Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: Lofty Dreams of Earthbound Men

SERIES: The Isleshire Chronicles

AUTHOR: Susan Laine

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 76 pages

BLURB: On the night of the summer solstice, Obadai Bashim encounters Jules Sterling, a young engineering sage. Jules is on the run from a ripper, an assassin of the Theocracy who has already killed his master. Open atrocities by rippers are unusual in County Isleshire, where freedom and acceptance reign over prejudice.

However, political instability between the Five Kingdoms and the Divine Theocracy has set the theocrats on a mission to crown religious doctrine over science, and the Sage’s Guild is number one on their eradication list. If Obadai helps, he’ll have a price on his head too, but he can’t abandon Jules.

Escaping the ripper’s clutches is not enough. Jules has a mission of his own: to repair a faulty airship inn about to crash into the fortified township of Dunbruth. Luckily, Obadai has a few magickal secrets up his sleeve.

REVIEW: I read the blurb and even though this was basically a short story, it sounded so very interesting to me.  I was really excited to read it.

I was half right. 

This story starts with Obadai getting hit up for help from this kid, Jules.  Obadai is leery of helping someone who he doesn’t know, however, he helps Jules when he explains his Mentor was killed by a Ripper and he’s on the run to find safety.

Obadai helps him and they start to get to know each other, even when Jules lies to him regarding what had happened, he still helps.  There is an attraction towards each other and they barely get started on that when the Ripper catches up to them.

Now, like I stated before, this story sounds really interesting.  I guess, I would have liked it better if it were longer and more was explained a bit more. There was information given regarding the Five Kingdoms and the Divine Theocracy.  But it was so very rushed and even reading it again, I was still confused.

I’d like to say that this was a really great book, but I was confused regarding what was going on during this story. 

I know that this is the beginning of a series and I hope that they would explain so much more.  I’d give the second book another chance to see if it gets better. I think that if these books were longer and could explain in greater detail, I’d be more invested in the character and the series.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press