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Book Cover |
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Excerpt |
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Cariad
breathed deeply.
She flexed her fingers, and
placed her hands flat on Baldric’s chest. She felt his heartbeat,
a rapid faint percussion. The silk of his robe was cool against
her palms, which felt sensitive and oddly hot, as if she had
lowered them too close to a flame.
She closed her eyes, narrowing
her mind to a pinpoint of concentration, banishing the world
around her until there was nothing in it but herself and Baldric,
her outstretched arms and steady rhythm of his blood. Gathering
her Gift, she sent it out like a lancet, piercing the barrier
of cloth and skin, slipping past the network of bone, probing
deep into flesh and muscle until she found the pulsing heart.
It was like laying a hand against the edge of a turning wheel.
His body resisted, even as it yielded to the pressure she brought
to bear. His heart slowed, and his blood with it.
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Synopsis |
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Bron stole the Stone thirty years
ago and has not been seen since. His daughter, Cariad, an empath
and assassin, is assigned to enter the Fortress of the Guardians
looking for Konstant, an agent who hasn’t made contact with
lately. Konstant was assigned to enter the Guardian fortress
in the guise of a Roundhead. In doing so, he soon gains the trust
of Jolyon, the Roundhead that was the enemy of Bron, and now
is the head of the Reddened, a ruthless faction of the Arm of
the Stone. He is given the assignment to search
for Bron in the other world.
He travels to this new dimension,
which appears to be the one we live in, and finally finds Bron…as
he is dying from all of the poison in our world. Bron heals him
and Konstant tells him of the moves the Jolyon is making back
in their world and how Jolyon is trying to become the Prior.
Bron refuses to go back and help his world. Meanwhile, Caraid
has infiltrated the Guardian fortress and finds that Konstant
is long gone.
She finally figures out where he has gone and since
her mission in the fortress is over, decides to kill Jolyon.
Unfortunately, Jolyon is more powerful then she imagined and
she is caught and thrown into a cell that neutralizes all of
her powers.
The Garden of the Stone is the sequel to
The Arm
of the Stone. It takes place thirty years after the end of the
first book. It is a fantasy tale of a dark world that is ruled
by a military-like faction that does not let any advances in Handpower occur…thereby keeping the world in a state of
extremely slow progress. But Mindpower rules this world, with
most of the talented becoming Guardians. But since the Stone
was stolen, the two new resistance groups have formed and are
becoming more and more powerful.
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Review |
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I waited a long time for The Garden of the Stone to come out. I really liked the first book and had high
hopes for this one. Plus, the praise on the back of the book
was by two of my favorite authors. But as I read the story, I
did not find myself bonding with either Caraid or Konstant, the
main characters. I really didn’t care for either of them.
Although, over time I did get to like them a little, I didn’t
find either of them very likeable characters. And Bron doesn’t
really play a very large part of this story.
I also had a couple
of problems with the storytelling. First…it was extremely
slow. Very little action, except for 20 pages near the end of
the story, caused me not to get really involved with the story.
Secondly, I found this to be what I call a “descriptive”
story. Most of the story is a description. There is very little
talking in this story by the character. Personally, I like a
lot of talking. For these two reasons, I struggled to read this
story.
I hope that if there is a third book in this series that
it moves along a little faster and is not so descriptive.
I rated this book a 5 out of
10. |
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