RealmShift

Ebook By Alan Baxter
Published By Blade Red Press
Rating: (4.6)
Published: Jan. 11, 2009
Category: Fiction » Literature » Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Words: 156914 (approximate)
Language: English

Ebook Description

A race against time and the Devil. Samuel Harrigan is a murderer. He used ancient blood magic to escape a deal with the Devil. Now Lucifer wants Samuel’s soul and refuses to wait a second longer for it. Isiah has a job to do. He needs Samuel to complete his destiny, so he has to protect Sam and keep the Devil at bay. Not for Samuel’s sake, but for all of humanity.

Parental Rating:

This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.

Tags

action, angel, blood, dark fantasy, demon, devil, fantasy, gods, horror, magic, martial arts, religion, supernatural, urban fantasy

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Reviews

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Review by: Laurens Leurs on Dec. 13, 2009 :
An interesting and strangely compelling read. This books is a pretty unusual mix of fantasy, action and horror but much to my surprise this actually works. The story quickly becomes a page turner.

Review by: Cathy Russell on Dec. 02, 2009 : (no rating)
I really enjoyed this book, especially the underlying philosophy that belief shapes reality. I have to admit though, it was fun watching a superhuman capable of kicking the Devil's ass.

The writing style was engaging, and the characters were well thought out. I didn't like the villains much, nor did I sympathize with them, but at the same time I could see their point of view and how they got to be the people they were. There was plenty of action, and the more I progressed in the story the more I wished someone would make it into a comic or a movie. The plot and characters would be great in either one.

Technically speaking, I originally tried the PDB format but it didn't work that well for me with my reader. The PDF format seemed to work a lot better (G1 Android phone).

Review by: Karen Lee Field on Nov. 28, 2009 :
RealmShift is a mixture of genres, but it’s mainly horror. It reminded me of some of the Anne Rice books I read years ago – as in theme, not actual storyline. There are vampires, immortals, evil humans and tons of killer instinct, which always means blood and guts are sure to follow. Luckily, that doesn’t bother me.

Of course, there’s lots of swearing too. I’m not one for swearing, but I found I didn’t really have a problem with it in this setting. The characters are mainly male and they swear like troopers, which I find is true in real life so I guess that’s why I didn’t have much trouble accepting it in the story. The female character was much more reserved but when she resorted to more powerful words I accepted it because of the situation she was in at the time.

I was pleased to find characters with depth, characters I could relate to. Strangely, I could even understand why the bad characters were bad, which means they were well written and fully developed.

The story itself is fast paced. Something is always happening, or about to happen. There’s no holding back either. If someone has to die, the reader knows every detail. It certainly gets the imagination going in that regard. In fact, I feel as if I’ve tasted the life of a killer!

RealmShift also had a theme that I found was thought provoking. Yet at the same time, this same theme slowed the story down in sections because of the amount of explaining needed to get a point across. Yet it was important to the overall story and as it was religious based I understood how difficult it was for the author to make sure the reader understood something that is quite complex. The story put a different spin on the whole religion thing which I found quite fascinating. Ultimately, the message was to believe in oneself and stop relying on others and I think that’s a good message to give.

If you want to read a fast paced, action filled story, then you should definitely give RealmShift a read.

Review by: Adrian on Nov. 21, 2009 :
This is a spectacular book! It is supremely written and grabbed me from the start and kept me there until the end.

I loved it. This book will definately be read again and again.

Review by: cbell on Sep. 19, 2009 :
and here's my rating!

Review by: cbell on Sep. 19, 2009 : (no rating)
I've just gone for a ride on the rollercoaster that is RealmShift!

We have 3 stories running alongside each other, and I can't pick my favourite. They all held my interest and I couldn't wait to pick up the book again when life and sleep interrupted my reading.

When the 3 stories collide in the climax towards the end of the book, I was reading fast and furious, eating up the words, absolutely focussed on what was happening, right there with the characters.

Alan, I'm trying not to believe in that unmentionable place full of horrors, but you made it so believable. It was horrifying. I had cold shivers reading some parts of the book, brr.

Plenty of horror and fantasy, throw in some religion, sci-fi and history, and you have RealmShift. Wow! This book was worth every cent and more.

As soon as I'd finished RealmShift, I started MageSign. I want to keep reading about Isiah.

Thanks, Alan! What a great book!

Review by: frikle on Feb. 03, 2009 :
Very fast-paced action, easily read in 1-2 sittings. Describes a world with the supernatural being effectively an extension of people's consciousness and worked into our normal world. You get shown an interesting afterlife complete with a semi-parody of real-life religions and beliefs. Good novel debut.

It's quite story-driven so rather than describe what happens I'll just recommend it if you're interested in any type of fantasy, religion or mythology.

Review by: Sebastian Nemeth on Jan. 13, 2009 :
The drive to explore our spirituality is an essential function of the human condition and Alan Baxter's RealmShift indulges as a unique and thought provoking novel, converging on philosophy and popular mythology.

Being well and truly grounded in dark fantasy, Alan isn't squeemish when it comes to the details. It is a bloody and brutal story which can be interpreted as a commentary of the individual coming to terms with their spirituality.

Isiah, the angelic protagonist in the story, is the vessel for this transformation. As a powerful agent of 'The Balance', which is the conscious nature of the Universe, Isiah is confronted with a kind of 'macro-morality' as he polices the world and its cadre of colorful and familiar Gods.

As Isiah conducts his duty his interactions with mortals, angels, gods, vampires and satanic wizards weave a fast paced story braced with stylish settings and action fueled by Alan's own mastery of the martial arts.

Alan's emerging writing style in RealmShift is poignant and atmospheric, developing the vague sensation that one is reading about an action movie they watched only a few months ago.

Having engaged the reader on multiple levels, RealmShift is able to conclude with a convincing finale, testing the reader's loyalties to the novel's characters and leaving them with a satisfying itch for a sequel, which conveniently exists. Alan carries on the tradition brilliantly in MageSign.

Review by: maricsan on Jan. 13, 2009 :
In the last few years there has been an ever increasing interest in humanity's faith and man's relationship with religion. This has become even more apparent with the plethora of books being published that deal with the subject. So much so that bookshops are now creating new sections in their stores to accommodate them.

RealmShift, by Alan Baxter, is a novel that sits on the outer edge of the aforementioned genre and drops into the SF and Fantasy genres to spice things up.

Essentially the story is based around Isiah, a once mortal man who has now become a kind of middleman between us mere mortals and those that reside on the other side of the `RealmShift'. Be them angels, demons, gods or the Devil himself.

Isiah is tasked with guarding a very unsavoury member of the human race to his destiny in the deep South American jungle, for if he doesn't succeed in getting the mortal to achieve his predestined objective, a chain reaction will ensue ending in the downfall of mankind.

Essentially, what you have is a very fast paced action novel complete with supernatural skills, plenty of martial arts, colourful characters and enough suspense to keep the pages turning into the small hours. However, besides the fantastic screenplay that this novel could easily be adapted to, it's the plot's underlying thread within the action that sets the story apart.

Isiah, being trapped as an immortal human in a kind of Highlander purgatory must learn to accept his place within the hierarchy and come to believe that everything happens for a reason, whether it's good or bad. This also throws in a brain twisting little paradox - with the central character at the mercy of the forces beyond the RealmShift, he learns more about the `system' at work. However, as he takes Samuel, the wickedly evil mortal (who is the crucible in the coming battle to save the world) across the globe to meet his fate, he imparts certain knowledge about his own relationship to gods and religions. Everyone has the choice to believe in what they wish and if enough people believe in something, it will come true. So the eternal conundrum, I believe, that RealmShift poses is that if Humanity really is in charge of its own fate then it's completely up to us to do what we believe is right since we create everything ourselves.

Without giving too much more away, RealmShift works brilliantly on all levels, as an action novel, as a divine expedition, as a dark fantasy and as a great example of character development within the two key players.

It concludes with a feeling that you have reached the edge of a cliff in a speeding car and come to a direct stop just before the lip, which is perfect as there is a sequel available in print.

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