Book Review: Storm Approaching by Brian Libby

Title: Storm Approaching
Author: Brian Libby
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: AuthorHouse (April 2009) 


Ratings: 
★ ★ 


My thoughts:


I tried reading this book many times but could never get into it. It was interesting at first. I liked it that the author chose a girl (a mercenary) to be the main character of his novel. Andiriel's character is likeable. However, I think the main problem is having too many characters with unusual names, it makes the story hard to understand. And also didn't like that the font used here is different than normal books. I have to admit that when choosing a book to buy, I always check the font and/or size because even though I have perfect vision ( okay, as of this writing...) my eyes tend to hurt real bad when the font size is smaller than normal. 


Overall, for me it wasn't an easy book to read, giving this book 2-star but here are some positive reviews of the book : Click here


About the book:


The first volume of the Mercenaries series

Leaving the Institute for the Homeless, Andiriel longs for excitement. 
Befriended by a knight of the illustrious Sovereign Order, she enters the Order's auxiliary services and finds herself on a strange mission leading to a challenging future in a job she hardly expects.
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No magic swords or mighty rings, no orphans who are really kings,

No elves or dwarfs or prophecies, no ghouls and vampires, if you please.

A mercenary regiment, its men (and women), where it's sent,

Its training, tactics, work and play; A growing threat (still far away):

That's Storm Approaching. Kindly look at this self-published, worthwhile book. - Goodreads

About the author:

I was born in Maine in 1949, studied at Johns Hopkins (B.A.) and Purdue (Ph.D.; fields: military history, diplomatic history, and modern Germany) and have taught at a prep school in Minnesota (Shattuck-St. Mary's) since 1978. I began writing the Mercenaries books in 2001.

I hoped for traditional publication and was lucky enough to get a fine agent, but even fine agents are not always successful: after being approved by the first reader at one well-known fantasy publisher, Storm Approaching languished on the chief editor's desk (figuratively speaking) for almost three years (!) before my agent gave up. In response to my proposal to self-publish, advised me to go ahead, and to send him a copy.*
Storm Approaching is the first in a series. The next are Gold and Glory, Resolution, and The Free Lands. All have been written; they are and sitting on my shelf; each is longer than Storm Approaching. But they can be published only if a number of people buy the first. So give Storm a try. If you like it, buy several and give them to your friends. If you dislike it, buy even more and give them to your enemies.
I have also self-published And Gladly Teach, a satirical novel about a (fictional) prep school, and Miscellanea a collection of eight humorous essays on divers topics (including the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings movies, kinesthetic learners, and Napoleonic military history). These are available from Amazon or the publishers (AuthorHouse and Lulu.com respectively).
Why do I write? I could quote J.R.R.T. ("The prime motive was the desire of a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite or deeply move them") or I could quote Samuel Johnson ("No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money"). I think I agree with both these masters.
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* He also said that the current big draws in fantasy literature are "vampires, zombies, and werewolves". I'm sure he's right; but, however much I regret that there are no such fascinating creatures in Storm Approaching, and however tempted I might be to turn the Pelicans into a regiment of Undead, I will--by golly--buck the trend and publish it as written. - Amazon

Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the author, Brian Libby. The review posted above is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.