A young hero who must protect the land of his people from evil monsters trying to take over.
In the kingdom of Areya, humans, animals, and the magical creatures that inhabit the Eternal Forest have long coexisted peacefully, but now something is horribly wrong. A terrifying stream of monstrous creatures has begun to emerge from the secret depths of the earth, terrorizing all of Areya's native inhabitants. From the tiny, wise drevalyankas to the bellicose cave-dwelling gnomes to the devious kikimoras who gather roots and herbs in the marsh, everyone is in danger.
With the aid of Urart, the magical sword that has been passed down from the time of the ancient northern ancestors, Grand Duke Vlady can offer temporary protection to his people. But Prince Vraigo, Vlady's nephew, who is endowed with magical power himself, understands that the source of the evil monsters must be found if there’s any hope of survival. Along with a motley crew of his forest-dwelling friends, Vraigo sets off on a perilous quest in search of the koschei, the powerful, corrupt Archmagus whose mission is the destruction not just of Areya, but of the entire world.
As if this weren't bad enough, Urart disappears from the duke’s stronghold. Without it, Areya is doomed, and only Vraigo, the White Raven, can possibly get the sword back. This journey requires Vraigo to use all of his keen wits and magical abilities, as well as to ally himself to dangerous creatures like yagas and werewolves, natural enemies of man, and precipitates the young prince into the most bewildering, complex challenge he has faced yet: life in the twenty-first century.
My Review:
This was a really great book, great characters, a wonderful world where bad things are happening, and a hero that we can care for, and then the modern world, that section of the book was hilarious! Really enjoyed it a lot!
So this book was a lot of fun! I mean, there's all these strange words and it is a fantasy novel, but it's also more then that, and yeah, that was really fun to read about! There was so much more to this book, though! So awesome!
As a fantasy novel, it had a rich, awesome world, that's threatened, and then when you add in coming to the now, in our world, well, that just showed how different the worlds were, in how the characters had to navigate our world! Loved!
Also Loved how the lines between good and evil got smudged, because to defeat a bigger threat, the good guys teamed up with a minor baddie. The moral lines are there, but the enemy of my enemy who is also my enemy is my frienemy.
This is apparently the first in the trilogy, and yeah, it kicked off a pretty great series!
Author: Irina Lopatina
Series: White Raven #1
Read: August 16th, 2012
Source: TLC Book Tours Review Copy
Reason Why: Sounded like a great book!
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Published: May 15th 2012
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 4/5 Books |
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| 4/5 Stars |
Irina Lopatina lives and works in Siberia, Russia, but her homeland has an even more wonderful and exotic name: Altai. It is a unique place where old Altai Mountains rise high up to the sky, centuries-old forests stretch out as in ages past, and mighty Siberian rivers flow along the plains. Altai is one of the few places in the world where huge, densely populated cities coexist with pristine wild places. Moreover, this is an area of the earliest human civilizations, through which the great migration of people from eastern lands to Europe once took place.
While studying at the Altai State University, Irina devoted much attention to the past of her native land. As a student, she went to the archaeological sites of ancient settlements located on the mountain plateau, where it was only possible to arrive on foot. She remembers moments when it was quite easy to imagine how the ancient people had lived, what creatures neighbored them, and what adventures took place in these vast spaces. Irina needed take only a small leap from there to White Raven, his friends, and his enemies who were ready to begin a journey through the Eternal Forest of Areya.
Of course, it would have been much more difficult for her to create her stories if Irina had not been inspired early on by the works of many excellent fantasy and science fiction writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and Ursula Le Guin, the Russian authors Nick Perumov and Svyatoslav Loginov, as well as the wonderfully charming Russian fairy tales where a brave prince, his faithful grey wolf and the evil koschei always live. And so it happens that Irina’s novels are the stories of a distant, semi-fantastic land which, who knows, may still exist next door to us.
White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors is Irina's debut novel.
Contact and Buy AKA Links:
Stops on the Tour:
Monday, July 30th: Just Joanna
Thursday, August 2nd: Books Without Any Pictures
Friday, August 3rd: Geek Banter
Monday, August 13th: Imaginary Reads – review
Tuesday, August 14th: Book Spark
Wednesday, August 15th: The Written World
Wednesday, August 15th: Reading Reality– review
Wednesday, August 15th: Reading Reality – interview
Thursday, August 16th: Sarah Says Read
Friday, August 17th: Imaginary Reads – interview
Friday, August 17th: Words I Write Crazy
Monday, August 20th: Hooked on Books – interview
Wednesday, September 12th: Laura’s Reviews
Thanks for being a part of the TLC Book Tour.
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