My-Sister-the-Writer recently had the Official book launch for her 7th book, Galaxy Nomads: Chronicles of the MacKenzie Clan.
It's been an exciting week for Karen, having her book published at Amazon and Smashwords in digital form, and being on a Virtual Book Tour. She was written up on
Mary Pax's blog HERE, which was fun read.
Wanna read my book review??
Below is a shorter version of what I wrote for Amazon and Smashwords. It will let you get a taste for the story, and if you like what you read, jet on over to either of those providers to snag a copy. It's only $1.99!! (links at the end of this post).
Galaxy Nomads:
Chronicles of the MacKenzie Clan
For me, the adventure began right in the title: nomads, out in space, the chronicles of a clan. And Clans can be feisty, sticking up for each other no matter what. So... I expected some action, and I was NOT disappointed.
Overall, it's a space adventure from one end of the galaxy to the other. Only, the story spans generations! Their origins, worlds and a little family history. Why they started traveling the galaxy with #1 Rat-of-a-Bad-Guy on their heels. Deceit, betrayal, loyalties, loves, plagues and pirates!
It's divided into 4 "books" within this one book. Book 1 starts out with a bang which sets the stage for the need to escape into space, pronto.
It seems conflict and stress bring out ones true nature, and sure enough, the nature of the two main Rat-of-a-Bad-Guys emerges... In my view, the worst Rat-of-a-Bad-Guy was the first one, and he was a doozy. Come to think of it, #2 was not too likeable either...They say every good story needs a good bad guy, and these 2 filled that job just fine.
Anyway, off into the galaxy they plunge, and it was fun to read about the worlds they come across....My favorite was the planet Patchouli, full of short blue-skinned people. The author did a good job painting word pictures....
I enjoyed all of the main characters, but my favorite side character was a mystic named Hestia...I would have loved to get to know her better.
...So many were interesting, colorful and/or quirky characters and had such potential for developement, it made you want to know them better....
It's told chronologically straight, from the first refugees to escape into space, and then following subsequent generations who are born IN space... the medical and science part of this chronicle was believable and smoothly fit right into the story.... written with enough detail and authority that it carried the story and added to it in a credible way.
Same with the aliens encountered. Though they weren't too developed, there was enough so that they flowed with the storyline, and some even gave me a chuckle. Speaking of chuckles, the authors sense of humor is on the dry, subtle side; no silly slap stick stuff. More wry to sarcastic and/or tongue in cheek and between the lines humor...
I enjoyed the casual bantering/bickering dialogue between some of the characters. Especially the second generation "couple", Ryder and Carredyn, who fight like cats and dogs. I KNOW people like that, and it cracked me up.
But overall I would say the theme that kept popping up was one of strength and courage from unconditional love and from loyalty; of hope and perseverance against the powerful and corrupt... there are subtle yet interesting points of view that weave in and out seamlessly within the storyline... An added layer of depth... They are short and easy to overlook, but rich little morsels.
There were a couple of plot twists I didn't see coming, which made for fun surprises. One was a shocker that had me saying out loud "no way!" But without a doubt my favorite "action" scene was the final showdown in Book 4 between our hero and the #2 Rat-of-a-Bad-Guy... the battle was INternal, not external.... I could feel the "realness" of it.... How we have to face our enemy, not run; to believe in ourself; to accept help; to stand firm and discover we have more power at our disposal than we had realized. In the story it was much more colorful, explosive and dramatic than I could tell it here, fitting into the action of the plot naturally... In short, it was an exciting battle, and had me rooting for our hero.
Bottomline, YES I would recommend this epic story to anyone who enjoys character driven action adventure stories. It's colorful, creative and full of interesting people, with enough mysteries and hints to make me hope for a second book, making the Chronicles of the MacKenzie Clan into a series. On that basis... I give it 5 stars.
(To read my complete review, just zip on over to Amazon HERE.)
To download your copy for a fun summer read:
or
Happy summer reading!
Retta
PS: I don't have a Kindle or other reader, but downloaded the FREE Kindle reader APP from Amazon for my Mac. If you need one,
check it out Here. Did mention it's free? ;-)
