Eel's Reverence [Kindle Edition]

Marian Allen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, January 7, 2011

By 

L. Lee

Go buy Eel's Reverence by Marian Allen (Twitter: @marianallen). It's a great read. It's inexpensive. You'll like it.

--Amazon.com

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful

By 

Karen Overturf
Marian Allen is an accomplished storyteller. My money was well spent - if you enjoy fantasy or allegorical stories, yours will be too!

--Amazon.com

Product Description

The Eel -- Where the coast meets the sea. Where merfolk with snake-like tails mingle with land-dwellers in uneasy truce. Where that truce is about to explode into violence.

Aunt Libby -- A crone, a short-tempered scrapper, a True Priest of Micah. And Loach -- A genderless young mermayd not above a spot of robbery.

When corrupt priests, greedy merchants, and local revolutionaries try to use Aunt Libby to enflame one side against another, they all learn that an old woman and a young mermayd make a serious stumbling block to their plans. Libby and Loach race against time, before the sea of the Eel runs red with blood.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 361 KB
• Publisher: Echelon Press (August 18, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00403N1TU
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #503,469 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

For as long as I can remember, I've loved telling and being told stories. When, at the age of about six, I was informed that somebody got paid for writing all those books and movies and television shows, I abandoned my previous ambition (beachcomber), and became a writer.

I've had stories in anthologies, on-line and print publications, including Oceans of the Mind and Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress anthologies 22 and 23, on coffee cans and the wall of an Indian restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky.

Small town life agrees with me. I like the interconnectedness of everything and everybody. The internet is a little like a small town: I frequently "run into" an old friend in a new venue. I like connecting and reconnecting with people, meeting new friends and keeping in touch with the friends I already have.

My writing reflects this love of network. I try to remember, in my books and stories, that no one exists in total isolation, but in a web of connections to family, friends, colleagues, self at former stages of maturity, perceptions and self-images. Most of my work is fantasy, science fiction and/or mystery, though I write horror, humor, romance, mainstream or anything else that suits the story and character.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, January 7, 2011

By 

L. Lee (Santa Monica, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eel's Reverence (Kindle Edition)

Go buy Eel's Reverence by Marian Allen (Twitter: @marianallen). It's a great read. It's inexpensive. You'll like it.

Now here's why I recommend the novel.

I enjoyed reading and learning about the world Marian has created. Characters intrigued me. The protagonist, Libby, is not in the usual vein especially in these days of the brooding, half-dressed teens. That is not to say there are not brooding young types. It's just that the main character is an old woman. A woman of faith who is being overrun by a new order. Our hero, Aunt Libby, is thrust into the role of resistance and collaborator to this new order.

The story takes place on a world not too unlike our own though in more primitive times. This world is agrarian, machine free. Humans share this world with non-humans. The conflict between human and non-human grinds upon both races. The non-humans are interesting, compelling, and prickly.

Libby begins as a woman of a faith that has slipped into irrelevancy at best and at worst into a problem for the powerful. Her own desire to just slip away brings her to the focus of the new powers who seek money and control. Her allies and enemies shift allegiances, accommodating their own agendas, giving the plot both mystery and tension.

Libby seems ill-equipped to contain this storm. Yet, though her naivete, her faith, her age are weaknesses, they are also her strengths.

The plot of power and the machinations of those seeking power is old and timeless. I just need to look around to see this plot played out continuously around us. Marian's treatment of this tale is interesting and fun.

I would like to see and hear more of this world. The author has gifted us with a small taste. I hope you too will enjoy Eel's Reverence by Marian Allen.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting allegorical fantasy, November 23, 2010

By 

Joseph (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eel's Reverence (Kindle Edition)

Eel's Reverence is a story about peace overcoming violence, as well as an exploration of a fantasy world of "mermayds" (who all seem to be male), and a society where men give birth and couples start families at the age of ten. It's an interesting place to visit and a story with a worthwhile message.

I wish the author had developed this world more fully, however. I finished the book with many questions. For example, what are the consequences of men experiencing pregnancy? (and women not experiencing it?) As far as I could tell, the men and women in this world behave the same as they do in ours, which seemed like a lost opportunity. I also wanted to better understand the religion of Micah at the center of the conflict, and why the people of the city were so helpless against a handful of bullies.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful interplay of relationships, September 19, 2010

By 

Karen Overturf (Lincoln NE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eel's Reverence (Kindle Edition)

I just finished this book, encouraged to buy it after reading about Marian and her characters on one of her tours through book review blogs.

Eel's Reverence is a fantasy allegory that wonderfully compares a humble heart of a "true" priest to "reaver priests" who would take advantage of others through a demanding litany of subservience. Eel's Reverence explores relationships between friends and enemies, and all the results of dealing with hard choices. As a Christian, I had no trouble relating to the allegory in this novel, and the conflicts that arise in real life. Very well done, with a new conflict, just as I thought the story would end. Marian Allen is an accomplished storyteller. My money was well spent - if you enjoy fantasy or allegorical stories, yours will be too!