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Saturday 8 June 2013

Here is the latest professional review of The Owners, Volume I : Alone


Book Review:
Fast paced and gripping, while vastly divergent from my normal fare, this story held my interest and kept me reading. The ambitious storyline tackled world-building and characters with equal success, providing references that were easy to relate to even as the plot seeks to carry you to places unknown.
For a debut novel, this book provided several high points: Capuano is a good storyteller with the ability to present her characters in a manner that instantly provides empathy or scorn. I’m still undecided if the alien language used, and depicted phonetically worked for me or simply made those passages more difficult to read. While it was cleverly presented, I’m not a huge fan, and much of my understanding of conversations was directly derived from the other context of the story.
There were a few moments where the underlying moral dilemmas presented by the action felt a bit heavy-handed, but the scope for further thought about the underlying question of what it means to be human, or have humanity are threaded into the tapestry of the plot, providing plenty of options for questions without the author’s overreach to provide simple one-dimensional answers. To her credit, Capuano manages to bring questions that young and old have pondered for ages, and provide enough information that everyone will draw their own conclusions in the many shades of grey within a moral choice.
This is a really good start to a series: enjoyable because of the dimensional layering of subtext and lack of reliance on more traditional fantasy / sci-fi tropes.
I received an eBook from the author for purpose of honest review for inclusion in children read week at I am Indeed. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

http://iam-indeed.com/2013/06/07/alone-the-owners-volume-1-by-carmen-capuano/

Here is the latest professional review for The Owners Volume II : Storm Clouds.


Book Review:
This book starts with an impending disaster in a familiar location: both are presented with clarity and the potential of possible. That sounds strange, but every event and emotion: realized and threatened, carry that sense that they could happen, and sometimes they do without warning.
Told with a more traditional style than book 1, Capuano manages to make each character come alive when it is most needed to infuse life, tension or emotional intensity into the plot, and this reads far less science-fiction and far more dystopian. While I won’t for a moment pretend to be well versed in either genre, the writing remains the constant pleasant surprise.
Here she has managed to present a story that stands apart from the first, while I don’t see the connection in storyline or world building, the connection shines brightly in the questions for and about humanity. Using a more “exampled” set of situations that model good and bad behaviors by the characters encountered in the story – the subtext still manages to provide a cohesive thread between the two books, and will keep many anxious for the third instalment.

http://iam-indeed.com/2013/06/07/storm-clouds-the-owners-volume-2-by-carmen-capuano/

Friday 7 June 2013

Goodness me! Almost at the end of Chapter 5 already.

If only I could type faster, I could have this book finished by next Thursday...the words are flying out of me. Here is another little bit... and if you haven't yet read The Owners, Volume I : Alone, Volume II : Storm Clouds and Volume III : Dark Side Of The Sun, you really don't know what you are missing. [You can find them on amazon at £1.99 for kindle]
Unwilling to face one more person, he had slunk off on his own, curious about how these other people lived. Only once had he turned round to ensure that no one followed him and it was then that he had seen the scene as only a true outsider could do.
Here is today's latest little snippet folks ....

The journey to the Lowlanders had not taken long but Eli felt as if every moment brought him closer to a place of enchantment. His eyes were assaulted with visions of vistas never seen before, rich glades where fern and other unknown plants grew, areas of scrub land and at one point, the remains of what he thought must once have been a town. Each and every piece of differing landscape was both unique and intriguing and he thought his mind must surely soon implode with all the new images he strived to store there.

Thursday 6 June 2013

The sun is shining and I'm optimistic...

but one thing I have learned in life, is never to put myself down...there are plenty of other folk more than willing to do that job for me!

If you are feeling low today, take some time out and think about the positives in your life. They are often the little things that we take so much for granted.

The pigeon is doing well and enjoying the sunshine which, is doing its very best to brighten the room. It's able to fly to the higher perches now, so I'm hoping it can be set free soon and I will get my space back!

Changes are underway still, slow but sure but wasn't there an old tale about that - something to do with the tortoise and the hare? I'll let you figure out which one I have always been and which one I am now striving to be.

I'll keep you posted ;)
The Owners Volume V : Eyon Rising

Right from the start these characters are pushing forward, demanding action, demanding changes. This is going to be a furiously paced book...you are going to have to work hard to catch up!

The Owners Volume V : Eyon Rising.


I am already onto Chapter 4, so here is the latest little bit :-



“What are they like Noah?”

“You’ll find out for yourself very soon, little bro’.” Noah grimaced as he put down the empty canister and removed the funnel from the neck of it, so that he could replace both the cap on the empty bottle and the one on the ark. The funnel was stained a dark browny-green colour and Eli tried to avert his eyes but found he couldn’t.

“Yes I know but…” he tailed off, desperate for advance information.

“Well they are just people same as…” Noah caught himself and what he was about to say. They were not the same as Eli. That was the whole point.
 
N.B. Volume IV has been delayed in getting to the proof readers as my eldest son was desperate to be the very first person other than myself to have read it. How could I say no? So sorry guys...but it will be out soon.
 
 
 

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Ok - are you ready for a little snippet of Volume V : Eyon Rising?

Well hold onto your hats 'cos everything is changing!! here it is :-




Ladders lined the trunk of every tree, drawing the eye upwards towards wooden shacks which nestled among the thick lower branches. Placed at the heart of the trees as they were, the homes seemed to be both an integral part of the tree and also alien to it, at one and the same time. New growth seemed to have spun an intricate web of branches around these treehouses, as if keen to bind them to the host tissue and integrate the inhabitants who resided within, into the living tree itself, so that it appeared symbiotic in effect.

Monday 3 June 2013

Here is another little bit of the brand new book, The Owners Volume V : Eyon Rising



Noah ignored the boy and bent to pick up the lone feather, his fingertips caressing the tantalising silky smooth fronds.

A pale quill, fluted by fine, fine strands of silk, the feather was not symmetrical, being wider on one side than the other. But it had a singular beauty. It seemed to catch the light just so, capturing that natural radiance and harnessing it for its own purpose; captivating it and using it to transform itself into a kaleidoscope of impossible colours and shades. Blues dazzled the eyes before muting into a shining silver that somehow morphed into a vibrant purple and then softened into a rose, becoming a darkly luxuriant emerald green.
My first day back at work!

I have started the new book.

Taken from the very first page of The Owners, Volume 5: Eyon Rising

There was a rustle of branches, a discharging of leaves which alighted on Noah’s head as he gazed up at the creature which flew towards him. Wings spread in a wide arc, Elijah was graceful in flight. But there was so much more than grace. There was a symmetry to his body and such a magnificent splendour to the plumage, that Noah could almost not help being envious. Once a dull grey, Eli’s feathers had developed a new iridescent hue which captivated the eye and lifted the heart.