Friday 31 July 2015

The Vanished Knight release day

Today, I'm excited to help Misha Gericke celebrate as she releases not one, but two books! Her debut novel, The Vanished Knight, has been relaunched along with Part 2 of the series, The Heir's Choice. I wish Misha all the best with this fantastic series. I was privileged to receive an ARC of The Vanished Knight, and below is the blurb and my review.


Blurb:

The entity living inside Callan’s soul orphaned her at age eleven. By the time she’s sixteen, it’s ensured her being shunted from one foster family to another. 

Her thirteenth foster assignment should be routine. Except... it's not. A psycho in medieval armor kidnaps her and she ends up in a magical world. There, she accidentally discovers a secret her parents had kept until the day they died. 

Both actually came from this magical world, but left before Callan was born. To cover their tracks, they’d lied about everything. Even who they really were. 

Driven to find out where she comes from, Callan’s trapped in a race for life and death. Walking away isn’t an option, but if she stays too long, the entity will find its next victim. 

In this world where secrets are sacrosanct and grudges are remembered, finding the truth will be near impossible. Especially when Callan has her own homicidal little secret to deal with. 

One with a taste for destroying her life.

My review:

The Vanished Knight is an epic fantasy tale that invites the reader to slip into another world, one of castles and power struggles. Callan is an admirable heroine, who has been shunted between foster homes her whole life thanks to a mysterious darkness that lies within her. So I was rooting for her to find some answers in this world she knows nothing about, but which might hold the key to her past. She's strong and capable, but with a very vulnerable side too. I felt bad for her, as she can never stay in one place very long for fear of hurting those around her.

Every character in this book felt just as well developed as Callan - and even the less likeable ones, like Darrion and James, were intriguing to spend time with. Gerrick slowly builds up a picture of a complex and developed society, but it never feels obtrusive or like an information overload. With a few well-placed details, she creates a world that feels tangible, real and dangerous. Along with Callan's quest to find herself, the other key point of the plot is the quest to find the titular vanished knight, who is the heir to Nordaine's kingdom. These two strands kept the action moving forward, and I can't wait to find out more in Book 2, which Gerrick was considerate enough to release on the same day. Speaking of action, there are a good few exciting fight scenes thrown in, but the author doesn't go overboard on gory details.

All in all, an engaging and fast-paced novel which I highly recommend.

Purchase links for The Vanished Knight:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / B&N / Kobo / iTunes / Add to Goodreads

The Heir's Choice:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / B&N / Kobo / iTunes / Add to Goodreads

Congrats, Misha! I hope everyone has a great weekend.

18 comments:

JeffO said...

Sounds like a fun story--best of luck, Misha!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

She'll appreciate that review. World building at that level is not easy.

Blogoratti said...

Good stuff and best wishes to her!

Misha Gerrick said...

Thanks so much for your awesome review. :-)

betty said...

Seems like an interesting plot; wishing Misha much success with both books!

betty

Loni Townsend said...

Great review! I'm looking forward to digging into these two. :)

diedre Knight said...

Wow! A compelling blurb for what promises to be a fascinating story! Best wishes, Misha!
Nice review, Nick! It further enhances the allure without spilling too many beans! :-)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to Misha. I've seen the books floating around the blogs this week.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful review. I've been seeing Misha everywhere. Her book looks fantastic.

Stephanie Faris said...

I'm seeing this one everywhere. Congrats to Misha!!!

Julie Flanders said...

Yay for Misha! Enjoyed your review, Nick. The book sounds awesome.

Shannon Lawrence said...

These sound action packed and intriguing! Congratulations to her!

Misha Gerrick said...

Thanks so much for the nice comments, everyone! :-)

Bish Denham said...

Great review, Nick. Makes me want to read her books even more. So excited for Misha!

Emily R. King said...

Huge congrats to Misha!

Mark said...

Looks rad! I want to read it:)

cleemckenzie said...

I'll wish Misha the best again! She's done a great job launching her book.

Mark Koopmans said...

It's been great to see Misha's books (!!) being reviewed and mentioned by a lot of people these past few days :)

Wishing her all the best, and hey Nick, you have a *great* day, too, y'hear!

(It's always funny to hear a Dubliner try to do a Texan twang :)