Get ready for more epic adventures with Eli and Tirza Nesbit, also known as the Children of the Ancient Heroes. They’re the heroes of Book 2 of Russell Fellows‘ Lighted Lands series, entitled Hope and Despair. I gave rave reviews to the first novel in Fellow’s series, Children of the Ancient Heroes: Dreams and Nightmares, and this book has even more escapades than the first.
REVIEW
As the novel opens, Eli and Tirza must combine efforts to save the life of a beloved Lighted Lands monarch. The monarch’s demise could spell the end of both the fantasy world and their own. Time is of the essence. Both children must gather ingredients from opposite ends of the kingdom to make a healing potion and save the ruler’s life. Both children have special companions to assist them. Eli has a huge tiger named Tati, while Tirza has a giant Labrador named Choco. Eli’s ingredient path takes him through perilous mountains filled with child bandits and dusty dry deserts with t creepy cave dwelling wizards. Tirza faces perilous river rapids and dangerous sea monsters. In a cruel twist of fate, the children must decide if their mission is worth all the trouble. Eli and Tirza’s battle with physical death and dangerous mind games puts the fate of both the fantasy world and their own perilously in the balance!
In Fellow’s first novel, Children of the Ancient Heroes, mythical creatures helped Tirza and Eli discover their identity as Children of the Ancient Heroes who are sworn to protect and defend the good forces in a fantasy realm. In Hope and Despair mythical creatures aid in the preservation of that identity as the children’s guardians. Throughout the novel, evil seeks to twist or completely choke out the children’s positive perception of their role. Once the children lose sight of their purpose as kingdom preservers, evil can infiltrate and destroy the Lighted Lands through the gullible innocence of Tirza and Eli. Fellows’ storytelling art truly comes into play when he depicts scenarios where characters come to the aid of our heroes. The action is show stopping and the characters’ interaction is touching.
Choco and Tiger Tati bravely battle all manner of enemies that dare to cross Eli and Tirza’s path. The battles are so epic, that the reader will need to read about them to discover the attraction. Some mythical help comes from the most unlikely sources right when evil seems to triumph. For example, Eli befriends an outlaw dwarf named Glondel whose shady reputation makes him untrustworthy. Glondel’s knowhow of dangerous poppies and his wheeling and dealing with creepy desert wizards keeps Eli on the right path. Cal, a water nymph who used to be on the side of the enemy, becomes a friend after Tirza rescues her.
At risk of giving the exciting plot away, I’ll hand the reins over to Master Storyteller Russell Fellows for your reading pleasure. A word of fair warning: The cliffhanger in this novel makes the one in the first book seem like child’s play.
GIVEAWAY
Russell is giving away an autographed copy of his latest middle-grade fantasy to one of you! Leave a comment by April 28 and I’ll enter your name. U.S. addresses only. For the fun of it–if your birthday is this month, I’ll enter your name twice!
PREORDER NOW!
As I’ve mentioned before, preorders are very important to authors. HOPE AND DESPAIR is coming out from Monarch Press on May 6. You can preorder it here:
Make sure you check out other wonderful MG books on Greg Pattridge’s MMGM blog.
This just makes my heart sing.
I know the feeling and am so glad!!
Ah yes! I know the feeling! Congrats on having this book out, though!! It’s always great to have your book out there in the world and see readers enjoy it! Yours is actually on my TBR! :)
Thank you! I hope that, when you do get to it, you enjoy it as well!
How fun!! This looks like a super cool book! I love mythical creatures! I’ll have to be adding this book to my TBR! :) Best of luck with the giveaway btw! I won’t be entering my name because I already have some books I need to review and of course, I’m waaaaaaaay overseas. :D
Though the mention of the cliffhanger…. O.O I have to say, I have a love-hate relationship with those lol. They are amazing to read and I love all the twists. But at the same time, I keep going, “WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!” Hehe. But this looks like such a fun book!
Thanks for sharing this review on your blog, Carol! Side note, my email for this comment is going to be different because it’s my spare one. I always have such a huge problem with WordPress telling me to sign in and it always goes wrong if I use my main email. Tis most annoying.
Thanks for your comments, Isabelle. I think you would like this book!
This sounds like a cool fantasy world. I’m sorry not the enter the giveaway but I’m trying to get through the books on my TBR list.
Thanks, Natalie. I know the feeling!
I’m with Natalie on loving the sound of this plot and series. I’ll let someone else who could get to it this year win the copy. The characters and story line will appeal to many young readers. Happy MMGM!
Thank you, Greg!
This sounds intriguing! The world building sounds unique as well. Thanks for featuring it!
Thank you, Jenni. I’ll start the list with your name!
This sounds a hugely imaginative story with fantastic world-building” Sadly I am not in the US :( but thank you for the recommendation and great review!
Thank you, Valinora! I think you might like this series!
This story is packed with imagination, great characters and an intriguing plot! Love the interesting world building — that had to be comples. A lot going on in this story. (I still have to review your book, and I never know when I will have the time to read a book with such depth.) Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Patricia! We all need extra hours in the day to read!!
I also have a lot of books on my plate ATM, so would be happy for someone else to win this. Congrats on the books release. Happy MMGM
Thanks for stopping by, Brenda.
Sounds like there’s tons of adventure in this one. And the plot is definitely intriguing. I’m going to have to keep my eyes out for this one.
Thanks Tonja! Your name goes in the hat!
This sounds like a book fantasy lovers will really like. Thanks for the enthusiastic review. I’ll pass on the giveaway. I just have too many books to get to right now.
thanks,Rosi. I understand!