grew a bit impatient and I thought that the book dragged for a significant amount of time.
Getting back to Chase as a main character, I just couldn't get invested in his story. There were times when he just seemed like a spoiled brat and I didn't connect with him in any way. Likewise the story of the Rangers didn't grab me either and all in all although this is a light fantasy read with some good moments, as a whole this book was just okay for me.
Not only that, but to even attempt to undertake this mission alone would be sure and certain suicide. Chase's only option in his mind is to join THE RANGERS, an elite squad who are trained in hunting and killing the mythical beasts that inhabit the mountain. Adding to the daunting task of becoming a ranger is the fact that only one person among the many who apply actually get the chance to become a Ranger.
To become part of this special unit, Chase must go through a series of gruelling trials aimed at singling out only the best of the best for selection. The reward for passing is a magic tattoo that will endow the new Ranger with certain powers. Powers that Chase hopes will propel him to finding his mother and bringing her down from the mountain safe and unharmed. But will he be able to pass the test? Or will he have to journey alone into the perilous mountain facing danger without the backing of the much vaunted Rangers?
HOUND OF THE MOUNTAIN was a book that I felt had a lot of unrealized potential. The story was very original and I thought the concept of a magic system based on tattoos is a cool idea. While this was a fun fantasy tale in general with a western-style theme, where it lost me was in both the juvenile tone of the main character and also the long time period that takes place before any real action happens.
Part of this was the fact that the Ranger trials were so detailed and lengthy in description. What I kept wanting to get to was Chase's journey into the mountain, but it felt like that took forever to happen. Ultimately this is where I grew a bit impatient and I thought that the book dragged for a significant amount of time.
Getting back to Chase as a main character, I just couldn't get invested in his story. There were times when he just seemed like a spoiled brat and I didn't connect with him in any way. Likewise the story of the Rangers didn't grab me either and all in all although this is a light fantasy read with some good moments, as a whole this book was just okay for me.
December 18, 2019
Chase promised his daddy he’d take his momma away from the Mountain. To do that he sets his goal on being a Ranger and earning enough money to move her far away from there.
***
This was one of the more unusual books I’ve read for spfbo. I have to admit the pov/western combo took me while to get used to but once I settled in, I was very curious- especially about the Ink.
The coloured ink mining, inked creatures and the opening scenes in the mine and how it all worked felt very unique to anything I had read lately. It was very cool and weird, and I was intrigued.
The story follows Chase a young man who hasn’t had an easy time since his dad died. He is a selective mute but we are in his headspace so we still get to learn a lot about him and the town through him (and other chatty people). He works at the Well Took mine (called The Mountain by the locals) doing increasingly harder jobs trying to keep his head of the bills and save enough to honor his promise to his dad.
They mine coloured Ink at the Mountain. It’s a dangerous place full of re-spawned monsters and other creatures that are attracted to the ink, which has sort of magical properties and is quite hazardous if you get it on your skin or even have too much exposure over time, which can cause your body to change into other creatures. Like flops, felines, and delvers and those are the nice ones that overexposure to the ink, didn’t turn into killers but kind of hybrid townsfolk. The full moon brings the nasty ones up from the depths below the mountain and the Rangers are there to help protect the town and miners from them.
The rangers get magical tattoos out of the ink, giving them an edge over the monsters and almost a type of super power- depending on the tattoos and the colours they are done in. I thought this was one of the neatest combos of magic/tattoos I’ve read (not that I have read a lot of either type) and it took me most of the book to really understand how some of the magic works, because we are kind of learning as Chase is learning. There is still a bit of mystery about the correlation between ink and monsters and the mountain, giving lots of room to expand on it later in other books.
There is a collection of characters- it’s small community, everybody knows everyone else’s business especially a couple characters that we can classify as busybodies (Chase’s mom included) and a few that are a little uneducated and close-minded. There are mentions of war with the Saracons across the Mountain but this does have a closed world feel. I felt that was appropriate though for the type of story and especially the character we are following.
There were a few places where I felt the story kind of wandered maybe not too far off-track but it did take it’s time to get where it was going. Places where we are being introduced to acquaintances and so forth and especially near the end where the prolonged Ranger trials and aftermath became almost frustrating for me because of my impatience to get answers to things that had been building and hinted to over the story. And maybe I was a bit worried too, that we weren’t going to get those answers but I did appreciate touching base and letting us see how everyone fared while tying up all the loose ends- it just seemed a little drawn out at times.
This felt like a whole new side to the weird west genre. Very cool, very different story- worth checking out for the ink magic and if you like the western style genre of fantasy.
spfbo score 6.8/10
Go here to find out more about SPFBO contest and to find links to all the participating bloggers/authors and reviews!
https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/...
and here for the team reviews and comments
https://starlitbook.com/2019/12/10/sp...
***
This was one of the more unusual books I’ve read for spfbo. I have to admit the pov/western combo took me while to get used to but once I settled in, I was very curious- especially about the Ink.
The coloured ink mining, inked creatures and the opening scenes in the mine and how it all worked felt very unique to anything I had read lately. It was very cool and weird, and I was intrigued.
The story follows Chase a young man who hasn’t had an easy time since his dad died. He is a selective mute but we are in his headspace so we still get to learn a lot about him and the town through him (and other chatty people). He works at the Well Took mine (called The Mountain by the locals) doing increasingly harder jobs trying to keep his head of the bills and save enough to honor his promise to his dad.
They mine coloured Ink at the Mountain. It’s a dangerous place full of re-spawned monsters and other creatures that are attracted to the ink, which has sort of magical properties and is quite hazardous if you get it on your skin or even have too much exposure over time, which can cause your body to change into other creatures. Like flops, felines, and delvers and those are the nice ones that overexposure to the ink, didn’t turn into killers but kind of hybrid townsfolk. The full moon brings the nasty ones up from the depths below the mountain and the Rangers are there to help protect the town and miners from them.
The rangers get magical tattoos out of the ink, giving them an edge over the monsters and almost a type of super power- depending on the tattoos and the colours they are done in. I thought this was one of the neatest combos of magic/tattoos I’ve read (not that I have read a lot of either type) and it took me most of the book to really understand how some of the magic works, because we are kind of learning as Chase is learning. There is still a bit of mystery about the correlation between ink and monsters and the mountain, giving lots of room to expand on it later in other books.
There is a collection of characters- it’s small community, everybody knows everyone else’s business especially a couple characters that we can classify as busybodies (Chase’s mom included) and a few that are a little uneducated and close-minded. There are mentions of war with the Saracons across the Mountain but this does have a closed world feel. I felt that was appropriate though for the type of story and especially the character we are following.
There were a few places where I felt the story kind of wandered maybe not too far off-track but it did take it’s time to get where it was going. Places where we are being introduced to acquaintances and so forth and especially near the end where the prolonged Ranger trials and aftermath became almost frustrating for me because of my impatience to get answers to things that had been building and hinted to over the story. And maybe I was a bit worried too, that we weren’t going to get those answers but I did appreciate touching base and letting us see how everyone fared while tying up all the loose ends- it just seemed a little drawn out at times.
This felt like a whole new side to the weird west genre. Very cool, very different story- worth checking out for the ink magic and if you like the western style genre of fantasy.
spfbo score 6.8/10
Go here to find out more about SPFBO contest and to find links to all the participating bloggers/authors and reviews!
https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/...
and here for the team reviews and comments
https://starlitbook.com/2019/12/10/sp...
November 5, 2019
Couldn't get through the free sample. Magic "system" seems like it could be interesting, but the weird stream-of-conscious writing style mixed with grammatical errors, MC making stupid decisions for no apparent reason, and lazy unrealistic plot devices was just too big a turn off to pay for it. If it was AU I'd consider it.
October 27, 2019
Excellently intriguing.
No other story quite like this one. Has fascinating concepts of "magic" and unique ideas of how these people go about their daily lives. Main character acts realistically . It is a winner.
No other story quite like this one. Has fascinating concepts of "magic" and unique ideas of how these people go about their daily lives. Main character acts realistically . It is a winner.
November 2, 2019
Weird in a good way
What a strange and wonderful world this Stephan Morse has created. It took some figuring in a few parts and you definitely have to just go with the crazy delirious rantings of the main character Chase at times but overall nice premise and engaging tale.
What a strange and wonderful world this Stephan Morse has created. It took some figuring in a few parts and you definitely have to just go with the crazy delirious rantings of the main character Chase at times but overall nice premise and engaging tale.
January 31, 2020
This book started very strong for me. I love the idea of veins of colour in the mountain that must be mined and the tattoo magic that comes from those veins of colour. The story lost me at the end as it seemed to lose the plot become overly complicated.
October 27, 2019
An Interesting and inventive tale.
February 29, 2020
I started off thinking ooh this could be a good story it's certainly strange but I couldn't get in to it and the characters in the beginning were not enough to keep me interested in continuing. I managed 3% of the book
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews