Hi guys, we have Andrew Q. Gordon popping in with the blog tour for his newest release The Eye and the Arm, we have a great excerpt, a fantastic giveaway and my review, so enjoy the post and click that Rafflecopter link <3 ~Pixie~
The Eye and the Arm
Andrew Q. Gordan
After defeating Meglar at Belsport, Farrell returns to Haven to recover from his injuries, but Khron, the god of war, has other ideas. He gives Farrell a new mission: free the survivors of the ancient dwarf realm of Trellham from their three-thousand-year banishment. To fulfill Khron’s near impossible task, Farrell will need the help of his distance ancestor, the legendary wizard Kel. But Kel has been dead for a thousand years.
Farrell finds information hinting that Kel is alive, so he moves his search to Dumbarten, Kel’s birthplace. To reach Dumbarten unannounced, Farrell and Miceral disguise themselves as mercenaries on board a merchant vessel. Their journey is disrupted when pirates attack their ship. While attempting to subdue the attack, Farrell is struck down by one of Meglar’s minions.
Unconscious and trapped in his own mind, Farrell’s only chance for survival rests with Miceral and the peregrine king Rothdin entering his thoughts and helping him sort fact from illusion. To reach Farrell, they will need to rely on an untested spell from one of Kel’s spellbooks. If they succeed, Miceral can guide Farrell home safely. If not, Farrell will destroy not only himself, but Miceral, Rothdin, and everyone around him.
Excerpt
Finally, Miceral turned away and instructed Peter to change for weapons practice. They’d only been going a few minutes when Miceral nearly hit the prince in the head with the flat of his sword. He barely had time to shift the blow, and he still knocked Peter from his feet.
“Practice is cancelled.” Miceral collected their weapons after checking to see Peter wasn’t hurt. “It’s not safe for you if I’m this distracted.”
“No complaints from me.” Peter quickly unbuckled his chest plate. “He’ll be fine, you know.”
Miceral heard Peter’s voice while staring out to where Farrell had disappeared. “What was that?”
“I said Farrell is going to be fine.” Peter stood next to him by the railing. “Arritisa wouldn’t send him off into danger. The Six need him.”
Miceral laughed softly. “Using logic won’t help. I know what you say is true, but I’m still worried.”
Peter shook his head. “Father was right. Newlyjoineds.”
He tried not to laugh, but eventually his resolve broke. “Watch it.”
“Sails off the starboard bow!”
The cry from the crow’s nest caused Miceral to twist and look back. His superior eyesight caught a glimpse of a sail just above the horizon. Anxious sailors rushed to the sides, peering where the lookout directed. Captain Nathan, surrounded by his men, stared through a spyglass.
“Pirates!” he hissed, lowering the brass tube. Collapsing the eyepiece, he wheeled about, looking directly at Miceral. “Where’s Kelvin?”
“He left the ship to take care of another matter.”
“Left the ship!” Nathan let loose a string of curses, some of which Miceral had never heard before. “He was hired to guard this ship! From something just like that!” He snapped his head toward the approaching vessel.
“We were hired to protect Prince Peter. Neither Kelvin nor I answer to you.”
“My deal with Prince Wilhelm was that you two would guard this ship as the price of passage. He made no mention of side trips or the wizard leaving.”
Miceral shook his head. Engaging Nathan in this argument did no good. “Captain, I’m not privy to your deal with Wilhelm. Our instructions were to guard Prince Peter. Kelvin needed to leave to handle a matter. I can’t elaborate.”
Nathan glared at Miceral. “Get that blasted wizard back now!”
“How do you expect me to do that? He’s the wizard, not me!” Miceral met the captain’s gaze, daring him to say more. After a brief stare-off, Nathan turned away, muttering a new string of inspired curses. When Miceral shook his head, he noticed Peter.
Peter’s attempt to keep control of his fear didn’t fool Miceral. Peter had lived a sheltered life. War had never touched Belsport in his lifetime. The invasion of his home a couple of months earlier had been his first taste, and Wilhelm had kept Peter and his sister Alicia under guard deep in the Citadel.
A sense of pride and a paternal need to protect filled Miceral. Khron help him, he’d keep Peter safe.
“Go put on your full set of armor and meet me here.” Peter gulped, then nodded. Miceral put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’ll do fine. You’re a good swordsman. Believe it and believe in yourself. Together, we’re going to get through this safely. Understood?”
“Yes, Mi—Elgin.”
“Good. Now go get your gear.” He watched Peter run off and said a silent prayer to Khron for help keeping his promise.
About Andrew
Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.
He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of eighteen years, their young daughter and dog. In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day and not get the shakes.
Follow Andrew:
Giveaway!
FIVE Winners will win one e-copy of ANY book* each from DSP Publication’s backlist.
*Giveaway is of any currently released DSPP book, which excludes the books that are on pre-order and “The Eye And The Arm”.
An Eye and an Arm Rafflecopter giveaway!
Review
Title: The Eye and the Arm
Series: Champion of the Gods 02
Author: Andrew Q. Gordon
Genre: High Fantasy
Length: Novel (296pgs)
ISBN: 978-1-63216-790-3
Publisher: DSP Publications (14th April 2015)
Heat Level: Nil – Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 4 ½ Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: After defeating Meglar at Belsport, Farrell returns to Haven to recover from his injuries, but Khron, the god of war, has other ideas. He gives Farrell a new mission: free the survivors of the ancient dwarf realm of Trellham from their three-thousand-year banishment. To fulfill Khron’s near impossible task, Farrell will need the help of his distance ancestor, the legendary wizard Kel. But Kel has been dead for a thousand years.
Farrell finds information hinting that Kel is alive, so he moves his search to Dumbarten, Kel’s birthplace. To reach Dumbarten unannounced, Farrell and Miceral disguise themselves as mercenaries on board a merchant vessel. Their journey is disrupted when pirates attack their ship. While attempting to subdue the attack, Farrell is struck down by one of Meglar’s minions.
Unconscious and trapped in his own mind, Farrell’s only chance for survival rests with Miceral and the peregrine king Rothdin entering his thoughts and helping him sort fact from illusion. To reach Farrell, they will need to rely on an untested spell from one of Kel’s spellbooks. If they succeed, Miceral can guide Farrell home safely. If not, Farrell will destroy not only himself, but Miceral, Rothdin, and everyone around him.
Purchase Link: http://www.dsppublications.com/books/the-eye-and-the-arm-by-andrew-q-gordon-95-b
Review: This story is part of a series and must be read in order. Farrell and Miceral are back at Haven after their clash with Meglar at Belsport, Farrell is weighed down with the loss of lives and believes he should have done more. As Farrell shows Miceral some of the secrets at Haven Khron, the God of War, tasks Farrell with releasing his followers from their banishment and to fulfill the task of bringing the dwarves back to Trellham Farrell will need to follow the clues his distant ancestor, Kel, left during the years after the banishment. As Farrell digs into the clues he discovers that Kel might still be alive and convinces Miceral that they need to find him, on the journey Kel’s birthplace Farrell discovers more aid but when their ship is attacked by pirates it’s left to Miceral to save Farrell when Farrell gets struck down by a minion of Meglar. With Farrell trapped in his own mind, Miceral and Rothdin must save him.
This is a great second installment of The Champion of the Gods, the story continues about three weeks after the end of The Last Grand Master. We re-join Farrell and Miceral as they seek to stop Meglar in his quest to rule the lands, Farrell is given a new task which may help him defeat Meglar but the task is far from easy. We learn the fate of the dwarves of Trellham and its Farrell’s task to bring them back from their banishment, but Farrell needs the aid of the one who cast the spell to find a way to bring them back. Farrell and Miceral’s journey leads them into danger and with Farrell struck down Miceral must save him. Secrets are revealed and Farrell learns new tricks, but his frustration at the situation grows, hints and clues frustrate him and the demands of the six begin to wear on him.
I really enjoyed this story; we learn more about Haven, Trellham, and Dumbarten and the history of Yar-del and Zargon. We discover the story behind the dwarves’ disappearance and a startling secret is reveal to Miceral. Farrell is still a great character, his arrogance is tempered with humility and his love for Miceral is still strong. Miceral comes into his own more in this story rather than being in the background, and I think he will only have more pivotal scenes to come. The further we are drawn into this story the more we see the complex storyline, the task of releasing the dwarves leads to more tasks having to be completed first, Farrell becoming The Chosen to more Gods and more expectations being laid at Farrell’s feet…. This really is an epic storyline.
The way the story is written is wonderful, we aren’t just plunged into magic and battles this time round, we are drawn more into the background of the story with histories and world building littered throughout. There are still some exquisite magic moments and a fantastic battle against pirates, and Farrell and Miceral have some tender couple moments. While Farrell can be abrasive and full of himself he does have a lot on his shoulders, he also learns that he doesn’t know everything about magic. Losing yourself in a book is always incredible but for me losing myself in an incredibly written high-fantasy story is one of the best feelings in the world, to have a story take me to a fantasy world where magic, Gods, fantasy creatures and there’s fantastic battles with the promise of more in the future… I’d sell my children (okay maybe just the oldest one 😉 ) and this story, this series has me very tempted LOL
I recommend this to those who love high fantasy, who love well-crafted storylines, who adore a varied variety of characters, who love epic journey’s which can change directions at the drop of a hat, who adore seeing a couple supporting each other and encouraging each other even during dire circumstances, who love magic and battles with seemingly impossible tasks thrown in and the promise of more to come.
Awesome review Pixie 🙂
Thanks for hosting this ‘anchor’ leg of the blog tour and thanks so much for the great review. I’ve been waiting to hear how you liked it. This sends me off to the weekend with a smile. 🙂
I am so excited to read this book i would love to review it but regardless its on my wishlist
I loved the excerpt.