A Circle of Firelight

Circle Saga #1

by Curtis Edmonds

On the battlefield of dreams, the strongest weapons are imagination--and love.
Ashlyn Revere is a bright, determined and resourceful college graduate trying to get a job in publishing. When Ashlyn and her sister Penny are left comatose after an automobile accident, they find themselves in Summervale, a beautiful and perilous realm straight from the pages of fantasy novels--which is ruled by a mysterious Dark Lord.
When Ashlyn discovers that Penny is being held captive, she enlists the help of a talking black rabbit and a scarlet knight to save her sister. She learns that Penny is deep within her own fantasy of Regency romance--and that she sees being in a coma as a way to escape from her daily struggles with cystic fibrosis. Ashlyn tries to rescue her anyway, but a fire-breathing dragon and a real-world seizure complicate her plans.
As Penny recovers from her injuries and leaves Summervale, Ashlyn is rescued by a servant of the Dark Lord who promises to show her just how precarious her own medical situation is. In the real world, Ashlyn's medical condition has worsened, forcing her doctors to consider risky surgery. Ashlyn rejects an offer from the Dark Lord to remain in Summervale forever, and chooses to raise an army of knights to fight for her freedom and independence.
Penny must face a choice of her own. As Ashlyn hovers between life and death, Penny learns that Ashlyn would be a good match to provide the donor set of lungs that Penny needs to free her from the constraints of cystic fibrosis.
As doctors battle to save Ashlyn's life, she leads her forces against the Dark Lord in a desperate conflict in the streets of an imaginary Manhattan--while Penny must find the answer to her own destiny in a dying circle of firelight. Can the sisters rescue themselves--and each other?
A CIRCLE OF FIRELIGHT blends postmodern fantasy and real-world emotional conflict in a daring tale that will delight adult and young adult readers alike.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

350 pages, Paperback

Published November 14, 2021

About the author

My name is Curtis Edmonds; I am a self-published author living in central New Jersey. My new novel, A CIRCLE OF MOONLIGHT, comes out on December 21, 2021.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the author, publisher, and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ashlynn Revere is heading towards an interview to be an editorial assistant at a publishing company. Her plans are ruined when her sister Penny tags along and they end up in a car crash leaving them in the hospital. Can they survive? Read on and find out for yourself.

This was a pretty good fantasy read about survival and more. If you enjoy these types of stories, feel free to check this book out now on Amazon and wherever ebooks are available online.

[Joe Titone · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always nice to find a well written YA book because Ihave grand-children and friend's grand-children who want to read these books. I read it first and was so enchanted that I immediately recommended it to these young people. After all were done, we donated it to a lending group that services disadvantaged kids. Thank you!

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA Fantasy

YA is not my usual genre, but once I got a few chapters in and caught the cadence of this charming tale, I was hooked. A love story of two sisters, Ashlyn & Penny are always at odds with each other, but in the end would do anything for the other. Fantasy is woven in with the “real life” story of the sister’s recovery following a tragic accident. A Circle of Firelight is a delight for YA fans.

[Siavahda · Rating 1 out of 5]

20% is the cut-off point for me - if a book hasn't won me over by the time it hits that mark on my Kindle, it's not going to, and unfortunately, despite a fantastic premise, Circle of Firelight didn't make the cut. To be honest, even making it that far into the book was reminiscent of wading through a swamp - an exhausting struggle through the mud, slipping and sliding and occasionally being smacked in the face by a branch.

First-person narration rarely works for me - unless there's something special about the character, being inside their head is usually just irritating, and despite making it to a land of magic where she must save her sister, Ashlyn isn't a unique or interesting enough person for me to want to be privy to her every thought. Worse was the choice to write the story in the present tense, which might have been intended to make the story more immersive, but instead just made it feel clunky and synthetic, ringing false even when events should have drawn the reader in (such as the car accident Ashlyn is caught in early in the story).

There was a *lot* of info-dumping, information shoved at the reader instead of being revealed in a more natural way. I feel especially unwilling to forgive this given that this story is about a character from our world discovering magic - meaning that the main character is discovering the fantastical elements of the story alongside the reader. Done right, this can help the reader identify more closely with the main character - a kind of bonding through the shared experience of being hit with all things magical - but here it was a trainwreck. Despite including the cliche of an overly mysterious mentor/guardian type character - in rabbit form, which was probably meant to be funny, but couldn't overcome how annoying the character himself was - we still learn the most vital information by Ashlyn relating it to us in huge chunks, rather than in exposition from said mentor.

Also, while I really like seeing characters who read fantasy being familiar with the genre tropes, that doesn't actually win you points when you still insist on using very old, tired tropes. Ashlyn's sort-of-mockery of there being a Dark Lord for her to defeat doesn't change the fact that there still *is* a Dark Lord. Hopefully more about him would have been explained later - further on than I read - but the announcement of his existence was abrupt, and the explanation really needed to happen *then*, not later. Why is there a Dark Lord? He's the manifestation of the negative parts of her personality or something, but why did that manifestation take the shape of a Dark Lord instead of something else? Where is this fantasy realm Ashlyn's come to? Why does she take it all so calmly? The pond is a gateway to Death, or something? And then there's the honest-to-god *training montage*, where the knight - whose existence and appearance is also unexplained - is going to teach Ashlyn to be a swordmaster? Even allowing for time to run differently between wherever Ashlyn has gone and the normal world where she's unconscious, it was painfully cringe-inducing.

And the dialogue is genuinely terrible. I highlighted some of the particularly bad lines - "This is an immaterial realm, or so you have said." Ashlyn says that as she's figuring out her fantasy-land, but I can't imagine a modern English speaker *ever* using that phrasing. "You said this isn't a physical place," maybe, or even "or so you say". It's not an issue of using big or rare words - Ashlyn doesn't speak like she's college-educated; she talks like a Martian who's learned English from a computer.

It feels like this book has a good core idea, but needs to be torn apart and reworked. For example: if it's so important that Ashlyn be able to use a sword, why couldn't she have learned in her dreams? She's faced the 'guardian of the bridge' thousands of times in her dreams - why couldn't that process have included her figuring out her sword? It would have been so much more interesting if she discovered she'd already been prepared for this quest. Similarly, we barely get to meet her and her sister before the car accident, but that only makes it more important that Edmond give us some reason to care about them both - particularly Penny, whose head we're not in. I wasn't scared or anxious about her because Edmond gave me no reason to care about her. Ashlyn lecturing us about her sister's cystic fibrosis isn't enough, especially when all we see of Penny is, basically, an annoying little sister who jeopardises Ashlyn's hard-won job interview by sneaking out (however understandably). There needed to be some kind of bonding moment. Instead, we had that moment with Ashlyn's dad, as Edmond revealed Ashlyn and her father's shared love of genre fiction. But we don't need to bond to the dad. We need to bond to Penny, and there's nothing there to bond to.

Deeply disappointed.

[Bryn Shutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one Netgalley read I don't regret requesting.

A beautiful, thought-provoking story about the bonds of family that transcend time and space, life and death.

I need more weird black rabbits in my dreams now …

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full Disclosure: Goodreads Giveaway Winner

Knowing this was fantasy, I was a bit confused at the beginning, because it began like any day in anyone's life.... then BAM! literally. Knowing how dreams are, and how they behave as a side effect of medication, the ensuing story was totally believable.

The protagonists are realistic, and the little literary allusions are a delight, and despite Mr. Edmonds' concern, Monty Python references are not dated.... I know many young people/young adults who are not only familiar with, but fans of Monty Python... especially Holy Grail. I was delighted when this year, one of my sixth grade students made a MP reference.

[Sharen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could have liked this book more. It had a very interesting premise that I wanted to see how the author handled it. It bounced back and forth between “real world” and “dream world”; and between Ashlyn speaking and Penny speaking to a very distracting point. By the time I reached the halfway point I gave serious thought to just quitting, but I really wanted to see where the author was going to go with it. So, finish I did. Not a great book, just an ok book in my mind. Perhaps you will like it better and that’s ok.

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!

[Mary Tharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved the fantasy story

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Thank you Goodreads and Curtis Edmonds for this book. It was fun reading and catching the references. A cool story!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the author had stuck to a tight storyline this might have been an out of the park homerun. Unfortunately, he is all over the place and while he seems to realize the need to rein in the tangents, they get farther and farther off track. The constant pop-culture references assume that the reader will be familiar and if not, oh well, turn a few pages and try to make sense at that point.

Bottom line – a car wreck, two sisters are the victims. Do they live? Do they share the same dream? Do they come out of the medically induced comas?

I loved the dreamscape where Ashlyn keeps getting knocked on her rear and bounces back to do battle again and again. She is not lucky enough to have dreams about fun things. This is pretty much the beginning, the middle and the end of the book. I enjoyed some of the goofy characters – a large black rabbit with a kind cultured mid-Atlantic accented voice, the guardians, the kindly and caring neurologist, a great set of parents.

Three stars for effort. Thank you NetGalley, Curtis Edmonds and Scary Hippopotamus Books for a copy.

[Margherita Abitino · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book*

The back and forth between real-life, physical distress and fantastical, mental/emotional struggle was what drew me to this story and what kept me reading until the end.

As much as I appreciated this concept, I'm having a hard time hyping up much else. I couldn't get passed the overwhelming use of references from pop culture and mentions of American locations/sports teams. Most of the book and film cameos were recognizable, but as a non-American, I felt left out half the time and the other half like I was having the star-spangled banner shoved down my throat.

If less effort was placed in brand placement and more in character development, I think I would have had a better time with this one.

[Megan Forrest · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading the description of the novel, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, the description is basically the entire story, which is based on a simple plot. The novel is told in the first person, which makes sense as virtually the entire story takes place in Ashlyn's mind. The use of the present tense, however, was not a great choice. It feels awkward and clunky, making it difficult to become immersed in the story. The entire premise of the novel - that Ashlyn must deal with her own emotions to deal with her own life - is one that is not often done, as noted by the author in the afterword. Unfortunately, this novel has little world-building, leaving the world Ashlyn enters extremely two dimensional. The relationship between the two sisters is underdeveloped, with each of the sisters seeming to resent each other for various reasons (as is normal/predictable) but there is no breakthrough' or true bonding moment to enhance the two characters. Overall, there is not a lot of action in the novel, little to draw us into the world and awkward minor characters who are supposed to be funny but add little to the story. The heavy borrowing from many, many other works is probably supposed to relate to Ashlyn's own love of the fantasy genre but is not woven into her as a character very well at all, so comes across as simply appropriation. The novel has a lot of potential that unfortunately, it does not fulfill.

[Cim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was well-written, and I enjoyed running into a handful of words that expanded my vocabulary. The story is unique; I can honestly say I've never before read a book like this. It's an intriguing idea, that a coma patient can continue to consciously fight for their lives even while unconscious. This book has an optimistic ending, which I appreciated. It was left a little open, but there was hope.

I had trouble tracking what was happening at a few points, because the story occasionally bounces between reality and the dream world. When it bounced back to reality and switched characters within a chapter, it would take a few sentences before I could place the perspective. This did help establish the "fever dream" vibe, though -- nothing feels real - even reality. We're bouncing between perspectives and worlds, and one doesn't feel any more real than the other.

It was wonderful to see the sisters' relationship evolve throughout the story, and I love the tenacity of our main character.

I received an advance copy of this story in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed are my own.

[Ayre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting story, basically a girl goes into a coma after a car crash and we experience her dreams or subconscious while she struggles to survive the accident. She is very much obsessed with high fantasy novels and you see that obsession reflected in some really bad troupes. This book is very self aware that its using bad troupes, but its still using them. The author also uses a lot of modern culture references, which will cause this book to lose its relevance very quickly. Some examples are: iPhone instead of "phone" and references to Beyonce and Justin Timberlake. Many things mentioned could have been far more generalized and wont be relevant or understood by the targeted age group in just a few years.

I mostly enjoyed this book but the over use of bad troupes and the over use of current pop culture were a major turn off for me. If you're a fan of reading high fantasy and the things I mentioned don't bother you then I think you might like this book.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, I wasn't sure if this was my type of book. I liked the characters but wasn't sure about the plot. Then, I read page 68 and it all made sense. I won't post any spoilers.
I liked Ashlyn-she's strong, brave. I adored Penny - she was funny, sarcastic. The characters that arrive a little later into the book are the best. Seriously funny, geeky and I laughed out loud at the trendy references.
I liked the plot although I'm honestly still thinking about what it all means. And that's a good thing. A book should stay on your mind for a while and make you question it while you try to fall asleep after you finished reading it.

[Khris Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that Curtis Edmonds has promise and will make an excellent writer as time goes on. I really liked the premise of the book, and parts of it were very well written. Edmond's writing style is easy to read and the dialogue drew me in.

My biggest problem with the book is that the tone remained the same throughout the book. Books that I LOVE tend to have a different energy depending on what type of scene is happening, and this book lacked that. During suspense and action scenes the writing seemed very matter of fact.

I enjoyed the transition of the sister's relationship throughout the course of the book.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is an easy flow to the dream state fantasy Curtis Edmonds has created. The characters are fleshed out nicely, and the shifts between reality and fantasy are not jarring or off-putting. The emotions and the relationship between the sisters is enduring. This is a well-done, easy to read book.

Thank you, NetGalley & publisher for the ebook ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Francesca · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.*

DNF. This novel seems to be more a way to showcase the author's geek knowledge than an actual story. The plot is barely there, the main character is flat out boring due to being severely underdeveloped. The prose is the only interesting aspect of this book.

[Leon Sinclair · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full review to come. Overall, a poorly paced, poorly written and boring book.