*Review Published in The West Georgia Living Magazine - Nov/Dec 2012 edition
Book: Prophecy (The Children of the White Lions #2)
Author: R.T. Kaelin
Publisher: Terrene Press
Genre: Fantasy
Book Description:
Publication Date: September 30, 2012
The God of Chaos is
marching. The Borderlands are nearly
over-run, shredded by his army. In a
dusty village, ninety-four residents led by two soldiers make a last
stand. During the assault, one of the enemies
isolates Rhohn Larus, a Dust Man. Yet
rather than kill, the monster gives him a cryptic message and begs he carries
it east, claiming it could halt the war.
At Storm Island, Nikalys, Kenders
and Jak are adjusting to their new lives as leader, mage and soldier. In the nation’s capital, nobles spar, some
conspire with the enemy, while others ally together to halt Chaos’
advance. New friends will be made, old
rivals rediscovered and secrets revealed.
The stage is set. War is here. And the Progeny must rise to
stop it.
Review:
I feel very privileged that I was one of the lucky ones to receive an
ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of the second book of The Children of the White
Lions series, The Prophecy from author R.T. Kaelin. I was so excited that I put aside another
project I was reading to dive right in, and I was NOT disappointed.
This story picks right up where the first book left off, with our
heroes having survived their first huge battle.
They suffered loss and experienced a bit of tragedy, but instead of
being defeated and depressed, they rose to the challenge and put on a shield of
determination.
One of the first things I loved about this second installment was the
way R.T. Kaelin brought us back to the basics and these powerful, wonderful
heroes back to earth by showing their weaknesses and frailties. Though they may be the “Progeny”, something
prophesied by the great heroes that come before them, and had won their first
victory, they were still far from where they needed to be in order to fulfill
their destiny. They still had a lot to
learn, a lot more to overcome, and they realized they were inept and didn’t
know everything. This is called
Character Building, and is true in both life and fiction. THIS is what I love about story-telling –
using fiction as a tool for teaching an inspirational message through example;
giving readers something to think about and a hope to overcome their own
challenges in life. Showing that our
titles, inheritance and privilege (or lack thereof) isn’t what makes us who we
are – but the choices we make during moments of adversity.
Kaelin does an excellent job with not only the progression of our
characters development of magical skill, talents or latent abilities, but in
personality, courage and strength of character.
He doesn’t just instantly fill our characters with greatness and then
sends them off into battle to prove it.
Kaelin takes the time to build their true character through bits and
pieces of moments that build that greatness within them - and expose their
weaknesses. I’m not even sure he knows
he’s doing this – but it’s done really well.
This section of the story is a little bit more mature than the one
before (as it should be), so my recommendation would be for an older audience
(but not too much older). It’s still
clean, positive and an absolutely beautiful story. There are battles, magic, love and loss, but
on a more mature level – on the same level of our characters. R.T. Kaelin is also hereby inducted into the
Evil Author’s Guild, which is a club for authors with a propensity to kill off
beloved characters. Be prepared to laugh
out loud, but also to shed a few tears.
Thank goodness R.T. Kaelin is busy writing the third book of this
series, because I’m sitting on edge waiting to get my hands on it – and you
will too.
Till next time,
~T.L. Gray
Author of the Arcainian Series
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