Location: United States
Member Since:
March 04, 2013
Ashton Brammer
Books
Smashwords book reviews by Ashton Brammer
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To Stand Beside Her
on June 09, 2013
One of the biggest draws for me when reading this book was that the story was original. The world established by McMichael was very clear to me, despite discrepancies of an actual time (i.e. toy cars vs. actual cars exisiting). I love how we get the details and world of the courier throughout the novel, and just the fact that the novel dealt more with this type of character and strayed from the over-done fantasy novels of vampire/zombie/elf/insert-monster-of-choice-here. It was definitely a nice change. Leila is cast as the tough, yet lovable heroine, who smarts off and fends for herself most of the time. There are wonderfully developed side characters who support our eventual band of brothers, if you will; such as Roger, Anatolio, Phillip, Tim, Ruth, etc. Although I am a strong believer in telling the story you want to tell as a hopeful future editor, there were a few suggestions I would like to merely mention. (SPOILERS ahead!) The relationship between Leila and Nalick was great, but I do feel as if there wasn't enough struggle between the two from the point of her deciding to stay to finally developing feelings for him. It seemed to me that she gave in too easily and honestly, not something I would expect if she really loved Erich that much. Also, I feel as though part of this may stem from not fleshing out the relationship between Leila and Erich enough. To me there was an understanding of their relationship, but only a surface one. Another suggestion I have is more development of Nalick. The beginning of the novel claims him to be a ruthless leader, but I feel as though we never really glimpse that side of him. If we don't really see this false perception of him, why mention it? One last suggestion I have is that I would have liked more from the priest. I just felt like his importance and predictions were downplayed, when his role figures pretty prominently throughout the novel. Overall, this was a wonderful read. I would highly recommend it to those who enjoy fantasy novels, and are looking for something different than the over-done, run-of-the-mill reads out today.
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The Legend of the Blue Eyes
on June 10, 2014
My first thought when I began reading this series was "Oh no, it's another vampire, teen romance series." However, even in the first book and introduction entering the world of the Blue Eyes Trilogy, McMichael uses a great blend of Celtic lore and variety in the night humans to avoid just that. Although I found this first book still weighed down with the cliched, romance angle at times, the book sets up the challenge for Arianna as she discovers her true identity in the world of the night humans, and introduces a cast of great, developing characters that make for an overall enticing read.