Book review - The Blood within the Stone by T.R. Thompson






The Blood within the Stone

If you have read this book please consider leaving a review of it. Honest and fair reviews help readers decide on whether a book will appeal to them or not, and can help authors get seen and obtain book sales.

Book details:

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Odyssey Books (22 July 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1922200824
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1922200822

Please support the auhtor, their Amazon page is TR Thompson
Their Twitter profile is: @TheWraithCycle

<Note I placed an abridged version of this review on the book's Amazon page.>


Disclaimer - I follow this author's account on Twitter,  their publicist contacted me and offered to send an electronic copy of the book to me for review. I however preferred to purchase a copy myself as I like to support fellow authors. (I write non-fiction books about cybercrime so I shall refer to myself as an author even though my work is nowhere as cool as this guy's is!). I purchased the Kindle version of this book. I prefer hard copies of books, (as in real paper), however I wanted to read it immediately and was too impatient to wait for the book to arrive in the post.

I give this book 5 out of 5 bats, it grabbed my attention from the very first paragraph of Part One, and I felt I was there watching the action, smelling the air, and feeling the flames of torches.  The introductory paragraph of the book grabs attention with its colourful descriptive prose, which, as it described a lone guard standing in a breezless night, was slightly eerie and promising of epic adventures.  

This is the first novel of the Wraith Cycle, and I found it to be a delightful journey into a dark fantasy world that is guaranteed to entice all readers of fantasy and archaic adventures.  The story follows the young thief, Wilt who is working for the Grey Guild, (love a story with guilds, reminds me of MMORPG, so it appeals to me as a gamer straight away!) and whose first job in this thieves guild goes very awry.  This young thief, who later finds out he is more than he or anyone else originally believed, and in company of friends as well as dubious allies and potential threats,  reminds me of a combination of the classic stories by Charles Dickens, such as Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, albeit set in a magical world of mystery and darkness.

The balance between description and action is just right, and the book absorbs the reader into the exciting narrative. I highly recommend this novel to all who like to read adventure, mystery and fantasy.


(c) empressbat.blogspot.com 2011-2021

Book review - This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayronn





This Poison Heart


If you have read this book please consider leaving a review of it. Honest and fair reviews help readers decide on whether a book will appeal to them or not, and can help authors get seen and obtain book sales.

Book details
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury YA (2 July 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1526632799
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1526632791



Please support the auhtor, their Amazon page is Kalynn Bayronn Amazon page


<Note I placed an abridged version of this review on the book's Amazon page.>

I give this book 5 out of 5 bats, it is a beautiful book,with well crafted narrative and three dimensional chracters. It is published as a book for young adults, however it can equally be enjoyed by ... the not so young adults.

The book houses a story of mysteries blending Greek mythology, fantasy, witches a mysterious garden, with the story of a young lady called Briseis who was adopted by her Mums who run a florists store and are struggling financially. Briseis has more than a green thumb, and her extraordinary powers with plants and her immunity to the poisonous ones, makes her stressed and unable to enjoy friendships. She inherits a sprawling mansion, complete with an apothecary shop, and all sorts of strange and wondrous things unfold.

It was a great COVID 'lockdown read'. Mine was in an Owl crate subscription box, and the cover art was glorious.


I give this book five out of five bats.

The book can be purchased in a variety of formats from Amazon USA via this link: Amazon USA this poison heart
The book can be purchased in a variety of formats from Amazon Australia via this link
Amazon Australua this poison heart

(c) empressbat.blogspot.com 2011-2021