Traveling in Time - Again and Again

Review day here at the blog.  Today we're going to go back in time...and back...and back...and return again in attempt to prevent untold catastrophe.  Let us travel to the year 1553 as we explore A. Ka's novel Isaac the Fortunate:  Part One The Winter.

Book Blurb:
Beltran had humble ambitions—to farm his land, to grow his family, and to live fruitfully with his wife, Amaranta. The winter of 1553 had different plans. After a crippling famine, unbearable storms, and a devastating plague known as the Delirium, the winter had taken everything dear to him.

Then, through the backhanded kindness of a mysterious traveler and her time-obliterating potion, he got everything back.

His salvation is the beginning of his problems, as he discovers just how stubborn history can be. Greater forces are at work. The more Beltran learns about the circumstances, the less he understands—especially when it comes to the traveler and her inept husband, Isaac. In their quest to stop the Delirium, she and Isaac won’t let anything, or anyone, get in the way of their senseless plans.

Beltran fights for his simple life, his love, and his future… again, and again, and again, even when he finds nobody on his side, not even his dear Amaranta.

My Review:
We open with Isaac as he's drowning his sorrows over the loss of his beloved wife.  When his daughter, the area midwife, prepares to head off to bring yet another life into the world, Isaac reminds her of the story behind her nickname - Chamesh, which means "fifth" in Hebrew and is a testament to the five times in which she was conceived.  Thus begins Isaac's reminiscence of how they saved humanity from complete and utter annihilation.

And all with a price too high for the farmer to pay.

Beltran is a simple farmer of Aragon, drowning his sorrow and pain by drinking every bottle of wine in the village.  He's not stealing.  No one else will drink it because everyone in his village is dead - including his young bride, Amaranta, dead from hunger and exposure before the plague arrived to take the rest.  In the midst of his alcoholic ministrations, a strange woman rides up and pours them both a drink from the Golden Bridle.  Before she has a chance to explain, Beltran drinks the bitter liquid and watches in fascination and horror as the world melts away as if erased from existence.  When he awakes, he is once again on the cusp of winter and races home to find his wife alive - as well as the entire village.

Time is changed as Beltran avoids doing that which brought about Amaranta's original death - but death will not be stopped and the Delirium creeps up and claims her this time.  Beltran awaits the coming Annunciation Day when the strange woman said she'd return.  With a drink of the Golden Bridle - and a little more information this time - Beltran returns to the winter to once again save his wife from death's shadow.

I actually found myself enjoying the story.  Each time Beltran returns to the edge of the past he learns and discovers more as he seeks to save humanity from oblivion and the strange riders that periodically show up in his varying realities.  But the one he seeks most desperately to save is his beloved Amaranta, who is taken in new and horrifying ways each and every time.  The question remains - will he be able to save both humanity AND his wife from the pain of death?

I was afraid the continual travels back would become tiresome and rote, but each time something new and unexpected occurred to keep things interesting.  The ending was a bit disappointing but offered enough closure to this end of the story.  I'm looking forward to reading the next installment of Isaac's time-traveling adventures.

Editing was nice and clean.  Good showing instead of telling and point-of-view throughout most of the story was in Beltran's.  Pronoun usage was a bit heavy, but as I got into the story this became more of a minor annoyance.

Considering I'm not well-versed in the time-traveling genre, I was surprised to find myself engaged in the story and rooting for Beltran and Amaranta's survival.  Now I'm curious as to where the story will turn in the next offering.  I give The Winter a solid five stars.

Visit the publisher to purchase http://www.fuzzyhedgehogpress.com/speculative-fiction/isaac-the-fortunate/the-winter/

Author Bio:
Aubry Kae Andersen, also known as A. Ka (yes, she knows and embraces the absurdity of that

pseudonym), currently lives in Seattle, WA. She’s an artist, an illustrator, and an aspiring writer. To make ends meet, she also pimps out her web design services.

Her debut serialized novel, Isaac the Fortunate, began with the release ofThe Winter in 2013, and is slated to run through 2015. Set in Renaissance Europe, a vengeful demon threatens to bring about the end of the world with the Delirium, a plague that kills its victims by instilling deadly knowledge of the future. Isaac Keshet, a Jewish doctor, and his once and future wife, Eostre, must use the Golden Bridle, a potion that repeats time, to try to stop the demon and its plague, but they can’t do it alone, and they can’t do it easily. Told in six disordered parts, Isaac the Fortunate explores the nature of reality and the nuances of human psychology, through an epic and textured story far more entertaining and heartfelt than those big words make it sound.

As an illustrator, Aubry collaborates with Zachary Bonelli by providing cover and chapter illustrations for his Voyage series.

When Aubry isn’t writing and drawing, she’s probably thinking about writing and drawing. Or else she’s designing a website, hanging out at coffee shops, or reading Wikipedia. At some point she also sleeps.

Author Web Link: http://www.akarchy.com

Taking a Trip on "The Road to Nyn"

I've got a charming little fantasy adventure to share with you today.  From nine to ninety-nine, it's sure to offer entertainment to keep those young ones reading between the pages of a social studies textbook.  Join me as we explore Brian G. Michaud's young adult fantasy The Road to Nyn.

Book Blurb:

In a land where magic is outlawed, a young boy is living a double life. Although Kay is training to be a knight, he has been secretly studying the forbidden ways of magic with Alamin, a powerful but eccentric wizard. When a band of goblins raids his village and enslaves his family and friends, Kay embarks on an adventure that takes him across the Kingdom of Gaspar and into the dark and treacherous caves of the Goblin Realm. What Kay doesn’t realize is that his journey is leading him on a collision course with the Lord of Nyn – a being so powerful that none dare face him...not even Alamin himself!

My Review:

As I said before, The Road to Nyn is a charming quest adventure with a sense along the lines of Lord of the Rings with just a smidge of the movie A Knight's Tale thrown in for good measure.

We open with young Kay competing in the midst of the Squire Trials as he attempts to become the first page in living memory to become a squire - at least the first commoner to accomplish such a feat.  Squires typically come from the privileged class because it is they who move up the ranks to knighthood.  Such an opportunity most only dream of, but Kay lives it and relishes how consideration of a title will elevate his family.

But Kay holds a secret that, if revealed, could destroy everything he holds dear.  Magic has been outlawed in the Kingdom of Gaspar, and while Kay has been openly competing for a position as a squire, he's also been learning the ways of Alamin, the wizard.  He must give up such association if he is to realize his dream of becoming a knight.

Before he decides, Kay's village is attacked and his family enslaved by goblins.  Thus begins the journey to locate his family before they are taken into the bowels of the Goblin Realm, where no man has made it out alive.  Along with Alamin, his trusty dog, Strapper, and a host of new friends along the way, Kay must cross the Bridge of Bones into the land of Nyn and rescue his family before it is too late.

This really is a cute coming-of-age story and is written in line with older grade schoolers to middle schoolers in mind.  There's nothing objectionable, though some younger children might find the Bridge of Bones and the Goblin Realm a bit scary.  Felix, the woodland sprite, is the needed dose of humor to keep the story from becoming too heavy.

My favorite parts centered around where Alamin tricks the witch when leaving the swamps (that's all I'll say) and near the end when...hmmm, can't really say this because then it would give the story away.  

Editing was clean, with only a few jumps in point-of-view within a scene.  The story unfolded in real time, which kept telling to a minimum.  The length felt just right, with enough closure at the end for this to be a complete book, though a few loose ends will likely lead into Kay's next adventure - which I wouldn't mind continuing.

Yes, you'll see comparisons to Lord of the Rings, but this will offer the young ones someone to relate to, something they can sink their teeth into as they work their way up the literary food chain.  There's nothing objectionable here.  For those of us who aren't so young anymore, let go of comparisons and enjoy something refreshing to instill that spirit of adventure we all possessed when we were kids.

For entertainment value and fairly clean copy, The Lord of Nyn is worth a good four and a-half stars in my book.

Pick up a copy by clicking on Amazon.

Author Bio:

Brian G. Michaud is the author of the young adult fantasy The Road to Nyn, the first book in The Tales of

Gaspar series. Although a musician and music teacher by day, reading and writing have been Brian’s passion since childhood.

The story behind the writing of The Road to Nyn goes back to a cold February night in 1992 in the Berklee College of Music dorms. Having run out of books to read, Brian sat down and decided to write what he thought would be a short story based around a young squire that he named after King Arthur’s brother, Kay. The tale came to him as if out of nowhere, and he found that he had written twelve pages at the end of the first night.

Looking over what he wrote, Brian was surprised to see that what he had in his hands was not a short story but something that resembled the first chapter of a book. Eager to find out what happened next, Brian began to make writing his nightly ritual. Within months, the story grew to over 200 pages, written in various notebooks.

Though he never forgot about his story, he had to put it aside for other obligations. He began commuting to school to help care for an aging grandparent, and then he began student teaching which was followed by his first teaching job. Later came a Master’s degree from the University of Connecticut and then a Doctorate from Boston University. Still, the unfinished story was not forgotten. After many years of picking the manuscript up and being forced to put it down, Brian finally published The Road to Nyn in November 2013.

Growing up as an ardent fan of the classics, fantasy, and mysteries, Brian had been rarely found without a book in his hand. Now, he is rarely found without a notebook or computer nearby to put down his latest ideas. The sequel to The Road to Nyn, with the working title of The Ring of Carnac, is more than half complete. Brian expects a projected release of November 2014.