#Review - What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra #YALit #Suspense

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Galley, 384 pages
Release Date: September 18, 2018
Publisher: Imprint
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Thrillers & Suspense

This YA supernatural mystery features two girls alone in the woods as paranormal twists build into a terrifying reveal that threatens their reality.

On her eighteenth birthday, Hayden inherits her childhood home—on the condition that she uncover the dark secrets in the Colorado woods that surround it.

Hayden’s tried to put her past behind her. She lives in a comfy Brooklyn apartment with her best friend Del. But it’s all coming back for Hayden: her mother’s inexplicable disappearance a decade before, her father’s crackpot theories, and Hayden’s own dark dreams of strange rituals in the woods.

Now Hayden and Del must confront the secrets of Hayden’s past in a house that holds all the mysteries of her childhood—and might be the last protection against the dark powers in the surrounding woods.

This YA supernatural mystery with dark fantasy elements features a strong female friendship, a sizzling romance, and terrifying plot twists.

 

What the Woods Keep is the debut novel for author Katya de Becerra. The book is written in first person and is narrated by Hayden Holland. Hayden tried to put the past behind her, and it worked. She's getting ready for college, living in a Brooklyn apartment, and hanging out with her best friend and roommate Del Chauvet. But now it's all catching up with her: her mother's mysterious disappearance a decade before, her father's outlandish theories about a lost supernatural race, and Hayden's own dark dreams of strange symbols and rituals in the Colorado woods where she grew up.

10 years ago, Hayden's mother Ella went into the woods surrounding her childhood home, and disappeared. She was declared dead "in absentia." Thanks to her father, Thomas Holland, Hayden was kept in the dark about Ella's life and her legacy. Thomas is a physicist and conspiracy theorist who believes in something or someone called Nibelung's. After Ella's disappearance, he moved them away from her home, and settled in NYC.  Now, on Hayden's 18th birthday, a surprising shock awaits her. 

Her mother, it seems, left the family estate, Holland Manor, to Hayden with the request to uncover her mother’s darkest secrets, and put her past wrongs right. 

"My first condition is that Hayden goes to the Manor and looks for the gifts I left her. They'll call to her. She needs to listen with her blood.

"My second condition is that Hayden uses my gifts to destroy my darkest secret - my hidden treasure, my heaviest burden.

My third and final condition is that Hayden trusts no one where my treasure is concerned, especially the ravens."

The estate just happens to be in Promise, Colorado which means that Hayden and Del must travel there and uncover the supposed secrets that Ella wants to put to rest. Del and Hayden are quite a pair. Hayden has a dark past which ended with her being home schooled. She also seems to attract animals like moths to a flame. Del, on the other hand, is fashion and makeover obsessed who has tried hard to get Hayden a boyfriend.

As soon as Hayden & Del arrive at her hometown, they quickly realize that everything isn't as it seems, and that there is a deeper purpose behind their visit to the old house. Neighbors whisper secrets about Hayden's mother; the boy next door is now all grown-up in a very distracting way; and Hayden feels the trees calling to her. Something has been hiding in the woods. It is an ancient evil that poisons the sun. In fact, there is a black spot in the forest where Ella disappeared and never returned. 

What the Woods Keep is a curious blend of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror all rolled into one. This book was such a twisted story with a house next to the woods, a creepy conspiracy theory which somehow hinges on what Hayden will do next, and a lost best friend she left behind 10 years ago who returns and is working with, shockingly enough, the person who failed to tell Hayden what he's really been up to all these years, and what really happened to her mother. The author tells her story by mixing Hayden’s first POV narrative with other documents like letters, medical notes, scientific journal entries, and transcripts; each element offering a piece of the puzzle. 

Recommendation: I do, if you are like me who loves a mixture of genre with a creepy as hell vibe and surprises along the way. My only complaint is that the ending wrapped up way too quickly. This is one of those books that you have to use your own imagine to consider what happens next to these characters.

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#Review - Garden of Thorns by Amber Mitchell #YALIT #Fantasy

Series: Garden of Thorns # 1
Format: E-Book, 370 pages
Release Date: March 6, 2017
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: Amazon
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Romance


After seven grueling years of captivity in the Garden—a burlesque troupe of slave girls—sixteen-year-old Rose finds an opportunity to escape during a performance for the emperor. But the hostage she randomly chose from the crowd to aid her isn't one of the emperor's men—not anymore. He's the former heir to the throne, who is now leading a rebellion against it.
Rayce is a wanted man and dangerously charismatic, the worst person for Rose to get involved with, no matter what his smile promises. But he assumes Rose's attempt to take him hostage is part of a plot to crush the rebellion, so he takes her ashis hostage. Now Rose must prove where her loyalties lie, and she offers Rayce a deal—if he helps her rescue the other girls, she'll tell him all the Garden's secrets.
Except the one secret she's kept for seven years that she'll to take to her grave if she must.

 

Garden of Thorns is the first installment in author Amber Mitchell's Garden of Thorns trilogy. Rose is from Varsha. When the traitor took the Varshan Throne, she fled with her caretaker only to be captured and enslaved. Since then, Rose has been forced to serve in a burlesque troop made up of under aged slaves called the Garden. She is called Flower, and her job is to dance. Dance until your feet give out, never talk back, and don’t ever disobey an order, or your Wilted pays the price.  

Fern is a Wilted who is supposed to keep Rose in line and take any punishment the Gardener doles out. Rose worries that her secret will be discovered and she will be used by someone worse than the Gardener, the only person who knows her secret. He should. He was the one who kidnapped her and brought her to the Garden to be his star attraction. After 7 years of captivity, one major mistake costs Fern her life, and Rose knows what she must do: she must free all the Flowers and Wilteds from slavery.

During a performance for the Emperor of Delmar, who takes a keen interest in her, Rose chooses a random stranger to take hostage. She makes a big mistake in who she chooses. The hostage she randomly chooses is the former heir to the throne, who is now leading a rebellion against it. Rayce Sun is a wanted man and dangerously charismatic, the worst person for Rose to get involved with, no matter what his smile promises. 

Rayce assumes that Rose is an assassin sent to kill him by his Uncle the Emperor, and takes her hostage. The problem is if anyone finds out who Rose really is, the likelihood of rescuing her sisters will be the furthest from her mind. She will be used to bargaining chip from everyone from the Gardener, to Rayce, to perhaps the Emperor himself if he learns her true identity. She has to prove herself to Rayce and the Zareeni rebels or end up in yet another prison cell.

Rayce is called the "shogun," and the names of the people and the decor of the city mix elements of sandy deserts and Japanese gardens. Rayce and his people are fighting to overthrow his horrible uncle, a man who won’t hesitate before killing and destroying in order to maintain his power. Unlike him, Rayce is all about the people—he wants a fair world where everyone can leave in peace. It's clear he takes his leadership role very seriously and his reasons for going against his uncle have a personal aspect to them.

Rayce is still a fairly young man, who has ideas that might not play out in other situations. He has some solid support from not only Oren who is the guiding hand he needs to stay focused on what's right, but Arlo and Piper. His people rely on him, and every time they don't come home from a mission, or a battle goes horribly wrong, or Rose ends up captured, he puts everything he has to try to get them back safely. I mentioned Oren above. He's the man who helped Rayce become a leader and he was the one who helped Rose realize what she really needed to do to save the people she loves. 

Rose and Rayce have that type of slow burn romance that isn't forced into being. Rose has every reason in the world to hate men, and doesn't like anyone touching her. She’s been betrayed her entire life by men, and with the secret identity, there's a good chance that Rayce would be put in a position to betray her, too. One can legitimately say that this is Rose's growth as a character story. She seems meek and afraid of her own shadow once we meet her. She struggles to stand up to men in authority. Later, she becomes someone who is able to fight for herself, and for others. 

There is quite a bit of action in this story to keep even those who don't care for fantasy happy. This story really does address the sickness that is sex trafficking. Rose and the other girls suffer the kind of mental and even physical abuse that paints in bold colors a really ugly picture of what a life as a Flower must be like. I think I would have preferred this story was told in the third person, and that the author used Rayce to tell the reason behind what drives him. I think it would have added a much needed element to the story.

 

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#Review - The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest #YALIT #Fantasy

Series: The Black Witch Chronicles (#2)
Format: Hardcover, 608 pages
Release Date: September 18, 2018
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Epic

In this magical sequel to The Black Witch, Elloren Gardner must embrace a power she never knew she had to hold back the dark forces sweeping across Erthia.

Elloren Gardner and her friends were only seeking to right a few wrongs when they rescued a Selkie and freed an military dragon. The last thing they expected was to be thrust into a realm-wide underground resistance against Gardnerian conquest.

While the Resistance struggles to fight back against the harsh rulings of the Mage Council, more and more Gardnerian soldiers descend upon the University…led by none other than Lukas Grey, now commander of the nearby military base. Though Elloren tries to keep him at arm’s length, Lukas is determined to tie himself to her, still convinced that she is the next Black Witch, the destined vessel for a magic that will decide the future of all Erthia. As his own magic calls out to her, seeking to awaken a dark force within, Elloren finds it more and more difficult to believe that she’s truly powerless, as her uncle always claimed.

Caught between her growing feelings for the rebellious Yvan Guriel and the seductive power offered by Lukas, Elloren must find a way to stay true to what she knows is right and protect everyone she loves…even if that means protecting them from herself.

 

The Iron Flower is the second installment in author Laurie Forest's The Black Witch Chronicles. The story picks up right where The Black Witch left off. Elloren remains at the University in Verpax, but she's had enough. Elloren no longer wants to be a Gardnerian. She no longer wants to wear the Vogel armband, or prove her loyalty. And, she no longer wants to be part of the cruel tyranny her people have inflicted on others. In fact, things are about to get a whole lot worst. 

One of the worst things to come out of this new Gardnerian council is that all Gardnerian's over the age of 16 and not fasted by the end of the 5th month, will be forcibly tied to someone against their will. That means that Evil Aunt Vyvian is closing in on ensuring that Elloren is tied to Lukas Grey one way or the other. Elloren has a strange compulsion to be honest with Lukas, which is curious since she is supposedly only a level one mage. ::evil smile:: He even gives her a necklace which enhances her magical ability. Let's be serious for a moment. He pursues Elloren, partly because her untapped power boosts his own abilities

Meanwhile, Elloren still shelters Marina, a Selkie she rescued in the previous installment. She has her usual roommates Diane, a Lupine, (who is still with Elloren's brother Rafe another member of the rebellion), as well as Icarals Wynter and Arial. Elloren has, in fact, surrounded herself with a diverse group of characters who have seemingly allowed her into their group even though she is the granddaughter of Carnissa Gardner. She has been trying to avoid the draw she feels towards the mysterious Yvan Guriel, who has more secrets than you can imagine.

Readers know that Elloren has a connection to the white wand, just like her friend Sage who has been deep in hiding since running from home. But, readers are in for a major surprise when you learn who is the holder of the Shadow Wand. Yeah, didn't see that coming at all. One of the more interesting things about this series is how Elloren finds herself mixed up in attempting to save everyone, while her own life is taking a major spiral due to family, Aunt Vyvian, and her evil intentions in doing away anyone not of Gardnerian blood. 

The more curious story is about Marina who we learn more about, and how Elloren and her friends, and her allies, are able to do the near impossible. Elloren fights a good fight, but not everything is sunshine and unicorns. There are sorrows and losses and a surprise that I had already figured out a very long time ago. I actually respect the authors world building. I respect that we learn more about different groups and the addition of some really cool allies for Elloren to hopefully gain a much needed education with. Elloren has character flaws, but that's okay as long as she learns from her mistakes and doesn't repeat them. She has a strong sense of justice, loyalty, but I really think it's past time to stand up to her Aunt.

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#Review - The Deepest Roots by Miranda Asebedo #YALIT #Fantasy

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Galley, 320 pages
Release Date: September 18, 2018
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Magical Realism

Contemporary with the slightest twist of magic, this stunning debut YA novel is a fresh and heartwarming story about the power of friendship.

Cottonwood Hollow, Kansas, is a strange place. For the past century, every girl has been born with a special talent, like the ability to Fix any object, Heal any wound, or Find what is missing.

Best friends Rome, Lux, and Mercy all have similar talents, but to them, their abilities often feel like a curse. Rome may be able to Fix anything she touches, but that won’t help her mom pay rent or make it any easier to confide in Lux and Mercy about what’s going on at home. And Rome isn’t the only one. Lux has been hiding bigger, more dangerous secrets.

As Rome struggles to keep her friendships close, she discovers the truth about life in Cottonwood Hollow—that friends are stronger than curses, that trust is worth the risk, and sometimes, what you’ve been looking for has been under your feet the whole time.

 

The Deepest Roots is the debut novel by author Miranda Asebedo. Miranda has come up with a fascinating world that is just slightly different from our own. Readers will be intrigued by the wide variety of different “curses,” how each curse works, and how each character interacts with her own curse in particular. While the contemporary elements of this novel are strong, the magical twist really makes The Deepest Roots stand out and will set it apart from other books in the contemporary space.  

Miranda Asebedo knows how to tell a story. Her characters are relatable, her setting of small-town Kansas is vivid and real, and her plot is compelling and well paced. The Deepest Roots is set in a place called Cottonwood Hollow, Kansas. This is the story of the girls of Cottonwood who were "cursed" by Emmeline Remington and what makes them different. The story really focuses on three characters in particular. Rome, Lux, and Mercy. Rome has a talent for fixing anything she puts her hands on. Lux is a siren which sometimes gets her into trouble. Mercy has an ability called enough. She always has enough of whatever people need. 

The story is told in the first person POV by 17-year old Rome Galveston. Rome, while attending school full-time, is also a part time mechanic. Things have always been hard for Rome. She lives with her mother, and please don't take offense when I say they live in a trailer park. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I lived in one for 5 years before moving to Florida. Her mother isn't a bad person. She's just had a run of bad luck which has led to the current conflict between mother and daughter. Rome’s two best friends are Lux and Mercy. 

While Rome struggles with telling people the truth about her issues, Lux lives in a home that others believe is a fairy tale. But, nobody knows what truly happens behind closed doors. Mercy lives in a nice house but has the constant pressure to be perfect so can eventually leave Cottonwood Hollow behind. The girls have been friends since forever and they've promised not to keep secrets from one another. When Rome discovers Lux’s secrets, trouble soon escalates and with their talents, it may not be enough to fix it all.

While Rome has no major issue with her talents, the same can't be said for her best friends. Lux believes her talents are a curse, and when you read the story, and find out the things that happens to her, you will agree with her. Mercy doesn't really have that many issues, but she is the one who seems to be left out when it comes to keeping the most secrets. While this is being sold as a magical realism, let's be realistic. 

It is a contemporary story, with a mystery involving a mysterious box that Mercy's sister discovers, which then becomes a race to find out if the box can solve not only Rome's issues, but Lux and Mercy's as well. There is a hint of romance in this book. It begins with Rome and a Evanston junior named Jett. It is pretty much a impress me if you can, otherwise, leave me the hell alone type of connection. Even Rome's boss Red, is a pretty decent character. He’s rough on the edges, but steps into Rome’s life as a protective father figure. He reminds us that not all men are worthless or uncaring or sex fiends who demand something from women in return for something they don't want.     

Overall, the story really does hinge on the relationship between the girls who once took a blood oath and have discovered that their curses were meant to help save their lives and make them less dependent on others to get by.

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#Review - The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz #Thriller #Suspense

Series: Jane Hawk (#4)
Format: Hardcover, 480 pages
Release Date: September 11, 2018
Publisher: Bantam
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Thrillers / Suspense

“We’re rewriting the play, and the play is this country, the world, the future. We break Jane’s heart, we’ll also break her will.”

She was one of the FBI’s top agents until she became the nation’s most-wanted fugitive; a happily married woman before becoming a devastated widow. Now Jane Hawk may be all that stands between a free nation and its enslavement by a powerful secret society’s terrifying mind-control technology. She couldn’t save her husband, or the others whose lives have been destroyed, but equipped with superior tactical and survival skills—and the fury born of a broken heart and a hunger for justice—Jane has struck major blows against the insidious cabal.

But Jane’s enemies are about to hit back hard. If their best operatives can’t outrun her, they mean to bring her running to them, using her five-year-old son as bait. Jane knows there’s no underestimating their capabilities, but she must battle her way back across the country to the remote shelter where her boy is safely hidden…for now. As she moves resolutely forward, new threats begin to emerge: a growing number of brain-altered victims driven hopelessly, violently, insane. As the madness spreads like a virus, the war between Jane and her enemies will become a fight for all their lives—against the lethal terror unleashed from behind the forbidden door.

Story Locale: Southern California
 

 

The Forbidden Door is the fourth installment in author Dean Koontz' Jane Hawk series. The story picks up right where The Crooked Staircase left off. Where we currently are: FBI Agent Jane Hawk, mother of a young son, grieving widow of a decorated Marine, has uncovered a terrifying conspiracy behind her husbands death and scores of other exemplary citizens. She has become the number # 1 fugitive in the country having been indicted on charges of espionage, treason, and seven counts of murder. 

Jane has gone off the grid in order to track down those responsible and save her son no matter what it takes. Driven by love for her lost husband and by fear for the five-year-old son she has sent into hiding, Jane Hawk has become an unstoppable predator. Nicknamed The Beautiful Monster by her enemies the Techno Arcadian's and their unlimited access to every technology imaginable, including nanotechnology that completely swarms the brain, and makes the person pliable to suggestions, it has become a life or death race to survive. 

Those Jane are hunting may be hoping to turn the tide against her using various factions of the media, but they will have nowhere to run when her shadow falls across them. She knows that if she is caught, it is game over, lights out, and nobody will know the truth about what is happening. The Arcadian's and their Hamlet List, a computer composed list picking people who showed potential for future greatness and leadership; they were consequently injected with the nano-constructs and ordered to commit suicide or worse. Jane knows the terrible secrets. She has survived up until now with shear determination, brilliance, and a skill set that in unmatched. 

In this story, Jane's allies come to her aid when the chips are really down, and it seems as though the Arcadian's may finally win. I really love Bernie Riggowitz. He is adorable and he really is on Jane's side and not just a prop to be used as cannon fodder for future installments. The second character who is on Jane's side is Luther Tillman, a former Sheriff who the Arcadian's came after and took his wife and daughter from him. Luther, Bernie, and even Cornell Jasperson, who we met in the previous installment, are just the kind of support Jane needs to survive. 

Cornell is an unusual person, both in appearance and personality. He’s a African American millionaire with Asperger’s Syndrome. He’s such a well rounded and lovable character and, in my opinion, does a wonderful job of representing people suffering from this horrible affliction. His relationship with Travis is adorable and true. It's not fake. The author really researched what a character with Asperger’s Syndrome is able to do, and how things trigger various feelings.

I won't summarize all of the secondary characters that appear in this story. There is one in particular who believes he isn't actually living in the real world, and that the Unknown Playwright is actually in charge. He and others like him are OK with pacifying contentious humans so that they can create their own kind of Utopia. They are pieces of a much larger puzzle, and therefore are not in charge or responsible for this so called revolution that will eventually see thousands of people dying. 

One in particular character spends the entire story trying to track down and subjugate Ancel and Claire Hawk, Nick's parents, knowing that if they are brought to bear, they will tell him where Jane and Travis are hiding. Find Travis, and Jane will give her self up knowing she's lost. Nick's entire family is in jeopardy for that matter. I will say that all of the Techno Arcadian's we've met so far are all a bunch of psychopaths who don't seem to have a mind of their own, and have been brainwashed into believing Jane and others like her need to be exterminated quickly. 

There's a key part of a previous story, The Whispering Room, that finally comes to bear in this story and man alive, was that a scary. I won't spoil anything, but I will say that you will really need to prepare yourself for the most bizzaro world happenings that mostly occur in a zombie movie. I have to give props to the author. Koontz's is a genius when it comes the various technologies and his own twisted imagination. He has without a doubt, pushed the envelope and one can only hope that when this series finally does wrap up, he does it in similarly impressive fashion.  

My only real complaint? I need more of Jane's story, and less of the Techno Arcadian's. I need to feel more hope than feeling as though there is no light at the end of the tunnel. After book 3, I honestly thought about skipping this book. I'm glad I didn't because Jane's scenes bring us right back to the first two installments in the chapter. Does Jane makes mistakes? Of course she does, she's not a superhero with unlimited powers to destroy the villains with a blink of an eye. Plus, I love how much she does to protect Travis, even sending him away to keep him out of sight and therefore out of harm's way. You don't mess with mama bear folks.

As with all of his books, The Forbidden Door includes a sneak peak into the fifth installment called The Night Window.

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#Review - Night Magic by Jenna Black #YALIT #Paranormal #Horror

Series: Nightstruck (#2)
Format: Hardcover 288 pages
Release Date: May 30, 2017
Publisher: Tor Teen
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Horror / Paranormal

Jenna Black returns to the quarantined city of Philadelphia, where an unsuspecting seventeen-year-old has unknowingly unleashed a dark power that transforms the city into a monstrous hellscape.

Once, the guilt of having inadvertently let the night magic into the city—and of having killed her onetime best friend—had threatened to destroy Becket Walker. But now she’s been Nightstruck, and all her grief and guilt and terror have been swept away—along with her conscience. So what if she’s lost her friends, her family, and her home? And so what if her hot new boyfriend is super-controlling and downright malevolent?

Mesmerized by the power and freedom of not having to care about anyone but herself, Becky is sinking ever deeper into the night magic’s grasp. But those who love her refuse to give up on her—even if she’s given up on them. If they can’t find a way to help Becky break the night magic’s hold, the entire city might soon find itself shrouded in perpetual night. But the last thing Becky wants is to be “rescued” from her brand new life, and she will fight tooth and claw to stay exactly where she is.

 

Jenna Black's Night Magic is the second installment in the authors Nightstruck series. 17-year old Becket Walker has been tricked into opening a door between worlds, allowing a dark magic into the mortal world. As the magic trickled in, the city began to change at night. Strange creatures roam the streets, inanimate objects come to life, such as potholes turning into toothy mouths and wires turning into strangling vines, all of them bloodthirsty and terrifying.

Venturing out at night has become a dangerous proposition, and the moment the sun sets, most of the citizens of the city shut themselves up in their houses and stay there even in the case of dire emergencies. Yet, even that won't protect you from certain creatures who have zero fear of gaining access to your home. Becket has become part of what the author calls Nightstruck. These are people who went out during the transition from light into dark, and got stuck and can't return to the light of day.

The one constant is that they all have the same vivid green eyes, little or no guilt, grief, or insecurity. Robbing, partying and watching people being killed is part of life as a Nightstruck, but Becket doesn't feel the desire to join in. Becket and the villain of the story, Aleric have become thick as thieves and enjoy plotting, scheming, breaking into stores which Becket could never ever afford before, and partying like it's 1999. 

But, there's still guilt about her actions at the end of the previous installment, and Becket hasn't lost all connection with Luke. With the City of Philadelphia under quarantine & the government believing its people have been infected with some sort of madness that can't be explained, Becket has to decide whether she is going to remain a villain, or become the savior that her city needs and defeat Aleric who has apparently decided that Becket's blood is key to world domination.

I do think it's important to read the first installment before reading this story. In my opinion, the first part of the story was the least effective, but necessary to show Becket's state of mind which led her to being Nightstruck and the actions she takes that she would have never made had she not become stuck. The final part of this story is the best, but I wonder if another book is really in the works or not? Anyone? 

The story ends on what is essentially a cliffhanger, but I haven't seen anything on the author's page, the publishers, or anywhere else for that matter whether a third book is in the works or not. I am of one mind that if you already released two books in a series, then please go ahead and release the final installment so that it doesn't leave readers with a bad taste in their mouths.

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#Review - Worldshaper by Edward Willett #Fantasy #SyFy

Series: Worldshapers # 1
Format: Paperback, 368 pages
Release Date: September 18, 2018
Publisher: DAW
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Action & Adventure

From an Aurora Award-winning author comes the first book in a new portal fantasy series in which one woman’s powers open the way to a labyrinth of new dimensions.

For Shawna Keys, the world is almost perfect. She’s just opened a pottery studio in a beautiful city. She’s in love with a wonderful man. She has good friends.

But one shattering moment of violence changes everything. Mysterious attackers kill her best friend. They’re about to kill Shawna. She can’t believe it’s happening—and just like that, it isn’t. It hasn’t. No one else remembers the attack, or her friend. To everyone else, Shawna’s friend never existed…

Everyone, that is, except the mysterious stranger who shows up in Shawna’s shop. He claims her world has been perfect because she Shaped it to be perfect; that it is only one of uncounted Shaped worlds in a great Labyrinth; and that all those worlds are under threat from the Adversary who has now invaded hers. She cannot save her world, he says, but she might be able to save others—if she will follow him from world to world, learning their secrets and carrying them to Ygrair, the mysterious Lady at the Labyrinth’s heart.

Frightened and hounded, Shawna sets off on a desperate journey, uncertain whom she can trust, how to use her newfound power, and what awaits her in the myriad worlds beyond her own

Story Locale: Alternate worlds

Series Overview: One woman’s powers open the way to a labyrinth of new dimensions in the fantasy Worldshapers series.  

Worldshaper is the first installment in author Edward Willett's Worldshapers. It is the story of Shawna Keys, living what seems an idyllic life in a small Montana city. She’s just opened her pottery studio, she has a boyfriend (Brent), a best friend (Aesha), and she’s looking forward to the rest of her life. Then suddenly, everything changes. Terrorists attack the coffee shop where she’s gone with her friend Aesha, killing Aesha and many others. The leader of the masked attackers called the Adversary, touches her, calls her by name and then points a gun at her head.

She’s about to die, but she refused to believe it’s happening and just like that, it isn’t. The attackers are gone and the coffee shop is intact but Aesha and everyone else who was killed has vanished. In fact, no one else even remembers they existed! A stranger, Karl Yatsar, shows up and explains to Shawna that the world she thinks is the only world is, in fact, a construct: a world she Shaped to be the way it is. Not only that, there is an entire Labyrinth of Shaped worlds, and all are in danger from the Adversary who has invaded her world and will, inevitably, steal it away from her. 

Karl tells her she cannot save her own world, especially now that the villain has stolen something from her, but she has the power to save all these other worlds, by traveling through them, absorbing the knowledge of how each has been Shaped from the Shapers living within each one, and transporting that knowledge to Ygrair, the woman at the center of the Labyrinth, and the one who, though Shawna inexplicably doesn’t remember it, gave her this world to Shape in the first place. 

*Note* This was probably the most frustrating thing about the story. The author leaves zero clues as to why Shawna has no memories of her time on the First Earth, or what really happened for her to lose them in the first place. Although I have made some educated guesses, I am not 100% they are correct.

In Worldshaper, Karl and Shawna flee through a world changing around them, sometimes at Shawna’s behest, sometimes at the Adversary’s, to escape through a Portal into the next world. In the end, the series will take Shawna from world to world, each unique (steampunk worlds, worlds plagued by vampires and werewolves, film noir worlds, epic fantasy worlds) as she tries to save as many as she can from the Adversary. Along the way, Shawna will face many challenges, physical, spiritual, and ethical, as she comes to grips with her power, and the responsibility of creators for the worlds they create.

Karl stumbled through the door, spun, slammed it closed, then slapped his palms against the rusty steel. Blue light crackled across the metal, briefly outlining the KEEP OUT: DANGER sign, faded red paint on white, that hung at eye level.

He rested there for a moment, breathing hard, then straightened and turned to see what kind of world he had entered.

He stood in a dark, rough-hewn tunnel of stone, narrower at the top than at the bottom, shored up by beams of dark wood. A dim light bulb, hanging on a twisted pair of rubber-coated wires, glowed overhead, swaying from the gust of warmer air that had entered this world along with Karl. The swaying bulb cast shifting shadows up and down the walls and across the floor, but he could see well enough to make out two metal rails, spanned by rotting wooden ties, running along a rubble-strewn floor toward the faint outline of another door. The gray light seeping around its edges spoke to him of twilight, though whether morning or evening he did not yet know.

He turned to look at the door he had just closed. On this side, it was made of rusty steel and set in a barrier of corrugated metal. Bits of broken chain scattered the floor beneath it, and a shattered padlock lay near his feet. No lock or chain could hold against the opening of a Portal.

No light spilled from beneath the door, even though he had come through it from the common room of a torch-lit inn. No sound came through it, either, though the inn had been bustling. The man who had been following him, who had started running through the common room, shoving people out of his way as Karl opened the Portal, had been too slow. By the time he opened the wooden door he had seen Karl pass through, he would find nothing beyond it but the inn’s pantry.

That should have been the end of pursuit, but Karl had thought the same when he’d entered the world he’d just fled . . . and somehow the Adversary had followed him into that world, even though he had closed the last Portal behind him exactly as he had closed this one. Which meant, if the man who had been following him was a servant of the Adversary—as he almost certainly was—soon enough the Adversary would come to this Portal, and perhaps force it open as well.

Which meant his time was limited. He needed to find this world’s Shaper, see if this one might be strong enough to do what Ygrair required, and if so, convince or coerce him or her to accompany him.

He had no reason to hesitate, and indeed, every reason to hurry, but hesitate he did. He had entered many worlds, yet this one gave him pause. Without taking so much as a second step into it, he knew from the flavor of the air, from the way its gravity tugged at him, from the faint echoes of his breath and movements back from the tunnel’s stone walls, that this world was similar . . . very, very similar . . . to the First World, the one from which Ygrair had taken him . . . how long ago had it been?

An old way of thinking, that. Time flowed differently from world to world within the Labyrinth. How could you measure time when some of worlds you visited did not orbit suns, but were orbited by them, or were lit by flaming chariots drawn by fiery flying steeds, or were not lit at all, except by the moon and the glow of the eldritch stones that paved their roads and formed the walls of their strange, twisted buildings?

Each world in the Labyrinth was Shaped, to a greater or lesser degree, by a singular imagination. This one had been Shaped less than most, so that it closely resembled the First World—but it was not the First World. Just another world in the Labyrinth. Nothing special at all.

He glanced back once more at the metal door. In any event, if the Adversary were able to enter this world as he had the last, it would soon be re-Shaped . . . unless its Shaper was, at last, the one Ygrair had sent him to seek.

He turned away from the closed Portal for good, then, and strode toward the door into the outside. It opened with a push, and he stepped out into the fresh air of a mountain evening. He took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of pine, then looked up at the starry sky. The constellations were the same ones he had seen as a child, lying on his back in the yard of his father’s farm, dreaming of the day he would be old enough to leave it. The Earth’s great cities had seemed like different worlds to him then, and he had longed to see them all: New York, London, Paris, Berlin.

He’d done it, too, travelling to those and so many more. He’d even created his own worlds, after a fashion, on stage and in his words. But then Ygrair had literally fallen into his life . . . and he had learned just how stunted his understanding of new worlds had been.

And she has promised, he thought. Someday I, too, will have a world to Shape.

But only if he succeeded at the daunting task she had set him. Which I had better be about. Lowering his gaze, he strode into the darkness.

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