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Epicentre
Can a naïve mermaid prevent a world-wide war among magical Creatures?
When Grace balks at taking yet another life to ensure her own survival, she accidently loses the necklace storing the last of her magical lifeforce. Suddenly desperate for the lifeforce she failed to steal and with nothing held in reserve, she must recover her necklace before sunset or be forced to drown another victim. If she doesn't she'll die, and she only has minutes left.
Determined not to kill until she absolutely has to, Grace makes a regrettably hasty promise to regain her necklace, not realising the promise will expose a secret other magical Creatures would kill for.
With her own life and those of her sisters at stake, Grace is forced into a desperate fight to save her kind from the malign intentions of a succubus and her cohort of ghouls, all determined to do whatever it takes to control her abilities.
If she fails, mermaids will face a war they cannot win.
Epicentre is the first book in the Leviathan's Chronicles series, expanding on the epic Veil of Gods story universe. It stands alone even as it sets up the bigger story, so drop it into your Wishlist or dip your toes into an unseen world of magical Creatures right now.
When Grace balks at taking yet another life to ensure her own survival, she accidently loses the necklace storing the last of her magical lifeforce. Suddenly desperate for the lifeforce she failed to steal and with nothing held in reserve, she must recover her necklace before sunset or be forced to drown another victim. If she doesn't she'll die, and she only has minutes left.
Determined not to kill until she absolutely has to, Grace makes a regrettably hasty promise to regain her necklace, not realising the promise will expose a secret other magical Creatures would kill for.
With her own life and those of her sisters at stake, Grace is forced into a desperate fight to save her kind from the malign intentions of a succubus and her cohort of ghouls, all determined to do whatever it takes to control her abilities.
If she fails, mermaids will face a war they cannot win.
Epicentre is the first book in the Leviathan's Chronicles series, expanding on the epic Veil of Gods story universe. It stands alone even as it sets up the bigger story, so drop it into your Wishlist or dip your toes into an unseen world of magical Creatures right now.
- GenresFantasy
330 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 6, 2020
9 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Chris Andrews
20 books89 followersChris Andrews embarked on his writing career while under the blissful ignorance of youth, when he thought writing a successful book was as simple as reading one.
His first novel, Divine Prey, was accepted by an agent and publisher, but true to Murphy's Law the publisher folded and the agent left the business.
Chris has since learned a lot about self-publishing.
His novels have been shortlisted in both the QWC/Hachette and Varuna/HarperCollins Manuscript Development Programs.
His first novel, Divine Prey, was accepted by an agent and publisher, but true to Murphy's Law the publisher folded and the agent left the business.
Chris has since learned a lot about self-publishing.
His novels have been shortlisted in both the QWC/Hachette and Varuna/HarperCollins Manuscript Development Programs.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 25, 2021
Grace is a mermaid with a problem: to survive, she has to drown a human every so often to steal their lifeforce, but her own human existence is still too recent for her conscience to be comfortable with the trade-off.
I rarely finish reading a book that for me ends up being a 3 star read, more often I give up. This one kept me reading for a number of reasons: I loved the concept – Grace is dangerous and she knows it, often warning the humans she ends up becoming close to. Her struggle with her own nature is very well depicted, as is her character in general. Pretty much all the characters are well drawn, the dialogue is great, descriptive passages too. My main hang up came with the plot.
The book splits into two halves that almost read like different stories. Around the midpoint, Grace acquires super powers that turn the plot in a completely different direction. She gets shot so often, and mends herself using her ‘limited lifeforce’, I got tired of it. I never felt she was in any real danger because it happens so many times without consequence. Two or three times I could have lived with, but I lost count, and her protestations of being near the end of her limits lost credibility.
There was also the question of typos. I know not everyone bothers about them, and the text wasn’t littered with them, but for me there were enough to be distracting.
This is the start of a series, and happily wraps up this story nicely while laying the groundwork for the next, which I appreciate, but I’m afraid I won’t be continuing.
I rarely finish reading a book that for me ends up being a 3 star read, more often I give up. This one kept me reading for a number of reasons: I loved the concept – Grace is dangerous and she knows it, often warning the humans she ends up becoming close to. Her struggle with her own nature is very well depicted, as is her character in general. Pretty much all the characters are well drawn, the dialogue is great, descriptive passages too. My main hang up came with the plot.
The book splits into two halves that almost read like different stories. Around the midpoint, Grace acquires super powers that turn the plot in a completely different direction. She gets shot so often, and mends herself using her ‘limited lifeforce’, I got tired of it. I never felt she was in any real danger because it happens so many times without consequence. Two or three times I could have lived with, but I lost count, and her protestations of being near the end of her limits lost credibility.
There was also the question of typos. I know not everyone bothers about them, and the text wasn’t littered with them, but for me there were enough to be distracting.
This is the start of a series, and happily wraps up this story nicely while laying the groundwork for the next, which I appreciate, but I’m afraid I won’t be continuing.
June 6, 2023
Received as a review copy from Story Origin, this is an honest review. Epicentre is an excellent and dark edgy twist in a story about mermaids. To survive in a world beneath the waves, Grace is forced to drown the lives of innocent people and it tears at her very soul of having to murder people instead of hoping for an accident at sea, providing the "life" Grace and the others need to live. When an unforseen situation brings Grace into having to protect her kindred form others whose intentions are not so kind; Grace must decide that she can be brave as the world breaks around her.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
October 22, 2022
Note: I met the author at an SFF convention and we exchanged books (his Epicentre, for my own Wild Thing), and promised each other a review if we liked the other’s work. (It was a relief to me when I quickly realised I was enjoying this book very much!)
I was captivated by the second paragraph, with these two lines:
“With her lifeforce nearly spent [Grace] couldn’t afford the energy to heal. Not until she drowned someone.”
Grace is a mermaid, the youngest one in fact, but that’s just the starting point in a story of many supernatural creatures with an interesting set of magic laws. One of the many things I like about this book is how different the ‘rules’ are to anything else I’ve read: the author has developed a cool set of laws that affect and constrain the various magical creatures.
At the same time, the characterisations are very well done: the good guys are likeable, the bad guys are not, yet not everything is black and white. Mermaids need to drown people to store enough lifeforce to live for a year: yet Grace hates the idea of drowning people, and is almost dead because she can’t find anyone she’s willing to drown to keep herself alive.
I found this book very hard to put down, and a pleasure to pick up and continue reading. The pacing is great, and the story twists and turns in ways I didn’t expect all the way through. There are lots of nice surprises here. The characters also come across as very real, even the minor ones, and everyone behaves true to their nature – even when you can see the plot trying to push them in a different direction!
This was definitely a fun and satisfying read. (There were some minor typos, which didn’t detract from the story, and all of which have now been fixed.)
I look forward to discovering how this series goes in the future.
I was captivated by the second paragraph, with these two lines:
“With her lifeforce nearly spent [Grace] couldn’t afford the energy to heal. Not until she drowned someone.”
Grace is a mermaid, the youngest one in fact, but that’s just the starting point in a story of many supernatural creatures with an interesting set of magic laws. One of the many things I like about this book is how different the ‘rules’ are to anything else I’ve read: the author has developed a cool set of laws that affect and constrain the various magical creatures.
At the same time, the characterisations are very well done: the good guys are likeable, the bad guys are not, yet not everything is black and white. Mermaids need to drown people to store enough lifeforce to live for a year: yet Grace hates the idea of drowning people, and is almost dead because she can’t find anyone she’s willing to drown to keep herself alive.
I found this book very hard to put down, and a pleasure to pick up and continue reading. The pacing is great, and the story twists and turns in ways I didn’t expect all the way through. There are lots of nice surprises here. The characters also come across as very real, even the minor ones, and everyone behaves true to their nature – even when you can see the plot trying to push them in a different direction!
This was definitely a fun and satisfying read. (There were some minor typos, which didn’t detract from the story, and all of which have now been fixed.)
I look forward to discovering how this series goes in the future.
September 2, 2025
‘Promises spoken aloud bind magical Creatures.’ If that’s all it takes to make a good story in your eyes, enjoy; if not, be warned, because that overused factoid drives almost every facet of this book.
Chris Andrews’s writing has a strength: he defines certain rules that clearly separate humans and Creatures in every setting, though of course the two groups intermix constantly. This consistency is one of the only parts of his writing that I can appreciate now.
Having read two books by this author, I am avoiding him in the future, since Chris seems only to write action movies on the page. While fine for fans of the genre, I like more character and less fighting, running, torture, and death. Less violence and more reasoning makes a better book for me.
This one was fast-paced overall, but there are three drawn-out accounts of slow, terrifying drownings, lots of bullet wounds and battles between fantastic Creatures, and of course tons of magical healing, because you can't have heroes run off to recuperate slowly if you're writing an action novel. Sigh.
If you like combat-fueled frenzies of blood and death among a few humans and a host of supernatural Creatures, feel free to explore the Veil of Gods novels. If you prefer to avoid gratuitous pain and unending adrenaline in your books, stay away.
Chris Andrews’s writing has a strength: he defines certain rules that clearly separate humans and Creatures in every setting, though of course the two groups intermix constantly. This consistency is one of the only parts of his writing that I can appreciate now.
Having read two books by this author, I am avoiding him in the future, since Chris seems only to write action movies on the page. While fine for fans of the genre, I like more character and less fighting, running, torture, and death. Less violence and more reasoning makes a better book for me.
This one was fast-paced overall, but there are three drawn-out accounts of slow, terrifying drownings, lots of bullet wounds and battles between fantastic Creatures, and of course tons of magical healing, because you can't have heroes run off to recuperate slowly if you're writing an action novel. Sigh.
If you like combat-fueled frenzies of blood and death among a few humans and a host of supernatural Creatures, feel free to explore the Veil of Gods novels. If you prefer to avoid gratuitous pain and unending adrenaline in your books, stay away.
July 5, 2023
This is the first book in Chris Andrews' Leviathan's Chronicles series. It's filled with magic and drama and has all the hallmarks of great storytelling. Readers are drawn in almost from the start when we are introduced to Grace aboard the ill-fated Titanic. She is saved by a mermaid and becomes one herself.
Now, after making a deal with a young man named Josh she finds herself thrown into a world she knows little about and faced with struggles she didn't expect. The story is fast-paced with a lot of action. You will be captivated by all sorts of magical creatures and the cast of characters caught in the middle.
Now, after making a deal with a young man named Josh she finds herself thrown into a world she knows little about and faced with struggles she didn't expect. The story is fast-paced with a lot of action. You will be captivated by all sorts of magical creatures and the cast of characters caught in the middle.
June 26, 2023
Chris Andrews does a great job in creating a opening chapter to a series that I enjoyed going through. The cover was what drew me in and I was glad I got to read this. The characters were what I was looking for and worked with the universe set. It left me wanting to read more in this series.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
June 29, 2023
Epicentre is a fast paced, engrossing read with a great premise. Grace is a well done, complex character; a mermaid whose existence requires her to kill with a conscience that prevents her from taking it in stride like her sisters. The plot had several twists I didn't expect and plenty of angles I can't wait to see if the author expands on. I really enjoyed this book.
August 14, 2020
Grace Harpenden is a mermaid. This is her fantastic story filled with the magic of mermaids, other fantasy creatures, and plenty of battles between them. We join Grace on board the Titanic as it is sinking into the Atlantic Ocean. She is saved from drowning by a mermaid, being changed into one during the rescue. This story takes place years later when grace meets a young man named Josh Harpenden, no relation, and she makes a promise to him to be his slave for a day. The next day begins an adventure that has plenty of magic, attraction, misadventure and other happenings. To begin with Grace's mermaid companion Maria, is hit by a car while they were trying to follow Josh and his friends to see where Josh lived in preparation for her being his slave for a day. Events progressed from there, and Grace met Josh's mother who is dying of cancer. Grace suggested to her that she could help her die comfortably and painlessly. From there we meet other creatures, werewolves, a succubus, vampires and other such at the hospital. The interactions between all these creatures leads to a large, fantastic battle for control of the hospital. There is plenty more magic, lots of attempts to kill the mermaids, attempts to stop the mermaids from getting back to the ocean, trying to stop the other creatures from hurting Josh, and other stuff too. All of it culminating in a large battle destroying the hospital. Then, after the battle is over, we meet the rest of the mermaids too. There is conflict there as well, with a power struggle for control of mermaids lives. I loved the story. It is a great read with plenty of action and a lot of in depth looks into mermaid lives and what they can do interacting with humans and other creatures. I found the writing very descriptive, and entertaining. I will read book 2 when it comes out too.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews