Monday 16 September 2013

BOOK #2 IN THE GAME SERIES IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON!



The ringmaster’s gambit 
by Yannis Karatsioris



First of all, I want to say I’m in love with The Game Series. I enjoyed The Book of the Forsaken (Book #1) and looked forward to reading The Ringmaster’s Gambit (Book #2) ever since. After I finished the second book I want more. Yannis Karatsioris is a gifted writer. No wonder both books get raving reviews on Amazon. Check out this series and you won’t be disappointed.

My review of The Ringmaster’s Gambit:

So Mr. Karatsioris did manage to create an even greater book than The Book of the Forsaken (TBotF)! The Ringmaster’s Gambit is Book 2 in The Game Series, and it’s a really well-written book. I really enjoy Yannis’ manner of writing. The author is great at creating original, memorable characters. I was hoping to see more of the characters from TBotF, after I’ve built a connection with Daniel, Cassidy and Igor, but in TRG Yannis decided to focus his attention on the Game and introduced a new cast of bright characters.

The ceremonies before for the Game and the performances were really entertaining to read (well, here I feel Bulgakov’s influence the most, but I also see it in Mr. Karatsioris’ characters, which is really cool IMHO). I was really intrigued by the Moon’s Favorite and wished to know who it would be. I’m not going to spoil the fun revealing his (or her) identity as that would be unfair to the future readers of this book.

What I loved more about The Ringmaster’s Gambit than about TBotF is the sarcastic storyteller’s voice (I mean, I loved it in Book 1, but it was even greater in Book 2). It seemed to me that he’d become more mature than in the first book. If in TBotF it has been overdone in a few places, here the storyteller’s voice worked great.

The author introduces a thread about relics here, which IMO is a great hook, although it’s unfinished in this book and I’m intrigued how it’s going to be dealt with in the final book of the series. Can’t say much yet except that I enjoyed reading about the memories of those historical figures.

Overall, The Ringmaster’s Gambit is a book that deserves to get into the top lists of Urban/Contemporary Fantasy books. Watch out for that series. You won’t regret it if you grab of copy of TRG.




About the author

Yannis Karatsioris, Greek born and raised, is 30 years old and lives in Athens, Greece. He has already staged a play, published a fantasy novel in Greek and, after winning with The Book of the Forsaken the gold medal on HarperCollins’ competition on Authonomy.com, is now making his first steps in the publishing world out of Greece.
His tastes, dark and sarcastic, guide him to a style reminiscent of Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams, Jonathan Stroud and Mikhail Bulgakov.




Visit Yannis’ Website Here: www.yanniskarats.com
Visit and Like Yannis’ Facebook Page Here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yannis-Karatsioris-Author/219293951499809?ref=ts&fref=ts

Monday 9 September 2013

SO ENGROSSING I COULDN'T STOP READING IT!



SPACE GAMES
by Dean Lombardo



I had a great time reading SPACE GAMES by Dean Lombardo. It’s the first book I’ve read by this author, but I’m sure it’s not the last. It’s about a tournament between a man and a woman taking place in space, where they have to beat each other in a series of events in order to get a 3-million-dollar prize.

This book shows in a vivid way that greed and lust for money and fame outshine sanity and morality. The world-building, the characters, the writing – everything is so realistic, so natural and detailed it’s like you are watching a fast-paced movie. The book is very intense so once I started reading it I couldn’t stop. There’s a lot of violence and cussing, but they just couldn’t be helped, and I didn’t mind them as much as I do in other books.

The fast pace, the events the main characters took part in, the cast of characters introduced by the author made SPACE GAMES an engrossing read. Totally recommended to those who love a well-written, well-structured novel with a message.

I loved the way the author showed what impact TV and the Internet have on most people. And, by the way, while reading about the games I groaned when a commercial was coming up. I’d definitely love to see it as a movie some time soon. 



GET A COPY HERE




ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dean Lombardo works as a writer in the information technology industry, turning what is often techno-babble into messaging that can be understood by a general business audience. At age 11, he was psychologically scarred by the movie “Alien” and has been watching, reading and writing frightening science fiction and horror ever since. “Space Games” (Kristell Ink, May 2013) is Dean's second published novel. Dean lives in northern Virginia with his family and the world’s most beautiful yellow Labrador Retriever, Trixie.

Visit Dean's website at:
http://www.deanlombardo.com/