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Sentinels of Creation #5
A Crucible of Order
Kellan Thorne labors beneath the burden of Chaos he accepted in order to both save Shannon and destroy the previous Sentinel of Chaos. Now he is trapped in the brutal life of a slave and gladiator within Claudius’ Rome.
Meanwhile, in 2020, Shannon McLeod Thorne struggles with both the loss of her husband and the responsibilities of being Creation’s new Sentinel of Order. Almost six months have passed since she pushed Kellan through the portal in Fingal’s Cavern, and she has begun to lose hope. However, like many times before, strange events conspire to cast light in dark places.
The first glimmer comes from James Clinton and his AI friend Jarvis who believe they can break the code surrounding Kellan’s mysterious disappearance. Shannon, Meghan, and the Council of Havilah use this new found information to try and summon an enigmatic Mantle of unimaginable power. However, in doing so, they risk bringing down upon themselves the very Incarnation of Destruction.
Even if they succeed in avoiding this Incarnation’s grasp and enlisting the Mantle’s help to retrieve Kellan from ancient Rome, how will his friends save the new Sentinel of Chaos from himself.
Meanwhile, in 2020, Shannon McLeod Thorne struggles with both the loss of her husband and the responsibilities of being Creation’s new Sentinel of Order. Almost six months have passed since she pushed Kellan through the portal in Fingal’s Cavern, and she has begun to lose hope. However, like many times before, strange events conspire to cast light in dark places.
The first glimmer comes from James Clinton and his AI friend Jarvis who believe they can break the code surrounding Kellan’s mysterious disappearance. Shannon, Meghan, and the Council of Havilah use this new found information to try and summon an enigmatic Mantle of unimaginable power. However, in doing so, they risk bringing down upon themselves the very Incarnation of Destruction.
Even if they succeed in avoiding this Incarnation’s grasp and enlisting the Mantle’s help to retrieve Kellan from ancient Rome, how will his friends save the new Sentinel of Chaos from himself.
- GenresUrban Fantasy
347 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 1, 2020
6 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 27, 2020
I'm actually leaning towards 2½ stars for this book. This series got worse and worse with each sucessive novel. I think the series is over, at least I have read up to the end of his current publication. If another one is published in the future I probably will not get it. There was too much useless dialogue. (I think we understood Shannon did not want to be called the Sentinal of Order the first eight times she said it - but by the eightieth time I was just hoping someone would kill her so she wouldn't say it again) I think his plot had potential but it missed the mark in my opinion. After the first book, I bought the rest of the series but as my reading went on, I regretted buying all five. Yes, I did read them all but I probably could have stopped with #2 and been just fine.
I use ratings to decide which books I am going to buy, and I recently decided I am partially responsible for inflating the ratings on books. Either they were 5 star or 1 star. I decided to use the star rating more objectively as follows:
★★★★★ Great book! Can’t wait to read it again (and I will).
★★★★☆ Good book. I am glad I read this.
★★★☆☆ OK book. Nothing special but not bad.
★★☆☆☆ Not good. Why did I waste my time?
★☆☆☆☆ Lousy. I didn’t finish.
I use ratings to decide which books I am going to buy, and I recently decided I am partially responsible for inflating the ratings on books. Either they were 5 star or 1 star. I decided to use the star rating more objectively as follows:
★★★★★ Great book! Can’t wait to read it again (and I will).
★★★★☆ Good book. I am glad I read this.
★★★☆☆ OK book. Nothing special but not bad.
★★☆☆☆ Not good. Why did I waste my time?
★☆☆☆☆ Lousy. I didn’t finish.
February 7, 2020
Thankfully Robert Ross finally told us where Kellan Thorne ended up once he assumed the role as Sentinel of Chaos! I know it’s not been all that long in the grand scheme of things, but the wait was well worth it! Kellan Thorne, Sentinel of Chaos formerly of Order is in Rome, specifically 50 A.D. where he is a fashionable gladiator!
In true Kellan form, his sardonic wit and inner dialog that sometimes leaks out into the world, his life is entertaining and engaging. We meet two new mantles and poor James loses his job – not nearly as momentous as other moments in the book but I didn’t want to give out any other spoilers.
Ross is an exceptional writer. He takes his fans to varying degrees of intensity and plot twists.
This is an edge of your chair type of book. Ross creates a dialog that is realistic and is his character – for instance, Kellan can ramble and argue with himself, Shannon never loses her brogue accent or Lucifer's charmingly deceptive twist of words. Ross has the knowledge and experience to create the characters in a manner that is solid and realistic.
I truly enjoy the places that Ross has taken each of his characters and the insight he has given us into each one’s personality. He is deliberate in his writing; nothing is truly a waste of reading/listening – each word takes the story somewhere.
Nick Podehl does a magnificent job of narrating the story. To me, he has become Kellan, Shannon, Megan, Sera (aka Ares), etc. I love how he can roll out the Scottish brogue and then fall immediately back into the American slang that Kellan uses then to the formal speech of Ares. Podehl moves the story along as he performs engaging the listener to stick around.
“Ah teel ye thes fur nathin’” Ross and Podehl is a winning combination!
There were no issues with the production or quality of this audiobook.
In true Kellan form, his sardonic wit and inner dialog that sometimes leaks out into the world, his life is entertaining and engaging. We meet two new mantles and poor James loses his job – not nearly as momentous as other moments in the book but I didn’t want to give out any other spoilers.
Ross is an exceptional writer. He takes his fans to varying degrees of intensity and plot twists.
This is an edge of your chair type of book. Ross creates a dialog that is realistic and is his character – for instance, Kellan can ramble and argue with himself, Shannon never loses her brogue accent or Lucifer's charmingly deceptive twist of words. Ross has the knowledge and experience to create the characters in a manner that is solid and realistic.
I truly enjoy the places that Ross has taken each of his characters and the insight he has given us into each one’s personality. He is deliberate in his writing; nothing is truly a waste of reading/listening – each word takes the story somewhere.
Nick Podehl does a magnificent job of narrating the story. To me, he has become Kellan, Shannon, Megan, Sera (aka Ares), etc. I love how he can roll out the Scottish brogue and then fall immediately back into the American slang that Kellan uses then to the formal speech of Ares. Podehl moves the story along as he performs engaging the listener to stick around.
“Ah teel ye thes fur nathin’” Ross and Podehl is a winning combination!
There were no issues with the production or quality of this audiobook.
February 13, 2020
A Crucible of Order is another creative and thoroughly enjoyable book in the Sentinels of Creation series. One the one hand, it is more of the same. On the other hand, "the same" is a totally unpredictable story line that is pure pleasure to ride along with the creative minds of Robert W. Ross.
If you are on book 5 of the series, you know the characters and the type of clever storylines Robert creates. The characters are a pure joy to come back to. In the end, what you want to know is does it deliver? It does, while not being boring or predictable. New characters are introduced. The story continues to grow and develop. When the last page is read, you are left totally satisfied with the time you were able to spend with this strange gang of unique characters, while eagerly looking forward to the next book.
If you have not read previous books, read them now. The highest praise I can give a book is to take time to write up a review (I tend to be lazy and not like to write reviews). When a bookmark earns five stars, it seems only fair to take a little time to explain why this book is so good. I have tried to do that. In the end, just enjoy the series. Sentinels of Creation will not disappoint.
If you are on book 5 of the series, you know the characters and the type of clever storylines Robert creates. The characters are a pure joy to come back to. In the end, what you want to know is does it deliver? It does, while not being boring or predictable. New characters are introduced. The story continues to grow and develop. When the last page is read, you are left totally satisfied with the time you were able to spend with this strange gang of unique characters, while eagerly looking forward to the next book.
If you have not read previous books, read them now. The highest praise I can give a book is to take time to write up a review (I tend to be lazy and not like to write reviews). When a bookmark earns five stars, it seems only fair to take a little time to explain why this book is so good. I have tried to do that. In the end, just enjoy the series. Sentinels of Creation will not disappoint.
October 15, 2022
A Sentinel in Rome
Not my favorite book in the series so far. I'm not sure what about the book i did not like, or more precisely, there's too many things that didn't jive. To start, having a book in ancient Rome was cool, but the author did very little with it. Sure Kellan fought as a gladiator, but it was more of a thing that happened to Kellan as opposed to something he interacted with. I understand that he lost his memory, and Ross was showing the struggle of getting his life back together, but even that didnt work. Zagan was a one dimensional, mustache twirling manifestation that was a joke of a baddie. Longinus quickly became annoying, and didnt seem to grow as a character.
Overall, this book was meh.
Not my favorite book in the series so far. I'm not sure what about the book i did not like, or more precisely, there's too many things that didn't jive. To start, having a book in ancient Rome was cool, but the author did very little with it. Sure Kellan fought as a gladiator, but it was more of a thing that happened to Kellan as opposed to something he interacted with. I understand that he lost his memory, and Ross was showing the struggle of getting his life back together, but even that didnt work. Zagan was a one dimensional, mustache twirling manifestation that was a joke of a baddie. Longinus quickly became annoying, and didnt seem to grow as a character.
Overall, this book was meh.
March 22, 2020
Oh how I love this series!!! Robert W. Ross never disappoints always another amazing book in this awesome series. I am so happy that everything that happens are shown how it affects Kelan. Traumatic things aren't just brushed by as if it was nothing. I really like that about this Author, he isn't afraid too make the characters human with feelings. The plot as always was 10/10 just so good and exciting. Keeping this spoiler free so won't say too much more.
But I want to urge anyone who likes action packed books that have great world building, with a unique magic system that is so damn amazing too pick this series up. This universe always leaves room for so much more to happen.
But I want to urge anyone who likes action packed books that have great world building, with a unique magic system that is so damn amazing too pick this series up. This universe always leaves room for so much more to happen.
December 7, 2022
Another wonderfully adventurous novel from Robert W. Ross! I have been binge listening to this whole series and I feel sad that I'm already on the 6th book. I think I'm going to take my time listening to these last 2 books!
Thank you for creating hilarious characters, normally I have one favorite but I really can't pick one from this series!
Thank you for creating hilarious characters, normally I have one favorite but I really can't pick one from this series!
February 1, 2020
This is Brill cant wait for the next book
February 3, 2021
Very entertaining read
I enjoyed reading this book very much and would recommend it highly to anyone that like magic, demons,angels and lots of action.
I enjoyed reading this book very much and would recommend it highly to anyone that like magic, demons,angels and lots of action.
March 25, 2023
A slight change in plot line made this a nice diversion and different from the earlier books in the series. Very enjoyable.
November 28, 2022
This was an awesome story
I thoroughly enjoyed the story it was entertaining it made me laugh and I love
all the pop culture references keep on the good work.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story it was entertaining it made me laugh and I love
all the pop culture references keep on the good work.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews