Book Blurb:
A fully rhyming audio-adventure of magic and mayhem!
As Earth’s only magical kingdom defends against ruthless invaders, a darkening sun now threatens to destroy them all. Each side seeks the Candle of Crest, a magical relic with the power to counter the threat. But disaster is coming, and time is fading faster than sunlight.
The Candle of Crest is a fully rhyming audio-adventure. It follows the storyline of, The Icon of Earth — Book Two of The Realmsic Conquest Trilogy, written by award-winning, best selling fantasy author, Demethius Jackson.
I received this book from the author for free. All comments and opinions are entirely my own and this review is voluntary.
Renae’s Review:
This tale is as epic as they come, especially for one so short! In under 2 hours you’ll be whisked off into a world of magic, where the battle between good and evil is taking place! The prologue sets the stage for the opening battle, and each of the key characters is introduced without delay. The story starts right in the middle of the action, as the hero, Leoden, and his friend, General Normandy, set off to retrieve the Candle of Crest to save the dying King Maebis and his kingdom from Saraya and her army.** Along the way, they make new friends, encounter old enemies, and team up with unlikely allies. In the end, honor, courage, and a little bit of “realmsic” (which I think is this world’s version of spiritual energy or magic. Kind of like “The Force” in Star Wars, as there is both good and bad realmsic.) triumph in this dazzling tale!
I really enjoyed this story and was intrigued from start to finish. There were no dull moments, though there were some parts that felt redundant (more on that later). The presentation was really well done, including appropriate sound effects and a great selection of soundtracks to help the story come alive. The voice talents of the author, Demethius Jackson, and Vanessa Marroquin were spot on and fit the characters well, providing adequate differentiation between the voices of each character. Overall, I have only good things to say about this audiobook production of The Candle of Crest: A Rhyming Epic Adventure!
That being said, I do feel that it is necessary to point out that this style of writing is not for everyone. It is a rhyming tale modeled after the ancient epics, which means that it includes some convoluted language in places. The story itself is more than suitable for children, but I do not think that children of the present generation would be able to follow the language as well as hoped. Therefore, this story would likely be appropriate for listeners/readers who are above a mid-grade reading level.
As an adult, I had no trouble following the story, but I did find myself pointing out areas needing improvement, usually due to unnatural language used for the sake of rhyming. While I understand that that is part and parcel of writing an epic rhyme, I did find some of it to feel like unnecessary filler, and there was a noticeable level of redundancy at times. The story was wonderful without the extra fluff, so I would encourage the author to trust that he is telling the story well enough without feeling the need to add more words than are necessary.
On the whole, I really did enjoy this audible adventure and would definitely listen to it again! What little criticism I have is more of a technical nature than anything, and certainly does not detract from how great of a story Demethius Jackson has written. In fact, I actually wish that the story was longer and I could spend more time with these characters. I fully recommend The Candle of Crest: A Rhyming Epic Adventure to any readers/listeners who enjoy legendary stories full of knights, wizards, swordfights, and zombies!
**Please pardon any misspellings of character names. I did my best to spell what I heard, but I’m not positive I got it all correct!
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