Review- Accord of Fire by Kevin McLaughlin

Accord of Fire on Goodreads

REVIEW: 

I got this book for free as part of the author's newsletter subscription. Now I'm not much into science fiction, but because this is a super short story and because it was free, I thought of giving it a try. While the book was extremely well-written and had me wanting to know more, it wasn't all that interesting.

Captain Nicholas Stein doesn't consider himself to be a "hero" in any way, but whatever he manages to do in this 18 page story is nothing less than heroic. Somehow, while this main character in the story was really cool and well-developed; the plot had me lost, which is disappointing, because how difficult is it to understand a 18 page story? I wish the plot was slightly more concrete and developed.

Having said that, however, I do know and understand that this is only a prequel and there's a whole series on Captain Nicholas Stein, which I'm quite sure must be super interesting. If I ever get the opportunity, I'd love to give it a shot just to know more. For the time being, however, Accord of Fire was a nice read.

Review- The Raven and the Rose by Kevin McLaughlin

The Raven and the Rose on Goodreads

 BOOK SUMMARY:

"Northshield University was never, ever boring. I nearly blew myself up facing the apparition in October. But I survived, and found my magic had grown in strength. The new power was exhilarating - and a little scary.

But I was about to get a lesson in the use of power, and in humility, and why power never, ever comes without responsibility. The story started with some missing roses, and got more weird from there..."


(This is a short story set between the novels "By Darkness Revealed" and "Ashes Ascendant".)

Release date: November 24th 2013

Published by: Role of the Hero Publishing

Page numbers: 22

REVIEW: 

I got a couple of free short stories just by being a newsletter subscriber of author Kevin McLaughlin. The Raven and the Rose is one of those stories, and because I love and believe in magic, this story was extremely interesting. In very few pages, the author manages to tell a really nice and unique story that's fun to read.

The Raven and the Rose is actually book number 1.5 of the Blackwell Magic series. Even though this book isn't a prequel to the series as such, I never felt that something was missing or that I wasn't getting it somehow. Everything flowed so smoothly even in book 1.5 that I felt like I was familiar with it even though I was reading the story for the very first time.

I liked this story much more than another story I read by the same author, so I'm definitely more curious about the Blackwell Magic series, which I'm sure must be super cool. Whether you read it as a short story or as book 1.5, I'd definitely recommend The Raven and the Rose because it's a short, interesting and very unique read that's fun as well.