Cephrael's Hand: A Pattern of Shadow & Light Book One
By Melissa McPhail
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Published: July 14th 2013
ASIN: B0046A9VLO
Amazon Synopsis:
“All things are composed of patterns...” And within the
pattern of the realm of Alorin, three strands must cross:
In Alorin...three hundred years after the genocidal Adept Wars, the realm is dying, and the blessed Adept race dies with it. One man holds the secret to reverting this decline: Bjorn van Gelderan, a dangerous and enigmatic man whose shocking betrayal three centuries past earned him a traitor’s brand. It is the Adept Vestal Raine D’Lacourte’s mission to learn what Bjorn knows in the hope of salvaging his race. But first he’ll have to find him...
In the kingdom of Dannym...the young Prince Ean val Lorian faces a tenuous future as the last living heir to the coveted Eagle Throne. When his blood-brother is slain during a failed assassination, Ean embarks on a desperate hunt for the man responsible. Yet his
In Alorin...three hundred years after the genocidal Adept Wars, the realm is dying, and the blessed Adept race dies with it. One man holds the secret to reverting this decline: Bjorn van Gelderan, a dangerous and enigmatic man whose shocking betrayal three centuries past earned him a traitor’s brand. It is the Adept Vestal Raine D’Lacourte’s mission to learn what Bjorn knows in the hope of salvaging his race. But first he’ll have to find him...
In the kingdom of Dannym...the young Prince Ean val Lorian faces a tenuous future as the last living heir to the coveted Eagle Throne. When his blood-brother is slain during a failed assassination, Ean embarks on a desperate hunt for the man responsible. Yet his
In the Nadori desert...tormented by the missing pieces of his life, a soldier named Trell heads off to uncover the truth of his shadowed past. But when disaster places him in the debt of Wildlings sworn to the First Lord, Trell begins to suspect a deadlier, darker secret motivating them.
Book Links
My Thoughts:
I
usually like to start my review with a short summation of what the novel I am
reviewing is about. However, Cephrael's
Hand had so much going on in it, that even after finishing it, I find it
difficult to sum the book up in a few sentences to give potential readers a
good synopsis of the story. I will tell you that this novel takes us on a
journey through many different lands in this world where we meet many different
creatures from sundragons to shadows to pirates and even]]]] shapeshifters. We
follow the journey of a prince and a man who cannot remember his own history.
This
was a complex novel full of detail and description. Quite a longish book it
sometimes seemed like it was two books contained in one, yet the two were
definitely intertwined. Both mystery and adventure, there is no lack of action
and intrigue in this novel. Someone is trying to kill the prince, but who, and
why?
I
found parts of the book to be very engaging, holding my interest very nicely and
making me want to keep reading, yet there were also sections where the story
seemed to lag somewhat and lost my attention. There were a lot of characters to
keep track of as well. The author did a fair job of developing the characters
of the main ones so that I could keep track of them.
It
was very obvious that a great deal of time and thought was put into the writing
of this novel. The influence of other great fantasy writers shine through. I
gave Cephrael's Hand 3 stars out of
5.
Thank
you to the author for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and
honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.
About the Author:
Melissa McPhail is a classically trained pianist, violinist and
composer, a Vinyasa yoga instructor, and an avid Fantasy reader. A long-time
student of philosophy, she is passionate about the Fantasy genre because of its
inherent philosophical explorations.
Ms. McPhail lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, their
twin daughters and two very large cats.
Cephrael's Hand is the award-winning first novel in her series A
Pattern of Shadow and Light.
Author Links
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Thank you for your interest in reviewing Cephrael's Hand, Kathryn. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI read this book last year and really enjoyed it. I actually like it that there were so many little stories that were interconnected, but I know what you mean about giving a good synopsis - it's not so easy with this one. :)
ReplyDeleteI’ve not read much of the fantasy genre, but I think I’ll have to check this one out. It sounds great.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the post and giveaway! Fingers crossed. :-)
Lindsey8907 [at] yahoo [dot] com
Good luck on the giveaway!
DeleteWhile I do agree that some parts of this novel were a bit slow, I also think that it was totally fascinating! I'm glad you mentioned that it was very well thought out, because that's definitely true!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts!! : )
This is one of those books that no matter how much you like or hate the book, you have to admit that the author put a huge amount of work into planning and thinking it through. A lot of work went into it.!
Delete