Customer Reviews

The Wrath Of Zar (The Demons of Destiny)

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I cautiously approach first books by authors, especially if they are being touted as having great talent. Most of my favourite authors develop their voices as they progress through a number of works, from Douglas Coupland, to Chuck Palahniuk, Steven Brust and others. I have gone back and reread their books in the order they were written to see the progression in their skill and talent as a story teller. Thus when I was asked to review Shayne Easson's first book, I agreed with a little hesitancy. Easson surprised!

This book is action-packed, and full of adventure, daring and danger. Our hero is Adan Caynne who has a life full of mystery and trials. There are many unanswered questions about his father, and a brother that has been captured and dragged away from home by demons. As time goes on and he searches for his brother, he discovers that a few key people will help shape the future of his people - if they are to have a future. He finds himself bound to these individuals: Prince Riordan of Corrona, and Princess Karyna of Wyndhaven, both of whom are on their own quest. Then Adan comes to realize that even though he is from a small village, he is one of them.

This book, the first from Calagrian Shayne Easson, does not disappoint. It is very reminiscient of Peir's Anthony's Battle Circle trilogy, Sos the Rope, Var the Stick and Neq the Sword. Easson has developed a strong voice as a writer. His characters are believable and not one-dimensional. The plot moves at a great pace and keeps you drawn in. The story ends and leaves you wanting more. There is not much more you could ask for from a fiction novel - it entertains, it takes you to a different world, and it makes you care about the characters and leaves you desiring to know what happens next.

This is a very good first book, and will be enjoyed by those who like Sword and Sorcery style fantasy.

(First Published in Imprint 2008-03-14.)

From first page to last, this action-packed first novel by Shayne Easson introduces the reader to a tapestry of characters. Unlike his twin brother who trained to become a warrior, Adan Caynne shies away from confrontation, but his life is about to take a complete turn around. Thrust into an unlikely alliance with others and with a dragon, he sets out to find his missing young brother as the demon army spreads havoc throughout the lands.



The Wrath of Zar by Shayne Easson is an outstanding saga to be savored like a banquet by anyone who enjoys reading a well-written and character-driven fantasy of action, adventure and suspense. Easson cannot be compared to any established best-selling author of fantasy, because he has his own unique style that will set him apart. I strongly recommend this book and eagerly await the next in this series.

Set in motion years before their births, new warriors arise to atone for the failure of their fathers and face the threat of demons, gathering across the land.

When his rural village is attacked and most of his family killed, Adan Cayne goes in search of his surviving brother who was taken by demons, not realizing that they both hold the keys to the demons' rise or fall in their tenuous hands.

Hunted, Adan learns to rely upon every resource available, abilities he didn't know he possessed, and new friends, including a prince and princess who are both also hunted as well.

The Wrath of Zar is a well thought-out adventure with a remarkable cast of characters. Just when you think you have it all figured out, the plot takes another shift and thrusts the reader into another layer of intrigue. This is high fantasy at its best, powered by interesting and sympathetic characters in a unique world of men, demons, gods, and dragons. This is a keeper on my book shelf with space waiting for the next two books in the series.

Review from PNR Reviews.

Wow! What a great start for a new fantasy writer! The Wrath of Zar, the first novel in the Demons of Destiny series, has it all with demons, dragons and magical swords.

Twenty-three years ago, the Warriors of Ches were charged by their god Faral to find and secure an artifact. Failure to do so would end in the destruction of the world. They did fail. Now the demons have awakened and the vengeance of Faris, Faral's brother and enemy is being waged upon the surviving Warriors, their families and the places they live.

The Warriors have kept their past secret and have led productive and peaceful lives. Some are leaders and even kings. On the night of an annual festival, the home and town of Darren Caynne, formally a Warrior of Ches, is targeted by the demons, and the town is all but destroyed. Adan Caynne, a twin son of Darren is the only one left of his family.

After the attack, Adan has a dream that his younger brother, Dex is still alive but in peril. Adan leaves the wreckage of his home and village and sets out to find his brother. Before he can go far, Myron, a friend and brother to a girl Adan is in love with, insists on going with him. Myron is a "never miss" with the crossbow and trained in fighting. Adan is not a fighter but he now has his father's sword-the Dragon Sword that has a secret his father had kept hidden.

While Adan and Myron are searching aimlessly for Dex, more towns and families are being attacked. Other family members of the Warriors of Ches have left their besieged homes, intent upon their own missions-but all with a common enemy: the Demon Vayle and his Dryden warriors. When Adan and the others find themselves together and on the same quest-to find answers to the betrayals and deceptions that have come to light-the adventures begin.

These are strong and believable characters who are heroes dealing with their weaknesses as they battle common foes. There is romance, friendships made and broken, odd alliances, suspense and suspicions and lots of action. Not all the answers are given in this book, which just makes you drool for the next in the series.

Armchair Interviews says: Great start for a new series.

Although they are brothers, Adan Caynne would choose flight while Dex would choose fight. Thus they are opposites with Dex wanting to become a warrior and Adan turning the other cheek because he has some inkling of his father's former life as a Ches warrior who barely survived a demonic led assault.

Keeping his head buried in the sand, Adam is ignorant that a demon army is destroying Yannina. However, he becomes aware that something is wrong when his sibling vanishes and a neighbor Cadin brutally killed. Vowing to find and rescue his brother from whatever, Adan wonders if his father's newly arrived fully armed visitors he never met before are involved with the recent events. However, his quest turns surreal when the Andar apprentice Hythe informs him he is the only hope to defeat the Demon Vayle and his horde destroying the guardian who imprisoned him. Soon others including Zar the dragon ally with him even as he insists he is not fighting demons or anyone for that matter.

This action-packed quest fantasy stars a wonderful reluctant hero, who has enough personal issues trying to remain stalwart on his personal hunt only to have an assortment of entities claim he's the man. Readers will feel they are trekking alongside Adan and his band as they search for his twin while preparing for the larger mission of battling the invincible demon army led by a champion who chooses flight not fight. Shayne Easson provides readers with an outstanding opening adventure in his Demons of Destiny saga.

Harriet Klausner

As I start my review, I need to make a statement of personal bias clear. I am not a fan of the sword and sorcery (S&S) genre. The problem as I see it is that when the hero(es) get into a difficult situation, one or more of the following three plot devices are used to rescue them.

*) It turns out that their magic powers are greater than they previously thought or believed, either through their bodies or a magic talisman.
*) They were being watched over by a powerful wizard, who intervenes to save them.
*) A magical creature that serves the good side suddenly appears and whisks them out of danger.

When this plot device is possible, and by definition in the S&S area it always is, then it is difficult to ever really believe the forces for good are truly in danger.
Easson uses all of these plot devices in this book. There are ferocious human-sized demons who are easily killed, good and evil dragons that fly and breath fire, spells that turn good people into evil tyrants willing to kill and a large river demon named Xerrand that awakens just in time to aid the good people as they are about to be slaughtered by the evil demons. Zar is the evil dragon, and when Zar tries to kill the group of heroes, the good dragons and Xerrand intervene to prevent it, although Xerrand and one good dragon die in their battles against Zar. Many of the people on the good side die as they fight back against the growing evil in their land. This book is the first in a series, which explains the inconclusive ending.
As I said in the opening, my tastes do not flow in this area; this is one of the few fantasy books I have read. Therefore, while I did not enjoy it, I am sure that those who appreciate this genre will like this book. It contains a great deal of action, there are very few pauses for rest and the action covers nearly all areas of sword, sorcery and fantasy.

As I read the opening chapter of The Wrath of Zar, I had my doubts that I would find this story intriguing, but as soon as Chapter 2 started, I was hooked in a big way. You can't just dive in to even the best of fantasy. Not only do you have to get acquainted with unusual characters with strange names and pick up on whatever back-story there is behind the events you are reading about, your mind's eye has to paint an internal canvas of the entire world created by the imagination of the author. Fantasy is a most challenging genre indeed, but this debut novel from Shayne Easson reads as if it were crafted by an experienced hand. With all kinds of action on an increasingly epic scale, critical subplots interweaving in the most judicious of manners, and episodes of deeply personal interactions among key characters, The Wrath of Zar makes for a downright fantastic read. This is the first book in a series called The Demons of Destiny, and I for one can't wait for Book Two, especially after being taken aback by this first novel's shocking, last-minute revelation.

The world of Yannina stands in peril as evil forces long dismissed by many as mere myths reawaken and seek to establish a demonic hegemony over all. With the black dragon Zar and all manner of demons at their disposal, these forces of darkness leave a wide swatch of death and destruction in their wake - starting in the peaceful village of Ruhln. It is the night of Ruhln Fest, and young Adan Caynne could hardly be happier - as long as he's with his beloved Maureen. Battle is the last thing on his mind when he meets heavily armed strangers looking for his father, but he begins to grow up in a hurry once he and Maureen stumble upon her grievously injured grandfather. Before he knows what is happening, war breaks out all around him. Unlike his twin brother Aren, who trained and competed in the ways of a warrior, Adan would not seem to have the makeup of a hero, but the events of this night change everything. Even before learning that his father was one of the renowned Warriors of Ches, Adan begins trying to fill his shoes, setting out - accompanied by Maureen's brother Myron - to rescue his younger brother, whom he strongly believes has been kidnapped by demons.

Fate brings Adan and Myron together with other displaced heroes, including Prince Riordan of Corrona, Princess Karyna of Wyndhaven, a young dragon named Zadryan, and a suspicious Andar apprentice who suggests that the fate of the entire realm rests upon the uneasy shoulders of young Adan. The manner in which Easson interweaves these characters' individual stories into the whole is most skillfully done. The fantasy fan will find no shortage of action, either. Even as Adan and Myron set out in search of Adan's brother Dex, they are closely pursued by a mysterious man in black; the numerous skirmishes and fights that take place along the way are thrilling indeed (mainly because you care so much about each of the characters); and the spectre of treachery and betrayal raises its ugly head at the worst possible times. Amazingly enough, one gets the sense that the best is yet to come (in subsequent books in the series). The grim specter of the dark dragon Zar hangs over all, but we only see this gigantic fiend in action on one occasion, and I have to believe the evil Dryden warriors have hardly begun to fight as of yet.

Obviously, I consider Shayne Easson's The Wrath of Zar to be a most impressive fantasy debut. I sometimes have trouble identifying with certain characters in fantasy just because of their (and their worlds') exotic natures, but I basically lived and died with the heroes of this story. The fact that the narrative takes a number of unpredictable turns along the way makes the book even harder to put down, and the bombshell revealed on the very last page has me awaiting the second book in the series with bated breath. If Easson's future novels are anywhere near as impressive as this one, the fantasy genre has a new star on its hands.

Someone recommended this book to me knowing that I like to read epic fantasy. I'm always open to reading novels by new authors. This one didn't disappoint. I can honestly say that it is one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read. Shayne Easson has an unusual talent that shines through in his writing. His characters stand out as they direct the reader from one adventure to another. I strongly recommend this novel to anyone who likes to read novels, and especially to those who love epic fantasy. I look forward to the next book in this great new series titled The Demons of Destiny.

This is an outstanding novel. People would never expect Adan Caynne to be given the task of saving the kingdoms throughout Yannina from the demon army. Adan isn't a trained warrior like his twin brother. He has always shied away from conflict.

When he and a friend set out to find his younger brother Dex who disappeared the day the demons attacked, they encounter many perils along the way. They also meet up with some unlikely allies, including a young dragon that is being hunted by the powerful black dragon Zar. Zar is in league with the demons. Treachery abounds as Adan and his allies set out to seek answers and a possible means to stop the havoc spread by the demons and the dragon Zar.

This book will keep you up turning the pages. It is intense from the first page to the last. All ages will enjoy this novel. For fantasy lovers, this new series promises to be one of the best to come out in a long time. Shane Easson has become my favorite fantasy author.