Book Review: The Companions, The Sundering, Book I by R. A. Salvatore

This is an epic tale that gets you involved.
The Companions, The Sundering, Book I
by R. A. Salvatore

• File Size: 1462 KB
• Print Length: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (August 6, 2013)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• ASIN: B00BE24W0W

Genre: Fantasy
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Book Description
Publication Date: August 6, 2013
“The Companions is the best novel [R.A.] Salvatore has ever written. It’s insanely courageous, profoundly powerful, masterfully constructed, and easily Salvatore’s most ambitious work to date.”—Paul Goat Allen, BarnesandNoble.com
“After a quarter of a century, R.A. Salvatore just keeps getting better and better, and The Companions is another masterful leap forward for one of the greatest fantasy epics of all time.”
—Philip Athans, best-selling author of Annihilation and The Haunting of Dragon’s Cliff
This latest installment in New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore's beloved fantasy saga, The Companions moves Salvatore's signature hero Drizzt into a new era of the Forgotten Realms. As Drizzt's fate hangs in the balance, he reflects on the lives of the trusted allies who stood by his side throughout his early life--the friends now known as the Companions of the Hall. Meanwhile, the first stirrings of the Sundering begin.

Review:
I am not familiar with Salvatore's previous works so I do not know the hero, Drizzt. I gather he is an elf or drow. Over the years before a plague hit their land he had developed an unlikely band of allies. Catti-brie is his beloved, a good type of witch, learning healing and other spells. Bruenor is a Dwarf warrior and twice king of Mithral Hall. He also adopted Catti-brie as a daughter. Regis is a halfling who was never the brave one or warrior of the group but was always present to help after the battle was over.

These three, and Bruenor's son, Wulfgar, find themselves dead and ready to step into the waters of peaceful rest until Catti-brie offers an alternative. She has developed a relationship with a Goddess who tells of a time of danger in the future that could use the skills of this brave band. The trick is that they will have to be born again. They must thrive and find their ways separately until 21 years later when they will meet at an appointed spot where they will try to find Drizzt so they can all battle evil together once again.

This book 1 follows the lives of the three that choose to return, Catti-brie, Bruenor and Regis. Each has a childhood and teen years of growth, learning and danger that threaten to keep them from making the appointed reunion. Catti-brie seeks to strengthen her magical skills. Bruenor thinks to recreate his greatness as a former king and struggles each day with his anger and frustrations. Regis is determined to train in skills so that he can be prepared to jump into the fray and overcome his previous reputation.

The story is full of adventure and action that keeps it moving forward. I enjoyed reading the adventures of each character and getting to know each of their personalities through their emotions, memories and determined training for the future. I was rooting for their reunion and worried each time it looked like one or the other might be thwarted. Danger and powerful spies continue to follow them and I am anxious to read on to the next book to find out what happens!

I received this title through NetGalley for review.

Audible Book Review: Death of a Dyer by Eleanor Kuhns

This is a good mystery with interesting history. Unfortunately I think the narration could have been better.

Death of a Dyer

by Eleanor Kuhns

Reader: Richard Waterhouse

Running Time: 11hrs 34min
Number of CDs: 9
Release Date: 6/18/13
D/L ISBN: 9781482100822 
CD ISBN: 9781482100815
Genre: Historical, Mystery
My Rating 4.0 of 5.0

Synopsis:
Will Rees feels at home. It's been a long time since he last felt this way--not since before his wife died more than five years ago and he took to the road as a traveling weaver. Now Rees is back on his farm, living with his teenaged son, David, and his housekeeper, Lydia--whose presence contributes more towards his happiness than he's ready to admit. But his domestic bliss is shattered the morning a visitor brings news of an old friend's murder. Nate Bowditch and Rees hadn't spoken in many long years, but as children they were closer than brothers, and Rees feels his loss acutely. Asked to look into the circumstances surrounding Nate's death, Rees simply can't refuse. At the Bowditch farmstead, Rees quickly discovers that everyone--from Nate's frosty wife to his missing son to the shy serving girl--is hiding something. But are any of them actually capable of murder? Or does the answer lie elsewhere, behind stones no one even knew needed un-turning? Death of a Dyer once again proves Eleanor Kuhns' remarkable ability to spin a captivating story and capture the light and darker sides of human nature on the page.

Review:

Will Rees is a traveling weaver. He owns a farm but spends most of his time traveling to sell his wares, then returning home now and again to bring the proceeds to help support the farm. Now he is home at the farm with his teenaged son who has grown up working and loving the land his father disdains. Will has also brought Lydia, a strong independent widow and a Shaker who was put out of her community. She lives in a cottage on the farm and serves as housekeeper although she hopes to become more to Will as time goes by and when he is ready.

Will's wife, Dolly, died a few years ago from a bug he brought back from his travels. He still feels guilty but is also reluctant to risk moving to a different relationship with Lydia because he doesn't know if he can remain in town or if he will seek the road again.

Right now he is tied to his home by the request of the widow of a murdered friend to prove that their son did not kill his father. Nate and Will had been good friends as boys but Will has been away many years. As he meets Nate's wife and nearly 19 year-old son, Richard, Will begins to realize that he does not know the man that Nate became in his absence. Nate had become obsessed with his sturdy of colors as a dyer, always seeking a better, richer color. He apparently had developed friendships with other boys that they grew up with and the relationships are surprising to Will. Will worns Nate's wife, Molly, his close, devoted servant, Mason, and other boyhood friends that his investigations may lead to secrets that will make others unhappy. It won't be enough for Will to clear Richard as the prime suspect. Will won't give up the search until he has found and exposed Nate's killer.

I enjoyed the mystery that had some red herrings and twists to keep me guessing. The pacing is different as it is set in the 1780 Colonial time period and seems to plod a bit just as things might in those days. There is some wonderful history of weavers, dyers, slaves and bounty hunters seeking runaway slaves. But the history extends into the human aspects of land acquisition and any era human characteristics of pride, greed, snobbery and loyalty.

Audio Notes: I am sorry to say that this is not an audio version I would recommend. I found the narration very dry with little emotion and character given through the reading. This made the story drag for a good portion until the last quarter when the narrator surprisingly found expression.

I received this book for review for AudioGo through Audiobook Jukebox.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading August 26, 2013

This meme starts at Book Journey!

What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I had another busy week, complete with some frustration. I finished three books but only posted two reviews, and an Author guest post with Giveaway. I  posted the weekly Mailbox Monday meme, Friday Pick Giveaway, Saturday Snapshot, Sharing Beyond Books Comment Giveaway and Sunday Words.

I still had limited visiting last week, although I visited some Saturday Snapshot posts. I hope to visit more this week.  Thanks as always to all the nice people who visit me.

These were last week's posts (plus winner post):

• It's Monday What are You Reading? August 19, 2013.

• Mailbox Monday August 19, 2013.

• Audible Book Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry, Dystopia; my rating 4.25.

• A Few Words on Gambling Guest Post by Ashlyn Macnamara and Giveaway: A Most Devilish Rogue. US- Print; Int'l- eBook.  Ends 8/30.

• Book Review: A Most Devilish Rogue by Ashlyn Macnamara, Historical Romance; my rating 4.25. 

• Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway August 23, 2013. Open Worldwide. Ends 8/29.

• Saturday Snapshot August 24, 2013 - Felling Trees
  

• Sharing Beyond Books #114 Comment Giveaway 8/24/13. Open Worldwide. Ends 8/30.

• Sunday Words of Encouragement August 25, 2013.
  

Finished Reading:
1. Print

Guilty as Sin
by Jami Alden
I enjoyed this solid romantic suspense. I will post the review with ARC giveaway sometime this week.
Click on Title for full Book Description.

2. eBook/Kindle

A Most Devilish Rogue
by Ashlyn Macnamara
The review of this warm historical romance and 
Author guest post with Giveaway are linked above.
Click on Title for full Book Description.

3. Audio

Death of a Dyer
by Eleanor Kuhns
Reader: Richard Waterhouse
This took some puzzling to uncover the murderer.
I'll post a review later this week. 
Reviewing for AudioGo through Audiobook Jukebox.
Click on Title for full Book Description.

Line Edits/Releases:
Working on print releases this week.

Enter the bi-monthly drawings at eTreasures Publishing Facebook page.
This week's giveaway link:  Shelly the Hermit Crab by Stacey Leigh Malloy, illustrated by Katie Cassidy
Genre(s): Children's - Age 2-9; Print Pages: 34.

Currently reading:

1. eBook/Kindle

The Godborn, The Sundering, Book II
by Paul S. Kemp
This is the second in the series 
but has started like a fresh book.
I am anxious to see how it  picks up from the first book.
I received this from  NetGalley.
Book Description
Publication Date: October 1, 2013
In the 2nd book of the multi-author Sundering series launched by New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore, the shadow legacy of Erevis Cale lives on even as his old foe Mephistopheles seeks to stamp it out at any cost. Cale’s son Vasen—unmoored in time by the god Mask—has thus far been shielded from the archdevil’s dark schemes, alone among the servants of the Lord of Light who have raised him since birth

Living in a remote abbey nestled among the Thunder Peaks of Sembia, Vasen is haunted by dreams of his father, trapped in the frozen hell of Cania. He knows the day will come when he must assume his role in the divine drama unfolding across Faerûn. But Vasen knows not what that role should be . . . or whether he is ready to take it on. He only knows what his father tells him in dreams—that he must not fail.

Enter Drasek Riven, a former compatriot of Erevis Cale, now near divine and haunted by dreams of his own—he too knows the time to act is near. Shar, the great goddess of darkness, looks to cast her shadow on the world forever. Riven has glimpsed the cycle of night she hopes to complete, and he knows she must be stopped.

At the crossroads of divine intrigue and mortal destiny, unlikely heroes unite to thwart the powers of shadow and hell, and the sundering of worlds is set on its course.

2. Audible

Paradox Resolution
Author: K.A. Bedford
Narrator: Cameron McDonald
This has started and is going to be a great puzzle of time travel and mystery.
Reviewing for Post Hypnotic Press 
through Audiobook Jukebox.
Click on Title for full Book Description.

3. - Not sure yet. :-)  Maybe Ruthless which I did bring on our trip. Or maybe Double Click.

I am really lagging but still listening to The Listener's Bible NIV read by Max McLean. [Reading and listening on MP3.] I have been remiss and not keeping up with daily reading with my DH.

Line Edits: Still working. Several more releases being prepared for the next few weeks. I am still doing more Smashword conversions in between print formatting.

I still have several print books carrying over from June now into August. I don't have quite so many new choices so I think I can wrap these carry overs up this month.

August

Sourcebooks
    (none scheduled unless I pick up at NetGalley)

Hachette - Forever
    A House Divided by Kimberly Lawson Roby
    Ruthless by Debra Webb

NetGalley:
      The Godborn, The Sundering, Book II by Paul S. Kemp (reading)
 
AudioBook Jukebox
Paradox Resolution by K.A. Bedford (listening)

Author Books received at March EPICon
     Convict Dad by P. Ryan Hembree

Author Review titles:
     Double Click by Lisa Becker

From TBR Collection - TBD
Won Book - TBD
Free Kindle/Nook or Smashwords: TBD

Sunday Words of Encouragement August 25, 2013

We have to come home and pack so I won't have time to do a post after church Sunday. So I am sharing this worship song which always helps to remind me what is really important.
Have a blessed day!

Verses for Today

Psalm 86:9-10

All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.  For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.

Winners of Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Flirting with Texas and Revenge!

CONGRATULATIONS TO WINNERS!
(Sorry that these weren't posted sooner.
I had listed them on the Giveaway page and in the sidebar but never did the announcement post.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giveaway Ended August 9, 2013

ARC Giveaway: Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Molly Cannon

Winner: scottsgal



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Giveaways Ended August 16, 2013

ARC Giveaway: Flirting with Texas by Katie Lane

WINNER: BROOKE



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ARC Giveaway: Revenge by Debra Webb

Winner: Kyaw

scottsgal, Brooke and Kyaw please fill in the (NEW) Winner's Acceptance Form or email me at mesreads AT gmail.com to confirm the win and I'll get the book mailed.  Please reply within 72 hours.