It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Blackened Yonder: Planar Lost Book One by J. Gibson. Tour courtesy of Zooloo's Book Tours. Published by The Lost Press, Publication date 15 July 2021.
About the Author
J. Gibson is a doctoral candidate in education and published researcher in the field of criminal justice with a concentration on gender differences. Holding degrees related to criminology, sociology, and psychology, his primary interest is academia, but he has always had a passion for creative writing and the genres of horror and fantasy, as well as history.
Follow J. Gibson - PlanarLost on Facebook, planarlost on Instagram, @planarlost on X, threads.com/@planarlost on Threads and planarlost.bsky.social Visit www.jgibsonwrites.com/
About the book
Magic is restricted. The dead walk. Damnation comes for all. When dark forces empty a village overnight, only the ravenous undead remain. Garron Latimer, the village priest, flees to the capital seeking salvation.
Far south, Athenne joins the underground Saints of Aetheria to ignite revolution and unleash forbidden magic. But their ambitious agenda demands a terrible price.
Torn between duty and defiance, Garron uncovers secrets that test his faith. Plagued by doubt, Athenne questions the Saints’ righteousness, knowing betrayal could destroy her.
Review
Who to start with? From the very beginning the plot is driven by two very distinct voices, the priest who encounters living damnation and is consumed by an encounter that has become the worm in his brain eating its way out. Then there is Athenne and the Saints of Aetheria, and whilst one could easily say they are what they present themselves to be, saviours and fighters who walk the path of righteousness, as the story unfolds that becomes a little less clear.
It's an ambitious plot with plenty of avenues for further plot exploration. A complex meld of fantasy, speculative, horror, spiritual and religious threads - a smorgasbord of genres. No clear distinction between, but rather a path woven with the tools and ideas of all to create an experience. It is however a little on the heavy side, a bit like when a cake is too dense. So hard to see the trees, or any tree at all when the forest allows no space for an easy enjoyable stroll and instead you need a machete to forge a path.
Give me the heart, the soul of the characters. Something to make the reader want to follow their story. Even in the depths of despair as the monsters eat your beliefs and there is no clear way to determine right or wrong, good or bad, evil or just evil adjacent. Don't give me a thesis on Planar Lost, give me the magical construct you envision in your mind, tell me the story.
Buy The Blackened Yonder: Planar Lost at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: The Lost Press, Publication date: 15 July 2021. Buy at Amazon com.
No comments:
Post a Comment