Dave de Burgh

Since reading Martin’s previous novels, ‘Nandor’ and ‘Exile’, I became a fan of his world building and characters, and the fact that Martin is a really good guy and also supports many writers in the SFF community, plus his writing and story-telling ability, made it so that I know everything he publishes is quality. Shadows of Faerie is no exception.

In this book, Martin introduces the reader to a kind of mash-up world: shades of police procedural, portal fantasy and urban fantasy combine with interesting magic and world building, and these all connect believably and interestingly with our world.

The main character, Charlie Somes, is struggling with his studies, the trauma of a broken familial relationship, and life in general. Despite the problems he faces, he’s not an unlikable character – far from it. But Charlie also has an interesting gift – one which adds to his problems. His gift ends up linking him, despite his fear and misgivings, to police investigations: the murders of women, and the dealings of gangsters and drug dealers.

Charlie shows different sides throughout the tale and reacts in believable ways. He’s a complicated young man trying to deal with everything already on his plate, and offering up information to the police after coming across a murder victim not only adds to his problems, but also draws him into a relationship he might not be ready for.

When the world and the people more intricately linked to his gift begin to intrude, Martin takes us into the positive and negative consequences these changes bring to Charlie’s life. He needs to learn how to navigate escalating danger, unexpected relationships, and the consequences these have on his studies.

Once the mythical and magical trickle into the tale, Martin manages to keep everything balanced. I mention this because most writers either remain too fixed in the ‘mundane’ or focus too much on the fantastic/strange/different, but Martin retains his focus and control of the various plot threads.

This isn’t a large-scale epic, but it doesn’t need to be. The story is close and personal, and Martin does a great job of setting up the premise, characters and world, before taking the reader on an entertaining ride. I hope to read more about Charlie and his unfolding world, and I’m very glad to be reading Martin’s latest novel, which you will all be reading in due time. 😉

All in all, Shadows of Faerie was an entertaining page-turner, and I highly recommend it. 🙂

9/10

To order your copies, click here for Amazon, and don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads shelf. Have a squiz at Martin’s website, too.

Until next time,

Be EPIC!

Hey everyone, I hope you’re all well. Even though we’re all going through some trying times, when you sit and think about it, there’s a lot to be thankful for.

One way to remain hopeful and positive is to stay off social media – or to at least take a break from it. There’s a lot of negativity out there – it seems that some people, feeling down or angry or demotivated, want to share their misery, and seriously, you have no-one but yourself to blame if you allow what others are thinking or saying to affect you.

It’s easy to forget that we all have choices in our online lives, and that those choices have consequences; we’re not just hiding behind keyboards. If there’s one thing that our current troubles have shown me, it’s that some people have been hiding their true colours for a long, long time. There’s all kinds of anger and hatred being revealed.

I’ve tried different ways of dealing with it all, and the one way that works is to step back and concentrate on what makes you happy – seeing as so many people seem to want to surround themselves with what makes them sad or angry. Consequently, I’m hardly ever on FB anymore – I have two accounts; one I’ll be using for the business side of writing, networking and leads, that kind of thing, and then an account for my close friends and family. And it doesn’t matter which account I log into, I make a point of not spending too long online.

One of the upshots of stepping back from social media is that I’ve given myself more time to be creative. 🙂

I’ve been hard at work these last couple of months getting my books ready for re-release, and some more exciting stuff has happened, too.

The first bit of cool news is that there will soon be translations of “A Song of Sacrifice” available. The prequel novelette to my trilogy will be available in Portuguese and French, and those translations will hopefully lead to “A Song of Conflict” being translated, too, as well as the novels making up The Mahaelian Chronicle.

I’ll keep you all updated regarding the translations and when they’ll be available.

On the novel front, I should be re-releasing “Betrayal’s Shadow” sometime in September or October, and then “Conviction’s Pain” should follow in November or December. Once I’ve finished writing the final novel, “Redemption’s Price”, I’ll continue working on my standalone Horror novel, “A Canticle of Cloud”, and if all goes well, the completed Mahaelian Chronicle and the Horror novel will all be available next year.

And while I’m busy with all of that, I’ll hopefully be editing, too, so I’m looking at keeping myself busy. 🙂

I’ve got ideas percolating for other projects, but those will have to wait in line.

So, that’s where I am at the moment – busy, and steadily getting everything squared away.

As I said, I hope you’re all well – let me know in the comments how you’re doing. Social media may not be a happy place, but there’s nothing keeping us from remaining positive elsewhere online. 🙂

That’s it for now – look out for new reviews coming during this week and next week: one for a cool Urban Fantasy novel from Martin Owton, and reviews for a grand SF epic from Greg Egan and Larry Niven. 🙂

Until then,

Be EPIC!

Hey everyone – it’s been a while, hasn’t it? 🙂

For those who don’t know, I have moved to Thailand, spent just over a month prepping and learning the in’s and out’s of teaching ESL (English Second Language), and on Monday (19 August) I will begin teaching English for Communication at Princess Chulabhorn Science High School in Nakhon Si Thammarat, in the south of Thailand. 🙂

To say that I am both tremendously excited and absolutely terrified would be an understatement… BUT as with any new and challenging experience, I am embracing this venture and journey wholeheartedly.

What does that mean for my writing and reviewing? Well, it’s going to take a while to get back into my passions, especially since I have to put all my focus into being a teacher in Thailand, which means creating lesson plans, teaching High School kids, learning to speak Thai as well as I can manage, assimilating into Thai culture, learning how to buy street food and haggling, and, well, basically, building a life here.

I’m still reading SFF – make no mistake about it. But my time needs to be focused on the more important tasks of living and working in Thailand, and until that all becomes as second-nature as living in a western society was, my passions will have to simmer and burble in the background. 🙂

You’ll be glad to know that the first book I purchased in Thailand was Robert V. S. Redick‘s sequel to the truly excellent ‘The Red Wolf Conspiracy‘, namely ‘The Rats and the Ruling Sea‘. I found a copy at an amazing store in Bangkok and it’s simply deliciously ironic that the epic journeys in the books are mirrored by the epic journey I’m busy undertaking. 🙂

So, I’ll check in with you all from time to time, and you can follow my exploits on Facebook and Instagram if you’d like. Until then, keep on reading and loving genre fiction – support it and those who write it wherever you are, and most importantly,

Be EPIC!