The Lodestone Trilogy by Mark Whiteway

                                         


Genre:  Sci- Fi

Published: December 20th 2011 by Mark Whiteway

Rating: 4 stars


Synopsis:

On a distant planet ruled by a brutal tyrant, an alien girl comes to the aid of a stranger and is plunged into the midst of a titanic struggle that will decide the fate of her world.

For the first time in a single volume, this limited edition version includes all three books of the first Lodestone story arc, including a revised and updated version of Book One, a unique cover featuring a scene from the second book, and a special chapter navigation system. The combined 360,000 word epic is available for a limited period only.

Lose yourself in the astounding world of Kelanni!

MY REVIEW:

At the beginning, I wasn't sure about my choice, mainly because it was a trilogy and it was long. Sometimes I like to take a brief moment between one book and the other so I thought it was going to be boring but it wasn't whatsoever!

The first 2 chapters were hard to read, I admit it, there were so many new names and artifacts that several times I had to ask , 'what did this mean?' and found myself going back to the previous pages often, but after that little inconvenient, I found it fascinating.

The world Mark Whiteway created is unique and mesmerizing. The books have tons of action, no time to get bored. It's a fast paced story but not for lack of details, on the contrary, everything is perfectly explained. The plot is rich and the characters are fantastically developed.

"The key to defeating a tyrant -any tyrant- is to understand the source of their power. Once you do that, you can manipulate it; even use their own power against them"

All the story goes around schemes and lies comitted and said at the behest of the Unan- Chinneroth, or simply "The Prophet", which slaves people called "tributes" to keep the Lodestone supply.

What is lodestone? A desired material with many impressive properties.
Why do "The prophet" needs it? Read the books and find out! lol

The trilogy is totally based on physical principles but certainly it requieres imagination. And it's great to see the use of physics as a door to a magical world. (believe me, I hate physics, but reading this made it sound appealing)

As Nathaniel Hawthorne said: "Easy reading is damn hard writing" .

BOOK 1

Spins around five main characters: Lyall, Shann, Alondo, Keris and Boxx. All of them with opposite and varied personalities and different background.

Shann is a determined and brave girl whose parents were taken as tributes and desperately wants to see them again.(no spoiler here, that information is released early in the book)

Lyall is also brave and the leader of the group but he is always haunted by his past.

Alondo is at the same time, the heart and the brain of the group. Extremely clever and so caring and carefree.

Keris is a smart and sharp woman whose beliefs were totally changed after some specific event I can't reveal without writing a spoiler so...

Boxx is a Chandara. It's both cute and wise and the bonding between it and Keris is amazing.

This peculiar group begin a journey to achieve the Kellani's well being. The first book consists in their adventures to cross the Barrier of Storms in the Aronak Sea.

BOOK 2:

When I thought the story couldn't get better, I started the second book and I was immediately hooked. Again marvelled by an advanced and wonderful world the author created.
New adventures awaiting. The second book is about what lays beyond the barrier.
I don't know how to review this without giving away much of the first book but...
Here appear other important characters such as Rael and McCann. We learn a lot of the Chandara's history. It's a quest to find the four components that Annata told them, to build a device that will destroy The Prophet's weapon. Personally that was my favourite part of the books and didn't wanna drop it.
The end of book two... what a cliffhanger! No way to stop the reading at this point.

BOOK 3:

It begins a little slow for my taste. After an impressive final for book 2, I was expecting more. But then it gets truly better.
Likewise there are new alliances made and some broken, we discover long expected truths, about who The Prophet is, what are his motives and also about the "mysterious" destruction of the Chandara Forest.
We get to know McCann from a different perspective. And find out that not everything is black and white as it was pictured in the previous books. There is a huge turn of events, there is a lot of betrayal and at some point you really wonder where the characters loyalty lays. A lot of suspense!

To sum up: many details and a clever plot combined with excellent writing skills. The end is up to a very good trilogy. Though I heard there is a fourth book coming up! Looking forward to reading it!
I would totally recommend this books!