Reviewed by Dan

TITLE:  Gargoyle Rising

SERIES: Chronicles of an Earned #6

AUTHOR: Meraki P. Lyhne

PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books

LENGTH: 375 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 19, 2017

BLURB:

At age eleven, Meino buried his dad next to where they had buried his mom less than six months earlier. All alone in the world, he seeks out the Gargoyles and uses his dad’s spell book to bring one to life. But he doesn’t understand the magic he’s using, and he can’t finish the spell. For the next twelve years, his dreams are haunted by the lonely cries of the Gargoyle. As an adult, Meino tries the spell again to get rid of the nightmares. This time it works—but once the magic is alive, it attracts the attention of the New Knight Templars, who want to destroy the Gargoyle.

Nathan and Lucien have settled into a routine at the school where Nathan is studying to be able to help the Order. Just as life is calming down, it all takes a turn. News that a protégé is in danger and that Nathan’s beloved Professor Nigel Gershman has died is just the beginning. Once again, Nathan and Lucien are moved about to assist the Order, and new magic brings out a hidden enemy.

REVIEW:

Anyone who follows my reviews will know that I really like the stories that this author puts out, and this one is no exception. In fact, I think Meino and Burk might be my new favorite characters in this series.

We meet Meino, an auto mechanic living in Hamburg, Germany, when he is having strange dreams about a Gargoyle that he tried to do a spell on when his father died when Meino was eleven. He thought he could do the spell and bring the Gargoyle to life to protect him, since both of his parents were now dead. He didn’t understand what he was doing though, and has only partially completed the spell, which he didn’t really believe in to begin with. But he hears the cries of the Gargoyle in his dreams, and he decides to try one more time. This time he discovers the spell goes onto a second page and finishes it.

Burk is the Gargoyle, and Meino’s magic has finally freed him from his existence as a hulking stone. Now he is able to move around and interact. But the magic has attracted the bad guys, who think they are God’s representatives on Earth, when they are anything but. They are convinced that Burk is a demon and Meino is evil and will do whatever they can to stop them.

Typical to this author, he writes a convoluted story, with lots of adventures and characters. I will warn you that this one steps back in time for the beginning, and we meet several of our characters from the previous five books along the way. It was a little disconcerting at first to be introduced to people that Meino was meeting that we already know well, and have it set before the stories we’ve read earlier in the series. That was all rectified by the end of this installment though when Meino’s story caught up with the current timeline in the other installments.

Another thing which is typical to this author is that he left the ending wide open. I’d offer to fly to Europe and kick him, but hey flights are expensive, and I’d forgive him long before I got there anyway. I can’t wait to see what happens with Meino and Burk next. Hopefully Mr. Lyhne is busily working his little fingers to nubs typing away on it!

I highly recommend this book, and all the books in the series. Start with book one and read the series in order, so that you get the full benefit of the author’s worldbuilding.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

eXtasy Books 

Amazon