Ever since I was a child the world has fascinated me. I’ve grown up with a deep love of reading and passion for the natural world, so much so that this often inspires both my writing and my artwork. As an artist and writer I seek to showcase the wonder and magic in the world. I have been able to draw upon ancient legends for inspiration into how people’s minds worked in the deep past and use it to enrich my writing further to cement the stories into our world and become more tangible. As a part-time adventurer, it’s only natural that my novels should be that.
I’ve picked this book purely because I loved the way it brings in Native American culture into the forefront, and I also loved how it marries the modern world with the supernatural seamlessly as well as its gripping story. Reading it taught me a lot about Algonquian culture and the characters in its mythology, as well as how uncommon sources of inspiration can still provide a gripping storyline.
For more than four hundred years, the Curse Keepers guarded the barrier between the human and spirit realms. All that changed the day Ellie Lancaster met Collin Dailey. Prophecy demanded they defend the world from evil...even as it ignited a passion that threatened to consume them both. Now Ellie faces a frightening new life, abandoned by the man she loves and tormented by malevolent spirits unleashing their vengeance upon the earth. Her only shot at protecting humanity-and herself-from the demon scourge is to claim the mark of the god Ahone as her own. Finding it means trusting Dr. David Preston,…
I recommend this book not only for its gripping storyline but for its fascinating take on Irish mythology and seamless blend into our world too! I loved the characters, especially Cedar, the main protagonist in the book as she's thrown into the deep end and has to adapt pretty quickly to survive and save her daughter! And if you're like me and like to work out how it ends, there's enough here to keep you guessing. I certainly didn't see that coming!
It's been seven years since the love of Cedar McLeod's life left with no forwarding address. All she has left of him are heart-wrenching memories of happier times and a beautiful six-year-old daughter, Eden. Then, one day, Eden opens her bedroom door and unwittingly creates a portal that leads to anywhere she imagines.
But they're not the only ones who know of Eden's gift, and soon the child mysteriously vanishes.
Desperate for answers, Cedar digs into the past and finds herself thrust into a magical world of Celtic myths, fantastical creatures, and bloody rivalries. Teaming up with the unlikeliest of…
I loved this book! Telling the story of a storyteller's life before eventually revealing his true identity, this novel is based during the end of Roman occupation in England and tells a new version of how Merlin came to be. Since the dark ages have always been of interest to me, thanks to numerous visits to living museums depicting the era and growing up with the mysteries of the era thanks to so much being lost in record from that era, exploring the what could have or just exploring the era through a book is just fascinating for me.
Britain lies in the shadows, deserted by its Roman masters. When the Saxons invade at the invitation of Vortigern — traitorous leader of the Britons — the tribes must unite to reclaim the land they see as their birthright.
And in the turmoil of a country torn apart by war, one man must rise to lead them, and become the one true king.
Praise:
★★★★★ - "Gray has a real gem starting with his subject, and carries it through with an excellent delivery."
★★★★★ - "Flawlessly weaves history, legend and imagination."
Although magic doesn’t feature as strongly in this as the other recommendations and in the subsequent books in the series, I recommend this it cleverly disguises magic within the world, it's not showy but still believable, something which makes you think. It's also a gripping tale that connects Atlantis with the stories around King Arthur.
A magnificent tale which begins with the tragedy of Atlantis and the arrival in Britain of King Avallach. In this world, Celtic chieftains struggle for survival in the twilight of Rome's power, and one heroic figure towers over all, the Prince Taliesin, in whom is the sum of human greatness. This is a tale of a love that spawns the miracle of Merlin and Arthur and a destiny that is more than a kingdom.
Grittier than the other recommendations, I’m recommending this novel as well for its new take on the fantasy genre. Following a protagonist whose magical abilities act like a sixth sense, as well as quenching my lust for adventure, this book and its series tell one epic adventure through this world. I love how magic has its firm place in the world without dominating it, and this novel has taught me a lot about how battles are fought and how armies may work.
The first in the “powerful” (SFFWorld.com) New York Times bestselling fantasy series.
Vaelin Al Sorna was only a child of ten when his father left him at the iron gate of the Sixth Order to be trained and hardened to the austere, celibate and dangerous life of a warrior of the Faith. He has no family now save the Order.
Vaelin’s father was Battle Lord to King Janus, ruler of the Unified Realm—and Vaelin’s rage at being deprived of his birthright knows no bounds. Even his cherished memories of his mother are soon challenged by what he learns within the…
A thrilling adventure into the world beyond the ancient stones. Following Alicia, a woman who has no memory of her past and Nathan who’s desperate to escape the abuse he suffered in his, are thrust into an epic adventure through the wilds of the Eárie. In this world where hill tribes roam the mountains, and sprites live in underground caverns they will need to learn what it takes to survive the wilderness as well as the parasitic threat known as the Shadows.
I always want to be where I am not. This was why I read sci-fi and fantasy as a child. This was why I left the country of my birth and became a professional nomad. This is why I am spellbound by mountains I will never climb and oceans I will never dive into. Imagination can take you everywhere. It took me to the academy, where speculative literature became my scholarly field, and to the publishing world, where I am now getting ready for the launch of my eighth novel. When you are at home nowhere, you are at home everywhere–including on the summits of impossible mountains.
In Svetlana's country, it’s a felony to break a mirror. Mirrors are conduits of the Voice, the deity worshiped by all who follow Light. The Voice protects humans of MotherLand from the dangers that beset them on all sides: an invading army of wolf-headed men on their borders and the infectious, ever-evolving, zombie-like Enemy that plagues them at home. When Svetlana meets Andrei, a traumatized and amnesiac soldier from another war, she embarks on a harrowing journey of adventure and self-discovery that leads her to question everything she was taught to…
A voice through Svetlana's mirror guides her beloved MotherLand from behind its' electric tower. The war with Wulfstan is not going as well as Sveta and her parents hope, but Sveta trusts the Voice. When her best friend Tattie goes missing, and Sveta saves Andrei, a soldier in summer uniform in the dead of winter, it takes Sveta through a crucible of Light, doubt, and back to the altar of true belief. Girl of Light unravels Sveta's beloved MotherLand in a war-torn adventure through monsters, missing eyes and broken mirrors.
