Affinity for War

The Petralist #4

by Frank Morin

War is coming . . . Intense student battles, Shona's manipulations, and even the deadly fight to the death against an elemental monster couldn't keep Connor and Verena apart. Now all he wants is to outrun trouble for a while. That's less likely than Hamish refusing dessert. Even if he can reach Granadure, can Connor trust them? If war breaks out, will Verena and her country force him to fight for them against his homeland? He tried dying for a good cause once. It didn't work out so well. Affinity for War takes the epic adventure, the relentless humor, and the unique magic of No Stone Unturned, throws it in a pressure cooker with gallons of chaos, seasoned with porphyry-induced insanity, and boils it to explosion. WARNING Do not pick up a book by Frank Morin unless you love amazing stories with great action, mind-blowing magic, side-splitting humor, and insights into the human condition that will bring tears to your eyes. You risk finding your next favorite author and losing several days of sleep, so consider yourself warned. "Frank Morin is a master of the young adult fantasy genre." ~Midwest Book Review

638 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 29, 2018

About the author

Frank Morin loves great stories, great food, and great humor. He is an outdoor enthusiast, and loves to travel for inspiration.

Frank is the author of fast-paced adventures with quirky humor including:
• The Petralist - epic teen fantasy series, full of magic, adventure, and humor.
• The Facetakers - fast-action urban fantasy
• Bacon Master of the Apocalypse – humorous epic fantasy

He and his wife are often found hiking, camping, Scuba diving, or traveling to research new books. Find out more about his novels and his shorter fiction, or join his readers group at:
https://bio.to/authorfrankmorin

Reviews

[Ursula Visser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Connor, Verena, Hamish and Jean venture into more adventures in which many old adversaries and friends return.
When they reunite with their family, you know it cannot last.

Conner still has a lot to learn, and he eagerly dives into it finding out he can do things that surprise even Kilian. Kilian now needs to share information he'd rather not.

Then the war starts. Dougal is a fearsome adversary, but what happens next leaves them all speechless.
There is a more powerfull force to reckon with.

Love, friendship, learning, surprises, pain, fear, deaths and so much more... this story is a rollercoaster! And then there is Shona, who hasn't given up on Connor yet, but is he ready to go with her and leave Verena?

I love the maps that come with the book, because you can follow the story even better, get a grip of the hugeness of the lands and the beautiful names.

I am really looking forward to the next book!

[Dennis Plante · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much, much to long

Decent story, but I had a hard time getting through this book. I scanned a lot of pages, and never lost track of the story. It was about twice as long as it needed to be. The was so much detail in descriptions, in the training, and what the stones would do that it got boring. I imagine there will be a book 5, because the ending was pretty bad.

[Debra John]

Good bridge

This is a great read on its own but needs the prior books for full understanding. Its also a great bridge pulling the full story together. Cliffhangers abound side by side with resolution of some aspects of the story. Can't wait for the next book.

[Denae Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 40%

I could not get through it. I came back to this book again and again and again, trying and hoping it would get better. I absolutely loved the first three books! Why does this one drag so much?

This book read like a polished 2nd draft. Like, the story felt hastily thrown together, and then someone went through and removed the typos. Um. What about story cohesion and refining the pacing?

There's supposed to be a war going on. You'd think the characters would be in a hurry. They're supposedly trying to stop an invasion, but they stop to chat and explore and train and sort of mosy their way toward the two armies. Where's the tension, the urgency? What did all of that first 200 pages actually MATTER to their goals and plans? They tour, travel, experiment, and it wasn't made clear how it was important. Maybe the characters don't really care about the war or just don't know how to stop it. But then, as a reader, I want to see them trying to figure it out! Not wandering around and talking to people (on both sides) saying, "Yeah, we're here to stop the war." Really? How???

Then, 17% into the book, Martys was snoring, Ilse was waiting and resting, and there was a sense of just lounging. Hmm. This doesn't feel like they are trying to stop a war.

34% in, Connor is in a "comfortable chair in the third-floor library" and "catching up on events" with a visiting friend. Still not stopping the war. And the friends haven't felt like they learned much, either.

Someone named died. People were sad for a day/page. Then they went back to normal and joking and eating and NOT STOPPING THE WAR. I thought this would kick the urgency up a notch. It didn't.

One problem this story had that the other three also had was that there are WAY too many characters. They all have names, affinities, allegiances, personalities, ranks, and accents. Having a dozen (or two, since this is a book 4) characters to remember is fine. This book has to have over 30. I can't keep them all straight or which side they fight on. Besides, each nation calls petralists by different names, and that just increases the number of things readers are supposed to keep track of (not even to mention all the new powered flyers).

I almost set this book down several times but kept telling myself, "It'll get better. You loved the first three." Nope. I'm not wasting any more time. This book is too big (688 pages) for me to force myself to read it, and I have too much to do and too much to read.

Good quote: "That time she had tried to kill him hadn't been personal, and they had gotten over it." This was funny the first two times. I think it was included, about different people, 3 or 4 times already in the first 40% of the book. It wasn't funny anymore.

I was extra frustrated because I was reading this book, not listening to it. So, I wasted even more time and couldn't even multi-task. I have extra high standards for books I have to sit and read rather than just listen to. This book didn't come close.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I didn't remember as much about this series as I thought I did and it took me a while to get back into the swing of things. Still it was great to see some new stones, some new skills, a big reveal at the end a lot of good stuff in this book.

I felt Connor kinda under-performed in this one and did a lot of foolish things when I feel he should have known better. Still on the plus side the builder seemed to get some good highlights in this one.

[Tanner Mimlitsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was great

Big fan can't wait for the next book to come out. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah word limit.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoying the series. Great fun read again.