Listen to Episode:
This is only the end of the beginning, and it’s an incredible beginning. We are rewarded with answers to what the Dark Tower is, but we are left with a grand epic stretched out before us. I for one will follow the gunslinger and find out if he can solve this mystery that surrounds his failing world and, perhaps, turn the tide.
Listen to Episode:
The Gunslinger is a fascinating spectacle – rich characters, bleak landscapes, unknown forces of evil, and the gunslinger surviving the wilderness to track down the man in black. There’s a lot to sink your teeth into, and this struggle between these two adversaries is deeper than I suspect.
Stephen King stories freak me out (Remember “It”?) But his brooding fantasy series The Dark Tower is starting out very nicely. Not scary, just creepy. End-World has some bleak landscapes that make Mad Max look like day camp. The gunslinger is the last of his kind and will cross the world to find the man in black. It’s gooood. Check out the book trailer.
Colossal world crushing ahead. See how to manage awesome planetary power.
Listen to Episode
This book is a coming of age story – a young boy has unfathomable burdens placed upon him as he steers the course of worlds and stands up against a would-be tyrant. His bravery comes at a high cost and he is willing to sacrifice the rare gift of true love to save countless others. His trials are ours, and his decisions a reflection of our own strength of character. It’s a timeless story of what roads we choose in life and how those will shape who we become. Myst remains shrouded in mystery until the end, but that is the nature of this world and the result of the power that is wielded by its people. Inevitably, the characters meet their just fates and we get closure to the story, yet it remains filled with many wondrous possibilities for adventure.
Survivors of a lost civilization search for the key to its revival. And it’s a really cool civilization. Think Atlantis minus the water.
Listen to Episode
This story really pulled me in. It starts as a story of pure survival. A boy and his grandmother live in the desert under the shadow of a volcano. All alone, their small cleft gives them shelter and a place to grow food. The boy Atrus is molded by the elder Anna, who teaches him to observe everything, use his instincts, hone his skills and to remember certain immutable truths about life. The boy has an innate thirst for knowledge, experimenting and adapting to this harsh world.
SPOILER: Life for Atrus changes forever when his father, who left him as a child, comes out of the volcano, telling stories of their now lost civilization and how he wants Atrus to come back with him to their former home. Atrus’s people, the D’Ni, lived deep underground and ruled an empire for thousands of years. There are mysteries and wonders that show the might of the D’Ni, and Atrus is told of the secret to their enduring kingdom before it fell. The D’Ni were world builders and used a special craft to fashion thousands of worlds by writing them into existence. Can Atrus and his father Gehn revive the once great D’Ni culture? What will it take and what are they willing to do? Their journey will take them to many unexpected places and challenge them with many decisions.
Listen to the funny. No spoilers here.
The light and dark go at. It’s a battle royale. Listen to part four of the podcast for the blow by blow.
Listen to Episode:
It takes a certain brilliance to breathe life into a world, to make its lands and people and cultures memorable, unique. Creating histories and a sense of authenticity, not for just a region, but a planet, takes dedication. But its a bit of magic I think that crafts the best characters, those whose lives and fates seem for a time intertwined with your own. Their courage, fears, triumphs, decisions and fates reflected in your own hopes for them.
The Eye of the World is a triumph of the human spirit. It is a fantastical tale that takes young village boys out into the world after their home is attacked and sets them on a journey of destiny. But they are far from in control – being led by a mysterious sorceress – and they must outrun a looming shadow the spreads across the world. They are not prepared for what awaits them and they survive one peril only to encounter another. The action is amazing, often rising unexpectedly, and keeps the reader guessing when and if they’ll make it.
These characters change remarkably over the course of the journey. They must do what no one else can to save the world, but the decisions don’t come easily and that makes the characters very relatable and believable.
Listen in to the conclusion of The Eye of the World on the REIGN of Books and prepare for an epic finish.
Listen to the almost spoiler-free book trailer:
Destiny people, it’s destiny.
We get on the fate train and find out if our rag-tag group of heroes-in-training want to do this.
REIGN of Books 