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The Crimson Spark
Break the shackles of the mind.
Leo is a boy grieving his twin. Nea is a girl living as a boy to escape her past. Two slaves, carrying the scars of abuse. They form a connection, only to be split apart when their ship arrives in a mysterious and fragmented land, cut off from the rest of the world.
Leo becomes apprentice to a vagabond swordsman and together the two set out to find a stolen weapon locked away in a catacomb city. But what is his new teacher hiding? Tormented by a crippling injury and an anxious heart, Leo must find the strength within himself to keep going despite all that he has lost.
Meanwhile, Nea is conscripted by the Captain of the Royal Guard, who ropes her into the search for a group of men hunting a boy matching Leo’s description. But to Nea’s dismay, the Captain is a woman and Nea must fight past her hateful and damaged mind if she ever hopes to earn her freedom.
When a former child soldier threatens to spark a revolution, Leo and Nea will choose sides. Will they fight to save this cruel land, or punish it? To find the answer, they must confront the horror of the past and fight for the greatest freedom of all, freedom from the fear that rules their hearts.
The Crimson Spark is an emotional and captivating fantasy adventure. A story about innocence lost and righteousness found. A story about how even the most broken souls can be whole together.- GenresFantasy
468 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 15, 2019
28 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
About the author
William Hastings
8 books18 followersHello, I'm William, author of Vagabond Legacy and Vatican Championship Wrestling. If you want to stay up to date with my work you can subscribe to the newsletter on my website for weekly updates and announcements. That way you'll never miss a new book. Thanks for reading and may the stories between these pages provide some comfort and entertainment on your own journey.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 8, 2021
This and more reviews at superstardrifter.com!~
This story follows two characters, Leo and Nea, who are teenagers both with traumatic pasts. Leo is an escaped slave who finds himself apprenticed to a Vagabond, the ‘protectors of the land’. They go off in search of a lost weapon. Nea is also an escaped slave, a girl who has disguised herself as a boy and ends up going on an adventure with Cain, the famous Captain of the Royal Guard. They’re looking for Leo, or at least the group of men who are hunting for him. Then the shenanigans really start, like they do.
I liked Leo a lot as a character, and he was easy to cheer for. Even more, I liked Seiyariu, the vagabond he travels with. Seiyariu is full of all kinds of secrets that I wanted to learn more about as the book went on, which was right up my alley. To a lesser extent, I liked Nea and Cain. Nea is quite prejudiced against women, and so it takes her a long time to warm up to Cain, but as they travel and Nea sees what Cain is capable of, she comes to idolize her, a little.
Nea talks to herself in her head a lot. Leo does too, but not nearly as much. Leo is the sort of character that asks questions to prompt worldbuilding answers, but I didn’t find this as noticeably irritating as Nea’s constant self-deprecating inner monologue. There is a reason that she is so self-deprecating, and it’s understandable in the context of the book, I just wish that it was presented differently. It doesn’t help that in the audiobook, an effect is added to these bits, which makes them super noticeable.
This one took me a while to really get into. It starts off rather slow, and the timeline between the two characters also seems to run at different rates in the beginning which took a little getting used to. The timeline of events seemed skewed between Nea and Leo, and it was a little confusing. However, the second half of the story, especially when Leo and Nea come together again, was much more immersive and flowed really well. I enjoyed the second half much more than the first. It gets pretty emotional nearer to the end, which had me a little misty-eyed after so many hours of bonding with the characters. Many of these characters have pasts full of abuse, sexual abuse, thoughts of/attempts at suicide, and other unpleasantness. The unpleasantness was fairly vague, but still, if these sorts of things are problematic for you, proceed with caution.
As an audiobook, I thought it was very well done. It is narrated by Vic Mignogna, which admittedly was part of the thing that intrigued me about it. I don’t always watch my anime dubbed, but FMA was one of the ones that I watched (and enjoyed) both dubbed and subbed, and so I was interested to see what this narration would be like. Admittedly, it does listen like ‘Edward Elric tells you a story’ from time to time, so that was alright. ^_^
All told, I liked this one and found it entertaining, if a little slow at times, in the beginning, but I thought that the last half made up for it. It was a good book for putting on and getting some work done. I’d recommend this one to people who like a coming of age story, or a master-and-apprentice story. 3.5/5 stars!~
This review is based on a review copy of the audiobook, and thank you to the author and publicist for that review copy.
This story follows two characters, Leo and Nea, who are teenagers both with traumatic pasts. Leo is an escaped slave who finds himself apprenticed to a Vagabond, the ‘protectors of the land’. They go off in search of a lost weapon. Nea is also an escaped slave, a girl who has disguised herself as a boy and ends up going on an adventure with Cain, the famous Captain of the Royal Guard. They’re looking for Leo, or at least the group of men who are hunting for him. Then the shenanigans really start, like they do.
I liked Leo a lot as a character, and he was easy to cheer for. Even more, I liked Seiyariu, the vagabond he travels with. Seiyariu is full of all kinds of secrets that I wanted to learn more about as the book went on, which was right up my alley. To a lesser extent, I liked Nea and Cain. Nea is quite prejudiced against women, and so it takes her a long time to warm up to Cain, but as they travel and Nea sees what Cain is capable of, she comes to idolize her, a little.
Nea talks to herself in her head a lot. Leo does too, but not nearly as much. Leo is the sort of character that asks questions to prompt worldbuilding answers, but I didn’t find this as noticeably irritating as Nea’s constant self-deprecating inner monologue. There is a reason that she is so self-deprecating, and it’s understandable in the context of the book, I just wish that it was presented differently. It doesn’t help that in the audiobook, an effect is added to these bits, which makes them super noticeable.
This one took me a while to really get into. It starts off rather slow, and the timeline between the two characters also seems to run at different rates in the beginning which took a little getting used to. The timeline of events seemed skewed between Nea and Leo, and it was a little confusing. However, the second half of the story, especially when Leo and Nea come together again, was much more immersive and flowed really well. I enjoyed the second half much more than the first. It gets pretty emotional nearer to the end, which had me a little misty-eyed after so many hours of bonding with the characters. Many of these characters have pasts full of abuse, sexual abuse, thoughts of/attempts at suicide, and other unpleasantness. The unpleasantness was fairly vague, but still, if these sorts of things are problematic for you, proceed with caution.
As an audiobook, I thought it was very well done. It is narrated by Vic Mignogna, which admittedly was part of the thing that intrigued me about it. I don’t always watch my anime dubbed, but FMA was one of the ones that I watched (and enjoyed) both dubbed and subbed, and so I was interested to see what this narration would be like. Admittedly, it does listen like ‘Edward Elric tells you a story’ from time to time, so that was alright. ^_^
All told, I liked this one and found it entertaining, if a little slow at times, in the beginning, but I thought that the last half made up for it. It was a good book for putting on and getting some work done. I’d recommend this one to people who like a coming of age story, or a master-and-apprentice story. 3.5/5 stars!~
This review is based on a review copy of the audiobook, and thank you to the author and publicist for that review copy.
April 14, 2020
Before I start, let me say that my rating does NOT mean that this book wasn’t enjoyable. It absolutely was! But I felt like it had a wealth of potential it didn’t quite live up to, which is what I’ll tackle in this review. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy, found family, and self-discovery.
Let’s start with the good, because there was plenty of it:
The characters- Leo and Nea were the main characters, and I adored them. Leo is lonely, unconfident, and frightened. Nea is angry, brave, and brash. The two meet on a slave ship and are drawn to each other. They become separated for most of the story, giving them a chance to grow as individuals before reconnecting and developing their friendship. Leo struggles with loss and abuse, and Nea struggles with abuse and internal misogyny. These are driving forces of their characters; traumas to come to terms with and grow from.
Then we have Seiyariu and Cain (I’m not going to lie- I still have no clue how to pronounce Seiyariu’s name, whoops). Seiyariu is buried in secrets and guilt, but loves Leo dearly, and I adored their time together. Cain is a powerful but compassionate woman who becomes an inspiration to Nea. I also grew to love the side characters like Kokaleth and even Quinnel. Characters were definitely a strong point in this story. They have wonderful relationships with each other that grow, strain, shift, and change along with the characters.
The plot- The story is shifted between Leo and Nea until the two reconnect much later on. Leo is traveling with the vagabond Seiyariu in search of a lost weapon called Knail. Nea is picked up by Cain to track down a terrorist group called the Black Briars. The Briars are searching for Leo, though no one knows why. These storylines all connect to each other rather nicely, building up tension, mystery, and action. Secrets are uncovered that shake the characters to their core, relationships are built and tested, and fears must be overcome. I found myself losing all sense of time and whispering “just one more chapter” at times with how gripping it could be.
So you’re probably thinking, “You liked the characters and the plot. Why not a higher rating?” at this point. And, here we unfortunately move onto the bad.
I felt as though this book could’ve used another edit, to be honest. It held a wealth of potential in itself, but it fell just short of that.
The timeline was hard to follow in the beginning, and I found myself giving up on trying and just reading. Leo would say 3 days had passed, Nea would say 2, then a week had passed, etc. I had no idea if Leo’s timeline was supposed to run directly parallel with Nea’s. This wasn’t a big issue, but a little irritating early on.
As much as I loved Leo, I knew every chapter with him was going to involve him asking a plethora of questions for the sake of exposition. I felt as though the world-building could’ve been handled a bit better than relying on Leo’s curiosity, though he’s so young it doesn’t seem as forced as it would’ve if Nea had been doing it all the time.
There were some minor errors. Words out of order, added words that were clearly a mistake, and some continuity issues. In one scene, Nea runs away from Cain. It’s pointed out that she’s been running for hours and isn’t sure how far she’s gone or in what direction, but then she’s suddenly on her horse when a Briar appears. She deals with him, and then takes his horse and evidently knows exactly how to get back to Cain. These kinds of continuity issues aren’t often, but they are jarring when they happen.
My biggest issue with the story was the punctuation. Lines like “However, numbers only provide an advantage so long as one has the resources to maintain them, the new king did not” drove me crazy because it should’ve been “the resources to maintain them; the new king did not”. Or lines like “The cemetary was deserted. So she guided her horse back down the road towards the inn”, which just feel cut up and jerky to me? This happens a lot in the action scenes, unfortunately. Sentences become awkwardly clipped and the voice in my head feels obligated to put that pause where it sees the period. These punctuation choices were present the entire story.
Again, this story had so much going for it, and so much potential. I felt like if it had gone through one or two more comprehensive edits to catch these small errors and fix the strange punctuation choices, the story would’ve been truly magnificent.
But as I said, I recommend this story despite all that. I’m eager to see this series continue, as sometimes these problems are present in the first book and cleaned up as the series progresses. I think the author is onto something great here.
This was a wonderful story of two lost, abused, lonely children growing into strong, confident people. It was a story of growth, of found family, of what home really is. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once, and the ending left me as sad and hopeful as it left the characters.
Let’s start with the good, because there was plenty of it:
The characters- Leo and Nea were the main characters, and I adored them. Leo is lonely, unconfident, and frightened. Nea is angry, brave, and brash. The two meet on a slave ship and are drawn to each other. They become separated for most of the story, giving them a chance to grow as individuals before reconnecting and developing their friendship. Leo struggles with loss and abuse, and Nea struggles with abuse and internal misogyny. These are driving forces of their characters; traumas to come to terms with and grow from.
Then we have Seiyariu and Cain (I’m not going to lie- I still have no clue how to pronounce Seiyariu’s name, whoops). Seiyariu is buried in secrets and guilt, but loves Leo dearly, and I adored their time together. Cain is a powerful but compassionate woman who becomes an inspiration to Nea. I also grew to love the side characters like Kokaleth and even Quinnel. Characters were definitely a strong point in this story. They have wonderful relationships with each other that grow, strain, shift, and change along with the characters.
The plot- The story is shifted between Leo and Nea until the two reconnect much later on. Leo is traveling with the vagabond Seiyariu in search of a lost weapon called Knail. Nea is picked up by Cain to track down a terrorist group called the Black Briars. The Briars are searching for Leo, though no one knows why. These storylines all connect to each other rather nicely, building up tension, mystery, and action. Secrets are uncovered that shake the characters to their core, relationships are built and tested, and fears must be overcome. I found myself losing all sense of time and whispering “just one more chapter” at times with how gripping it could be.
So you’re probably thinking, “You liked the characters and the plot. Why not a higher rating?” at this point. And, here we unfortunately move onto the bad.
I felt as though this book could’ve used another edit, to be honest. It held a wealth of potential in itself, but it fell just short of that.
The timeline was hard to follow in the beginning, and I found myself giving up on trying and just reading. Leo would say 3 days had passed, Nea would say 2, then a week had passed, etc. I had no idea if Leo’s timeline was supposed to run directly parallel with Nea’s. This wasn’t a big issue, but a little irritating early on.
As much as I loved Leo, I knew every chapter with him was going to involve him asking a plethora of questions for the sake of exposition. I felt as though the world-building could’ve been handled a bit better than relying on Leo’s curiosity, though he’s so young it doesn’t seem as forced as it would’ve if Nea had been doing it all the time.
There were some minor errors. Words out of order, added words that were clearly a mistake, and some continuity issues. In one scene, Nea runs away from Cain. It’s pointed out that she’s been running for hours and isn’t sure how far she’s gone or in what direction, but then she’s suddenly on her horse when a Briar appears. She deals with him, and then takes his horse and evidently knows exactly how to get back to Cain. These kinds of continuity issues aren’t often, but they are jarring when they happen.
My biggest issue with the story was the punctuation. Lines like “However, numbers only provide an advantage so long as one has the resources to maintain them, the new king did not” drove me crazy because it should’ve been “the resources to maintain them; the new king did not”. Or lines like “The cemetary was deserted. So she guided her horse back down the road towards the inn”, which just feel cut up and jerky to me? This happens a lot in the action scenes, unfortunately. Sentences become awkwardly clipped and the voice in my head feels obligated to put that pause where it sees the period. These punctuation choices were present the entire story.
Again, this story had so much going for it, and so much potential. I felt like if it had gone through one or two more comprehensive edits to catch these small errors and fix the strange punctuation choices, the story would’ve been truly magnificent.
But as I said, I recommend this story despite all that. I’m eager to see this series continue, as sometimes these problems are present in the first book and cleaned up as the series progresses. I think the author is onto something great here.
This was a wonderful story of two lost, abused, lonely children growing into strong, confident people. It was a story of growth, of found family, of what home really is. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once, and the ending left me as sad and hopeful as it left the characters.
April 28, 2020
This was such a satisfying read! I would consider this book an epic high fantasy adventure, even though the fantasy elements are pretty subtly distributed throughout. The author created such strong character development. It was believable, it was relatable, and I feel like that was what really drew me in. The plot was the bones of the book, but the character development was the flesh. It was battered and bruised but it slowly healed and got stronger as the bones grew.
I’m still digesting the book. I literally just finished it. But I loved every second of reading it. Usually, I’m pretty nit picky and can hone in on at least one thing that I find to be bad or annoying in a book. But nothing about this book felt mediocre or unsatisfactory to me. I didn’t find myself arguing with the characters or the plot as I went along. I didn’t find myself feeling dread or regret from any of the decisions made in the book. I never felt bored or as if my attention were faltering. I just found myself enveloped in this world and invested in these characters. And I found my mind’s belly, lip smackingly, full by the end of it.
This book was somewhat of a slow burn. But the burn was so good.I’m not going to go into too much detail because I hate spoiling books for people. But if you haven’t read it, even if you have no clue what it’s about, pick it up! If you love alternate worlds, strong protagonists, found families, self discovery, and dashes of fantasy creatures and magics, give this book a chance. I’m literally twitching to get my hands on the second book. If only it were out now!
I applaud the author! This is an independently published novel I believe, and it’s just so well done. I was recommending it to everyone while in the middle of reading it. And having finished it, I will continue recommending it.
I’m still digesting the book. I literally just finished it. But I loved every second of reading it. Usually, I’m pretty nit picky and can hone in on at least one thing that I find to be bad or annoying in a book. But nothing about this book felt mediocre or unsatisfactory to me. I didn’t find myself arguing with the characters or the plot as I went along. I didn’t find myself feeling dread or regret from any of the decisions made in the book. I never felt bored or as if my attention were faltering. I just found myself enveloped in this world and invested in these characters. And I found my mind’s belly, lip smackingly, full by the end of it.
This book was somewhat of a slow burn. But the burn was so good.I’m not going to go into too much detail because I hate spoiling books for people. But if you haven’t read it, even if you have no clue what it’s about, pick it up! If you love alternate worlds, strong protagonists, found families, self discovery, and dashes of fantasy creatures and magics, give this book a chance. I’m literally twitching to get my hands on the second book. If only it were out now!
I applaud the author! This is an independently published novel I believe, and it’s just so well done. I was recommending it to everyone while in the middle of reading it. And having finished it, I will continue recommending it.
December 4, 2019
An Incredible Journey
•"All I can offer is this, jealous men do dreadful things to one another. Don't ever forget that."...
•"Friends who never argue are no friends at all." "That some of your vagabond wisdom is it?" "No, that's some of my human experience. "
A tale with incredible growth, characters, lessons, and originality. I now have a few new favorite quotes to add to my compilation. One of my new all time favorite books.
*I received this book from Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
•"All I can offer is this, jealous men do dreadful things to one another. Don't ever forget that."...
•"Friends who never argue are no friends at all." "That some of your vagabond wisdom is it?" "No, that's some of my human experience. "
A tale with incredible growth, characters, lessons, and originality. I now have a few new favorite quotes to add to my compilation. One of my new all time favorite books.
*I received this book from Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
April 12, 2020
This book was extremely hard to put down. It had me up at odd hours reading or having trouble trying to sleep because I wasn’t. It was captivating and beautifully written. It was exciting and so incredibly complex and involved. This is one of those books full of lovable characters that just keeps getting better as it goes. It’s as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking. This was a truly amazing read and I can’t wait for more.
4.5 stars
April 17, 2020
Normally, I would not consider myself a fan of YA novels as I have read far too many of them that they start to all bleed together and start to seem uninspired. I can safely say that The Crimson Spark truly made me rethink my opinions of all YA novels. I loved the characters and I never felt like I was rereading another book. Hastings does an amazing job at creating a unique world with unique characters.
May 11, 2020
This was such an intriguing book. Normally I am unable to get emotionally invested in the characters but the story is so descriptive and captivating, and the characters well developed and realistic it made it easy to get in too deep. The world is it's own without being ridiculously complicated and hard to understand, which for a fantasy novel can be hard to come by sometimes.
I actually cried... a few times.
I loved this, I am dying to know more about this world, and about the characters.
I actually cried... a few times.
I loved this, I am dying to know more about this world, and about the characters.
August 2, 2024
Such an amazing book, I couldn’t put it down. I love the fantasy genre and was hesitant about the children being the leading characters but was pleasantly surprised at how well the story flowed and how I connected to each character. What I truly loved about the book was that no character was totally good or totally evil, they all have believable flaws and well-written back stories. Even the mentor character is one of the most flawed in the story; which is not true of many other stories in the fantasy genre. Mr. Hastings does an amazing job or telling this story with clarity, while giving the impression that it is a young, tormented person’s perspective. A great read, 11/10.
July 1, 2022
As someone who had no idea what dark fantasy entailed, I must say that this book was a great gritty coming of age story told from two perspectives.
While I struggled to get into it in the beginning (after starting it from a friends recommendation where I didn’t look it up), I have pleasantly been surprised with how attached I became to this book and it’s characters. Hastings excites me on this new genre that I have yet to explore more in-depth.
Overall, a great book that deals with difficult life circumstances.
While I struggled to get into it in the beginning (after starting it from a friends recommendation where I didn’t look it up), I have pleasantly been surprised with how attached I became to this book and it’s characters. Hastings excites me on this new genre that I have yet to explore more in-depth.
Overall, a great book that deals with difficult life circumstances.
April 3, 2020
a powerful story of love, friendship, and family between two youths with dark and troubled pasts. The Crimson Spark kept me reading cover to cover as I journeyed with Leo, Nea, and their friends. the emotional depth they feel had me crying and cheering along with them on their journeys across Kengaea, the Broken Land
April 15, 2020
Great read
Great story, real characters, and an incredible world, The Crimson Spark is overall an excellent story of its genre, delving deeper into the characters and the masks they wear than is typically seen in this genre, making fora fleshed out, alive story that I would recommend to any interested reader.
Great story, real characters, and an incredible world, The Crimson Spark is overall an excellent story of its genre, delving deeper into the characters and the masks they wear than is typically seen in this genre, making fora fleshed out, alive story that I would recommend to any interested reader.
January 11, 2021
I’m late writing this review, the author himself sent me a copy at the start of the crazy lockdown and i just couldn’t put it down! Reading this book brought back memories of reading “the city of ember” series as a child, as well as “the shadow of the torturer” that I read as an adult; both books that I LOVED! I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book of the series :)
September 19, 2020
Even slaves can be Heroes
What a great story with well written characters. At times I thought I would be disappointed only to be pushed into happiness. I thoroughly want a second, third, and forth book.
Thank you :)
What a great story with well written characters. At times I thought I would be disappointed only to be pushed into happiness. I thoroughly want a second, third, and forth book.
Thank you :)
April 2, 2020
I recieved a copy from the author, thank you so much the summary on amazon was very interesting and just from reading title I was interested. I can't wait to start reading it definitely a thumbs up:)
January 29, 2021
As far as I am concerned this book is the BEST .
February 16, 2021
Amazing book on brokenness, mental illness, and redemption. A dark coming of age novel that has amazing, heavy revelations throughout the story and even heavier choices.
November 16, 2019
The Crimson Spark is a splendid piece. I was instantly drawn in and taken on a journey with two incredible characters. If you love stories with amazing characters, William Hastings nails it. Fantastical!
February 7, 2022
I could be wrong but I think it can improve the outcome.
May 1, 2023
went into it excited for an action adventure, finished it having processed the deep grief and the heavy burden I held having taken over my recently deceased father's business. Thank you.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews