Title: The Thunderstone (The Houses of Storem #1)
Author: Pj Belanger
Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
Empowered by jewels with various magical qualities – wizards, gemnuns, gemmonks and sapphires – along with the Lords they serve, combine to make up the HOUSES OF STOREM, inhabited by dwarfs, icelanders, elves, catpeople and hillpeople who must unite against the evil ONYX KINGDOM.
It is an adventure that finds an odd group of travelers trying to save the life of a wounded girl who is being pursued by trolls, ogres, pirates, hurks and histians – up rivers, through magical forests and mystical wizard towers, all because she may be the key to preventing the evil one from taking over the DIAMOND KINGDOM.
Don’t miss this, the first in a series that brings Birl, Eauxsage, Hadden, Chellie, Nugs and Tem together for the first time.
The Thunderstone was an intriguing epic fantasy novel with an important role for jewels with magical qualities. I liked the whole jewel thing, I’d never read anything of the sort before, so it was an original spin to the regular fantasy concepts. The book is fast-paced from start to end, following a group of travelers who try to save the life of a wounded girl being pursued by trolls, ogres, pirates, and lots more. The pacing never slows down, and it kept me on the edge of my seat.
We slowly get the background info on the world, and the Onyx Kingdom and Diamond Kingdom. There are no info-dumps, instead the information is revealed gradually.
Birl, aforementioned wounded girl being pursued by just about everything wicked out there, is an intriguing character. She has a sparkly personality, and was easily my favorite character. The other characters in the group of travellers were intriguing too, and they each had a different personality, background story, and were complex enough to be entertaining. The characters were also quite original, not your standard fantasy cast. Tem was probably my second favorite character – I liked his laid back personality.
The prose is clear, and the descriptions are short and to the point. An original epic fantasy recommended to all fans of the genre. I look forward to reading the second book in the series.
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