Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Review - Prophecy - R.T. Kaelin


*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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