Inherited Danger by Brian Rathbone

The Dawning of Power trilogy is getting better with each book.  Brian Rathbone is a very skilled author and develops the characters wonderfully.

Catrin Volker is the heroine and becomes bigger than life.  She struggles with the cards that she has been dealt, and that is mostly with moral issues.  Should she risk the lives of her friends and family?  Should she risk the lives of total strangers?  Should she do what she has set out to do?  She has her protectors; her cousin Chase, friends Osbourne and Strom, and her surrogate father Benjin Hawk.

She makes the journey to the Greatland in search of answers.  Is she really the Herald of Istra?  Can she control these powers that she is conflicted with?  Will Benjin stay at her side?  Will she ever see her father again?

Catrin finds out much more than she ever reckoned she would when she makes it to the Greatland.  She finds out more of her mother and her father, and how Benjin played a part in it all.

The story is a mixture of Hunger Games and Lord of the Rings.  There is a heroine, with magic and swords and special journeys that only the main character can complete with the assistance of her protector.  Catrin is much like Frodo, and Benjin is muck like Sam.  Catrin is much like Katniss and Benjin is much like Haymitch.  Both Frodo and Katnis are on a journey, like Catrin.  Both Sam and Haymitch are there to protect, much like Benjin.

I am excited to see where this story ends.  I have already begun to read Dragon's Ore, and am excited by the title.

Inherited Danger by Brian Rathbone

Rating: 4/5

The Gift by Bryan Litfin

First off let me apologize for being a little lax in my reviewing lately.  Since my last post on July 15 my wife and I have had our second little girl.  She was born on July 16 and is healthy and mom and baby are doing great.

Onto the review of the second book in the Chiveis Trilogy.  This book, much like the first in the series (The Sword), took me to a time where swords and not guns were the weapon of choice.  Horses were ridden and cars were just the rusty motorized carriages that littered the landscape.

Well Teo and Ana are exiled from their homeland because they will not renounce their God, who is know as Deu.  This story begins as they arrive over the mountain in the Beyond, and come in to a group of soldiers where Teo is employed as a mercenary.  A bit of a downgrade from his well respected title of Captain in Chiveis.  He is employed due to the ability that he has to wield a sword, and wield it he does.

Ana, on the other hand, comes to be befriended by some very wealthy ladies in the country and begins to struggle with moral issues, since there is s definite lack of morality in the country.  She is pursued by a Dojh (or prince/king) and Teo comes to the rescue, as the Dojh attempts to force Ana's hand in marriage.

The pursuit of the New Testament is the main story in this tale.  There are many other sub-plots that are mixed in for good measure.  Some seemed to drag along and others seemed to flow effortlessly.  Many of the new characters are very endearing and others make you want to jump inot the book and take them on yourself.

I am going to rate this a touch lower than The Sword, but still very much worth a read.

The Gift by Bryan Litfin

Rating: 3.5/5