Review, Giveaway, Book Sale, and more!

It's Black Friday Book Sale!!!!!!

And First Line Friday.

And giveaway time.

Yeah, a lot of great things! I'm gonna try to keep this post short. ;) Because after this, you'll have a lot of reading to do. I guarantee it!

I'm joining a whole group of Indie Christian Authors for a huge book sale! From November 24-30, a huge selection of discounted books is available at indiechristianbooks.com. You can also join the Indie Christian Authors for a week long Facebook party during the same dates.

As an added bonus, enter the giveaway and see what books you can win from Christian Indie Authors!

Specially for this weekend, I read and reviewed on of the Indie Author's books: Resistance by Jaye L. Knight. Here's the first line.

Okay, so maybe the first paragraph. It was too good to not include it all! ;)
Going to add this to the First Line Fridays group (which, if you've not heard of them and are a book blogger, the doors are open for anyone to tag along!)

This week, what Indie books do you like? 
What first Friday line do you have?
Or... what are you reading this weekend?

My Review

I have been eyeing this book for a couple of years now. If I judge it primarily for storyline, wow! But there is a hint too much fantasy for me. The whole half-human/half animal (half-Ryric)… if it were just a race mixture, it wouldn’t have been an issue, but it was emphasized that Ryrics are animals, not humans (even though they look human), which then brings the question about whether or not they have a soul—or if a half Ryric/human has a soul, since they do have some of the human race in them. Because this ventures a bit from Biblical principles, I found it disturbing. I did go into this book aware of this, though I did not fully know the extent of it. So, up front, this would be the one main qualm I have about this series.

Now, that’s over with. I liked the book as a medieval-type fantasy era. There was no magic in it, and it wasn’t a defined era (given the fantasy description). Because of that, I could shrug off some of the modern phraseology that I wouldn’t usually like in medieval fiction.

This was very well thought-out. I really did like all of the characters. There were tons of characters, but because of their uniqueness (between names and personalities), I didn’t find them confusing at all.

The storyline was great. It took me a while to get into the story, but once things got rolling, I enjoyed it. Some things were predictable, and it took a little while to figure out exactly what the plot of the book was, but overall, I ended it with really enjoying it.

Biblically speaking… this is where it’s difficult with fantasy. Because God is renamed as “the King” or “Elom,” it’s a little different (which, leads to the point that there isn’t a mention of Jesus Christ or the Gospel). There is no Scripture mentioned in this book (I understand that a future book in this series may cover that), just a lot of praying and following the King, doing Elom’s will, being placed in situations for Elom’s purposes. At the same time, there seemed to be just a general understanding of Biblical principles, but nothing really preached as “this is the way, the truth.” I realize, this is book one, so it may just be being established.

Romance was also very light. There is what I’d say friendship bonding and attraction between a few of the characters, but really nothing much. There are some scenes with heroic actions, but feelings aren’t exactly mentioned.

Because of the violence, a lot of sword-fighting, executions, tortures, and gruesome, evil plans mentioned, this would be better suited for older readers.

*I received this book from the author and happily provided my honest review*