(Blog Blitz) Book Review: Fantasy Short Stories by Suzanne Rogerson

Today I’m pleased to welcome you to my stop on the one day blog blitz for Fantasy Short Stories by Suzanne Rogerson.  This brilliant book of short stories features characters from the authors novels and is a wonderful read whether you’ve previously read any of the author’s work or not.  You can find out more about this book and my thoughts below, but first I’d just like to say a huge thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources and the author for a chance to be a part of this blitz and for a free copy of the book.  Now, let’s see why I’ve enjoyed this short read so much! 🙂 …

Title: Fantasy Short Stories: From the worlds of Visions of Zarua and Silent Sea Chronicles
Author: Suzanne Rogerson
Publisher: Suzanne Rogerson
Genre: Fantasy, Short stories
Book format: Digital
Sweet Strawberries: 

Description:  A collection of stories featuring favourite characters from Visions of Zarua and Silent Sea Chronicles, plus a glimpse into the new series, Starlight Prophecy.

The Guardian

With an assassin picking off wizards one-by-one, Kalesh visits Cassima, a former student, hoping to persuade her to re-join the Royal Wizards and use their protection to keep her family safe.

Kalesh’s newest charge, Paddren, has strange visions which link to a past event known only to a select few. The knowledge hidden in Paddren’s visions is invaluable so Kalesh must guard the boy at any cost.

Can Kalesh keep his students off the assassin’s radar long enough for his order to stop the killer?

Garrick the Protector

Fifteen-year-old Garrick is helping at his uncle’s farm when his cousin’s illegal use of magic threatens the family’s safety.

Mara is in immediate danger from the Assembly who deem all magic as a threat. The only safe place for her is the Turrak Mountains where exiled mystics have found sanctuary alongside the island’s Sentinel.

Can Garrick get Mara to safety before the Assembly catch up with them?

War Wounds

Conscripted to fight off raiders, Calder finds the months of bloody battle unleash a sixth sense buried inside him.

Finally released from duty, he travels home and encounters a mysterious woman who insists his life is destined to serve a higher purpose. Calder rejects her claims, wanting only to return to a simple existence with his wife.

But can Calder pick up his old life when the powers within him have been stirred? And why does he feel such misgivings about his return?

All three stories give readers a tantalising glimpse into the fantasy worlds created by Suzanne Rogerson.

*Free copy provided by author for review…

Review:  This is such a brilliant compilation of short stories which can be enjoyed whether you’ve read the author’s previous work or not!  ‘FAntays Shrot Stories’ is a short book, at less than 100 pages, and is filled with three stories, each taken from one of the fantasy worlds from author Suzanne Rogerson’s books.  Each tale features characters from the original books as well as others, and I love how we get an insight into the earlier life of some key characters in those books.

This book begins with a story following wizard Kalesh as he tries to encourage his former pupil Cassima to leave her home for her own safety.  A sinister force is killing wizards but Cassima doesn’t want to leave her home, and wants to stay to protect her child.  I loved this first story, featuring a young Varnia from Visions of Zarua.  The story is the perfect opener to this compilation and I love how exciting the tale is from the start.  Each story is filled with excitement and different forms of magic and I love how interesting and compelling each one is.  Seeing Garrick, a character I love from the Silent Sea Chronicles series, and how he and Mara’s stories began before the events in the trilogy felt so special and I love how you notice some other characters too, ones that will become more important if you read the trilogy.

Although each story is a treat to read for those who have already read Rogerson’s books, they are also a great read for anyone who has never read the standalone book or trilogy too.  I’d forgotten a  lot about Kalesh and Varnia before reading this book, but still found the story so compelling to read even though it took me time to remember these characters.  The first story is followed with an excerpt of chapter one Visions of Zarua, the second story about Garrick is followed by another excerpt, this time from the first book in the Silent Sea Chronicles trilogy, The Lost Sentinel.  You don’t have to read theses excerpts, and indeed the ebook is formatted to allow you to skip straight to the next story, but both of these excerpts are so exciting and compelling, and if you’ve never read the books they might just make you want to pick up the novels! 🙂

The last story in the book was my favourite, such a mix of excitement and also heart-break and I can’t wait to find out more about the character mentioned.  Overall these three short stories, plus the book extracts make a wonderful introduction to Suzanne Rogerson’s work.  They are a perfect extra for those who have already read her books, but if you’ve never read them before and are not sure whether you want to buy or read a whole novel/novels, it’s a great way to have a taster of her work (which I promise you is so good!).  To be honest, the only criticism I have is that there aren’t more stories in this compilation.  It’s not really a criticism, I just wish there were even more tales in this book as I couldn’t put this down and wanted it to last so much longer! 😀

Buy the Book

Buy from Amazon UK    Buy from Amazon US

About the Author

Suzanne lives in Middlesex, England with her husband, two children and a crazy cocker spaniel.

Her writing journey began at the age of twelve when she completed her first novel. She discovered the fantasy genre in her late teensand has never looked back. Giving up work to raise a family gave Suzanne the impetus to take her attempts at novel writing beyond the first draft, and she is lucky enough to have a husband who supports her dream -even if he does occasionally hint that she might think about getting a proper job one day.

Now an author of four novels including the Silent Sea Chronicles trilogy and her debut, Visions of Zarua, Suzanne hopes the dreaded ‘W’ word will never rear its ugly head again!

She loves gardening and has a Hebe (shrub) fetish. She enjoys cooking with ingredients from the garden and regularly feeds unsuspecting guests vegetable-based cakes.

Suzanne collects books, is interested in history and enjoys wandering around castles and old ruins whilst being immersed in the past. She likes to combine her love of nature and photography on family walks, but most of all she loves to escape with a great film, binge watch TV shows, or soak in a hot bubble bath with an ice cream and a book.

Visit author’s website    Visit author on Twitter    Visit author on Instagram    Visit author on Facebook

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed my stop on this blog blitz today, and do get a copy of the book if it sounds like one you’d like! 😀

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What do you think of this book?  Have you read any books by Suzanne Rogerson?  Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂