Showing posts with label joshua blum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label joshua blum. Show all posts

Friday, 25 September 2015

Book Review | Joshua Blum | The Thirteenth Hour

The Thirteenth Hour



Author: Joshua Blum
Title: The Thirteenth Hour
Genre: Fiction

Synopsis: When a young boy falls asleep during school one day, he is transported into a fantasy world of wizards, dragons, quests, and the tale of “The Thirteenth Hour.” In it, a young man named Logan has come of age and must leave the sleepy village orphanage where he was raised to be a soldier in King Darian IV's Imperial Army. Although he finds himself immediately at odds with military life and possesses no special skills (aside from daydreaming) and little self-confidence, Logan’s tour is surprisingly extended when he is picked by the King’s wizards to be specially trained as an Imperial Ranger for a mysterious quest to find the secret to eternal life. As he slowly grinds through training, he begins to discover there is more to himself than he realizes. When he and his teammates embark on their quest, disaster soon strikes, and Logan experiences not only the panic of being shipwrecked, marooned, and bereft of all supplies but also the excitement and challenge of an epic adventure he had previously only thought possible in books, daydreams, and fairy tales. Along the way, he is reunited with his best friend from childhood, Aurora, who joins him on his quest (and provides the occasional female perspective, as the story is sometimes told from her point of view). Their journey spans many months, a variety of dangers, and four corners of the known world. But in the end, they find that no matter how exotic the locale, one is never far from those big questions we all ask ourselves at some point – the ones about chasing dreams, conquering fear, and living a life worth living.

Review: This is an excellent fantasy story that I could just not stop reading. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to get lost in an excellent fiction story. I found it really easy to get lost in this book and could read it over and over again. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Monday, 14 September 2015

Book Review | Joshua Blum | A Shadow In The Moonlight: A Thirteenth Hour Prequel

A Shadow in the Moonlight: A Thirteenth Hour Prequel


Author: Joshua Blum
Title: A Shadow In The Moonlight: A Thirteenth Hour Prequel
Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis: A gothic novelette about a young hunter who accidentally interrupts a wizard's spell which literally turns him into a living shadow, only able to venture into the world by night. He is doomed to spend the rest of eternity haunting the area where he was enchanted, hunting an elusive, ethereal deer night after night. Although his night vision becomes enhanced, and he is able to soar through the air with a shadow's weightlessness, interactions with other people leave him with such intense anxiety that he has no choice but to avoid them altogether. Help and danger collide when he encounters an injured runaway, whom he decides to help, despite the personal pain it causes. A stand alone prequel to the novel, "The Thirteenth Hour," by the same author. Approximately 11,000 words.

Review: This is a short read but also an excellent read. I could just not stop reading this book and it kept my attention to the end of the book. This is an excellent story all about magic and spells. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars