Book Review: Of Fire and Storm by D.G. Swank

 

This image of the cover was taken from the book’s Amazon buy page for review purposes under Fair Use doctrine. 

Of Fire and Storm is the second book in D.G. Swank’s Piper Lancaster series.

 

Spoiler Free Summary: Piper is still new to the who demon slaying business, but the threats are still increasing more greatly. A mysterious threat is targeting young people who inevitably commit suicide. Things take a turn for the worse when one victim turns out to be connected to Piper. Her powers are growing, but someone she loves is going to betray her.

Character:  So this story is really closely patterned after Buffy. While I think the relationship is too close, I still like the feeling because I’m such a fan of Buffy.  It would be unfair to call Piper a Buffy ripoff. Sure, she’s a blonde-haired demon slayer, but Piper has enough unique traits. I’ll even admit that I’m such a fan of Buffy that I’m probably forcing the thoughts.  Piper is compassionate and driven. These traits make her easy to like. She’s a bit gullible if you ask me, but her sympathy and proactivity make her worth following.

Exposition: As the second book in a series, one has to expect some degree of exposition to help the readers along. However, this was pretty solid for me. I got the history when I needed it, and I got the story when I wanted it. I don’t feel like the story dragged down or went off the rails at any point.

Worldbuilding:  It wasn’t bad, but that’s what upset me. This series has a lot of potential in terms of lore and depth, but it never came. As a series, it’s obvious a writer isn’t gong to throw everything out in book two, but I didn’t get nearly as much of the setting as I wanted. Does this really hurt the story? Only if you love deep worlds and complex saga histories. However, if one is just reading one story for the sake of the story, he probably doesn’t miss the scope the same way I do.

Image of Swank was taken from her website for review purposes under Fair Use doctrine. 

Dialogue: This is where the comparison to Buffy falls way short. The wit and snappy dialogue just isn’t there. I’m not saying it’s bad on it’s own, but I couldn’t help but make the comparisons I did, and when someone does that, that person has to be ready to accept comparison. The dialogue didn’t bring me down (even if some parts were just spoken exposition).  It didn’t feel stilted at all.

Description:  I probably could have used a bit more description. There was enough to get the movie theatre in my head going, but it was a pretty small theatre, and they didn’t have dBox effects. The character description was better than the scenic description by far. But some of the environments felt a bit thin.

Overall: Though it rigidly holds to the Buffy template I’m certain inspired it, it is still entertaining. It’s got a few surprises amid some of the more predictable aspects. It’s not bad if you’re a fan of the genre. It’s a fun read that gives fans of the genre somewhere to go if they need a fix. While heavily inspired (in my opinion) by the aforementioned TV show, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a cheap knock off. I think I enjoyed it as much as I did because of the blending of new aspects amid a familiar, well-loved story. If you miss Buffy, give this a read and see how you feel about it.

Thanks for reading

Matt

The 2018 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year Bracket Starts Now!

Hello all!

I’ve been building to this for quite some time, and I’m so excited to kick things off. This is it! Twelve Book Covers of the Month join four Wild Card Book Covers to comprise a sixteen-book tournament to determine which one will rule them all!

If you like, you can take a look at each book cover’s winning announcement: December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November.

365 book covers. 53,047 votes. All leading to this tournament! The covers were ranked 1-16 by the number of total votes each received. That means the cover that received the most votes (Until Nothing Remains) is going up against the Wild Card that received the fewest votes. (Age of War), and so on and so forth.

You can vote all the way through the tournament, supporting the covers you like best through each round. I like to make sure people get the credit they deserve, so please show your support. Please vote and share as much as possible to get people a chance to pick their favorite.

As always, I’d appreciate it if you tag the authors and artists if you know them. I try to tag or friend every author I can, but sometimes it’s hard to track someone down. Max participation is a huge deal to me. The more people who vote, the more recognition these authors and artists receive, and I want this to be as legitimate as possible.

Image taken from Pixabay.

If you are the author, let’s remember to be good sports! 1) Please feel free to message or contact me at any time. 2) Please feel free to like, share, text, ask for support, and call everyone you know. I absolutely want max participation. However, if you’re going to offer giveaways or prizes, please offer them for voting, not just voting for you.

Also, while your summoning your army of voting soldiers, please make sure you ask them to vote in every match. Part of the idea of this is to get exposure to as many artists and authors as possible. By all means, if you can get 1,000 people to vote for your book, do it. Just please also send some eyeballs to the other matches.

A final note to authors and artists: I currently have links to the books’ Amazon pages. If you’d prefer I switch that link to sign up for your newsletter or like your social media page or whatever, just send me the link and let me know. I want this to help you. I want this to be as helpful as possible, so whatever you need me to do to facilitate that, just let me know.

It’s been fun! I’d like to end this tournament on a high note. I’m trying to get 10,000 total votes. Please, tell everyone. Get people to vote. I want this trophy to mean something, and it’ll frankly mean more as more people vote.

I hope you keep having fun. Please, vote, share, and discuss as much as possible.

All you have to do now is head over here to vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Announcing the September Book Cover of the Month!

Hello everyone,

We’ve just wrapped up another month. It was great to see a new cover bracket happen!

We had 2,520 votes this month. It was another slower month, but part of that is because I didn’t have the time I normally have to get word out. For that, I’m sorry. Still, it was decent month, and the winning cover stood out before I ran out of time.

The September Book Cover of the Month is…

 

Of Fire and Storm by D.G. Swank! If you’re curious about how I felt about the book, check out the Facebook post that I posted when this book first landed on the bracket, here.

Let’s look at the stats!

Swank  received 181 total votes.

As runner up, Sorcerers’ Web by Lucia Ashta gets a second chance to claim the title in October’s bracket.

But for now, let’s look at this month’s winner!

Amazon:

(START BLURB)

Book two in the Piper Lancaster series in the Curse Keepers world.

Just when Piper begins to accept her new role as demon slayer, a fresh threat rises.

People are disappearing, and Piper is sure a sinister, otherworldly force is at play.

Add to that ghosts who show up out of thin air, warning her of a danger she won’t be able to outrun, and a freaking bevy of supernatural creatures hiding in the background, and Piper suddenly has her hands full. Especially when the new creatures aren’t demons, or ghosts and she has no idea how to deal with them.

Or whether or not they be good little monsters, or bad.

There is one man who has the knowledge she needs to survive but she can’t even count on him. Why? The bastard left town.

One thing is certain: a big bad demon’s come to town and Piper has to stop him—but she needs help to do it.

If only she could figure out whom to trust…

(END BLURB)

I’ve added Of Fire and Storm to my TBR. (For those who are new to the deal, I buy the Book Cover of the Month to read and review in the future. I buy all the winning covers. I’ve already bought August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January, and December’s book.

Here’s Swank’s Facebook page. Give it a like if you’re curious about her and her work.

The October Book Cover of the Month is coming along, and that contest will launch Nov. 1.

I will continue to identify and select covers for each day from Amazon’s New Release section for fantasy and science fiction. If you follow and like my Facebook page, you can see what covers will make the bracket.

Thanks for reading

Matt