Call of the Herald (Godsland Series: Book One) [Kindle Edition]

Brian Rathbone (Author)

Book Description

Power is back and no one is prepared...

Product Description
Echoes of the ancients' power are distant memories, tattered and faded by the passage of eons, but that is about to change. A new dawn has arrived. Latent abilities, harbored in mankind's deepest fibers, wait to be unleashed. Ancient evils awaken, and old fears ignite the fires of war. When a Catrin Volker, a teenage horse trainer, inadvertently fulfills the prophecy of the destroyer, she becomes the most feared and hunted person on all of Godsland. With the help of her friends, she must convince the world that she wants only peace.

Reviews
"I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book for all ages." Linda Weaver Clarke, author of the new mystery series The Adventures of John and Julia Evans.

"...kind of like a cross between The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter...I honestly could not stop reading this book. I completed it in two days, it was that good." Cheryl's Book Nook

The World of Godsland fantasy series includes:

The Dawning of Power trilogy (Omnibus Edition available)
Call of the Herald
Inherited Danger
Dragon Ore

The Balance of Power trilogy (Omnibus Edition available)
Regent
Feral
Regal

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Creator of The World of Godsland fantasy series, which also includes Inherited Danger, Dragon Ore, and Regent.

Product Details

• File Size: 497 KB
• Print Length: 242 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: White Wolf Press, LLC (August 17, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003ZUYQCA
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,517 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Coming of Age
  • #19 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Coming of Age

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 84 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not too original but has the bones I like October 9, 2010

By Ann

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The coming of age plot where a youngster - here the teenager Catrin -- discovers magic powers just in time to save the world, isn't new. However, it is an appealing plot line and Rathbone's characters are sweet too. The evil guys are not gory, the unusual alliances are interesting and the landscape is skillfully drawn.
So, I'll consider the next book if its not too expensive.

61 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dawning of Power - another great fantasy! December 15, 2010

By Linda Weaver Clarke

Format:Kindle Edition

Legend says that a Herald will be born who will save the land of Godfist from invaders. This Herald will fight for their freedom. To some it is only a legend but to others it is a prophecy, waiting to be fulfilled. The Zjhon are ancient enemies and are planning an attack but no one takes heed of these warnings until it is too late. Now it is up to the Herald to save them. The question is... will the Herald realize her destiny in time to save Godfist?

But that's not all...the Zjhon believe in the prophecy and have given the order to search for the Herald and do away with her. This is an intriguing fantasy and is hard to put down. The description of scenery is so well written that I could imagine it in my mind. The characters are believable and well developed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The Dawning of Power is a trilogy, which includes Call of the Herald, Inherited Danger, and Dragon Ore. I would recommend this book for all ages.

Written by Linda Weaver Clarke, author of the new mystery series "The Adventures of John and Julia Evans."

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read July 5, 2011

By Tricia N. Adams

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I found this book hard to get into at first. The writing just seemed amateurish at best and it seemed like it was taking a long time to get into the meat of the story. But, I gave it a chance and I'm glad I did. When the story started to the unfold, it seemed like the quality of writing also picked up. It's not perfect by any means. The writing isn't entirely consistent in quality and the story sometimes needs to be reined in, but overall it's an interesting read. I'm looking forward to reading the next two installments.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A poorly written book with some good ideas behind it January 19, 2012

By Iain

Format:Kindle Edition

If you are a stranger to the fantasy genre then i definitely wouldn't recommend you start with this book...in fact if you are familiar with fantasy then i DEFINITELY recommend not to bother. The story is very stilted, rarely flowing and relying on traditional formulaic phrases to describe scenes and character's emotions. It does have a nice premise behind it involving the return of "magic" to the world, however the plotline could have been lifted from just about any fantasy story going around.

Young girl suddenly develops powers, finds out she's meant to save the world, sets off on quest to kill the baddies and save the world. I'd bought this as part of a trilogy set on Kindle and through the last two books at least i got a good laugh at how awful the dialogue was. At every point it failed to immerse me in the story, overly florid descriptions of surroundings in a dreadful parody of Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, and a heroine who swings wildly between being vacillating and vacuous to self-righteous and determined in almost schizophrenic fashion.

Save your time and money, in the end the laughs i got from this book weren't worth the amount of time i put in reading it, the hint should come when you see that the author's "reviews" come from other literary geniuses who have self-published ebooks.

A true frankenstein's monster of a book with generic fantasy themes jammed together in a horrible mishmash, which is a pity because i'm sure a good editor could have licked this book into some type of reasonable shape over the course of a couple of years.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Unoriginal, easy read August 2, 2012

By Morgan

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This fantasy, while having a few points of interest, is pretty much unoriginal in the basic plotline: girl discovers her wondrous magical powers and goes with a few companions (most of them simply for comic relief) to save the world. I've read many, many fantasy books, and Rathborne's trite treatment of "magic" is something I've already heard before, from better books. The action tends to be rather slow, and didn't grip me as much as other fantasy books, say Eragon. The only moment that caught me was when Catrin was pushed off of the cliff - I thought that was kind of cool.

The writing is a very very easy read... so easy it's almost sickening. The characters are not developed and I felt no sympathy or relathionhip with any of them, except maybe Chase. The book has to makings of a good story, but needs to be treated with a more mature style of writing, greater character development, and less talk more speed. As a reader of great fantasy books, including the Lord of the Rings, I find the comparisions of this book to LOTR highly undeserved.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars what a muddle! November 3, 2012

By P. Stover

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Could have benefited from some judicius editing. Decent character development and interesting concept but suffers from long rambling passages and unneccesary repitition. Although it ends with what obviously leads to the next book there is little temptation to discover what will happen.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Meh... August 26, 2012

By Jo Lane

Format:Kindle Edition

While the idea for this story was a decent one, the novel as a whole could have been MUCH better.

The plot is hard to follow. Rathbone doesn't build up the setting enough - the reader is dropped into a world he/she knows nothing about.

The author also gives information randomly, tossing in bits and pieces of detail that has nothing to do with the previous or following sentences. Then there's the problem of giving TOO much information, which drags the story out (e.x.: "...permitting his unconscious mind -- rather than his conscious mind -- guide the way." Obviously if it's unconscious mind, it's not going to be his conscious mind.)He also tells us rather than shows us, which is a personal pet peeve of mine, as well as of language arts teachers everywhere.

Rathbone strings things together that don't make sense: "Leaping over the hedge, Nat moved with confidence and purpose, suddenly trusting his instincts more than his senses. For the first time in a very long time, he believed not only in his father, but also in himself." When you read that entire section of the chapter, the second sentence doesn't connect to anything. Why? Why does he suddenly believe in himself? We don't know because the author doesn't show us.

There is also the problem of overly wordy dialogue: "'Ah, Cat. I wish none of this were happening. You've certainly done nothing to deserve what those sons of jackals just said. Don't take their words into your heart, dear one. They are just scared, confused, and looking for someone to blame. I'll take care of them; don't you worry. Come along now. We've horses to tend, and I need to make a trip to the cold caves this afternoon,' he said..." Much of this dialogue is useless as well as stilted.... It would have been much more effective in this case if the author had kept it shorter and to the point.

One of the things that bothers me the most is characters knowing information that they shouldn't know. There's a scene in the second chapter where the main character and her cousin are having a discussion, exchanging information that only the two of them knew. When Catrin, the main character, returns to talk to her father, suddenly he knows the same information. There's no why he could possibly know any of it, so why does Rathbone write it into his dialogue?

As a lover of all things related to grammar and punctuation, I could not have been more sorely disappointed in Rathbone's writing. There are run-on sentences strewn throughout the book as well as missing punctuation and misused words.

There are a FEW good lines throughout the novel, but none that redeem the writing. All I can say is: I'm glad I got this download for free. Read more ›

More About the Author

Brian Rathbone is a horse trainer turned author and creator of The World of Godsland fantasy series, which includes Call of the Herald, Inherited Danger, Dragon Ore, Regent, Feral, and Regal. He is also the author of the Sam Flock novels, a paranormal adventure series that begins with Lure.