Fantasy Adventure

Riders of Fire and Ice is the second book in Brett Salter’s “The Talisman Series” and as a Book Reviewer, I received a free ebook copy of this book. This is my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor any review of this book.

Rome and Julian return in the second book in “The Talisman Series” with a new adventure. They travel to England to visit Julian’s sister in a very upscale boarding school. Julian’s sister is quite precocious and the boys hope their adventure will keep them too busy to spend too much time with her. While there, they do some research for Mr. Jones and are excited about a couple things they discover. In Riders of Fire and Ice, Rome and Julian also get a couple surprises, as well as face a stronger, darker enemy than they faced in Book One: The Search for Synergy.

Riders of Fire and Ice begins with the same characters, Rome and Julian, preparing for a new adventure. Their banter creates fun in the story and their eagerness for their adventure adds to the excitement of traveling to a new place.

Fun, adventure, surprises, and a dangerous battle fill the pages of Riders of Fire and Ice. In this novel, the talismans are introduced and explained, giving more credence to the boys’ adventures. Again, the end of this adventure is satisfyingly resolved, while promising another book with yet another adventure and more danger and battles for Rome, Julian, Mr. Jones, and a few other characters.

Brett Salter’s talented stories take readers on adventures filled with magic, knights, dragons, and dangerous enemies. Though there are dark creatures and dangerous battles, the darkness nor the battles are ever too intense or graphic for middle grade readers, and older readers will enjoy them as well. These fun, easy reads keep readers turning the pages and eagerly anticipating the next book in the series.

I give Riders of Fire and Ice by Brett Salter 5 stars.

As a reviewer, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lander’s Choice, the sequel to Lander’s Legacy by C. S. Wachter is a great read! C. S. Wachter stories improve with each book she writes.

About the Book:

Lander’s Legacy was a great read, but Lander’s Choice is even better. Lander, Castor, Desma, Becky, and Michael remain in the Core under the control of the men who partnered with Aurelius Hunt sixteen years ago and have risen to power over the people of the core. As they are taken on a kind of tour of the Core, Lander notices that the people have been segregated into communities of “gifted”, those with special powers who get to rule and keep order over the communities of the “ungifted”, those with no special powers who are treated as slaves. Soon, Lander is separated from all of his friends because he is “gifted” and they are not. Lander is torn between his mother’s words about him helping to bring peace to the Core and his loyalty to his friends.

My Review:

C. S. Wachter does a great job of showing Lander’s internal struggle between his feelings for Becky and his loyalty to her and Michael along with the promise to get them back to the Surface, and his desire to learn more about this beautiful and unusual place that he came from and his mother’s words that he would play a part in bringing peace back to the Core.

The story is filled with adventure, struggle, and suspense as Lander and his friends are often in danger and Lander is forced to “play along” with the “gifted” until he can come up with a plan to try to make everything right. There are battles and lost lives. There are emotional struggles. There are twists and surprises.

C. S. Wachter grabbed my attention on page one and held it in a tight grip until the end of the very last page. I couldn’t stop reading until I knew if Lander would succeed in making difficult choices and succeeding in the things he most wanted to accomplish. And, in the end, would he choose to remain in the Core or return to the Surface? And what would happen between him and Becky?

The characters C. S. Wachter created in this two book set were well developed and endeared themselves to my heart. Even the bad guys had some redeeming qualities, which was a refreshing change from the norm.

So far, I have read every book that C. S. Wachter has written and I have not been disappointed, but I have to say that Lander’s Choice is my favorite, and I can’t wait to see what she writes next because this two book series, though still fantasy, is very different from her first longer series, “The Seven Words Series”. It will be fun to see how different her next story will be.

Lander’s Legacy and Lander’s Choice are appropriate for middle grade, YA, and Adult readers who enjoy fantasy adventure stories.

I give this book 5 stars.