As I promised, my first Indie book review. I am so glad I started with this one. It proves what I have been saying, that there is some really good Indie writing out there.
Firstly, and most importantly for me, it is a good story and I was hooked from the very first page. Sea Witch, the first in a series, is the story of a pirate, Jesemiah Acorne, charming, handsome - of course - ruthless, but basically good and just a little vulnerable, all you would wish for from an enduring hero. The heroine, Tiola Oldstagh is a white witch with extraordinary powers but not the wand waving, spell weaving type and she has strength of character that comes not just from her powers. All the characters are believable even the baddies and the author shows us why they do what they do.
The story is basically boy meets girl, boy loses girl etc. but actually it is much more than that. Helen Hollick sets the period perfectly, it is well researched and detailed without long paragraphs of description or lecture notes. I love history and if a book has a good story and also educates me then all the better. Within the first few pages I had learned the difference between a pirate and a privateer for example. No, I'm not going to tell you. Read it for yourself.
I am pleased to say that having been hooked initially Sea Witch kept me turning the pages right to the end and I am very happy to recommend it.
Thank you Riva, so glad you enjoyed the read (watch that Jesamiah, he tends to play havoc with readers' hearts!)
ReplyDeleteMy ex agent turned the original MS down (we parted company soon after) saying it was a load of rubbish. A couple of good friends read it, however (including some established authors) and they confirmed what I thought - I had a good adventure series on my hands. So I took it to a small indie company. When the 2nd Voyage was written(Pirate Code)they transferred the series to their small mainstream imprint. The company went bust last February though, so I decided to go fully independent & use a reputable company to rprint my books as "assisted published" (i.e. they do all the technical stuff with producing the books)
Indie authors must take on board that their boks should be professionally edited and produced - thee whole package should look good.
The 4th Voyage - due out as soon as possible in 2012 (Ripples In The Sand) will be fully Independent - and I have to add, proudly so!