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Review of "Lords of Prophecy" by Michael A. Rothman

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Blurb

The Riverton brothers have completed their training, and despite their own personal skills, they worry about the forces arrayed against them. Knowing the barrier that's kept the people of Trimoria safe for over five centuries is weakening, the brothers ready their ragtag army of humans, dwarves, and elves for battle. 

In the meantime, on the other side of the ancient barrier, a growing army of demons have readied themselves for the final battle against the people of Trimoria. 

As the barrier weakens, Ryan is struck by bouts of debilitating madness. As the barrier crumbles, so does the hope of Trimoria's citizens. 

Excerpt

A light-hearted scene where the main characters are watching their youngest siblings interacting with a mysterious young dwarf.

As the soldier affirmed the order, Ryan turned toward the window and watched the children.

Zenethar, the king’s son showed the dwarf a wooden block. “Can you float this around? I wanna do my archery practice.”

Rebecca looked puzzled. “Archery?”

Zenethar tossed the block to the dwarf and Ramai caught it, letting Maggie drop as his interest in the doll waned.

“Maggie!”

Rebecca ran over, dusted her doll off, and gave her a hug. She sat back on the pillows and watched the boys.

Ramai studied the plain wooden block and looked puzzled. “Is this a fun game?”

Zenethar nodded enthusiastically. “Ryan does this lots! Just float it slowly.”

Ramai levitated the block and allowed it to float aimlessly around the stone chamber.

Zenethar flicked his finger and a sparkling bolt of energy flew at the block, hitting it and sending the wooden toy spinning.

Rebecca laughed and clapped with glee. “You got it Zenny! Do it again!”

Ramai smiled as the block moved around and the darts of energy flew throughout the room. When he increased the speed of the movement, Zenethar missed, leaving a tiny scorch mark on the stone ceiling. “This is a fun game!”

Ryan muttered to his brother. “This could get out of hand quickly.”

Aaron covered his mouth, suppressing the sound of his amusement as he watched the dwarf challenge Zenethar’s aim. Rebecca screamed with laughter.

Aaron leaned over and whispered, “Let them have fun. They can’t exactly burn down a stone castle.”

The wooden block swooped down and Zenethar accidentally sent a bolt of energy at Ramai. The bolt bounced off of his white robe and singed his beard.

Ramai slapped at his beard, as Zenethar’s face went from amused to shocked. With a puff of smoke coming from his beard, the dwarf announced, “That is not a fun game!”

My Review

This book has a lot to love, integrating many of the tropes that make fantasy great, from young love to dragons returning to a world from which they had been long absent. I'm reminded of, as one other reviewer stated, The Hobbit, but also Game of Thrones, and in some of the cheekiness of the newlyweds, Piers Anthony's Xanth stories. The villains are sufficiently villainous, the heroes quite heroic, regardless of their weapon of choice. It's a fun read with enough variety to satisfy a wide range of fantasy fans.

Author Information

I've been writing throughout my career as an engineer, however my writing had been relegated to technical
books and technical magazine articles. Heck, you might even find a couple of those musty tomes still for sale if you look hard enough.

With my foray into epic fantasy, I've shed the shackles of technical writing and created novels that I hope will be attractive to a much wider audience.

I've always admired truly epic tales. You know the ones I mean. The book you crack open, wander through and utterly get immersed in. The story takes you on twists and turns you never expected, run into dead-ends that make you wheel your arms backward to prevent you from falling into an endless abyss. By the time you reach what you think is the end, you've read hundreds of pages and realize the end is really only the beginning of the story.

You close the book and wonder out loud, "Do I have the next book? Is it out yet?"

My goal when I started writing the first book, Heirs of Prophecy, that involved the Riverton family was to make a story that would allow a younger audience access to such a tale. Since then, a second book, Tools of Prophecy, was released, and now I introduce the third book in the series with Lords of Prophecy.

As to my other writing activities, I've completed another as of yet unreleased novel in the Prophecies series, and they are scheduled to be released as soon as - well, as soon as the paperwork on them is complete, and the lawyers nod their heads up and down.

I hope you enjoy the novel.

In the meantime, if you want to see my ramblings, I lurk at the following social media portals:
Twitter: @MichaelARothman
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MichaelARothman
Blog: http://michaelarothman.com/
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17416007-lords-of-prophecy

Comments

  1. Goddess Fish PromotionsMarch 28, 2013 at 5:20 AM

    Thank you for hosting today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael RothmanMarch 28, 2013 at 6:33 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MomJaneMarch 28, 2013 at 8:30 AM

    I really think this series should be on the required reading for all YA's. Sounds wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Catherine LeeMarch 28, 2013 at 10:26 AM

    A short but very good review. Thanks, CB. As a librarian and a reader, I appreciate thoughtful, concise reviews.
    catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. IngeborgMarch 28, 2013 at 10:59 AM

    Sounds like a very good read.

    Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lyra L7March 28, 2013 at 2:08 PM

    Excellent review, I love the dynamics of the characters in this series!

    lyra.lucky7 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnasMarch 28, 2013 at 2:59 PM

    Do you have a favorite secondary character?

    moonsurfer123 AT gmail DOTcom

    ReplyDelete
  8. Michael RothmanMarch 28, 2013 at 3:40 PM

    All the characters are near and dear to me. However I'd say that many people have told me that they love the ogre Ohaobbok. Oddly enough....if pressured to make a choice, I'll actually point to some of the more obscure ones which I will be using much more extensively in the next series.

    Someone like Ramai (shows up in Book #3)

    And yes, even though I have another series I am working on, you will see that I have some common characters that will be used in both of the series. It will make sense once you hear read the story. However those who have read Lords of Prophecy will understand how quickly and mysteriously Ramai showed up and then disappeared. With the storyline expanded in the follow-on series, you will quickly understand how that came to be and why that made sense. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. BN100March 28, 2013 at 9:04 PM

    Nice cover and excerpt

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mary PrestonMarch 29, 2013 at 4:26 AM

    Thank you for your review. It gives me a very good idea of what to expect.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Andra LynMarch 29, 2013 at 5:31 PM

    You are like...the fourth blogger to reference Game of Thrones when talking about this book. Though they are in the same genre, I really don't get a GoT vibe when reading...maybe hints of it...but I think it stands on it's own!

    andralynn7 At gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousMarch 29, 2013 at 6:01 PM

    Wonderful thoughts! I like the sounds of this one! Thanks for the chance to win!

    Kate

    hense1kk AT cmich DOT edu

    ReplyDelete

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