Peace has reigned in Cruachan since Seamus, the first High King, united the three kingdoms into a Confederation and, with the assistance of the dwarfs from the Sawtooth Mountains in the north and the elves from the Tangled Woods in the east, drove the occupying Northmen from the island nation. Yet there is an undercurrent of unrest. Some Cruachanians fought for independence, thinking that the hereditary system of government with its shire chieftains and provincial kings would be replaced by a republic. Others, who profited handsomely under the occupiers, still dream of yesteryears' wealth. In Book #1 of The Chronicles of Padraig, the teenage son of a blacksmith, has been blessed as an adept. Having no interest in attending the Academy for the Spiritually Gifted to hone his talent and become a wizard, Padraig plans on following in his father's footsteps. However, three seemingly disparate events may cause him to rethink his future. A Northman assassin washes up on the beach below a fortress that the High King is visiting in the Kingdom of the Western Shires. A blacksmith is murdered in the Central Federal Region. And, in the Kingdom of the Northern Shires, the High King's son is kidnapped. Now the young adept must use both his wits and his unpolished gift to put the pieces of the puzzle together in order to solve the murder of his fellow blacksmith, thwart the kidnappers, and save the Confederation."
I received this book for free from Author Gifted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Find the Author: Website, Goodreads
Welcome my pretties to day 3 of our Blood Good Reviews. Yup, you guessed it, another five star review. Today however, it is not bloody or paranormal. No today I take you on a trip to a land where wizards and magic exist. Where a simple farrier has the power to change the world.
Padraig, the son of a farrier, and therefore a farrier in training is living his life with his two best friends, the son of the king and his soul mate, the daughter of the count and countess of the country. Soon however Padraig is faced with saving himself from the a supernatural being who prays on men. In saving himself Padraig also makes a friend who will stop at nothing to make sure that her young farrier is safe. Padraig knew that this was not an event that should be publicized and so he kept it quiet from his father, who had his own secrets from his son. Big secrets, secrets that change the future of not only their lives, but the lives of their friends, their region, and their country. So Padraig and his trusty prince started to travel around Cruachen shoeing the horses of the kindgom.
There is a lot I want to write about this book because it was lengthy, but there is a lot that really ties the beginning to the end and so by writing to much about the story line parts about the ending will become clear and I just can’t have that in my post. \/”””\/ What I can say is that this story talks about friendship, family, government affairs, the future of the country, the traitors that exist, and those that are imagined. Everything that makes a good fantasy novel great, this book has it.
This book is lengthy, I mean like 300 pages long, but it is worth it. There are only a couple of times that it gets a little slow, but for the most part it is a good, steady paced book. The writing was solid and the conversations were pretty on par for that age group and the socio-economic group that the teens and the adults were part of. I really enjoy that while this book has to do with magic and the overall ramifications of having magical powers, it is written in more of an every day kind of book, meaning that it isn’t all about magic but the story of two young men, and their young girl friend and what happens in the course of a couple of months.
Here is the thing that I like the best. The first 10 pages are dedicated to the language, the culture, the calendar, and the nuances of the culture and heritage that makes up Cruachan. This book was not just thrown together, no the author took his time and made sure that the book and it’s residents were in a fully developed land. The only thing that I did not like is the title of the series. I don’t like it because it is shares something with the reader before that event is in the book, in fact not even in the same book.
About Bill Stackhouse
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Mystery writer, playwright, and part-time actor Bill Stackhouse has a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan, and a Masters Degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
At Ford Motor Company and later, as Director of Quality Assurance & Training at a large automotive parts supplier, Bill became involved in the development of instructional manuals and training films. In the throes of a mid-life crisis, he decided to pursue the most enjoyable aspect of his job on a full-time basis—writing.
Bill's scriptwriting credits include training films and promotional videos for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to name a few. He has also written numerous radio and TV commercials.
Branching out from technical writing into the arts, four of Bill's seven stage plays (The Best Laid Plans, The Early Bird, To Serve and Protect, and A Tradition of Service) have won contests—a local, a statewide, a regional, and a national.
In addition to playwriting, Bill has directed many productions for various community theatres. For a very brief time, he even had a theatre company of his own.
After filling his gas tank at a truck stop on I-65, Bill entered the station and slipped on the wet floor. While in a dazed state, he thought he heard the ghost of John Barrymore say, "If you offer it, they will come." Thinking that the late, great actor was referring to theatre, Bill promptly formed Road Show with the Vagabond Players and set out to tour six mid-size cities in Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee.
Following an initial 5-play season, with meager attendance and a debt of many, many dollars, RSVP folded. Only then did Bill realize that the voice he had heard was not that of John Barrymore's ghost, but of Bubba Barrymore, the fry-cook at the truck stop. Bubba, of course, had not been talking about theatre, but about tractor pulls and monster truck rallies.
Bill and his wife, Arlene, are retired in Florida where he continues to write mystery novels and stage plays (when it's raining and he can't play golf).
Only rarely does he wake up anymore in the middle of the night, haunted by the sound of one hand clapping
