The Necromancer’s Daughter #review #blog tour #excerpt October 5th 2022. @Dwallacepeach

Thrilled to support Diana in her blog tour for The Necromancer’s Daughter which I loved!

From Diana: Today I thought I’d share a snippet from Chapter 9 when Aster’s life takes a terrible turn:

In silence but for her heart’s pounding, Aster poured the tea and handed a wobbling cup to each man. As she knelt on the mat at her father’s knee, she stared at her pale hands. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in a wild white froth. When she was a little thing, her father had called her his snow fairy, but in truth, she was nothing so delicate or whimsical. In contrast to the sunny complexions of Verdane, she was as ashen as death. 

The king waited for her compliance, but how could she agree? Desperation marred his reasoning. She knew nothing about ruling, nothing about courtly manners or intrigue, or the tenets that underlay the Red Order’s intolerant faith. The kingdom’s powerful would trample her into the ground and seal her grave. 

Blurb:

A healer and dabbler in the dark arts of life and death, Barus is as gnarled as an ancient tree. Forgotten in the chaos of the dying queen’s chamber, he spirits away her stillborn infant, and in a hovel at the meadow’s edge, he breathes life into the wisp of a child. He names her Aster for the lea’s white flowers. Raised as his daughter, she learns to heal death.

Then the day arrives when the widowed king, his own life nearing its end, defies the Red Order’s warning. He summons the necromancer’s daughter, his only heir, and for his boldness, he falls to an assassin’s blade.

While Barus hides from the Order’s soldiers, Aster leads their masters beyond the wall into the Forest of Silvern Cats, a land of dragons and barbarian tribes. She seeks her mother’s people, the powerful rulers of Blackrock, uncertain whether she will find sanctuary or face a gallows’ noose.

Unprepared for a world rife with danger, a world divided by those who practice magic and those who hunt them, she must choose whether to trust the one man offering her aid, the one man most likely to betray her—her enemy’s son.

A healer with the talent to unravel death, a child reborn, a father lusting for vengeance, and a son torn between justice, faith, and love. Caught in a chase spanning kingdoms, each must decide the nature of good and evil, the lengths they will go to survive, and what they are willing to lose.

***

My review

The Necromancer’s Daughter by D. Wallace Peach

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What a beautifully written fantasy book. Stunning prose, engaging characters and a simple but effective plot weave a rich tale of the love of a daughter for her father, and the concerns and morality of awakening the dead.

I loved it from start to finish. There is conflict, uncertainty and excitement, heartfelt scenes, and tender moments in this story.

Aster is a lovely character who the reader can’t help but warm to. The love interest between her and Joreh isn’t overstated, neither does it dominate the plot, instead their relationship gently grows as the story unfolds. I also love her father, Barus.

I was so glad how the story conclusion held such a complete awareness and understanding of love and life in such a sweet fulfilling way. I better say no more for fear of spoiling it for you!

I was also interested to read the inspiration behind the story – a retelling of the story of Kwan-yin from Chinese mythology. And the dragons… they were larger than life! And boy did they like their apples!



View all my reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Author bio:

A long-time reader, best-selling author D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life when years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books. She was instantly hooked. 

In addition to fantasy books, Peach’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of the arts in her local community, organizing and publishing annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography. 

Peach lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes. 

***

Links:

US: https://www.amazon.com/Necromancers-Daughter-D-Wallace-Peach-ebook/dp/B0B92G7QZX

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Necromancers-Daughter-D-Wallace-Peach-ebook/dp/B0B92G7QZX

CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Necromancers-Daughter-D-Wallace-Peach-ebook/dp/B0B92G7QZX

AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Necromancers-Daughter-D-Wallace-Peach/dp/B0B9FY6YZJ

IN: https://www.amazon.in/Necromancers-Daughter-D-Wallace-Peach-ebook/dp/B0B92G7QZX

Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/D.-Wallace-Peach/e/B00CLKLXP8

Website/Blog: http://mythsofthemirror.com

Website/Books: http://dwallacepeachbooks.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dwallacepeach

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-necromancers-daughter-d-wallce-peach/1142003172

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-necromancer-s-daughter-1

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-necromancers-daughter/id6443278849

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1160370

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Launch of Liars and Thieves by D. Wallace Peach – #Fantasy #Release #Book #Launch

I’m thrilled to welcome the lovely D. Wallace Peach to my blog today for the launch of her latest series: Unravelling The Veil. Looks superb and no doubt it is, as Diana is without question a wonderful fantasy writer.

Blurb:

Behind the Veil, the hordes gather, eager to savage the world. But Kalann il Drakk, First of Chaos, is untroubled by the shimmering wall that holds his beasts at bay. For if he cannot cleanse the land of life, the races will do it for him. All he needs is a spark to light the fire.

Three unlikely allies stand in his way.

A misfit elf plagued by failure—

When Elanalue Windthorn abandons her soldiers to hunt a goblin, she strays into forbidden territory.

A changeling who betrays his home—

Talin Raska is a talented liar, thief, and spy. He makes a fatal mistake—he falls for his mark.

A halfbreed goblin with deadly secrets—

Naj’ar is a loner with a talent he doesn’t understand and cannot control, one that threatens all he holds dear.

When the spark of Chaos ignites, miners go missing. But they won’t be the last to vanish. As the cycles of blame whirl through the Borderland, old animosities flare, accusations break bonds, and war looms.

Three outcasts, thrust into an alliance by fate, by oaths, and the churning gears of calamity, must learn the truth. For they hold the future of their world in their hands.

Q & A

What prompted you to write in your chosen genre?

My dad was a fantasy/sci-fi reader, and those types of books stuffed our shelves. When we’d go on vacation, my goal was to read one book a day, so I was exposed to a wide variety of authors. When writing popped up as a possibility, fantasy seemed like a natural fit. Another reason I chose fantasy was because I also thought I could avoid research! LOL. Wow, was I wrong about that! My research doesn’t come close to what some genres require, but who knew that I’d be researching Einstein’s theories about mass and energy for this series. Or what martens sound like. Or the smell of lightning.

Liars and Thieves excerpt:
(In this scene, my characters just discovered that they’re stuck with each other. It’s not pretty.)


A shower of sand rained from Alue’s hair as she scraped her fingers over her scalp. The endless heat and humidity, the dirt and sweat, fouled her mood as much as it fouled her nose. She needed a hot soak with oils and soap, a hair wash, and something to eat that didn’t taste like an unwashed shirt.


Arianna had released the three of them onto the trail heading north to the railway spur, a three-day walk. Any deviation from the path, any mention of what had occurred in the jungle would result in a gruesome death, and Alue didn’t doubt the queen’s willingness to see the threat through.


Still a day from the spur, Talin led them to another tree-stand, the changelings’ method of spending a night safe from cats if not insects, snakes, and monkeys. She sat on the platform’s edge, one leg dangling, while she attempted to lob balls of light from her fingers—without them disappearing the instant she let go.


The goblin wrinkled his nose.


“What is your problem?” she snapped.


He scowled at her. “You have the odor of an ape.”


She gaped at him. “I haven’t had a chance to bathe.”


“Elves always smell like apes.”


Talin blurted out a laugh. He sat at the platform’s other end, eating some kind of hideous, withered root.


“Is that so?” Alue was tempted to push Naj over the side, but he sat against the tree in the middle of the platform. “And I suppose goblins smell like jasmine petals.”


“Goblins don’t sweat,” Naj informed her. “Changelings bear the scents of animals, but not as pungent as
elves.”

“You can’t smell your own breath,” Talin said. “It reeks from eating meat.”


“Speaking of food…” Alue plucked up one of the roots Talin had gathered for her and tossed it over the edge. “I’m famished.”


“Don’t throw good food away,” Talin muttered. “You’ll be forced to ask Naj to spear you a snake.”


“Don’t make me vomit.” Alue shook her head when Naj glanced her way. His glaive had been confiscated in Glenglisan along with her pulser, and though he acted as if its loss didn’t matter, the ropey muscles in his neck tightened at its every mention. “I thought changelings forbade the killing of animals?”


“We do.” Talin brushed the dirt from a flesh-colored root. “We never know when one of us might be mistaken for a wild creature… like a panther.”


Alue stared at him, her empty stomach rolling over. “Was that… was the panther…”


“A man named Janu.” Talin slouched, dark eyebrows lowered in her direction. His chin bristled with rough scruff, and his long hair needed a comb almost as much as hers. “You shot him near the falls, and Naj finished him off.”


“I ate his…” Alue’s hand slapped to her mouth, and she closed her eyes, reeling. If Naj hadn’t gripped her arm, she might have fallen.


“He was the aggressor,” Naj said as if somehow that justified chewing on a man’s heart.


“Why didn’t you tell me?” Alue shrieked. “I ate a changeling, a person!”

“Thank you for acknowledging that we’re people,” Talin said.


“Gah! I never said you weren’t. We’re all people. And that’s beside the point. You tricked us.”


“I saved your life,” Talin yelled back. “I didn’t need to do any of it. I could have left you in the pit, left you in the cell. Gone on with my life.”

“Why did you help us?” Naj asked.

Talin crossed his arms. “I thought I knew. Now I don’t remember.”

Trailer:

Liars and Thieves Global Purchase Linkhttp://a-fwd.com/asin=B08FGQ2W3Q

Author Bio:

D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move left her with hours to fill. Years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books, and when she started writing, she was instantly hooked. Diana lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two dogs, bats, owls, and the occasional family of coyotes.

Author Links:

Website/Blog: http://mythsofthemirror.com

Website/Books: http://dwallacepeachbooks.com

Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/D.-Wallace-Peach/e/B00CLKLXP8

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Myths-of-the-Mirror/187264861398982

Twitter: @dwallacepeach

And check out this wonderful post that Diana has created with all the blog tour hosts books. What a lovely idea. ❤ x https://mythsofthemirror.com/2020/08/29/liars-and-thieves-book-launch-central/

Wow, that was wonderful. I love Diana’s writing. So interested to learn that Diana’s father was a writer too! Awesome.

Book Review: Catling’s Bane by D Wallace Peach #Bookreview

Goodreads Synopsis

In the tiers of Ellegeance, the elite Influencers’ Guild holds the power to manipulate emotions. Love and fear, pain and pleasure, healing and death mark the extremes of their sway, but it’s the subtle blends that hook their victims’ hearts. They hide behind oaths of loyalty and rule the world.

A child born in the grim warrens beneath the city, Catling rues the rose birthmark encircling her eye. Yet, it grants her the ability to disrupt the influencers’ sway. Established methods of civil control disintegrate before her. She’s a weapon desired by those who reign and those who rebel.

To the Influencer’s Guild, she’s an aberration, a threat. They order her death and thus the betrayals begin. One woman protects and trains her, plotting to use her shield to further imperial goals. No longer a helpless child, Catling has other plans. As chaos shakes the foundations of order and rule, will she become the realm’s savior? Or its executioner?

The Rose Shield Tetralogy – a blend of science fiction and fantasy.

Welcome to a world of three moons, a sentient landscape, rivers of light, and tier cities that rise from the swamps like otherworld flowers. A planet of waterdragons, where humans are the aliens living among three-fingered natives with spotted skin. Where a half-blood converses with the fog and the goddess plans her final reckoning.

Follow Catling’s journey as she grows from childhood into the deadly force that shapes the future. She is the realm’s shield, an influencer, assassin, healer, mother, and avenger. And all she wants is to go home.

 

My review:

Catling’s Bane is the first in the Rose Shield series and showcases D. Wallace Peach’s wonderful fantasy writing. It is a character driven story with a young girl: Catling taking centre stage. BUT don’t be fooled into thinking this is a gentle read. It is not. There are influencers at work, who think nothing of killing people, even the youngest members of society are cruelly eliminated for minor crimes, whilst their peers, and family members are ‘influenced,’ to believe that their hangings are no more than a fun day of entertainment.There is a strong political element to the story, with warrens representing the classes of society. Also, there is a sense of wanting to belong, to be part of a caring family, and poor Catling longs for that more than anything: even though her mother isn’t exactly maternal Catling still cares for her.

The beginning was a little difficult to follow due to the large cast of characters. A short introduction to them all would have been welcome.

At times the plot shifted in an unexpected way but the ending had me buzzing for more. The ending was brutal but beautifully written. I couldn’t look away! Oh my!

This is my first introduction to D. Wallace Peach’s novels. I’ve been following her blog for a long while and been impressed by her writing. There is no doubt in my mind that D. Wallace Peach is a talented author.

Beautiful writing in all categories: descriptive, emotive and very entertaining dialogue and I couldn’t help but be invested in Catling’s plight.

#highlyrecommended

My rating: 4.5 stars.

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