#BOOK REVIEW BY @COLLEENCHESEBRO OF “Pearseus,” BY AUTHOR @NICHOLAS_ROSSIS

• Title:  Pearseus, Books 1 – 3: Rise of the Prince, Mad Water, and Vigil
• Author: Nicholas C. Rossis
• File Size: 1882 KB
• Print Length: 911 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN:
•  Publisher: Nicholas Rossis
• Publication Date: July 17, 2014
• Sold by  Amazon Digital Services LLC
•  Language: English
• ASIN: B00LX9UUIY
• ISBN-10:
• ISBN-13:
• Formats: Paperback and Kindle
• Goodreads
• Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

*The author provided me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review which follows*

Book Blurb from the author:

“Pearseus does for ancient Greece what Game of Thrones did for Medieval England.”
The first three books of the Amazon genre best-selling series.

Three hundred years after humans crash land on Pearseus, Styx, the Capital’s cruel ruler, learns of a dark prophecy: Cyrus, a young boy, will one day slay her. She imprisons him, but days before his execution he escapes with the help of the First, the planet’s native inhabitants. On their way to safety, nightmarish monsters attack. Cyrus flees, scared and alone until a pair of First warriors rescue him and spirit him away to the mysterious Old Woman.

All Cyrus wants is to reunite with his family. But the Old Woman insists Cyrus is the foretold instrument in the First’s ancient war against a shadowy enemy who will stop at nothing to prevent him from fulfilling his destiny. Heart and mind war within Cyrus as he learns he must choose between his family and preventing humanity’s extinction.

The bundle contains the three first books in the series.

Note: The original version of this bundle contained the prequel, Pearseus: Schism. The new version contains Rise of the Prince, Mad Water, and Vigil.

Recommendation:

I read this collection without reading the first book, Schism so I had to do some catching up before I began. Luckily, included in the beginning of the collection is a character synopsis and map of Pearseus so you can bring yourself up to date with the events that preceded. I really liked this feature because it gave me a sneak peek into the characters from the onset of the book.

Pearseus is an epic fantasy novel of which I had never read the likes of before. It has all the elements of a fantasy novel but it is enriched with the elements of a science fiction novel too. What an imaginative and fascinating read! From the very beginning of the novel, I was hooked! A new genre has been created: Science Fiction Fantasy.

The plot is one of the most interesting I have encountered. A spaceship is forced to land on a planet that is already inhabited by other life forms that terraformed the planet into what they wanted it to resemble. The refugees from the spaceship are forced to survive in a land fraught with danger. They clash with the “First,” inhabitants which cause the two groups to split. The First go off to the north and the human refugees remain in the territory they took from the First, thereby segregating themselves from each other.

Now, years into the future, most technological advancements have vanished from the original space crew refugee descendants. There are still a few reminders around such as tablets and some weapons of mass destruction. The really interesting part was that the people of the future  have regressed into a feudal society with different factions and clans fighting for control using ancient weapons like swords, and knives. At times, I found the societies resembled ancient Greece intertwined with eastern philosophies to make up their complex political and philosophical beliefs.

What I really loved was how detailed the author was in creating all the different factions and clans. The detail is so thorough and believable. To explain, Pearseus was settled by three different life forms. The original inhabitants of the planet were overtaken by the First, who were then overtaken by the refugees of the spaceship. All of these life forms coexist together at the same time on Pearseus resulting in plenty of conflicts. I told you I was blown away at the detail!

Through it all, magic and technology unite in an explosive war between “The Whispers,” “The Fallen,” and “The Orbs.” The humans are brought into the battle to help win the war and to fulfill the ancient prophecies.

I must note that the author kept the intrigue going by switching each chapter in all three books with another character’s point of view. This gave me the perspective from all sides, good and evil. It was a unique and effective storytelling method that really propelled the novel along.

I personally enjoyed the deep characterizations added to the different life forms. In addition, there was plenty of philosophy, hatred, and intrigue much like a modern society today, which added a sense of realism to Pearseus. I understood the struggles of all the life forms and likened it to the differences in cultures today found on our own planet.

At the heart of the books are four central characters that stand out as having the perfect combination of strengths and flaws that together make an unbeatable team. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series!

 Author, Nicholas Rossis

Character Believability: 5
Flow and Pace: 4
Reader Engagement: 5
Reader Enrichment: 4
Reader Enjoyment: 5
Overall Rate: 4.5 out of 5 stars

About Nicholas Rossis:

Nicholas Rossis lives to write and does so from his cottage on the edge of a magical forest in Athens, Greece. When not composing epic fantasies or short sci-fi stories, he chats with fans and colleagues, writes blog posts, walks his dog, and enjoys the antics of two silly cats, one of whom claims his lap as home. His first children’s book, Runaway Smile, has won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award, among other distinctions.

Many of his short stories have appeared in various collections and anthologies. He has published two collections; The Power of Six and Infinite Waters, which was voted as one of the best 50 Indie books of 2015.

From the author: A little-known fact about writing your first book: unless you inform others of your intention well in advance, you might find yourself in an awkward position.  Like, when you present your manuscript to your parents so they can read it.  A couple of months later, when you ask if they have read it, your dad will go, slightly annoyed, “no, I’m re-reading Martin’s books right now, so it’ll have to wait.”

Then, a further couple of months later, he’ll call you late at night to say, “great book, son, with some fantastic ideas!  I was totally hooked.  A page-turner; kept me up at night.  You know what this guy did?  He took historical elements from ancient Greece and created a space opera with them.”

And you’ll say, after a brief pause, “what guy?”

And your dad will say, in a confused voice, “why, whoever wrote this.  There was no name on the manuscript.”

Now, what I should have said, of course, is something along the lines of “it’s not really a space opera, dad, but a dark epic fantasy with a sci-fi twist, where the heroes face tough moral dilemmas, discovering themselves in the process.”

But no-one talks to their dad this way, right?

So all I said, once I managed to stop laughing, was, “I wrote it, dad.  But I’m super glad you liked it even before you knew that.”

For more on Nick or just to chat, visit him on his blog at nicholasrossis.me, enovelauthorsatwork.com, and Google+ at Nicholas C. Rossis

Make certain to connect with Nicholas through his Twitter @Nicholas_Rossis

And Facebook at NicholasCRossis

Book Review by @ColleenChesebro of silverthreading.com