News update

Hi Readers


Well I have been a little lax in blogging lately. Life has been getting in the way, but things should be back on track now. So here is a quick run down on some DarkissReads news items.


First item today is that "Shadow Fox by Ashley Barnard" is now available as a paperback on Amazon. Shadow Fox was the first book reviewed on DarkissReads and it can be found here while you can also find an interview with Ashley that she was kind enough to do for us here. Now all those who haven't got access to an ebook reader can now join the growing fans of this series. If you are looking for a great new author of paranormal/romance and you like your heroes to be dark haunted, then Shadow Fox is for you.


A little while ago I reported on the attempts by some of the large publishing houses to artificially increase the price of ebooks by forcing retailers like Amazon to sell at a price they set. This is what they have done in the US and they are now attempting to bring this system into the UK. Well I reported this issue to the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) and urged you to do the same. A few days ago I got a reply from the OFT.


"Further to our correspondence of 2 December, and following a significant number of complaints similar to yours, the OFT has opened an investigation into whether arrangements that certain publishers have put in place with some retailers for the sale of e-books may breach competition rules. The investigation is at an early stage and it should not be assumed that the parties involved have breached competition law. Further information regarding the investigation can be found on our website: http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/competition-act-and-cartels/ca98-current/e-books/.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention."


This is great news but is only the beginning of the investigation


We see by our recent poll that your most popular Fantasy Villains are "Gods" while poor old "Dragons" didn't even get a single vote. Interestingly good old "Human" baddies came in second place. This was a surprise as I would have thought a FANTASY villain was more likely to be a FANTASY creature. 


Now I hope you will all join me in welcoming "WitchoftheMists" as a new reviewer here on DarkissReads. More information on WitchoftheMists soon. You will see a few more new reviewers appearing here over the next few months. This with luck will increase the activity on DarkissReads, enabling a greater experience for you, the readership.

Torc of Moonlight by Linda Acaster

Book One in the North York Moors Torch Trilogy 

How many believers does it need to keep an ancient religion alive?

Second year student Nick Blaketon came to Hull's university to play rugby, drink beer and get laid; none of it is going right for him. Alice Linwood came to focus her studies on uncovering the shrine to a Celtic water goddess and to exorcise an unhappy childhood where too many died by accident. She knows why modern universities surround the North York Moors as once did mediaeval seats of learning. Derventio, Malton's Roman garrison, holds the key. Nick dismisses her theories as fantasy - until the trees crowd in and he realizes that history is not always buried, and it’s not always dead.

How many believers does it need to keep an ancient religion alive?
Just one. 
Is it you, isn’t it, who throws coins into a wishing well?

Book Description

As a lover of trilogy novels no matter what their form may take, I was excited to be given this book to review as my first for Darkissreads. As a lover of old religions and ancient Celtic myths, the book’s title and description intrigued me. The book’s genre is classed by the author as a time slip, two times coming together in a fruition of sorts. However in this book it only touches the 

surface of the two time periods and the reason behind the slips.

The book follows the story of Nick Blaketon who is driven by rage on and off the rugby field along with black outs, who for some unknown reason is obsessed with Alice Linwood. We see the two become lovers, but never really know what drives them together and how their relationship ties to the other time period. We get glimpses of background stories that would really fuel my interest, if the author had given more insight to them.

Often, I had to reread chapters to makes sure I knew who the author was referring too. You get hints of the Arthurian legend and Excalibur, but that is never fully explored. However I give kudos to the author for her excellent descriptions of Hull and the surrounding areas. I think what drew me in more than the story line, was her portrayal of the locations within the novel, which created vivid images in my mind. Making me wish I was Alice in search of the missing well.

Linda Acaster’s writing style reflects her attention to detail and staying true to geographical locations, however I did find the layout of the story very hard to follow and found myself wishing she had more character development. I felt so unemotional towards the characters and wanted to be engaged with them and sadly I wasn’t. There were three distinct storylines within this book which were not woven together. I feel the story line has huge potential and given the proper attention to character development vs. location description. I found a number of editing issues in this novel. This book disappointed me in many aspects but has potential to vastly improve with the input of a good editing team.  I understand that this is a self-published book but there are professional editors who could edit your book before publication.

2 stars

Reviewed by Witchofthemists

Torc of Moonlight (Special Edition) Kindle version

Linda Acaster's Blog

www.lindaacaster.com