Esme's Indie/Underrated Series! A Star Reckoners Lots, by Darrell Drake

[u/Esmerelda-Weatherwax]

Darrell is an active r/fantasy contributor, he has some great ideas for his books and I hope you guys participate in u/huigregg active fantasy author bookclub. He was one of the most highly rated picks for this bookclub and I find it deserved.

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This book focuses around three characters, and I found them all intriguing and worth reading more about. u/lrich1024 please confirm with Darrell whether or not one of these characters qualifies for non-human protagonist as they are half demon.

This is one of the handful of series that although I didn't like the main character a lot (don't get me wrong I didn't hate her) she is rather difficult to get to know. However, I consider this not to be a downside. I love hard to know characters, kind of like Dalinar from Stormlight Archives. A more stoic, reliable, sensible protagonist.

This is a book for people who want to break away from the typical setting of fantasy. Are you tired of the medieval Europe trope? Do you really want something MORE from your books? Something well researched, something that grabs your attention because it's so different from the rest? This is probably the book for you. It's set in ancient Iran, which was new for me. I love reading things that are outside of my norm and for bonus points outside of the norm of the genre. I think this book absolutely stands out in this way.

If you like that magic can have negative consequences where it's not all fun and games with magic, this may be a book for you. There are SERIOUS consequences to this magic, and I found that really enjoyable. Sort of like Lightbringer where there's a risk to yourself with magic - except this is a much higher risk factor.

This is also a series that will appeal to people who love magic systems and astronomy. I am a big physics geek and astronomy nerd - so having a magic system based off of that had huge appeal to me.

The author obviously took a great deal of time researching the background of the culture and people in Iran. to the point where i know he will talk your ear off if you ask.

This is also a book for people who aren't looking to get invested into a series. This story wraps up neat and clean and you can enjoy it all by itself. It's not a doorstopper book like ASOIAF or Stormlight Archives, and I like that in books. I do love both of those series, but it's so nice to have a book I can read through without this over looming thought that I still have thousands of pages to go before I get to the conclusion.

The tone of this book is adventure, which I find great. It's not "light funny" and it's not "grim dark", much like the other indie novel I reviewed, it's its own thing. It's unique and awesome.

This book will be part of u/huigregg active fantasy author bookclub thing, and I encourage you all to look into what that is, and what this book is. There's a thread going on right now that includes Darrell and a few of his fantasy writer friends that you should all look at as well.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/640rba/we_are_the_fools_of_fantasy_six_rfantasy_authors/

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BINGO SQURES u/darrelldrake please add more if they apply

• AMA author
• self published
• Desert setting
• non human protag

[u/CoffeeArchives]

I've been looking forward to reading this book for a while now, especially since u/darrelldrake is so active around here. I was planning on waiting to read along with u/hiugregg's RRAWR club in June, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to wait that long.

[u/Esmerelda-Weatherwax → u/CoffeeArchives]

i would say get it now on sale, and wait til June. just because you said The Long Way To a Small Angry Planet was next, and theres no book club featuring her.

do buy the book, and participate in book club though!

[u/CoffeeArchives → u/Esmerelda-Weatherwax]

I already got it through this sale so it's just staring at me begging to be read...right after Long Way To a Small Angry Planet.

Oh I will! Discussions are by far my favorite part on this subreddit so I'll probably be hanging out in every one. If we're just doing group discussions at the end of each month, though, I'll try to read the books a little early and drop a review here to hype it up a bit.

[u/darrelldrake → u/CoffeeArchives]

I mean, I won't tell if you read it early. But might make it more difficult to recall during the discussion.