Out of This World SFF is delighted to be just one of the many blogs taking part in Davis Ashura's BLOOD OF A NOVICE blog tour. A big thank you to my good friend Mihir at Fantasy Book Critic for organizing this amazing tour. Before I get to my review of this intriguing first book in Ashura's brand new series The Eternal Ephemera, (release date: November 8th) I'd like to give you all a brief synopsis of the story...
Back Cover Blurb
Cam Folde will shale the very fabric of creation...or see all his hopes turn to ash.
The son of the town drunk, Cam never figured on letting his family name hold him down. He always strove to dream bigger, to fight for something better, to achieve more than what everyone else expected of him.
But, as they say, 'once a Folde, always a Folde', and when a decision to rescue a friend leads to disaster, fortune's favor is lost. Cam spirals away from his dreams and ambitions; his fall finally ending at the bottom of a bottle.
But all hope is not lost. Cam rises, supported by family and friends. And when a powerful Master of Ephemera offers him a chance to walk the Way into Divinity and achieve redemption, Cam seizes the opportunity. All he has to do is survive the Ephemeral Academy, the very school where the next generation of Masters are trained. There, Cam just might achieve the greatness he's always sought, and with friends at his side, including an irrepressible Awakened panda, it even seems possible.
But Cam will soon discover that the Way into Divinity is as steep as it is arduous, and there are more fearsome things than humans who brave its perilous crime...
Review
BLOOD OF A NOVICE is quite unlike many fantasy books that I have ever read. It's not your standard fantasy fare with tropes galore and there are a number of surprises and elements along the way that I honestly didn't expect. For one thing, one of the characters is a talking panda. That in and of itself should show you that nothing is off limits in Ashura's latest offering.
That theme carries throughout this doorstopper of a book and the cast of characters (in addition to the talking panda) is vast and deep. I had never read a Davis Ashura book before and I'm not sure if that hampered my understanding of the overall universe, as this is part of a backdrop that the author has already written stories in.
I have to admit that I didn't get into this book right away because I felt that it took a while for the story to get rolling. There is quite a fair amount of setup and once again, maybe if I had read some of Ashura's earlier books this may not have been an issue for me. That being said, after about the first hundred pages things did start to pick up and I enjoyed following Cam's personal journey through this magical and fully fleshed out world.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes some adventure fantasy, a cool magic system, and a main character who gets tested time and time again and must overcome many barriers in an effort to achieve their ultimate goal. This truly is a book that takes you across a wide landscape of fantastical locations and delivers a satisfying tale that should keep most fantasy readers entertained throughout.
BLOOD OF A NOVICE is the first Davis Ashura book that I have read but it certainly won't be my last. Look for the book to be released on November 8th. You can preorder it now on Amazon.
Rating:
About the Author
Davis Ashura is an author of such sublime depth and beauty that his works have been known to cause a tear to fall from the eyes of even the hardest of hearts. Just kidding. But he does write.
This humble writer, who refers to himself in the third person, resides in North Carolina, sharing a house with his magnificent wife who somehow overlooked Davis' eccentricities and married him anyway. As proper recompense for her sacrifice, then unwittingly turned his magnificent wife into a nerd-girl. To her sad and utter humiliation, she knows exactly what is meant by "Kronos". Living with them are their two rambunctious boys, both of whom have at various times helped turn Davis' once lustrous, raven-black hair prematurely white (it sure sounds prettier than the dirty gray it actually is). And of course, there is the obligatory strange, adopted cats (all authors have cats - it's in the by-laws). One eats everything placed before him and the other has the world's stinkiest breath.
When not working - nay laboring - in the creation of works of fiction so grand that hardly anyone has read a single word of them, Davis practices medicine, but only when the insurance companies tell him he can.
And that concludes my stop on the Davis Ashura BLOOD OF A NOVICE book tour! I hope you enjoyed learning more about the author and his newest book. Please be sure to check out the next stop on this tour which will be the awesome Mihir at Fantasy Book Critic! Thanks again to organizer Mihir and also author Davis Ashura for giving me the opportunity to participate. Thanks so much for stopping by and Happy Reading!
- Nick
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