Raymond Bolton

Reviewed by Carla Trueheart for Readers' Favorite

Thought Gazer by Raymond Bolton is an epic adventure tale that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. In a war-torn world, Peniff the Thought Gazer finds himself facing a moral dilemma—go along with the warlords as they kill and destroy or betray them at risk to his wife and two children. Peniff has the gift of mind-reading, and not only does he have the gift in ways much stronger than other Thought Gazers, he also finds unique ways of using the gift that scare him. Through his journey, Peniff faces injury, the possible loss of his friends and family, and the likelihood that his betrayal will cost him his life. Along with travel companions Bedistai and Darva, Peniff’s quest plays out in an action-packed, page-turning fantasy adventure that will surely please fans of this genre.

Peniff, Bedistai, and Darva are authentic, fully developed characters that leap off the page. It is not often that I find myself reading a book and truly fretting for the lives of certain characters, but because they were all in constant danger, and because author Raymond Bolton did such a superb job of making them true-to-life, I was dreading anything bad happening to them. Also, I adored the endaths—fantasy creatures used by the three for riding—and loved the relationship they had with Bedistai in particular. I also enjoyed the budding romance between Bedistai and Darva and felt it was done with just enough subtleness for this type of book and story. Peniff’s character was a perfect blend of tortured hero and true friend and family man. There is so much more to say about the different lands, the war, the evilness of the warlords Harad and Hath, the double suns, and the overall journey, but you will have to read Thought Gazer to learn more. I absolutely loved the book and recommend it to all fantasy fans!… (mer)

After not reading a book for ages, and then a purchase of a new Kindle, I opened it up and found that I started this story. Seems I bought it back in July 2014. Hmm. I started reading from where I’d left off but couldn’t remember any of the story, and it did intrigue me, so went back to the beginning.

Awakening is an epic fantasy with a vast world and multiple characters and story arcs. As the blurb states, their planet, their lives are being manipulated by an alien race with telepathic abilities. The Dalthin are shapeshifters so they can meld into any world they want to dominate to eat. Yes, eat. Not very pleasant creatures. However, when they settle on this new world, they bite off more than they can chew. Pun intended.

We have several villain’s in this tale. The worst is perhaps the Queen. Not only did she murder the King, now she wants to capture and kill her children. All for greed and power. What she doesn’t’ realize is that she is also being used. She is but a puppet. An expendable one at that.

The hero’s are the two children and their trusty friends. Some don’t survive to see the Change that shapes their world. There are battles, there are chases and escapes. Lots of action and adventure, right? Well, sort of. For me, this was not a page-turning story. I set this book down before years ago and forgot it. Even when I went back to it, it still took me several months to finish the tale. It’s just didn’t grip me like I wanted.

Part of the problem is the characters are all the same. The same thoughts, manners, speech, etc. You can’t tell a common fold from a royal. No individualism. They wee flat and one dimensional. What makes it worse is that you go along with lots of dialogue between characters and no dialogue tags. Which is great really. But they all sounded the same, so sometimes I had to go back and reread to see who was actually doing the talking. Action beats would’ve been really helpful and would’ve gave the author a chance to add more depth to them.

I pushed myself though the story as I did want to see how it ended. It was meh. There are three other books in the series. I won’t be reading. Maybe Bolton has improved his writing. I’ll never know. Too many other books to read. All in all, I do recommend it when on sale. I give it 3 stars.… (mer)