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THE VANISHING

THE END OF TIME CHRONICLES (VOLUME 1)

Readers who share the novel’s views will welcome this apocalypse.

The Jannusches’ novel, the first in the End of Time Chronicles, explores life after the rapture.

The husband and wife authors urge readers to be prepared for what is sure to come: The fulfillment of a biblical prophecy of apocalypse. “It isn’t a matter of if, but a matter of when,” the epigraph states. The novel has a captivating beginning, as Alexander Mancini, aka Lex Baxter, runs from the police in a stolen car. He’s been known to charm his way out of trouble, and after he meets an elderly Irish couple, Dorothy and John O’Malley, he’s ready to keep it up. But just as John is probing Lex’s background, the O’Malleys are “raptured.” The rest of the novel follows Lex and a cast of unique characters as they struggle through the aftermath of what has become known as “the vanishings.” Readers will be intrigued by the characters’ divergent paths that cross amid the post-apocalyptic chaos, while the people of Earth consider their connection to God. The clear but basic prose doesn’t particularly help heighten the story’s suspense or emotional effects as the writing does in, say, the Left Behind series, and when introducing characters, the authors jump a bit too quickly to physical descriptions and piling on back story. The novel also takes a strong political stance: “For the first time ever, a Non-American born, Muslim President had risen to power, on a platform promising change and moving forward in history….[T]he changes the new President planned to bring would ultimately be fatal to the country that he loved so dearly.” (The story takes place just as “the President had started his second term.”) Despite the action and ample suspense, some readers may struggle to reconcile the strong political and religious views of the book, which the authors seem to conflate.

Readers who share the novel’s views will welcome this apocalypse.

Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2012

ISBN: 978-1478368144

Page Count: 234

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2012

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FOURTH WING

From the Empyrean series , Vol. 1

Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.

On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.

Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.

Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.

Pub Date: May 2, 2023

ISBN: 9781649374042

Page Count: 528

Publisher: Red Tower

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024

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IRON FLAME

From the Empyrean series , Vol. 2

Unrelenting, and not in a good way.

A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.

Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.

Unrelenting, and not in a good way.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023

ISBN: 9781649374172

Page Count: 640

Publisher: Red Tower

Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024

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