The End of the Magi (Lizzie)

I love finding an author I like enough to read everything they write. For me, epic fantasy writer Patrick Carr is one of those authors, so of course I was excited about his latest release, The End of the Magi. (I am also excited about his upcoming interview on the blog next month, so stay tuned for that.) I finished the book in a few days and here are my thoughts on it.

The End of the Magi by Patrick Carr

In short, if you’re interested in the magi, the “three wise men” or “the three king of orient,” or just love a good historical adventure, then this book is for you. It’s different from Carr’s other books in that it is not a fantasy but is Biblical fiction and it is a stand alone book instead of a series, but it retains his great characters and writing and general feel.

But for more specifics, here you go. Myrad is a young crippled Persian man adopted by a Hebrew magus (magi were advisors to kings) for a Parthian king two years prior. His father is one of the secret group of magi formed hundreds of years prior by the prophet Daniel to keep a calendar telling when the promised Messiah would come. When many of the magi get on the wrong side of the concubine determined to be queen, Myrad’s father is killed and Myrad is forced to flee, taking the calendar with him, along with some other documents that make him the focus of a very determined hunt. Unfortunately, a man with a club foot is easily spotted. Myrad takes refuge in a trade merchant’s caravan. As you might guess, he eventually joins up with other magi who keep the calendar and follows the star to visit Christ. It’s not an easy job and the story doesn’t end there, but returns to Jerusalem years later when Jesus is crucified. 

Myrad is a likable hero, one who had to struggle physically more than most heroes, which adds interest to him. I liked the other main characters as well, especially Walagash, the merchant, and his child Roshan. I won’t make any spoilers about the romance, but I like the girl, a very strong and talented young woman. As with any historical novel, I appreciate the way it helps me wrap my mind around the real people and places and cultures it depicts. Even though I have to separate some fiction from fact, I learn more this way often than through plain history. I can do my own research now and learn faster for the fictional introduction to the world. The explanation of the meanings behind the gifts the magi bring made them much more understandable--Jesus is prophet, priest, and king, and the gifts represent that. I knew many Hebrews of the time expected a Messiah to defeat the Romans and that some hated Jesus when it became obvious he wasn’t that kind of deliverer. Carr wove that perspective and others into the different characters for a fascinating look at what different people expected of Jesus and how they responded to him, weaving in scriptures that pointed to Jesus’s true purpose and how he fulfilled seemingly contradictory prophecies.

The End of the Magi is a great adventure story and one that broadened my understanding on the world in Jesus’s day. Definitely recommended.

Have you ever wondered about the magi? How do feel about authors writing in multiple genres? 

What Readers Want (and Don’t Want) in a Second Novel in a Series (Lizzie)

Book 2’s make me nervous. The more I like book 1, the more nervous book 2 makes me. What if I don’t like it and lose pleasure in book 1 and lose book 3 entirely? It’s rough to want to like a book or author and find you just can’t. 

There's been more than one series where I’ve loved book 1, but book 2 stopped me from completing the series, and even from reading anything else by that author. I experienced this unfortunate trauma a little while back, and it got me thinking about what I, as a reader, want and don’t want in a second novel and how that should affect me as a writer.

First, it forced to think about what I loved about the first story. Was it the characters? The developing relationships? The overall plot? The action and adventure? The milieu? The writer’s voice and story genre? The combination of all of those?

For me, it’s usually the characters and their relationships that is the strongest drive to book 2. I like the action, adventure, and mystery, and I trust the author to deliver that same kind of thing in book 2, with similar style, tone, and humor. But the characters are the strongest draw. And not just the main characters. Secondary characters are magnetic as well. Basically, I want to see all my favorite characters interacting in book 2. I want to know the fate of some character left in danger. I want to understand some mystery regarding this or that character. I want the hero and heroine to end up together, and those lovable secondary characters to have their relationships resolved happily. I want the redeemable character redeemed. 

In short, the draw to a second and third book, for me, is usually not the ultimate destruction of the villain or the fulfillment of a quest, it’s the characters. So you might say what drives the reader is not the same as what drives the main characters. The reader and MC may have different goals, and the author must satisfy both.

Taking those things into consideration, I came up with seven things that readers don’t want in a second novel.

What readers don’t want is for a second novel to

1) Lose sight of the character interactions

Too often the rich characters we came to love in book 1 are scattered in book two. Or the relationships are tainted by drama that often seems forced. In epic fantasies, like LOTR and Patrick Carr’s novels, and movies like The Avengers, the separation of characters is often necessary, but even then, some of the characters are kept together to give us those beloved interactions.

 

Character interactions are done right in this fantastic series.

I’ve been reading W.R. Gingell’s A City Between books lately (and loving them). One of the things I love about the story series is the characters: the MC Pet, her three “owners,” and the two secondary characters Detective Tuatu and Daniel. Granted, Gingell has small character list in this series, but she consistently develops the relationships between the main four characters over the series, and keeps us connected to the two secondary characters even if they have little page time. For instance, we don’t see Detective Tuatu very much after the first chapter of the third book, but there are mentions of him and humorous text message exchanges that keep him “alive” to me as a reader and keep me happy. There are valid reasons for him not being “on page” a lot too, which is important. Also, the interactions between the books' characters also change over time as relationships deepen. Like this series, the Harry Potter series, The Avengers, and many other successful series actively keep their characters interacting and relationships developing. Even James Bond has a few consistent secondary characters to interact with at headquarters over the course of his many adventures.

On the other hand, in that recent read that traumatized me, the main character rescues her mother (who she had thought dead) in book 1. You’d think the mom would be a big part of book 2. No. She’s mentioned every now and then, but there’s little effort at connection between her and the MC and only a shallow excuse for this. Hardly any of the characters from book 1 get more than slight mentions, and they were a big part of what made me want to read book 2. Because of the virtual loss of the first book's relationships and development of a second set of secondary characters, the second book felt like it should have been different character’s story altogether. Another character-interaction fail for me was Star Wars: The Last Jedi (reviewed here). I assumed the characters from the previous movie would form a team and go on fun adventures together. I was looking forward to that. No. They hardly interacted at all.

2) Add in soap opera drama and character immaturity

Can’t have the main couple getting together too early in the series, now can we? So let’s manufacture some drama—based on a silly misunderstanding—to keep them apart. Actually, please don’t. Don’t have your characters acting in immature, unhealthy ways just to create drama and push the HEA off to book 3. If these behaviors are part of their character arc and they are going to grow out of them, sure, but if not, please spare us. You can find a better way to add tension to the relationship or to the story overall. And consider a more original drama that family secrets involving affairs and unknown siblings. I stopped reading one teen series mostly because, well, it became a very teen series. Cliché romance scenes. Unexpected parental indiscretions. Immature, what-were-you-thinking decisions by a character previously pretty sensible. Haven’t read a book by that author since.

3) Change tone, especially from semi-light to very dark

The story arc of an epic fantasy probably requires going a bit darker in the second book, but readers don’t like it overdone. Give the readers some hope and humor, especially if that is part of your first story and brand. You want your readers to trust you so they’ll stick around for other books. Go too dark, or throw in sensitive scenes they weren’t expecting (like rape or the death of a beloved character or a whole bunch of characters when the first story is pretty light in tone) may be a turn off.

4) Have a lot of traveling to boring places

Questing or running for your life or moving an entire populace is fairly common in second books (and third books), at least judging by my experience. This is more of an observation than a critique. If the readers love the milieu, if it’s a quest type of novel, this is probably a great choice. New places can be fascinating, especially if there is a mystery attached to them. Patrick Carr’s The Hero’s Lot (The Sword and the Staff) is a great example of well-done traveling and an exciting, mysterious new place. I honestly did not care much for the hero’s love interest in this book (I liked her much better in the third), but I loved the mystery of the hidden kingdom the second main POV character stumbles across. I read the third book, and books two and three in this series helped pull me through to book three in Carr’s Darkwater Saga series. I struggled with its second book, A Shattered Vigil, because of the darkness, death, and off-screen rape of a secondary character, but I’m glad I continued on with the third book, which was lighter in tone.

 

I loved the travels in this second novel.

On the other hand, traveling through a fog for ninety pages with arguing characters, random attacks, and visions of disturbing drama at home, is not something I remember with enjoyment from a different series. That, coupled with the very teenage-ish drama that surfaced, induced me to close the book at its end and not move forward with series.

5) Shift to political intrigue and quarreling among friends

Is your typical reader likely to purchase a first book in a series because of an interest in political intrigue or quarrels among friends? If not, then take that into consideration before making that the focus of book 2.

6) Move at a faster pace at the expense of character interaction

Again, action is good but relationships trump action. Find a way to combine them. In Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America and Thor take a breather in the battle to comment on one another’s hair. It’s not much, but it’s humorous and is a connection between two characters who haven’t seen one another in a while.

7) Trick the readers, such as by changing the love interest or undoing some victory or expectation set up in the first story

Book 2: The peace is ruined and the hero must return. That can be okay. What’s not okay, in my opinion, is having the victory of book 1 be worse than pointless. If the “victory” actually sets up a much worse ruler and book 2 opens with near total destruction of a world we loved, readers are going to be sad and feel deceived. Especially if we aren’t expecting that level of destruction from the story at all. Watch the story tone.

Also, what’s definitely not okay is changing the love interest mid-series. Especially if that’s a strong theme in the book. Romantics don’t like that. We don’t like rooting for a couple for a book and half only to discover we’ve been duped. Readers don’t like to be tricked. If we find out the romance we’ve been hoping for for a book and a half would be incestuous, because, oh yeah, that guy is actually her brother (good thing they never kissed, right?) and we had no clues to that effect, readers are going to very, very mad.

So, in short, figure out what your readers loved about your first book and stuff the second full of it. (Hint: that will likely include fun character interactions.)

Top 3 Books with Maps and New Book Map Reveal (Lizzie)

Maps are fun. I still look at them when going on road trips and look for them at the beginning of books. I've seen books with treasure maps, maps of houses, maps of villages, and maps of a large part of the story world.

I can't talk about books with maps and not talk about Tolkien's The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, or Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, but I want to mention other books as well, so I'll just say these are the top books with maps after the classics.

Books with Maps

1) The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

 2) The Dreamhouse Kings series by Robert Liparulo

This is a fun map because it is of a house instead of a continent, but if you know the story (which I review here) you'll understand how important a map of this particular house is. I also got to meet Robert Liparulo recently at the Realm Makers conference in St. Louis!

 

3) The Sword of Lyric series by Sharon Hinck

There are a lot of other great books with maps, but these are three that came to mind. Do you have a favorite map or favorite book with a map? 

I am a part of author Patrick Carr's street team and just saw the map to go with his upcoming release The End of the Magi and am excited to share it! I never thought much about the magi beyond Christmas songs until seeing a magus return to look for Jesus in the story of Ben Hur. I'm curious as to what Patrick Carr, a fantastic world builder and character writer, will do with the story of the magi. You can check out the book (available for pre-order) here.

Top 3 Fantasy Reads for 2018 (Lizzie)

I plan to read numerous books in 2018, but here are my Top 3 fantasy novels to read.

Three books to read in 2018

1) The Wounded Shadow (The Darkwater Saga) by Patrick Carr

This is the third and final book of Patrick Carr's The Darkwater Saga series, which I've mentioned before when I reviewed The Shock of Night. I can't say enough how much I have enjoyed Patrick Carr's two series (The Sword and the Staff and The Darkwater Saga) for the writing itself, the characters, the plots, as well as the intriguing questions built into the stories, like what if talents were transferable and could be exceptionally strong? That a pure physical gift could make you almost faster than sight? Or one for trade to make your family exceptionally rich for generations (how would the non-gifted feel about this)? Or what if there was a gift that let you not just see another's memories (and absorb everything they've learned) just by touching them, but keep those in your mind? What would that do to your sense of self to have those memories? Should you use that to get "confessions" from criminals?

There was a shocking revelation at the end of The Shattered Vigil, Book 2, so I am eager to find out what happens in this book, but I have to wait until it releases in April!

2) Blood Song (A Raven's Shadow Novel, Book 1) by Anthony Ryan

This one is on my list because K.M. Weiland had it on her favorites of 2017 list, and since a well-known writing teacher recommends it, I figured I should check it out. I doubt it will be the light fantasy with romance or LOTR-style book I usually go for, but variety is good, right?

Here's the blurb from amazon.com:
Vaelin Al Sorna was only a child of ten when his father left him at the iron gate of the Sixth Order—a caste devoted to battle. Vaelin will be trained and hardened to the austere, celibate and dangerous life of a warrior of the Faith. He has no family now save the Order.
Vaelin’s father was Battle Lord to King Janus, ruler of the Unified Realm—and Vaelin’s rage at being deprived of his birthright knows no bounds. Even his cherished memories of his mother are soon challenged by what he learns within the Order.
But one truth overpowers all the rest: Vaelin Al Sorna is destined for a future he has yet to comprehend. A future that will alter not only the Realm, but the world.

3) The Warrior Heir (Heir Chronicles Book 1) by Cinda Williams Chima

I ran across this series at Books-a-Million last Christmas and the covers caught my attention, so I bought book 1. I think it's time I actually read it.

Blurb: A teenage boy unremarkable except for the scar above his heart and the medicine he must take daily discovers that, when he skips his medicine, he's not unremarkable at all--he's stronger, fiercer, more confident (except when those unexpected bouts of magic occur). He's also now the target of covert society of wizards, enchanters, and warriors.

Bonus: Common by Laurie Lucking 

I've actually already read this since I had the privilege of endorsing it, but I look forward to getting my own copy of Common by our own Laurie Lucking to put on my shelf.

What books are you looking forward to reading in 2018? Or what were you favorites of 2017?

The Shock of Night by Patrick Carr (Lizzie)

As a fan of fantasy author Patrick Carr's The Sword and the Staff trilogy (starting with A Cast of Stones), I was eagerly waiting for his next series, The Darkwater Saga, which begins with The Shock of Night. It did not disappoint. :)

Set in a medieval world, The Shock of Night is an action-packed murder mystery with fantasy elements. The fantasy aspect is mild, mostly present in the form of gifts that, when combined with natural talent and the right temperament, give almost super-human abilities. There's also a mysterious forest housing some unknown evil.

The main character, Willet Dura, is reeve to the king of Bunard and is called upon to solve the murder of a priest and the priest's guard. The priest, who survives just long enough to be carried to the House of Passing, grabs Willet, screams at him in a strange language, and then dies. Willet soon discovers that he has much more than a simply murder on his hands--when he touches someone, he sees into their thoughts and memories. The dying priest passed a rare gift to him, a gift that's not supposed to exist.

Nonetheless, it sounds like the perfect gift for a reeve--no criminal would go unpunished and no innocent falsely condemned--but Willet quickly realizes the gift is just as dangerous as the murderer on the loose. And they're connected. Only members of a secret and specially trained group known as the Vigil possess this mind-reading-by-touch gift, and they aren't happy when Willet receives the gift instead of the man they had trained to inherit it. When they try to take over the search for the killers, Willet finds himself in as much danger from them as from the murderers.

Yet both Willet and the Vigil soon realize there's a greater threat. The evil hidden in the deadly Darkwater Forest is creeping out. The Forest is a place no ones survives, or survives without becoming violently insane. No one, that is, except Willet Dura, and he doesn't remember what happened to him there, and not even the mind-reading Vigil can tell him. The murders, the gift, the Forest and Willet's experience there, are all tied up in a conflict that could destroy Willet's beloved city and spread from there like a disease. Willet will need all his intelligence, wit, and bravery--and unlikely friends--to have any chance of saving the city.

I was initially surprised by the differences between this book and Carr's others. The Sword and the Staff was written in third person and was a bit more Tolkien-esque with the main characters having to travel and save the kingdom. The Shock of Night focuses on one city and begins in first person POV with Willet Dura but then switches to third person for Pellin's chapters (Pellin is the head of the Vigil). I was surprised by this, but it soon became apparent why this was. It's essential that we are in Willet Dura's mind and seeing what he sees,  no more, no less, but that we also have the most distant perspective of Pellin.

As with The Sword and the Staff, the characters are likable and have depth. I particularly love witty, kind-hearted but tough, troubled Willet; his fatherly, Vigil-assigned guard Bolt; wise King Laeder; and the street urchins Willet's always giving his money too. Carr also does a phenomenal job of keeping up the tension, revealing one shock or plot twist after another. I want to tell you a few of them, but I can't! I don't want to spoil the surprise for you when you figure them out for yourself!

With action, mystery, well-done fantasy elements, a touch of romance, and excellently drawn characters, The Shock of Night is staying on my shelf of favorites. I am looking forward to reading its sequel, The Shattered Vigil.

The novella prequel, By Divine Right, is also a great read and is available as a free ebook on amazon.