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Flames Over Frosthelm (Inquisitors' Guild) by [Dave Dobson]

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David Dobson

Flames Over Frosthelm (Inquisitors' Guild) Kindle Edition

by Dave Dobson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

152 ratings

Part of: Inquisitors' Guild (4 books)

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An Investigation Gone Awry Sometimes, your case takes a left turn. Or three or four. Marten Mingenstern and Boog Eggstrom are provisional inspectors, fresh out of Inquisitor’s Guild training and eager to prove themselves. Assigned the mundane task of tracking down stolen jewels, they instead uncover a mysterious cult set on destroying the city. After a thief explodes, they earn the enmity of a vicious noble, the Chief Inquisitor gets bought off and goes rogue, they are seized by barbarians, and they are sentenced to death at least a couple of times. In a final, frantic race with prophecy, they face ruthless fanatics, a city turned against them, and terrible forces long buried.Flames Over Frosthelm is the first novel about the Inquisitor's Guild, the investigative arm of the government of Frosthelm, a medieval city-state where criminals thrive, nobles scheme, and dark secrets lurk. Expect intrigue, mystery, swordplay, adventure, politics, romance, and the strong bonds of friendship. And a little magic along the way. Described as Princess Bride meets CSI, this new novel is a tale of classic adventure with a healthy dose of humor.
If the description above was too much, you might prefer this
TLDR Summary Haiku
Young inspectors flailAgainst a rising darkness.Fighting, jokes, and more.
About the Book
Flames over Frosthelm is a full stand-alone novel clocking in at just over 120,000 words. Beginning, middle, and end, and no waiting for sequels to find out how the adventure ends (hear that, George R.R.?). There is swordplay, violence, death, and some romance, but the book does not include anything terribly hardcore. Think PG13 or Harry Potter and you're probably in the right place.
Author's Note
Ever since I started reading the Oz books and Andrew Lang's fairy tale compendia in elementary school, I have loved fantasy. As I grew as a reader, I branched out into heroic and epic fantasy, starting with tales of heroes like Conan and John Carter, set in places like Middle Earth and Witchworld. I also adored comedic fantasy, from Terry Pratchett to Neil Gaiman to a host of others, and my favorite tales were those where young heroes and heroines grew (or were forced) to play a role beyond their station, in many cases learning on the fly and making it up as they went along.There are so many great authors working now trying out new ideas, pushing the fantasy genre in interesting new directions (some of them full of sparkly vampires or brooding antiheroes with anime hair). Despite all that innovation, it is hard for me to resist the draw of the classics. In this book, I've tried to weave together many of my favorite threads from the books of my childhood, to write the kind of book I have always loved reading, both at 13 and at 49. If I've succeeded, this story should provide a fun mix of humor and adventure, an introduction to a new world and a few new cultures, with derring-do and jokes along with some solid emotional touches, against a backdrop of a classic fantasy city, bustling with taverns, markets, nobles, politics, religions, thieves, and warriors. There's magic, but it's limited to rare wizards, scholars, and artifacts, not pervasive, and it's not well understood. Everybody you meet is a human with human goals - no elves, dwarves, dragons, trolls, or Klingons. Although moral complexity is fascinating, and even the best people are not always their best selves, in general I like my good guys good, my bad guys bad, and the stakes high. I hope you do too.Please enjoy Flames Over Frosthelm.

Print length

400 pages
Language

English
Publication date

June 11, 2019
File size

3794 KB
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Books In This Series (4 Books)

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Flames Over Frosthelm (Inquisitors' Guild)

(152)

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The Outcast Crown (Inquisitors' Guild)

(47)

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Traitors Unseen (Inquisitors' Guild)

(14)

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$1.99
The Woeling Lass (Inquisitors' Guild)

(2)

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Inquisitors' Guild

Dave Dobson

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Stephanie M. Jones
8
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AJ Cooper
7
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Stanley Garland Jr.
5
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Alan Creed
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Stephen Euin Cobb
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Juliana Rew
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From the Publisher

The Inquisitors' Guild Series

Set in the tumultuous city-state of Frosthelm, where mysteries, treachery, and secrets lay hidden...

Mysteries Abound

An intrepid group of investigators unearths hidden magic and treacherous plots

Bravery, Adventure, Swordplay, and Humor

Each Inquisitors' Guild book is full of adventure, peril, derring-do, sorcery, and danger. And jokes. A lot of jokes.

Each is a stand-alone mystery, a complete story, and a grand adventure.

About the Author

A native of Ames, Iowa, Dave loves writing, reading,boardgames, computer games, improv comedy, pinball, pizza, barbarian movies,and the cheaper end of the Taco Bell menu. Also, his wife and kids.

Dave is the author of Snood, Snoodoku, Snood Towers, and other computer games. He first publishedSnood in 1996, and it became one of the most popular shareware games of theearly Internet. His most recent games are Scryptix andPolaric (coming soon). He also designs and publishes boardgames though hiscompany, Plankton Games. You can see his games at the PlanktonGames.com website.

Dave teaches geology, environmental studies, andcomputer programming at Guilford College, and he does improv comedy every week at the Idiot Box in Greensboro, North Carolina. He's also played the world'slargest tuba in concert. Not that that is relevant, but it's still kinda cool.

Flames overFrosthelm is Dave's first novel.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07T12STNY
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 11, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3794 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #440 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3 in Humorous Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #9 in Epic Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #13 in Action & Adventure Fantasy (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
152 ratings

About the author

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David Dobson

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A native of Ames, Iowa, Dave loves writing, reading, boardgames, computer games, improv comedy, pizza, barbarian movies, and the cheaper end of the Taco Bell menu. Also, his wife and kids.

In addition to his novels, Dave is the author of Snood, Snoodoku, Snood Towers, and other computer games. Dave first published Snood in 1996, and it became one of the most popular shareware games of the early Internet. His most recent project (other than writing) is Doctor Esker's Notebook, a puzzle card game in the spirit of escape rooms.

Dave taught geology, environmental studies, and computer programming at Guilford College for 24 years, and he does improv comedy every week at the Idiot Box in Greensboro, North Carolina. He’s also played the world’s largest tuba in concert. Not that that is relevant, but it’s still kinda cool.

Customer reviews

5 star		67%
4 star		26%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Frost

Entertains first to last

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

Review My thanks to the author and to Goodreads for a free copy of the book to read and review.
“Flames over Frosthelm” by Dave Dobson is best described as a good entertainment of a book. Placed in the epic fantasy category, it is certainly not dark and foreboding and the primary character Marten Mingenstern, is likeable rather than bloodthirsty. Add to that the sense of humor that comes through as the tale unfolds. Not that it is a giddy YA aimed “Romancing an Elf” with cute, fuzzy companions, not at all. The plot that begins with that bar fight, expands into a fight with a powerfully evil being.
As the book begins, Marten, and his Provisional ( newly out of cop school) Inquisitor ( police detective) partner Beauregard ” Boog” Eggstrom are following the investigation of the robbery of jewels of a Lady the Realm. The clues led to their staking out a tavern watching a suspected thief, nicknamed ”ShortSword” ( use your imagination what that refers to) make a nuisance of himself and spending money he should not have. The action begins as a woman enters and approaches Shortsword. They begin arguing about an amulet. As our heroes intervene, there is a flash of light. The cloaked woman has run off, and Marten and Boog lie stunned on the floor between a grisly pile of what used to be the thief and the amulet.
That tale of an arrest gone wrong begins a tale in which our two Iquisitors find themselves enmeshed in a plot that will not only endanger their lives, but also threaten the existence of Frosthelm. It seems that an ambitious nobleman named Marron is scheming to usurp the throne to take power into his own hands, and the magic of the amulet is a tool to that end. Soon Marten and Boog find themselves in dangers that were definitely not in the Inquisitors handbook.
Mr.Dobson, the author worked long and hard to being his book to life and he did an excellent job. Marten is an appealing character who grows throughout the book, changing from a carefree young cop into a man who has literally faced demons. He has survived the opening of the gates of hell, while seeing friends, mentors and comrades fall. The amulet is the key, he learns, and the key, as all keys, both closes and opens doors, sometimes doing both at the same time.
Summary: a very entertaining story, well written and very engrossing. The book is complete in this one volume. There is nothing in it to offend and trigger the sensibilities, in my opinion.

10 people found this helpful

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muffiemae

Wonderful book!

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

I'll not repeat the positive reviews given by others. Just a short way into the book, I was sure I'd rate it 5 stars. The author had excellent prose and command of the English language. But then...

The author claims he hired a professional editor for this book. If so, he was ripped off. Editors are responsible for checking facts, spelling, grammar, and punctuation. There were several errors in the book, but the most irksome was the many, MANY inappropriate uses of commas. This drives me nuts! It's like putting a stop sign in the middle of a busy freeway.

Some other errors in the book:

The use of "I" as the object in a sentence. A couple of examples are "with Boog and I" and "I saw Clarice and I "

She fell back, catching HIMSELF with her left hand...I think I slept AT several times.

Expertly-placed fist...(The ly ending with adverbs signals to the reader that the next word will be another modifier, not a noun.)

We have to lay low... (in another instance, "to lie low" was used correctly.)

..."as we two..." should be "as us two." ( "Us" is an object pronoun, and "we" is a subject pronoun.)

There were instances of incorrect uses of dashes and hyphens.

At one point, it was said that seven jets of water shot twenty feet in the air...how could this be when there was no electricity?

...the sun moved along in its path through the sky... (The earth orbits the sun, not the other way around.)

Nevertheless, this is a wonderful book. The author has a vivid imagination, and I will read more books by him without hesitation. I do hope he finds a competent editor for the next one.

7 people found this helpful

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The Baker Family

Fun Read! PG-13.

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book. The author is imaginative, writes well, and presented a thoroughly entertaining story. I would easily have given this five stars but for two things which I will point out later.

WRITING STYLE: First person and well done. The author combined action, adventure, mystery, and intrigue into a well written story. The book is decently edited and you'll find yourself reading right along at a fairly fast pace.

PLOT: The plot was well thought out, kept me guessing in many cases, had some unexpected twists and turns. There were a few moments where I thought aspects were not developed all the way through and were tossed in as afterthoughts to explain why certain things happened the way they did. But overall, the plot will keep you guessing.

The story is of a young inspector who stumbles into a sinister plot to free some demonic and ancient evil that would wreck chaos across the land. He quickly gets in over his head, struggles into his budding abilities to utilize ancient magic, and then seeks to put a stop to the menace that threatens him, those he loves, and his world.

CHARACTERS: The characters are dynamic, likable, and fun to read about. There is significant humor throughout the book, the main character is relatable and not so needy or powerfully heroic that you can't simply put yourself in his shoes. Well done.

But here is one of the two areas I disliked. There is not a drop of femininity in the entire book. Every woman seems to be a male accidentally stuck in a woman's body. It seems the author went out of his way to make sure the women in the story had as much presence as the men when it came to abilities to swing a sword or deliver a punch. In fact, it may be there were more masculine female soldiers and warriors than men in the story. It struck me as too overboard, too much to try to make the women equal to men in all things, including muscle mass, hairy chests and smelly armpits (the last two are impressions). I missed the femininity of the women. You could have simply changed "her" to "him" in nearly every case a woman is mentioned and you would find no difference in the story whatsoever. Didn't seem realistic.

CHILD SAFE: Here is where I also found issues. Rated PG-13. There is certainly profanity (though I ran the book through a profanity filter first before I read it). The profanity is not overwhelming and would be what many call mild, but it is most certainly present. There are no sex scenes and only a small amount of romance. There was, however, at least one crude sexual joke at the beginning of the book.

RECOMMENDATION: Outside of the profanity, I would recommend this book. I think you'd enjoy it, get a chuckle if not a full laugh occasionally.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer

Not the most original, but still a lot of comfort-read fun

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2022

Verified Purchase

One for fans of urban fantasy that's heavier on the fantasy than the urban and those who like their magical crime procedurals to be by the book. It reminded me of the Alex Verus books by Benedict Jacka crossed with something more Discworld or Shadow of a Dead God by Patrick Samphire. A slow and steady read, it won't have too many surprises for followers of the subgenre but it was a surprising amount of fun anyway.

Picture a Medieval-magical city full of ordinary humans going about ordinary business; some poor, some rich, some criminally inclined... That's where the Inquisitor's Guild comes in. Marty and Boog are on the case of a jewel thief who unexpectedly... Explodes. To find out what's what, their only lead is a mysterious mage woman who can pull a disappearing act and a symbol of a sun and moon combined that seems to mean something to her. The inspectors are drawn into a conspiracy that threatens all of Frostheim. Finding themselves stymied at every attempt at uncovering the truth by powerful people, it's up to these newly graduated investigators to prevent doom and death and possibly the end of the world.

Yup, it's one of those old chestnuts: the influential people in a big ol' city full of corruption, evil cults, weird magic, and an unlikely duo needing to round up an oddball crew in order to save the day. It's nothing new, but it's well executed none the less. Slow, steady, not in a hurry to rush out reveals; it's one of those comfort type reads because you know where it's going and can settle in for the journey.

Marty is our narrator, and manages to pull of the sarcastic humour without it becoming grating or acidic. He and his partner Boog are those rare things in investigative style stories: they are neither Too Clever By Half or Too Stupid To Live. Can we get a round of applause for that? The foreshadowing of the clues they uncover works in that it allows the reader to twig at exactly the same time as they do, and yes, they do run into fights against terrible odds, but to be fair they get beaten up enough (and *le gasp* require recovery time) to make their narrow escapes possible. I liked their easy banter and partner dynamic for how natural it felt.

The world's pretty standard but again nicely done. We're told what we need to know when we need to know it, not after the fact (excuse me while I glare at some urban fantasy procedural series). Marty also doesn't play the "oh, I knew this about our world and so did everyone else and it was totally key to solving the case but I'm only telling you, dear reader, right at the end!" card (a depressingly common and irritating cliche in the boy-oriented UF crimes books). Again, it might not have held a lot of surprises, but there are some nice original parts to the usual fantasy setting in the form of ancient Auger magics that get expanded on as the characters learn more.

The only thing letting it down somewhat are the side characters. There are a lot of them who just don't feel quite as fleshed out or shown-not-told as would have been nice (Lia and Gueran for example). The love interest again is told-not-shown, and much like a Marvel movie is conveniently just in the love the guy because... reasons? I'd like to have seen them interact, not just been told about it. The same goes for two Very Important Characters who have a lot of significance in the plot, yet those roles lack much impact because they're just reports of characters rather than characters shown in the narrative. I honestly wish we could have seen Marty and Boog with them, or witnessing them with others, just so that when they had their parts to play it'd have had some emotional impact. The ending also felt just that little bit quick and easy after all the effort it took getting there.

Overall a well-constructed and engagingly written slice of fantasy crime drama. What it lacks in surprises it makes up for in being one of those cosy go-to books that's more about the journey than the destination.

Fred Jones

A wonderful saga of magic and mystery

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a wonderful saga, with a lovingly created world, great real characters, ,lots of intrigue and treachery, magic and mystery, courage and fortitude, a slow burn romance, a world ending conspiracy based on an ancient prophecy. Two trainee inquisitors investigating a theft uncover a huge conspiracy involving the highest nobles, framed for murder they are forced into the borderlands. I loved the story, the world that the author has created and the characters. This is a long story but it is always engrossing, detailed and involving. The narration is good, the narrator has a good voice and range but is a little stilted sometimes with his delivery but this is not a major thing. I received a complimentary copy from Storyorigin and am leaving a voluntary honest review

nigel daniel

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

Brilliant . Amusing and great plot. The characters were great

Chris

Good magical balance.

Reviewed in Australia on March 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

The usual trope of inept wizard finding his calling is well balanced between cynical humour and descriptive gore. The protagonist anti-hero is well backed up by stout buddy and clever girlfriend. An enjoyable read that travels at a steady pace.

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