Legacy of the wolven

[Dark Sentinel]

It's here. And it's FREE. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/80970

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Hey all,

If you want to keep up with all the goings-on about the growing MAVONDURI SAGA, help an old TDK Viral Veteran by visiting http://www.facebook.com/TheMavonduriTrilogy on Facebook and giving it a Like.

Thanks for all your support fellow Hype!sters, you're fricking awesome big things are on the way!


dark_sentinel

 

[Dark Sentinel]

"..will keep you turning the pages!!" Glenn G Thater

MATHION's first review from a BESTSELLING author!! http://www.amazon.com/review/R3U2BL...IN=B004NIFH8A&nodeID=133140011&tag=&linkCode=

 

[Dark Sentinel]

"This is the book Eragon should have been."

One of my earliest reviews.

Spoiler

Yeah, Paolini can suck it!! haha

 

[enterthemadness]

Hey, I can't send u a PM. But basically I'm reading your book after being busy. Plan on having it read by mid Sept or sooner.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Cool. You enjoying it?

By the way, I've started booking dates for my local book tour this school year. Excited! t:

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Tomorrows my birthday all. First birthday as a big-time published author hell yeah!!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

I've decided to not let this thread disappear from the first page of the Books & Music forum. I'm very proud of my debut novel and the reviews it's gotten so far, and it deserves to be shared with all of you on the Hype.

Please, if you love epic high fantasy (and werewolves!), check out my book and tell me what you think. Thanks guys!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

New 5-star review:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/199698798

 

[enterthemadness]

I'm on page 27. Trying to find more time to read it. I do like it so far. Hopefully I'll read more tonight or early morning. If this got made into movie, what would budget be? I say easily over 50 million.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

I'm on page 27. Trying to find more time to read it. I do like it so far. Hopefully I'll read more tonight or early morning. If this got made into movie, what would budget be? I say easily over 50 million.

Haha easily. But it HAS to be directed by Chris Nolan, and Liam Neeson HAS to play Azgharáth.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Full review from Goodreads:

It's rather quite strange just how refreshing this book feels in this day and age, because at its heart Mathion is very tradional in its story telling. I suppose it has to do with so many authors these days preferring to go down the alternative route.

The biggest praise I can give this book is its genuine depth, not an illusion of depth. In the introduction the author explains that he has been working on Mathion for a decade and it really does show in his story telling. Every city, every person, every nation in this book has its own well crafted history. Nothing feels simply made up on the spot,this has the feel of a historical novel such as Romance of the three kingdoms in spite of the fact all of it is completely made up.

The characters of Mathion are fresh and yet familiar, everything you expect from them can be found within the pages of this story, but at the same time the characters don't come off as stale. Mathion in particular is a great character and works well as the embodiment of what a main character of epic fantasy should be.

While I wouldn't want an entire bookshelf worth of "werewolf epics", this book really is something special and is without a doubt the best independent book that I have read.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Don't forget to check out the prequel to MATHION: BOOK ONE OF THE MAVONDURI TRILOGY, HRÉOKAI: THE RISE OF AZGHARÁTH, available FREE at Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/80970

Synopsis:
Set more than thirty thousand years before MATHION, this is the story of both the fall and rise of Azgharáth the Betrayer. Born to a family of nobles but treated as a pariah, Azgharáth begins to plot--and exact--revenge on his family. Pledging his allegiance to the malevolent demon Ak'horos, Azgharáth will wage a three thousand year war that will ravage his father's once-beautiful kingdom, and become the Betrayer that he was born to be.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Hope those on the Hype! who've looked into MATHION are enjoying it so far!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Fingers crossed, hopefully I've finally found my agent!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

To everyone who has/is reading MATHION, a big thank you!

Now if I could just get a damn agent

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Agent asked for samples! You all are the first to know

Fingers crossed they like it!!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

New review up courtesy of Book Reviews and News! click here to visit the blog or

Click here to read it. Be warned, contains:

Spoiler

Mathion is the first book in the Mavonduri Trilogy, and the debut novel by author Jeff Shanley. It’s a traditional fantasy novel, but instead of elves, dwarves and trolls, the land is inhabited by… werewolves. Actually there are four distinct species inhabiting the land – pure-blood werewolves, halfbreeds, Wolven and humans. The Wolven have a similar heritage to the werewolves, but they don’t transform from their human-like appearance and are the good guys. Mathion is a Wolven prince, and the story largely concerns the Wolven’s conflict with the werewolves and half-breeds, although humans do come into it nearer the end too.

Without going into too much detail about the plot and characters, it’s full of the plot elements you’d expect from a fantasy novel – an epic quest, a small group of heroes, a really evil villain, battles, the group splitting up, rejoining later, and battles to win. The basic storyline is well developed, and the world the characters live feels alive and has plenty of history behind it. The battle sequences are handled pretty well, although a couple did, I felt, go on a little longer than perhaps necessary. The author’s love of Lord of the Rings is evident, though not in mimicking Tolkein’s work, rather in a similar meticulous imaginary world being built up with its own unique history, languages, mythology etc. The dialogue felt a bit dry at times, but mostly it was believable enough, and occasionally quite poignant.

By far the best element of the story was the way Elekan, the white wolf who is always at Mathion’s side, and the Wolfstone, given to Mathion by Elekan’s mother, is developed. While at first the Wolfstone appeared to be a bit of a gimmicky one-trick pony (and I wondered why, considering its immense power, it wasn’t used sooner and more frequently with hordes of werewolves attacking!), as the story progresses, its role becomes more important – and more diverse. Elkekan is no ordinary wolf, either, and to me he was really the star of this book. The writing is a tad formal at times, for instance re-listing everyone’s name in a group of people perhaps more often than necessary, but it usually flows well.

Often the biggest criticism of self-published books is that their grammar and spelling are poor, and to some extent Mathion is a little guilty of this. The problem almost always occurs in the form of a word missing from a sentence – though at least the missing word is easy to work out in each occasion. This is a bit of a strange problem that I’ve rarely encountered before, and may to some extent be due to the ePub conversion process. However Jeff is aware of this problem and is currently working on a revised and expanded edition, both to sort this out and add full appendices. My advice would be to get the book when this edition comes out (and of course I’ll let you know on this blog when that happens).

I was slightly disappointed that some themes started to be developed and were left a bit unfinished – for instance it was hinted at that the werewolves actually lived pretty normal lives rather like the Wolven’s and humans’ at one point – but then the portrayal of starkly divided good and evil continued. There also seemed to be a betrayer among the Wolven themselves, and this pointed to an awareness by the werewolves that a great army was coming up against them which later seemed to be ignored, but I’m assuming that both these points are probably going to be developed in the next book(s).

The ending is quite an effective little cliff-hanger, and I’m certainly interested in finding out just what happens next.

Mathion is a solid bit of fantasy fiction, the focus on werewolves makes it seem a little different from most fantasy, and the eBook edition (I read it in ePub format on the Nook, but are large number of different formats are available) it only costs 99 cents from Smashwords. On this evidence Jeff Shanley is a promising new author.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Special excerpt from my next novel The Last Ascension Click here!

Tell me what you think in the Inklings Thread!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Began production on "Making MATHION part 2"

If you haven't seen part one, here you go



So excited for what's ahead thanks Hype!sters for your support!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

New blog post

Wolfstones and the Concept of "Power" in THE MAVONDURI TRILOGY

 

[HULKFish]

Great blog dark_sentinel, you are a hard worker!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Thanks HULKFish!

And also, I could be ousting Alex Flinn (author of Beastly) at a local middle school book club appearance. And if not, I'd still probably get to meet her and network. Either way, a win for me

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Major shout out from another author!!!

Check it out here, great interview with my friend Shane Porteous!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Hey all, some great news. I will be meeting with a very successful published author (won't say who for now) to network with at a local middle school tomorrow!! She's already had a couple bestsellers and one of her novels was recently adapted into a major Hollywood film. This could be a huge opportunity for MATHION and the MAVONDURI TRILOGY to finally get some notice in the publishing world. Fingers crossed!