Kindle Edition Amazon World of Samar Category:  Fantasy Publisher: Wild Wolf Publications ISBN-10:  0956373321 Type: Fiction Pages: 596 Copyright: November 2009 ISBN-13: 9780956373328 In one terrible instant, Kai is thrown from his comfortable life and plunged into a conflict that began before he was born. Worse yet, he learns that the one man who can help him is his enemy. Kiameron is the crown prince of DiNolfol. He is torn between two destinies -- taking the crown upon his father's death or answering the call of his non-Human-like traits, traits associated with the mysterious Stravad. The decision is made with the destruction of everything he holds dear. Armed with his strange powers and a mysterious talisman he doesn't know how to use, Kai decides to attack Gava, the despot who destroyed his life. Crippled by self-doubt and fear, he falters in his quest, until he meets a man who forces him to take action. However, his new ally is hiding secrets, secrets that will rob Kai of everything he held sacred.

WD Books
W&D Books Review
July 12, 2010

Here is yet another book put out by Wild Wolf Publishing and as it stands it’s the best yet!

Emerald is a story about a prince who seems to have a touch a magic in his blood which annoys his father to no end. The story concerns Kai (the Prince) who decides to act a feeling and dream he has been having in an attempt to protect his father’s kingdom from the forces of Gava which seem bent on dominating the world. Within days of this decision Kai has lost his family and friends to the army of Gaviston and the true adventure begins.

Emerald is a pretty well put together story with almost none of editing issues that were rampant in Rhone and to a lesser extent in Killing Moon. In some ways its fairly standard Fantasy with Elves (Stravad), Humans, another race that I just can’t place a standard name on and a lizard race tossed in for good measure. Fairly decent magic that isn’t overwhelming, a solid amount of action and some decent characters. The story isn't the most original I’ve seen but it’s pretty enjoyable and left me hoping for another story in the same world.

The only issues I really have with the book are that at some point throughout Emerald all the main characters say something about going insane (yes I’m being picky!), I wasn’t exactly expecting somebody to use a phrase such as “touché” and even though I knew the main character was going to go into a “woe is me” period, I still wasn’t too happy about it. Yup, my complaints are pretty weak!

Over all Emerald is a good solid read that I really recommend.

8/10


Star Shadow
Star Shadow Review
June 23, 2010

This Book can be summed up in one word, epic! The scope, the size of Emerald is impressive, but not overbearing. M. L. Hamilton does an excellent job packing a lot of information and descriptions into a minimal amount of words, without losing anything.

Emerald is one book that doesn't follow the often over used fantasy stereotype, which is a good thing, and leads to a very good read. If there is one thing I have to criticize it's the beginning. The very thing that makes this a great book also makes it a little hard to understand what's going on in the first chapter or two.

Conclusion: This is a book highly recommended for anyone into fantasy. I suspect that you, and I, will find many details that were missed in the first reading.