“After losing her husband only months earlier, Allie finds herself the new official face of the seer race, fighting to prevent humans and seers from exploding into all-out war. But her husband, Revik, isn’t really gone. Instead he’s transformed into someone she barely knows. Unlike her, he wants war...and revenge...and will do whatever it takes to bring the human civilization to its knees.”

Finally, Allie is free of Terrin, but in freeing her from that psychopaths less than gentle clutches Revik has reunited with parts of himself that he did not know were missing. Still married to Allie, he wants her to join him in his war against the humans that treat Seers so poorly, but Allie only wants to prevent it.

Through this part of the overall story, Allie’s character changes – which is to be expected.  Who wouldn’t change in the events that she has been forced to endure?  But I felt that she herself had turned to her own dark side to reach her goals.  As a reader, I’m not sure if I’m happy with Allie's character going that way, but as I only finished this novel moments ago, my thoughts might change.

After being completely immersed in the first two novels, I found book three no different, again reading it in just a few days.  The story is exciting, touching, heart wrenching and it does not end here.  I will be looking with keen interest for book four!

J C Andrijeski can be found at www.jcandrijeski.com and this book can be purchased from www.smashwords.com  A highly recommended story well worth the purchase!

"Grappling with her identity as "Bridge," a being thought to herald the end of humanity, isn't even Allie's biggest problem. She's also dealing with being married to a seer while trying to stop the Rook she put in the White House from starting a war. Then the boy appears. A highly dangerous telekinetic seer, he doesn't appear to have aged in over 100 years. Worse, he thinks Allie belongs to him.”

Shield, Allie’s War: Book two by J C Andrijeski is a story that follows on from the first novel.  Allie is slowly trying to terms with her being a Seer and her apparent marriage to Revik while she barely manages to make her way through the intricacies of Seer law and culture.  To reveal more might be considered a spoiler…

Again I felt myself being drawn into the story of Allie and the amazing path her life has taken.  The adventure, fear and suspense are addictive with the story itself quite unique and interesting.  J C Andrijeski makes you feel for the characters, fear for them when they are in danger and let you burn with the want for revenge when they are wronged.  I ended up reading this book in about 3 days and that in itself should recommend this novel to you.

This novel is better than the first, but could not be without Rook - Allie’s War: book 1, as much of the world is created in that first tale.


J C Andrijeski can be found at www.jcandrijeski.com and this book can be purchased from www.smashwords.com  A highly recommended story well worth the purchase!

“28-year-old San Francisco native, Allie Taylor, at least thought she was human. But when she meets her first real seer, a race of human-like beings discovered in the 1900s, he tells her that not only is she a seer, like him, but that all the other seers believe she's going to end the world. Unfortunately, no matter what she does, everything that happens after that only seems to prove him right.”

Rook, Allie’s War: Book one by J C Andrijeski is an interesting tale.  Set in an alternate reality future, this is a world that has grown up with two species – humans and seers.  Seers have the ability to read minds among other things and their lives are strictly controlled by the government.  Allie is a not so ordinary waitress – currently wearing a tracking bracelet for violence committed against her ex boyfriends new partner.  She also has the uncanny ability to attract strange people, stalkers of all shapes and descriptions.

From working in the diner she is soon transported into a world of intrigue, action and violence.  The Seer world is completely different to what the majority of the human population has been lead to believe and even more shocking… she is one of them.

I started reading this book and soon found that I could not put it down.  The action is well written, the characters fairly unique in their personalities and the alternate world is portrayed in great detail.  It has been some time since I have been dragged into a tale so fully that all I want to do is keep reading.  A few downfalls for me though were the occasional long descriptions of the barrier and the alternate world of light.  I found myself almost skipping through these at times to get back into the story.  The very occasional word missing / grammatical issue made me pause in some points of the story but other than that it is a fantastic read. 

J C Andrijeski can be found at www.jcandrijeski.com and this book can be purchased from www.smashwords.com  A highly recommended story well worth the purchase!

“Cut to Melbourne, Australia–the most glamorous city in the world. It also happens to be the only one left standing, but nevermind that, we’re there now and I’d like you to meet your narrator, a certain Floyd Maquina, a likable chap with one hell of a story to share. See, the powers that be are knuckling down on the Deviant menace that plagues the city, and our boy Floyd’s unknowingly got himself in the thick of it. Cue guns, intrigue, kidnappings, conspiracy and all sorts of general mayhem that make for cracking good headlines.

Does Floyd stop the bad guys? Does he get the girl? Does he make Humphrey Bogart proud? Grab some popcorn and read on.”

Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat by Andrez Bergen for me, is the most unique story I have read for some time.  Not because of the post-apocalyptic theme, but because of the style of writing.

For me, I’m a fan of movies like Tank Girl (classic) and Sin City.  To enjoy this novel, you need to not only have a sense of humour, but you need to appreciate movies in order to get many of the references used.  This is not a bad thing as it is what keeps the story unique.  (If you don’t get all the references, there is also an easy read set of references and slang dictionary included)

Anyway, you’re in Melbourne, the last city in the world and your main character is Floyd who, though lack of choice, is employed as a Seeker – someone who picks up deviants when told so that they can be ‘relocated… never to be seen again. 

As you go through the story, Floyd slowly begins to realise that he has known what he is doing is wrong for some time, that there is something wrong with the whole system and that somehow, he might actually be able to do something about it…

It takes some time to be able to piece together the whole story of what’s going on, but once I did, I really became involved in the story and from there, all I can say is that I was very, very satisfied with the end.  This story is available from http://www.anothersky.org/in-print/tobacco-stained-mountain-goat-andrez-bergen/ as well as other distributors.

Well done for being different Andrez.

“It’s the 24th century and Robert York has the best job in the world. An operative with Chrono-HQ, his missions involve travelling through time through the entirety of human history. Now he is going back further than any time traveller has been before, back through millennia to the Stone Age to visit the pre-historic inhabitants of ancient Kent’s Cavern.”

Time Watchers: The Greatest Of These by Julie Reilly is an eye-opening, no holds bared story that goes back to 7000bc.  Robert, an anthropologist time traveller, spends six weeks with a small community.  His initial contact is one of shock and violence before he takes the time to become accepted by those of the cave community – at least, by most of them.

As if the dramas of day to day survival is not enough, Robert soon finds himself falling for Yana, a sixteen year old cave woman.  Everything Robert has learnt tells him that this is wrong and cannot be allowed as Robert must return to his own time, for surly such love could have untold ramifications to the time line…

I really enjoyed the first part of this novel.  Julie takes you back to the Stone Age where the reader quickly becomes involved in the harsh reality that is survival.  The characters are believable; lovable and hateable at times.  You really root for them, you want them to succeed but as a reader, you are constantly surprised by what happens. 

This reads like a fantasy novel with a slight time travel sci-fi.  Very enjoyable.

"In a land ruled by knights, where martial strength is tamed by a code of honour and duty, the line between protection and oppression is a subtle one. When a sickly prince leaves the succession in doubt, ambitious men gather in the shadows ready to take advantage. Edouard and Mariette are caught in a twisted world where the lines between treachery, honour and love are hopelessly blurred."

Traitor Blade, by Richard Crawford is a novel that focuses mainly on Edouard.  As the second son of the King’s brother, Edouard is a young man who is caught up in the political dramas of court, ill prepared for such a battlefield.  Constantly in trouble with his father he tries to find his own way in life.  Being a Knight is all he has ever wanted, but when Edouard leaves Chamfort to take part in the summer battles, he sets himself on a path of no return.

Aside from Edouard, the story focuses on Mariette – widowed at the start of the novel she seeks to bring down those who murdered her husband.  Her ‘games’ at court become serious when she meets Edouard.  She is not sure if she can trust herself.  To prove Edouard innocent she must break his heart, but if she does this, is she being true to herself?

This is a reasonably well written story, with only a few issues that caught my notice.  I picked up a few spelling errors as well as grammatical which detracted from the tale which was unfortunate.  Also, I found that there was the occasional change to a minor character which, though useful to the telling of the story in some ways, upset the pace of the tale for me- but that’s just my opinion.

For those who like fantasy, Knights and honour, intrigues of court and a darkness that needs to be fought, I highly recommend this novel to you.

Richard can be found at http://traitorblade.blogspot.com/

“Australia has been invaded by legendary monstrosities! With the Kraken's rise off the shores of Western Australia, an age of monsters is ushered in. When wits and heroics fail, a secret cabal of guardians will take drastic, devastating measures to protect everything they know and love. In the aftermath, when everything has turned to ash, hope will find a way.”

The Apocrypha Sequence is a series of dark fantasy collections with interwoven themes and interconnected stories from Shane Jiraiya Cummings.  I saw this on smashwords and thought I’d give it a go due to the Australian theme even though it’s not my usual type of read.

Jiraiya (which means Young Thunder according to his authors bio), writes some interesting and unique stories here.  So if you’re looking for something short, interesting and different with a post-apocalyptic theme; this is recommended for you.

Of the short stories that were part of this amalgamation, I liked those relating to the phoenix the most.  With this part of the compellation, you are initially confronted with a determined character chasing the phoenix across the charred ruins of Western Australia and from there, Jiraiya cleverly concocts an intriguing story that returns to the past to slowly enlighten the reader about the murder and magic filled passed before concluding the story in an unexpected way.

Dark fantasy specialist.  Recommended Australian short story read available on Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/38797  along with other dark fantasy stories.

The Land of Nod, by Gary Hoover, can be found at his website http://www.landofnodtrilogy.com and can be purchased online through smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/24547

Jeff is a young boy who lost his father a year ago.  While looking through his father’s office, he is transported to a strange new and dangerous world.  He soon discovers that though futuristic (flying cars and disappearing toilet seats), society is in trouble and war is coming, whether they like it or not.

I really enjoyed this story.  I'm a massive fan of quirky and this tends to slip into this young adult adventure to catch the reader pleasantly by surprise... you'll get what I'm talking about when you read the comment about the purple giraffe.

For me a few too many '...' and there were a few tiny errors that might be picked up with another edit done by someone else (I can't see the mistakes in my own work though and it did not detract from the story itself).

Overall, a good read, highly recommended for young readers looking for an out there adventure!

Love Immortal Ebook By Linnea Hall

A young man is bought into hospital after a serious accident.  He dies, causing one of the new nurses an unexplainable sadness.  10 minutes after he is pronounced dead, the heart monitor beeps and Colin comes back to life.

The majority of this story is a love tale between the nurse Jewel and the young crash victim Colin who does not know that he is immortal.  Drama ensues.  Throw in an uncle who does not want to let Colin know about his unique heritage, a twilight like love tale, the Templar Knights and their mortal enemy the Obsidian Knights who will wipe out the ‘infidels’ at any cost… and you have yourself an interesting story. 

Though well written, this novel for me was a little too much romance, not enough fantasy.  This type of impossible love has been done before and though enjoyable, I found that it dwelled a little too much upon the ‘will we make it or is our love fated to end in tragedy.’  The end might surprise, but then again, there aren’t too many outcomes available once you get into the tale.

Recommended for romantics, but not so much for the fantasy lover.

Her story is available on Smashwords and her website is http://ktjpublishing.com

“A mysterious stone tablet, five magical gems, and an ancient letter haunt Gavin Kinshield, a warrant knight destined to become king... unless he can find a replacement before the sins of a long dead ancestor bring him face-to-face with his own nightmares.”

This novel is set in an alternate world where there are Warrant Knights who chase down criminals for a fee, an order of warrior women, wizards and other races that come together in a vibrant tale that immediately draws the reader in.

I really like this story and would love to read more about Gavin and the challenges that lie ahead.  It is well written, complex (in a good way) and it does not hold back with its gritty characters who though are generally good, all possess their own flaws that at times need to be overcome.

K C May weaves a wonderful tail with complex characters and to be honest, I was not able to put it down until I got to the end.

Will defiantly be looking for more from this writer. One for the watch lists! 

The Kinshield Legacy can be found through K C May’s website http://www.kcmay.com