Welcome to my tour stop for The Lemorian Crest by Hannah L. Clark! I read the first book in this series last year and was curious enough about what would happen next to want to read this one. Check out all the usual info below, including an excerpt, my full review, and a giveaway...
The Lemorian Crest(Cobbogoth #2)
Urban Fantasy
Paperback, 436 pages
August 23rd 2015 by KinStone Publishing, LLC
Summary
After being raised from infancy in Boston, Mass., Noria (a.k.a Norah Lukens) has no idea what to expect upon entering New Cobbogoth, where she never would have guessed that paths of light can make you vanish; doors can lead to realms both near and far; myths and legends are actual history; a mere kiss can seal two souls as one; and, of course, a stone is never “just a stone.” Her Uncle Jack’s stories never could have prepared her for the magical and dangerous place her native realm is turning out to be.
When the Gihara’s promises begin to crumble, her best friend and soul-mate Jamus (a.k.a. James Riley) is in more danger than ever. Then when his father Lylend abandons her to search for an ancient relic called The Lemorian Crest and she is taken captive by the very people she’s risked everything to save, Noria begins to lose faith in the Cobbogothian gods and the mission they sent her home to accomplish.
Only when a series of new friendships and loyalties are forged in the most peculiar of places, does Noria dare hope again. Hope for Jamus’ safety, for their future together, and for the survival of the entire Cobbogothian race.
Book 1: Uncovering Cobbogoth was published in 2014 by Cedar Fort Publishing.
First Book in the Series
(Cover linked to Goodreads)
My Review
The Lemorian Crest starts right off where Uncovering Cobbogoth left off. Noria is now in another realm or dimension. A land that is definitely fantastical in every way, including in how she travels, the other people she meets, and the creatures she sees. It takes a while to get into the story and figure out what the Lemorian Crest is, but eventually we get there and then the story begins to take off.
Noria is still figuring a lot of things out and she doesn't know who she can trust. She just knows that she needs to meet up with Lyland and that they need to move forward to save her people, the Cobbogothians. I didn't have a lot of interest in the others she meets until she meets up with some people about a third of the way through. Then we find some interesting characters. I had lots of questions about why certain people acted as they did, especially one man in particular who can off rather strong and inconsistent, one moment spitting mad and the next pale. Noria made some friends as well. Then the search begins and they find out other things, especially historically. I did miss James in this in the beginning quite a bit. I really liked Noria and still do. She has a lot to learn since this is all new to her. I also really liked Lev. James had a really rough path to take in this story and a difficult one, especially for Noria. I'm curious to see what will happen to these characters in book three.
I enjoyed reading this, but there were a few things that held me back from loving it. The beginning was a lot of discovery and info dumping. Noria is travelling to meet Lyland and there wasn't a whole lot going on. Just her viewing this new world and its creatures. In some ways it fell into the middle-book syndrome (a filler until the next book where everything happens). Things do eventually pick up, but there is still a lot of history lessons and viewing things not being quite consistent or making complete sense even as it did so.
I would have been a little lost without the map and I love maps, so I'm glad that there is one. Here's what it looks like:
Overall an enjoyable read, particularly for YA and MG fantasy readers.
Content: Clean
Source: From the tour, which did not affect my review in any way.
Noria is still figuring a lot of things out and she doesn't know who she can trust. She just knows that she needs to meet up with Lyland and that they need to move forward to save her people, the Cobbogothians. I didn't have a lot of interest in the others she meets until she meets up with some people about a third of the way through. Then we find some interesting characters. I had lots of questions about why certain people acted as they did, especially one man in particular who can off rather strong and inconsistent, one moment spitting mad and the next pale. Noria made some friends as well. Then the search begins and they find out other things, especially historically. I did miss James in this in the beginning quite a bit. I really liked Noria and still do. She has a lot to learn since this is all new to her. I also really liked Lev. James had a really rough path to take in this story and a difficult one, especially for Noria. I'm curious to see what will happen to these characters in book three.
I enjoyed reading this, but there were a few things that held me back from loving it. The beginning was a lot of discovery and info dumping. Noria is travelling to meet Lyland and there wasn't a whole lot going on. Just her viewing this new world and its creatures. In some ways it fell into the middle-book syndrome (a filler until the next book where everything happens). Things do eventually pick up, but there is still a lot of history lessons and viewing things not being quite consistent or making complete sense even as it did so.
I would have been a little lost without the map and I love maps, so I'm glad that there is one. Here's what it looks like:
Overall an enjoyable read, particularly for YA and MG fantasy readers.
Content: Clean
Source: From the tour, which did not affect my review in any way.
Excerpt
Still unsuccessful in their pursuit
to locate the Lemorian Crest, Noria and the other members of the Resistance
find their next clue in an ancient Wind klan legend.
The
Legend of Boki’s Bow
Lylend
nodded, holding up a rather worn sheet. “Here it is, ‘The Legend of Boki’s
Bow.’” He sat back in his chair, preparing to read, but then handed the roll to
me. “It’s in Ancient Cobbogothian, kyndie. This old man’s eyes are burning from
a night of reading—why don’t you favor us?”
I
nodded. Taking the parchment roll, I smoothed the supple, cloth-like paper out
onto the table and began to read.
The
Legend of Boki’s Bow
When Phitessnie paid
the blood sum, he left his six royal advisors in charge of the people. The advisors
led the remaining Cobbogothians into the new realm. When they arrived, however,
all they found was empty space and darkness. The new realm hadn’t been created yet.
So the advisors gathered together and discussed what to do. They knew they could
create a new realm, just as their ancestors had on Earth, but they were short on
their elements. Earth, wind, fire, water, metal, wood, and space were what they
needed to create a world in this new realm, but they had left Earth’s realm so quickly,
they hadn’t absorbed enough element to bring with them.
Totherma, the Opalian
Eye, and the only Space Shifter among the remaining Cobbogothians, proposed a
solution to their problem. She asked the council to allow her to go out into the
empty space and darkness—what she knew as dark matter—so she could create dark
matter doors and paths of light through space and time, allowing her to visit other
realms and gather element.
But the council opposed
her proposition right away. They were worried for her safety. In the dark matter
were various and vicious dark matter creatures who, if awoken, would try to attack
her, and the only way to fight them off was to kill them with light. Knowing
she had just as little element with her as they did, they doubted she would
have enough power to create the paths of light that would protect her.
Instead of arguing,
Totherma told the advisors of a special realm she hoped to find—a realm that was
home to a race of creatures called elemies. These elemies could help solve their
problem because they were beings made entirely of the seven elements they sought—earth,
wind, fire, water, metal, wood, and space. If she could find this realm and bring
the elemies back to New Cobbogoth, then the Cobbogothians could bond with the elemies.
That bond would allow them unlimited access to their elements, which would give
them what they needed to change this new realm of empty space and darkness into
a beautiful world of light, creations, and beauty.
At last Phitessnie’s
royal advisors agreed to let her go, but on one condition. She would be required
to allow Boki, Phitessnie’s spark spindling adviser, to accompany her on her
quest. Boki had remembered to bring his bow with him from the Olden Realm, and
just enough wind to allow him to shoot spark darts. If Totherma happened to awaken
any dark matter creatures during her search for the realm of the elemies, he could
protect her by scaring them off with the light from his spark darts.
Glad for the company
on such a dangerous journey, Totherma agreed to the council’s conditions, and
she and Boki set off into the empty space and darkness.
Right away, Totherma
began opening doors and making light pathways through the dark matter. After many
days, she finally located the realm of the elemies. But because she’d been opening
so many doors, some of the dark matter creatures had awoken. While the paths of
light Totherma made through the dark matter would protect her from them, she’d
used up much of her power. Sensing her weakened state, the dark matter creatures
grew wild and restless.
“You can’t go back
in there alone,” Boki protested, as Totherma prepared to pass into the dark matter
one last time.
“But you can’t come
with me,” she replied, determined to help her people. And she was right. They both
knew that if Boki followed Totherma through the dark matter door toward the realm
of the elemies, it would require her to use even more of her power to keep the
creatures away from Boki as well. If she ran out of her element too soon, she wouldn’t
be able to make it back with the seven elemies the Cobbogothians needed to create
a world, and they would both die.
So the two struck
a deal: Boki agreed to stay behind as long as Totherma agreed to leave the dark
matter door open so he could protect her as much as possible as she traveled back
and forth between New Cobbogoth and the realm of the elemies.
And so Totherma set
off toward the elemies' realm, while Boki watched from the threshold of the
dark matter door, his bow ready to strike at any sign of danger.
Soon Totherma returned
with a pair of water nymphs and wood dryads. The second time, she was followed by
a pair of metal trolls and earth zyrkir. On her third voyage, she sailed
through the dark matter door on two wind sylphids. One more journey and she would
have all the elemies necessary to create New Cobbogoth.
As Boki waited at
the dark matter door for Totherma to return a final time, he grew anxious over the
commotion he could see swirling in the dark matter just beyond Totherma’s path of
light. The dark matter creatures were growing more ferocious by the hour, and this
final trip seemed to be taking Totherma much longer than the last three.
When an entire day
had passed and Totherma still hadn’t returned, Boki knew something had gone terribly
wrong. He knew she needed his help! But Boki wasn’t sure what to do. He’d used so
much of his wind shooting spark darts at the dark matter creatures so Totherma could
return safely the first three times, he wasn’t sure he had enough element left to
protect himself and Totherma if he went into the dark matter to find her this
time.
As he looked at the
five pairs of elemies Totherma had already brought through the dark matter door,
however, an idea struck him. If Boki bonded with one of the wind sylphids, then
he would have plenty of his element to go after Totherma. The only problem was
that Totherma hadn’t yet told the other advisors how one bonded with an elemie.
So Boki began to
experiment. He tried everything he could think of to bond with the wind sylphid.
He embraced it; he shook its hand; he smiled and introduced himself. He showed the
sylphid his bow and even allowed the creature to shoot a spark dart from it. However,
nothing seemed to work.
Finally, Boki asked the sylphid its name.
“I have none,” it moaned.
“You
have no name?” Boki exclaimed. “What do your friends call you?”
“Nothing.”
“Your master?”
“I have none.”
“Well,
you must have a name,” Boki declared. “How shall I call you otherwise?”
And so, Boki gave the
sylphid a name. “I shall call you Gustus.”
“I
accept your name,” the sylphid replied.
The
next moment, a great whirlwind sent by the Gihara overtook both Boki and Gustus.
The whirlwind wasn’t just any whirlwind, and Boki soon found himself and Gustus
bound to one another in an unshakeable bond.
Shocked at his good
fortune, and growing ever more fearful for Totherma, Boki and Gustus crossed
the threshold of the dark matter door to search for her.
As they pushed their
way through the darkness, careful to follow Totherma’s light path, Boki was disturbed
by the sudden quiet. All of the dark matter creatures had grown still.
Pushing on through
the darkness, however, Boki began to hear something in the distance. It sounded
like screaming. He hurried along until the noise grew louder, and soon he
realized what the sound was. Up ahead, Boki could see a great blaze of fire surrounded
by a mob of the most fearsome dark matter creatures he’d ever seen. Dread overtook
him as he and Gustus headed toward it.
When they reached the
commotion, Boki was surprised when he discovered the source of the fire. It was
coming from the gaping jaws of a pair of very fierce but very small dragons.
Neither was any bigger than a kitten, yet they relentlessly spewed their fire at
the mob of dark matter creatures surrounding them.
That’s when Boki realized
the little dragons were guarding something.
Or someone! Just to
the side of the light path, lying very still, was Totherma. She was curled up in
a tight ball and appeared to be injured.
“Totherma!” Boki
yelled. “Totherma, I’m here!”
The dragons were doing
everything they could to keep the ravaging dark matter creatures away from her,
but they were also growing weak.
Without a second thought,
Boki drew his bow and began to fire spark darts at the dark matter beasts. To his
great astonishment, however, Boki saw that spark darts were no longer zooming
from his bow. Because of his bond with Gustus, the darts had been replaced with
great, electrifying bolts of lightning!
After Boki had
killed one of their own, the mob of dark matter creatures scattered. When they had
all fled, Boki rushed to Totherma’s side. While Gustus assured the little dragons
that he and Boki were there to help, Boki checked to see if Totherma was still breathing.
To his relief, she was, but she was also unconscious. As he went to pick her up
and carry her back to the new realm, something caught his eye—something cradled
in Totherma’s arms. It appeared she had been protecting it with her body.
As Boki removed it
from her arms, he found himself staring into the golden eyes of a great violet phoenix.
Along with the fire elemies, it appeared Totherma had discovered her very own space
elemie.
When Boki and
Totherma finally returned to the other Cobbogothians, the remaining advisors were
very pleased. Soon each member bonded with their own elemie, giving it a name
of its own that the elemie in turn accepted. When Totherma had recovered from
her injuries and had bonded with her phoenix, she and Boki led the others in the
creating of New Cobbogoth.
I sat the parchment back on the
table and glanced around at the others. “Well, what do you think?”
Hannah L. Clark
lives with her husband and two children in the Rocky Mountains. She has always
known she would be a storyteller. In 2006 she graduated from Utah Valley
University with a bachelor's degree in English and immediately began writing
her first novel.
Uncovering Cobbogoth was Clark's first book in the seven book Cobbogoth series
based on her mythological brain-child, The Legend of the Cobbogothians. It was
released in May 2014 through Cedar Fort Publishing. Book 2 in the series, The
Lemorian Crest will be released in Summer 2015.
Clark loves running, mythology, singing while playing the guitar, herbal tea,
escaping into imaginary worlds, and being with her peeps. Like her heroine
Norah, she also kind of believes that trees might have souls, but must clarify
that she has never actually hugged a tree. The closest she has ever come to
that kind of bizarre behavior was the time she hugged the pillars outside Harry
Potter Land. Which, all things considered, is not bizarre at all if you take
into account how exquisitely happy she was to finally be there. ;-)
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