Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Review of Thomas Locke's newest book, The Merchant of Alyss



If I were a mage and had an orb, I would point it at Thomas Locke and blast him right now half way across the world!

Not because I am disappointed in the writing of the second book in the series, The Merchant of Alyss, but simply because he hasn’t finished the last one yet and the ending of this one is just not right! I won’t give up the ending, but let me just say that I don’t think you will be happy either for the same reason. The anticipation is too much to endure. The story is too great, we must have the conclusion!

The Merchant of Alyss picks up the story of the hero Hyam after the conclusion of the first book Emissary. In the second book in the series the reader meets some new characters and continues to learn the stories of many of the characters in the debut book. As usual, those characters are well developed and contain complexities that make them lovable and intriguing. The plot is woven delicately through their stories or maybe the intersection of their life stories forms a perfect plot.
There is romance, adventure, magic, and intrigue to be found by the reader in The Merchant of Alyss. If you really engage in good fiction, then I doubt you will be able to put this book down for long. Each chapter leaves the reader longing for the next and to discover what is just around the next ridge or beyond the next vale in the journey.

The thing I like most about the writing style of Thomas Locke is that I don’t read the book, I imagine the story. I see the colors, feel the air, cower in fear, and relish in the life that is described on the pages. I read The Hobbit when I was in high school a long time ago and wondered if they could ever capture that on film. I was not disappointed when it finally was released. I feel the same way about the series being released by Locke. I know how I imagine the characters would look, but I hope one day that I will be able to compare my vision with the realized image on the big screen.

There is no need to read the first book in order to understand the journey the second takes the reader on, but if you haven’t read it, I think you will want to after completing The Merchant of Alyss. I would be willing to bet that if you read this one, you will be pre-ordering the third in the series as soon as you put down The Merchant of Alyss.

Oh, and Thomas if you don’t hurry, there might be more than one orb blast coming your way!


I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell in exchange for my honest review.