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Dimension Guardian
In a world divided into five realms —Demons, Beasts, Darkness, Light, and Humans— that have peacefully lived for centuries, a sudden increase of issues arose, pitting one group against another and shaking the balance that has long been preserved. The Dimension Protection Council discovered that the threats were perpetrated by Guardians, the sworn protectors of all the dimensions, and planned to put a stop to it all by reinstating the Guardian Tournament, where the heroes of the world play their strengths against fellow Guardians, all for the betterment of the realms. Along with the decision came the choice of putting their best Guardians from each realm in a single group, who will serve as the council’s eyes and ears inside the competition. However, as the chosen five all partake in a journey that starts during their preparation and ends with an actual battle, they will soon discover that the competition and the controversies spreading about the realms are just puzzle pieces to a much bigger picture and threat for all.
Dimension Guardian: The Realm of Beasts – The Guardian Tournament, by K.J. Amidon, is an engrossing story that introduces readers to a highly complex world of magic and the politics of it all. While the presence of creatures is nothing new in the fantasy genre, this novel stands out for it starts with a decades-old mystery that was deliberately unpacked throughout the story. Readers with a diverse set of main characters experience ongoing conflict on all sides. They can comprehend the gravity of the situation and how it will affect the entire setting.
The novel’s beginning immediately pulls readers into reading more about the fuss. Each new discovery is devoured with glee as you anticipate what further information they will get on the following pages. With a lot to digest in such a short amount of time, the fact that each scene straightforwardly explained its events makes the story understandable and easier to navigate. The main characters were also well-written in that they were all given ample time to be highlighted in every scene, and readers understood why these characters were wired in a certain way. Despite the age difference between the five, they were all given amusing and relatable traits, gaining audiences’ favor one way or another.
Dimension Guardian: The Realm of Beasts – The Guardian Tournament is a gripping dark fantasy novel that hooks readers from the first chapter and leaves them astounded by its end. It is also an excellent start for a series of books, so readers can be assured that there is more to tell. I highly recommend this for anyone that is a fan of books such as The Hunger Games because they share a common theme of tournaments, and The Shadowhunter Chronicles, for it also tackles race and its conflicts.
Pages: 275 | ASIN : B00CZE0IV0
Coyote
This story begins with Jim going on his hike through the canyons. He’s excited about this trip and wants to make the most of it. As he was settling to sleep, a howling sound could be heard around him, coyotes. He examines where the noise comes from and discovers the strangest ancient ritual, the coyotes stood around a fire, their howls sounding tuneful. This wasn’t a ritual meant for human eyes; Jim begins to back away and run to his car. He can feel the coyotes all around until he meets the coyote, who wears a blazer, and a hat and smokes a pipe. Jim escapes, but not entirely – he is plagued by this coyote every single day. He feels unsafe and on edge no matter where he is.
Coyote by Charles Combee is a fascinating story about a coyote dressed smartly in a red blazer and black hat, which is powerful and not of this earth. This story depicts a coyote who has an unusual but deadly power. Jim escapes narrowly, but the same could not be said for Audrey and her family. Audrey and her family were just as unaware of what was ahead for them as Jim. The coyote tears this family apart, as well as causes the strange phenomenon of certain areas of land becoming ‘dead’ and generating a feeling of knives if you enter. Audrey attempts to escape but is caught and trapped alone in the darkness until Jim frees her. However, when Audrey is free, they discover she is still linked to the powerful coyote, and they must break the link for Audrey to get her life back.
This book is excellently written with interesting and unique characters. The world-building and the scenery are described so well that the reader can clearly imagine the surroundings and feel like they are there with the characters. Charles Combee successfully creates suspense throughout the story, and the reader can feel the uneasiness of the characters. This book is dramatic, exciting, and has a unique storyline, which is thought out and completed perfectly. I’d thoroughly recommend this book to anybody who loves suspenseful stories. Readers will be fully emersed in the world created in Coyote.
Pages: 178 | ASIN : B0BM52CT25
Dark Academia and Magic
House of Pain follows a half-witch who attends a prestigious witchcraft university where she’s a target of one of the rival Houses and fights a dangerous attraction. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
When I sat down to write House of Pain, I wanted to write the darkest story I could. I wanted something gritty, toxic, and filled with characters that are very hard to like. I’m a huge fan of dark academia, but I often want fantasy with it. So, I wanted to mix fantasy with dark academia and magic and then add a sprinkle of high-society drama because who doesn’t love Gossip Girl?
Your characters are intriguing and well-developed. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Thank you. Honestly, I took a lot of my inspiration for the main characters, Alecto and Blaze, from social media, particularly TikTok. I’ve stumbled across so many real-life stories of women struggling with sexual trauma, men who treat them poorly, and similar stuff, and so Alecto became a combination of it all. Val’s personality and drive, the cutthroat approach to getting things done no matter what, and the hunger for more power was inspired by my grandmother in a way. It’s hard to pinpoint one source of inspiration, really.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I would say that the most important one was toxic family dynamics and family trauma. We are often affected by our surroundings growing up more than we think, and it’s very easy to turn into our parents/grandparents and repeat the cycle of toxic behavior because it feels familiar. In House of Pain, the main cast of characters is all from prominent families that look pretty on the outside but hide dark secrets. I loved writing about how the main characters navigate the expectations they have and what they truly want.
Another theme that was very important for me to explore is the true nature of love. In House of Pain, Alecto is struggling with her place in a world that doesn’t want her, with her sexual trauma, and she finds herself gravitating toward bad men, looking for validation and probably some form of affection. On the other end, we have Blaze, who appears to have all the love and admiration from the outside world, yet he’s as lonely as Alecto. Maybe even more so. I also talked a lot about the nature of love and whether there is one right person for us, a soulmate if you will or if we’re meant to love more than one person in our lifetime. I find the topic of love to be fascinating.
What can readers expect in Precious Villains Book 2?
Precious Villains Book 2, House of Ruin, will be a wild ride. Readers can expect lots of steamy action between Alecto and Blaze, dark family secrets uncovered, high society drama and the themes of vengeance explored.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Gothic Harry Potter meets Gossip Girl, House of Pain is the first book in a dark fantasy romance trilogy set in the magical world of Inathis, where the witches are beautiful just as much as they’re wicked.
Alecto Black has spent her whole life in Inathis, yet she never quite fit in being the half-witch amongst the purebloods. When she finally enrolled in the most prestigious witchcraft university, The Venefica Academy, last year and joined the House of Snakes as a rightful legacy member, she thought she had finally found her place.
But every year, The Venefica Academy students that belong to 12 Houses all participate in the deadly Game that many witches don’t survive. And when the second year at Venefica starts, Alecto finds herself a target of one of the rival Houses while also having to face the enemy from the inside — fellow Snake, Blaze Leveau. As secrets start unraveling, hate turns into something more dangerous and deadly.
While Alecto tries to fight her new dangerous attraction to Blaze, she also finds herself asking how far she is willing to go to secure her place in the world that wants to destroy her?
House of Pain will be perfect for dark academia and Dramione fans who want morally grey characters with spice and loved The Atlas Six, The Ninth House, and Zodiac Academy. It’s a dual POV, steamy (extremely) enemies-to-lovers bully romance, so please read the content warning list before reading.
Literary Titan Gold Book Award January 2023
The Literary Titan Book Awards are awarded to books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise and we are proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and writing talent of these brilliant authors.
Award Recipients
A Body Hair Experiment by Eli Cohen
Sonnets of Love and Joy
Literary Titan Silver Book Award January 2023
The Literary Titan Book Awards are awarded to books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise and we are proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and writing talent of these brilliant authors.
Award Recipients
Murder at Amapas Beach (An Amanda Pennyworth Mystery) by James Gilbert
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Pantheon: The Phantom
Pantheon: The Phantom is Joshua Landeros’s second book in the Pantheon series. It is a sweeping fantasy epic that manages to carry on the first book’s story while expanding its world and bringing in enjoyable new characters.
The book is set in Landeros’s world of Avah and follows its people as they come to terms with the events of the first book and struggle to recover from the Hollow Wars. Just as people were hoping things were calming down, a new threat, the Pact of Ram has, arisen. As this new threat rises every allied nation is called to combat it. But who is really behind this new threat, and who can be trusted?
While this may be a conflict that spans nations, Landeros makes the wise choice of focusing his narrative on the everyday people dragged into it. The Phantom primarily focuses on Palkan Sowell, his daughter Athaliah and the rest of their people as they are pulled into a conflict they want nothing to do with.
The book features a diverse range of characters, and Landeros excels at fleshing them out. As in his earlier works, Landeros focuses on characters from all sides of the conflict, emphasizing their motivations, whether political, religious or purely self-preserving. While at first, the lines between good and evil seem clear cut, over time, it becomes increasingly clear that not everyone can be trusted, and even the heroes might have to get their hands dirty.
This is still a sweeping epic, however. When Landeros isn’t focusing on his individual characters, he is writing massive battles that often follow several different perspectives at once. While his writing is excellent across the board, Landeros’s writing is at its best when he is in the thick of battle. His battles are bloody, violent, and well-paced.
The pacing, in general, is excellent. Landeros deftly manages the balancing act of fleshing out the world he has created, forming deep characters, and keeping the pacing brisk. While his characters are enjoyable enough that I would have liked to spend more time with them, Landeros makes the wise choice to keep the plot moving ever onward.
The world-building is excellent here. Landeros has created his own world and filled it with different nations, races, and peoples, all with their own in-depth histories. Thankfully Landeros avoids too much exposition, and the reader gets to learn about his world in an organic way rather than being bogged down in lengthy explanations and exposition. If you’re a fan of fantasy epics, exciting battle scenes, or political intrigue, The Phantom is the book for you. While it might be a good idea to start with the first book if you want to follow everything, as a newbie Landeros made me feel welcome and I was never too lost. Highly recommended.
Pages: 313 | ASIN : B096L6QJT9
A Maze of Glass
A Maze of Glass by S.R. Hughes is a thriller and horror told in three versions. In Zoe Briar’s world, monsters and magic are real. But, to keep the magic and creatures in check, some agencies employ the best of the best when it comes to dealing with the supernatural. Zoe happens to be one of those people, and she’s magically and physically trained to deal with whatever is thrown at her, or at least most things.
I enjoyed the three versions of the story from different timelines and perspectives. Zoe must face a series of challenges that involve more than the supernatural world, including her sister and other personal developments which play a significant role in her life. The book is a richly written story that brings the reader into a gritty, dark world of magical secret agents rife with descriptive details and unexpected developments.
It’s a fantastic read that kept me on the edge of my seat. While I found the three storylines, or versions of the story, a bit challenging to follow initially, I quickly got immersed in the story. In addition, I enjoyed the action in this urban fantasy. This book definitely stands apart from many other young adult stories, and it’s a thrilling read for readers of all ages. I found the content gripping and held my attention from the start. In addition, there are plenty of intriguing plot twists and developments that enhance the storyline, making it a fantastic page-turner.
A Maze of Glass by S.R. Hughes gives dark fantasy readers a gripping tale of the supernatural world and the people responsible for protecting others from it. It’s an excellent book for fans of the fantasy genre and anyone who enjoys a great story that encompasses crime and urban adventures in a magical world.
Pages 359 | ASIN 0986317519
LITERARY TITAN 