AT Ross profile

Place of birth: St. Louis, Missouri (USA)

AT Ross's 18 reviews

Merlin's Blade by Robert Treskillard

Robert Treskillard's debut novel is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant Arthurian genre. Rather than trying to retell the same old story in a slightly different way, he decides to plumb the depths of Celtic legend and mythology for inspiration and tell a story about Merlin as a young boy. The victim of a wolf attack as a child, Me...

7.5/10

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Fablehaven by Brandon Mull (Fablehaven)

Fablehaven is the first in Brandon Mull's five-volume series of the same name, and has proven to be a success in the Middle Grade section of the YA genre. After hearing quite a bit about it, I picked it up to give it a try.Siblings Kendra and Seth are on their way to their grandparents' farm to stay for two weeks because their oth...

6.0/10

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Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Divergent Trilogy)

Veronica Roth's bestselling Divergent seemed to take the world by surprise, an unexpected book that happened to be released at just the right time to resonate with audiences and critics alike. Telling the story of a dystopian world in which humanity is separated into five factions (Abnegation, Candour, Amity, Erudite, and Dauntless), it foll...

9.0/10

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The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper

Fantasy Book Review Book of the Month, October 2013The Dark is Rising Sequence: Over Sea , Under Stone, The Dark Is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King, Silver on the TreeSusan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence, written between 1965 and 1977, is an example of a modern fantasy classic in the vein of Tolkien'...

9.6/10

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Divergent by Veronica Roth (Divergent Trilogy)

Little did I know when I first picked up a copy of Veronica Roth's Divergent that it was quickly becoming a sensation of its own. Not quite of the scope of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, but some sizable movement. More surprising was that Divergent is Roth's first book, which she wrote instead of doing ...

8.3/10

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Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta (Lumatere Chronicles)

Finnikin of the Rock is the first fantasy novel written by Melina Marchetta, who tends to focus on mainstream fiction, and it follows the story of the boy Finnikin, who is of a village called the Rock. The world and situation is immensely complex, so I won't bother trying to summarized the story, but Finnikin is the son of Captain Travanion,...

8.7/10

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Neverwinter by RA Salvatore (Neverwinter Saga)

Unlike Gauntlgrym - which spanned nearly a hundred years of Drizzt's life - Salvatore's follow-up, Neverwinter, picks up the story a mere handful of weeks after Gauntlgrym's conclusion and will span only a few weeks to months as the story unfolds. Unfortunately, where Gauntlgrym's century passed too quickly for my taste, being a ...

6.3/10

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The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead (Bright Empires)

Stephen Lawhead has not ventured into the realms of science fiction for many years. Not since his Empyrion books back in 1996, in fact. The Skin Map is his return to the genre, in which he explores travel between dimensional universes, using String theory as his inspiration for a story about Kit, a young man from England who gets drawn backward ...

5.8/10

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The Dragon's Tooth by ND Wilson (The Ashtown Burials)

Following the wide-ranging success of his debut trilogy, the 100 Cupboards, YA fantasy novelist N. D. Wilson has returned with the first in a projected five-volume series entitled The Ashtown Burials. Cyrus and Antigone run the small, dilapidated Archer Motel with their older brother Daniel. But when a strange old man calling himself Billy Bones...

9.3/10

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Skyship Academy by Nick James (The Pearl Wars)

Nick James' debut novel Skyship Academy is a fast-paced, captivating thrill ride from start to finish. In the aftermath of the American-Chinese war a totalitarian government arose. Dissidents and cessessionists retreated to the great Skyships and a new world balance was created. After war loomed between those on the ground and those in the s...

8.2/10

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Gauntlgrym by RA Salvatore (Neverwinter Saga)

The creators of the Dungeons and Dragons universe have mandated change, and so has R. A. Salvatore. In Gauntlgrym both missions are accomplished with flair and drama. Over two decades have passed since the close of The Ghost King and the remaining Companions of the Hall have grown old with the weight of age. Even Bruenor's mighty beard has t...

8.5/10

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The Ghost King by RA Salvatore (Transitions)

Marking the 22nd Drizzt book, R. A. Salvatore's The Ghost King is unlike any of the books that have come before it. The Transitions trilogy, of which this book is the completion, was not much of a trilogy except for the theme of transition. The events of the three books do not connect to one another except for the characters, and the fact th...

5.6/10

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The Cellar Beneath the Cellar by Lee Duigon (The Bell Mountain Series)

Lee Duigon's sequel to Bell Mountain continues and expands the world of Obann. In the wake of the great Bell atop Bell Mountain being rung, the world has changed. The reality of the bell looms frequently in the background of many scenes in the book, as characters all seek to come to grips with whether the believe it really was the bell, what...

8.0/10

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The Emerald Atlas: The Books of Beginning by John Stephens (The Emerald Atlas)

This was one of the most interesting books I have read in a very long time. It is a classic bildungsroman (coming of age tale) that breathes in the traditional elements of such a story, innovative and creatively adapted for maximum originality by John Stephens, the executive producer of Gossip Girls and a staff writer on the Gilmore Girls. That ...

8.9/10

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The Pirate King by RA Salvatore (Transitions)

It is four years since the events of The Orc King, and there is uneasy peace between Obould's orcs and the dwarves of Mithral Hall. It is here that The Pirate King begins, marking the middle book of Salvatore's Transitions trilogy and his 21st Drizzt novel.Though it begins here, The Pirate King proves itself to be one of the most ...

8.0/10

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Bell Mountain by Lee Duigon (The Bell Mountain Series)

The first in a series of five (thus far), Bell Mountain marks the fantasy debut of author Lee Duigon, and it is an enjoyable debut too. The story follows two children, Jack and Ellayne, as they attempt to make their way across the corrupt kingdom of Obann to climb Bell Mountain and ring the legendary bell that sits atop its peak. Long ago the be...

7.6/10

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The Orc King by RA Salvatore (Transitions)

The Orc King marks the 20th book in R. A. Salvatore's bestselling Drizzt Do'Urden series, and is essentially the completion of the previous Hunter's Blades trilogy, comprised of The Thousand Orcs, The Lone Drow, and The Two Swords, tying up loose ends left dangling at the end of The Two Swords. That trilogy follows Drizzt and his com...

7.2/10

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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games)

I came to the Hunger Games series late in its popularity. Way late. Less than a month's time to the release of the highly anticipated film adaptation (an adaptation written in part by Suzanne Collins herself, one of the credited writers of the script) and I've known about the series less than a year, and having only read the series a few...

9.1/10

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