Friday, April 15, 2011

A Ranger's Tale - Book review

Hi peeps!

After my first author interview, I've decided to get on my first book review.


Disclaimer:  In my reviews, I am honest. It’s also all about MY personal preference. Just because I like/hate a book, it doesn’t mean that everyone else will too. Take this as what it is. A personal opinion. 


I’ve waited for a whole month until the united forces of the US postal service and the Romanian post bought “ A Ranger's Tale ” by Mysti Parker to my door (well, actually my mailbox, eleven floors below).
I was very excited to get reading and see what it was like. I was swept away after the first couple of pages.

Caliphany Aranea is a blonde bomb-shell, bad-ass fire mage, getting ready for her dissertation. But she wants more from her life than take her strict and famous father’s place as the next top scholar. She dreams of travel and adventure.

Galadin Trudeaux (awesome name, btw) is a ranger, ship captain and former pirate. He saves Caliphany from an attempted kidnapping and falls in love with her on the spot.

Their journey together begins when Caliphany pays him to train her in the ways of the rangers. What follows is a lightning romance, adventures, travels and a fast marriage.

Caliphany tries to bring her two lives together, but before she can even introduce her new husband to her family, tragedy strikes.

With a child on the way, Caliphany joins the L.I.O and seeks solace in her old flame, Jayden.

I won’t say more on the subject – all the twists and turns are worth reading and finding out.

I honestly didn’t expect to love this book so much. I expected to enjoy it, but not to like…love it. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt sad that a book is ending.

What I liked most about the book was how easily Mysti built the world around her characters – from names of places, months, and plants, everything felt as though it should be there, has been there all along, and will always be there. The description is not overwhelming, but enough to paint a vivid picture.

The characters are well developed, three dimensional and they grow on you. The fact that both Jayden and Galadin are decent men, both with their flaws, makes Caliphany’s struggle even more heart breaking and her suffering is well portrayed.

The romance is good. It was a little head-turning until Cali and Galadin got together, but afterwards, all flowed nicely. There’s some hotness in there as well. Nicely done, may I add. Not too graphic, not too tame, just enough to get the idea across and the heart racing.

The support characters are also very well done – the world is lively and natural and I guess that’s what drew me in the most.

Now, for my personal grades for this book:

Atmosphere – 5/5

Characters – 5/5

Setting – 5/5

Romance – 4/5

Plot – 4/5

Side plots – 5/5

World building – 5/5

Entertainment value – 5/5

So, that’s a total of…4.9 I think – which is like… Wow! Congrats, Mysti. I’m a picky reader :p

Would I recommend it? Of course. This is one of the books that I’ll most definitely pick off the shelf and read again. So, if you haven’t already, pick up a copy of A Rangers Tale and join the magic.

10 comments:

  1. Great review! I'll have to buy it now. I'm a long time fan of fantasy roleplay and this sounds like something I might can add to my collection. :)

    Thanks!

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  2. Stefanie,

    Thank you for such a lovely review!

    Mysti

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  3. Great Review!!!
    This is going on twitter by the way. :)

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  4. Great! Mysti deserves that the word goes out! :)

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  5. Interviews...now Book Reviews...you're really changing it up, Stef! Book sounds interesting.

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  6. Lol, don't worry Tiph, I'll pester you all with more of my babble in no time. I'm going home and I'll have access to one of my first ever drafts :D That will be fun.

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  7. Awesome review. If I hadn't read the book already, I would read it again based on your post!

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  8. Thanks for the lovely comments, everyone!

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  9. Wow, great review. Will have to check that one out!

    Hugs,

    Rach

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