Book 2 of the Noble of Blood Trilogy, following Blood Price, takes us into the life of Dartein and his now-grown daughter, Nikka, 19 years after they fled the Patriarch's palace.
Nineteen years ago, Dartein fled the Palace of the Nobles with his newborn daughter, to raise her in peace.
But peace did not last long, as the war that threatened them all those years ago once again looms on the horizon. Determined to fortify his holdings against the goblin hordes, he seeks the skills of a blacksmith, and unwittingly sets forth a chain of events that results in a reunion with his father... The Patriarch.
Nikkola grew up in relative quiet and safety, protected from the outside world by her father and his guard. Growing up around men, she is excited to meet the blacksmith her father brings back to the Keep: a human woman named Friesa. After they become fast friends, the two sneak off to consult her mysterious and unknown grandfather on turning Friesa into a Noble.
But the trip to the Palace of The Nobles introduces her to a whole new world of power... and the magic she never knew she possessed.
Excerpt
TheDark Riders
The two riders came upon the abandoned village under a large full moon.The winter chill had just left the air barely a fortnight ago, but up here that merely meant that summer was starting.
They rode in, somber and quiet, only their horses' hooves making any sound. The beasts were large and muscled like work horses, but these animals were far more agile and swift and much more intelligent. They carried their dark riders confidently through the maze of dilapidated buildings, never missing a step. If you were to watch them walk by it would appear as if the horses knew where to go on their own, as there were no visible signals from the riders.
Both riders were dressed in long cloaks that billowed out behind them like flags of war. The rest of their attire was dark and loosely fitted in layers to keep out the chill. The moon shone brightly upon the metal fastenings of the horse's tackle, and upon the shiny dagger each of them carried at the ready upon their belts.The daggers were made of a blackish metal, but still had a sheen to them as if they were just polished.
The hoods of their cloaks were pulled up over their heads so you could not see their faces. But if they were to look upon you their eyes sparkled like lightning. They rode through the corpses of houses and shops like Death itself come to claim the lost land.
Blood Ties
by A. L. Wright
Book 2 of the Noble of Blood Trilogy, following Blood Price, takes us into the life of Dartein and his now-grown daughter, Nikka, 19 years after they fled the Patriarch's palace.
As written, I would award this book 3 out of 5 stars.
I downloaded this book in EPUB format, the preferred format of my reader with little difficulty. Having read the book entirely this is my review.
Though the story was entertaining, the book was difficult to read in my reader due to formatting issues.
1) On my 10” tablet, Page numbers did not format properly appearing in many locations throughout the manuscript as part of the dialog rather than in a static location at the bottom of each page.
Author should look into the original format of the manuscript and alter to a suitable format.
2) On my 10” tablet, The print was apparently set to a limited number of characters per line and as such, only half my screen carried script as each line reached the max number of characters and a hard return continued the sentence on the next line.
3) On my cell phone, In horizontal orientation, the lines were even more separated, making hard returns and punctuation incorrect and frustrating to understand as I read.
4) On my cell phone, In vertical orientation the returns and punctuation were understandable again but as in the tablet, the hard returns came long before my screens inability to show characters.
Summation. This manuscript in epub format is only readable using your reader in a vertical orientation and then it’s still frustratingly inefficient.
5) Having not read the 1st book of the series I was confused nearly all the way through the story line as to the specie of the main characters. No explanation came for the unusual eating, sleeping and diet of the characters and that was disappointing. I kept expecting to read some explanation and none ever came.
I should think some mention in passing perhaps, should be made early in the book to remind the reader who read the first book or to help the reader who didn’t, to understand the history of the specie and its habits?
6) The main character Nickola (I assume she is the main character?) was sometimes lost in relevance to the second main character, Friesa (I assume she is the 2nd?).
No easy fix, both are interesting characters with sufficient fill to make them relatable and both have significant parts in the story line itself so limiting or minimizing exposure of either would be difficult.
7) It is apparent that the view point of the story line is predominantly feminine since the male roles in the story take a far in the back seat to the action and dialog of the females.
The author might reconsider the position and add more weight to the male roles to at least bring them par with the female roles unless this was preplanned?
The storyline itself was well thought out and original to my knowledge. I was pleasantly entertained by the differing places descriptions and by the journeys along the way as well.
I’ve read a great number of “Goblin and Troll books and most seem to mimic the Hobbit to closely for comfortable acceptance but Blood ties, though it to had its share of Goblins and Trolls, was original enough in story that I wasn’t constantly jarred by Hobbit memories.
The entire story was entertaining and after I got used to the print format issues (really needs attention) and accepted that I’d never learn who these unusual specie people were or why they were the way they were, I was still interested enough to keep reading on.
MC Spangler
~I was sent a free copy of this book from AuthorsDen and awarded no compensation for an honest review~
Reviewed by Nicole baker
6/30/2018
I really enjoyed this book. I read the first book in the series and now the second. I feel both can stand alone but obviously go well together. Its a nice fantasy will follow through. Easy to read and follow. I would recommend it to those who enjoy fantasy. Thank you for the opportunity to review.
Reviewed by Carrie Artrip-Sallie
6/19/2018
This one is even better than the first oneI I loved the relationships more than anything else. Though the goblins were quite a fun storyline. Even though this is a Novella, it's so jammed pack full of content that the pages will fly by on their own. This is a a classic fantasy and I loved it.
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