Customer Reviews

Storms of Vengeance

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read this book several times already. The writing is excellent and very mature, but still appropriate for younger audiences. The story is very interesting and certainly keeps you turning pages.

I would have to say my favorite aspect of this book is the characterization. Unlike many fantasy stories, in Storms of Vengeance, nobody is evil purely for the sake of being evil, or good purely for the sake of being good. Everyone has real motivations and very good reasons for what they do. This helps the reader understand both sides of the conflict, which is a welcome change.

Also, the elements of mystery writing really add some flavor to the book that you won't normally find in fantasy fare. You'll find yourself re-reading the book just to find the little clues that are left throughout the text.

Overall, I suggest this book very highly to anyone who enjoys fantasy or mystery writing, and is looking for a good story with believable characters. I look forward to reading more!

The first thing that annoyed me with this book was that I could not get it from Amazon on the kindle! I did find it (thanks to the author) on another site that had kindle format but I already have credit at Amazon so I was not all that anxious to go to another site, not to mention I like that amazon keeps my books for me so I don't have to keep them on my kindle all the time I can just go re download them whenever I want to. This is not really the authors fault tho I don't think so I won't hold it against him and the second book IS on the kindle!
At first I was not sure I could get into this book because a lot of characters were introduced very quickly and I was having trouble following and keeping every straight so I was getting a bit frustrated with the book at first. Also the author used Cycles as a time frame and I had no idea how long a cycle was so I wish that he had put that into the book somehow. I did end up writing him and asking and he quickly replied that a cycle was 28 days.
Now I do love fantasy books but have not read as many as I would like and do plan to read more so many both of these things are just something I must get used to, to be able to enjoy this genre IDK but I almost put this book down and to be honest the reason I didn't was because it did look interesting and the story was intriguing. It took me longer then usual to get into this book but I stuck with it and I am really glad I did because the story and the book (after I got used to who everyone was) was a very good read and well written. The editing irritated me at parts using wrong and misspelled words but not enough to make me just hate reading the book.
Whew I don't usually write reviews but I hope this one helped anyone considering buying this book.

Before I began reading this book, I was told that it was more like a mystery novel, rather than fantasy. While the book does take place in a fantasy world, filled with both new and familiar races (elves, ogres, trolls, merphites, and ror'teg), the use of magic has been restricted to the point that it is merely folk-lore in the villages. However, following a sudden magical attack on the city, the leaders of the Faranin army are charged with the investigation of recent events. What makes this book stand apart from the rest is that it lacks any source of ultimate knowledge (such as Gandolf in LoTR). As you follow the main characters through their quest for knowledge (via books, interrogations, and reenactments), you have to wait while the characters stumble to put the pieces together. Often the answer comes from musings or something out of place that someone said, but even by the end, questions remain unanswered as the plot finally moves from pondering into action.

Although this story takes place in a fantasy setting, the plot revolves around the murder of a councilman and the theft of an important object from the king's castle. The biggest question in this book is who might have infiltrated the castle and why would they have done so? Every character is suspect and even the thieves seem to have good intentions. It is clear that this book is leading into a larger story arch, but the first book establishes the characters and culture within the kingdom of Faranin.

One of the strengths of this author is maneuvering POV in such a way that you cannot tell who is being honest and who is the traitor amongst their midst. There are no simple categories as each character has different motives and secrets that will affect the investigation.

This book offers an nice alternative to the mainstream fantasy by employing different story-telling techniques and well-rounded characters. The only downside is that the story moves slowly and may lose some readers in the early chapters. Overall, this book was an interesting read and I'm looking forward to the second part of the Lorradda Stone.

This was an excellent debut novel from John Beachem. I was very impressed, from the beginning.

This is a murder-whodunit mystery set in a fantasy setting. The characters are rich, and often humorous. I'm not sure that they intend to be funny, but the dialogue between them gave me many chuckles.

By the end of the novel, I realized two things. One, that John wasn't going to neatly wrap up all the mysteries and questions raised throughout the novel. He does bring it to a nice stopping point and answers some questions, but makes it obvious that this will be a much longer epic. That's the second thing: that while it seems to start out as a simple murder mystery, by the end there is so much history and political intrigue that this becomes a true epic fantasy.

If Agatha Christie had written the Shannara novels with perhaps just a touch of writing advice from Steven Erikson and George R.R. Martin, you might have a glimpse of Storms of Vengeance.

Oh, and I simply love John's take on elves! I won't way any more about that, but these elves certainly did not help a fat man in a red suit make a bunch of toys.....

Beyond Harry Potter, I'm not a fantasy fan, but I found this to be a "can't put it down, once I get into it" read. I picked this up at a friend's suggestion and really got into the plot. I can't wait for the sequel!!! The last couple of chapters were rather devious and that's the only clue I'll give to you.

"Storms of Vengeance: Book I of the Lorradda Stone" is the first novel written by John Beachem. The adventure begins when a councilman, in Faranin, is found murdered and an artifact is discovered to have been stolen from the city. This artifact is a piece of stone that was originally part of the Lorradda stone. Lorradda was a spell caster who figured out how to channel magic into inanimate objects. He and his followers channeled a great deal of magic into this stone. It became too powerful for mortal men to handle so it was destroyed. As it was being destroyed it fractured into pieces. These pieces were sent to different places to be destroyed and forgotten. Now one of the pieces is missing.

Palace guard Calton is sent out on a mission to find out information about this stone. He goes to a library in Tarlone where he meets a one armed scholar named Keras. Keras agrees to join him in his journey back to Faranin, so that he can provide the king with more information about this stone. Their return journey is dangerous. Along the way, they are joined by Nalu, a Vessarian who comes to their rescue and Elerad who is an elf. Elves in this time are not very popular. They are also called, "Forest Demons." Elerad proves his worthiness when he helps save them. Ratel, another palace guard and childhood friend of Calton is also involved in the investigation at Faranin.

Magic, mayhem, trolls, elves, ogres, and sea serpents are all part of this great story. The characters are well developed and have a great deal of depth. I love the description of elves in this story, they are more earthy and wild. They aren't the beautiful, mystical, creatures as presented in most fantasies. The majority of the characters in this story are complex individuals with mysterious aspects regarding who they really are and what their motives are. This makes for a fun ride!

John Beachem has written an excellent fantasy novel, especially for a first book. This is definitely one of the best fantasies that I have ever read. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series.


5 out of 5 spaceships

Reviewer: Paige Lovitt for Multiverse Reviews