Nightmasters (Doubles Talk, #1) by Loran Holt
Release: June 30th 2020
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Source: RABT Book Tours
Find it at: Amazon || Barnes and Noble || Kobo
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Kelgan Defthand is the top dog at the Academy of Magic where he is Senior Apprentice Mage. Compared to his peers, he’s faster, more skillful, and well aware of it. But when he hears fearful voices in the night, his confidence is shaken. Adding to his worries, Kelgan goes to the headmaster, Sargal’s presence. It looks like he’s really in trouble. But to his bewilderment, he finds he’s put on a “mission” with two very hostile-seeming aristocratic twins. Upon embarking on this mission, Kelgan soon realizes the world outside the cloistered Academy is a bit different than he imagined.
First of all, there seems to be women doing magic! Secondly, he’s not the only one hearing voices. Following a strange compulsion, Kelgan and the Di Nerrills find themselves seeking out the source of the voices, hoping to put an end to it. The fateful journey tests Kelgan’s underdeveloped skills to the limit, and could come at an unbearable cost to both to him and his companions. Once Kelgan accepts the challenge of Magehood, there’s no going back.
About the Author:
Recently retired from a job as a university professor, and looking for a diversion in sunny Southern California, Loran Holt did what any Southern California does – took up writing, of course. Feeling that sword and sorcery fitted her personality admirably, she set her sights on that genre.
Nightmasters is the result, and her first work of published fiction, but she is already the published author of two books on the Silent Film era, with a third on the way.
Nightmasters Review:
It’s been a while since I read an epic fantasy, and this book does not disappoint! The storyline is unpredictable where you really don’t know which direction it is going. The characters do not know their own mission nor who the villain is until the end, which makes the story very interesting.
The author did a wonderful job for a debut novel. What I truly loved about the story was Cal’s integration with the plot. When Cal enters the story, his story-line doesn’t fit at all. But the author beautifully blended his story-line to the plot in an unexpected manner. Also, I love Cal! He is funny, adventurous and my favorite character!
I also really liked Kelgan’s character development. I loved his transition from being alone and sheltered, to forming friends and family over the course of his adventure. The author progresses the 4 story-lines very nicely and merges them midway. I also enjoyed Piper and his dialogues with Kelgan! I hope he is more prominent in the following books. Even the supporting characters like the Di Nerrills, Bethne, Daliane, and Pellerin are interesting in their own way.
I did not give this a 5 star rating for a few reasons. Firstly, I felt the book was a bit slow and repetitious at certain areas. The author repeatedly highlights how Kelgan lacks self-confidence even though everyone motivates him. Even in the first half, the dialogues between Ezrael and Bethne repeat during their journey to find Pellerin. Also, I felt the story primarily focused on Kelgan in the second half, pushing all the others like Daliane to the back burner.
Apart from that, I could not put this book down and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a very interesting start to the series and intrigued to see how it continues.
