Saturday, August 6, 2016

Hope Ann - Song of the Sword

Song of the Sword
Legends of Light


By Hope Ann


Available on Amazon






Product Description (from Amazon)
A glittering sword.
An ancient oath.
A blackened rose.
And a melody which ties it all together.

Evrard and Roinette, twins separated at birth, are caught in a battle beyond their own limited powers. With their ability to walk in the melody realm, catching glimpses of the light and darkness underlying Aslaria, comes even more danger.

Deadly mistbenders. Writhing walls of blankness. Hateful drumbeats. As a warrior in the Melody, Evrard has seen it all. But his own ability in the melody realm pales in comparison to the Prince’s melody, the legendary prowess of past Wingmasters, and even the depth of his sister’s song.

To rescue Roinette and evade the trap almost certainly set for him by those who want his power, Evrard knows he’ll have to be careful. Even if he can find the Wingmaster’s sword, there’s no assurance he’ll be able to defeat a mistbender on his own. In the end, will his and Roinette’s efforts matter if the Prince brings an ancient oath to fulfillment, shaking the very foundation of Aslaria?

Perfect for those who love fantasy, but don’t have the time to sit down for a full-length novel, this second novella in the Legends of Light series presents the story of Rapunzel as you have never read it before. A fantasy saturated story, with mist covered Shadowfens, ancient oaths, and a legendary sword, this is more than a mere retelling of a favorite fairy tale.

Each novella focuses on one of the nine aspects of the Fruit of the Spirit while also following the conflict between the Prince and Tauscher and retelling popular fairy tales in a clean, exciting, and inspiring manner.


About the Author (from Amazon)
Hope Ann is a Christian wordsmith, avid reader, and dedicated authoress. With the help of her resident realm leapers, Kirin and Elena, she loves to research published legends, like Lord of the Rings, as well as recount her own tales of undiscovered lands.

Her time is taken up with writing, reading, archery, knife throwing, playing with inspirational photos, helping care for the house and eight younger siblings, and generally enjoying the adventures of life on a small farm at the crossroads of America.

You can follow Hope, find out more about her realm leapers and join their Legend Seekers Guild at https://authorhopeann.com/

O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Kendra

I love fantasy, but there are two facets of fantasy that, done well, rise above all the others in my humble little opinion. Fairy tale retellings and Christian Fantasy. So when the two genres are combined, of course I want to read them.

The Legends of Light is a series of fairy tale retellings based on the Fruits of the Spirit. I haven't read the first book yet even though it's sitting on my kindle. (It's Beauty and the Beast and ... I don't know why, but that's the one fairy tale that I don't enjoy having retold) However, when the author revealed that the second book was a retelling of Rapunzel and focused on joy, I volunteered to review it at once.

I read it in one afternoon. Sure, it's a short book, but I've also been in a reading slump.

It's a very loose retelling of Rapunzel, choosing to take the core themes of the tale - singing, the tower, long hair - and weave it into a beautiful allegory infused with the central theme of joy. This story isn't a romance, instead it's the story of twins separated at birth.

Evrard is a wingmaster, a hereditary position of great power - he's the one man who can enter the Melody, a realm of spiritual warfare, and communicate with the Messenger Falcons. Which are sentient birds who fully exist in both the tangible world and Melody at the same time. However, he lacks the power of the wingmasters before him. Andrinian, the head of the Messenger Falcons, thinks it's because he has a twin.

Which he does. Roinette has been hidden away in a swamp since her childhood. Not necessarily in a tower, she can come and go as she wishes, but there is one nearby that she can retreat to for safety. When she enters Melody one day to find the battle raging between the Prince and Tauscher, she rescues and heals Andrinian, thus alerting them to her presence - for such is a power only possessed by the wingmaster family.

Though Evard has been skeptical of the twin theory up until this point, now that it has been confirmed, he resolves to do everything he can to reunite with her.

What follows is a fast-passed, twisting adventure imbued with rich truths. There were more than a few plot twists, though none were wild enough to blow my mind. The characters were engaging. My favorite was Punzel, Roinette's ... well, pet isn't the right word ... companion fen-hopper, which is a sort of winged cat. Which also talks.

This is an allegory, which I didn't know going into the book, but I quite liked that aspect of the story. It wasn't the most powerful I've ever read, but the book's focus was more on joy rather than salvation, so I can forgive that.

The worldbuilding was intriguing, though due to the condensed size of the book, I did feel lost at times. Perhaps I would have had a better idea if I had read the prequel, but I do feel that this story should have been a bit longer - though that's my only complaint.

This was an excellent book and I highly recommend it.


Genre/Theme: Fairy Tale Retelling, Christian Fantasy, 


Reading Level: 
CHILD - children's literature 
TEEN - upper elementary to middle school 
Profanity: 
NONE - no offensive language 
Sexuality: 
NONE - not even hinted at 
Other: 
There is fighting on physical and spiritual levels, but there aren't any details that would leave you with nightmares. 




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