Sunday 5 April 2015

Book Review : Forged in Dreams and Magick by Kat Bastion

The award-winning debut in the Highland Legend Series:

Isobel MacInnes wakes up in present-day California, lunches in medieval Scotland, and by ten days’ end, falls in love with a man and his country, only to lose them in a heart-wrenching twist of fate . . .

Found in the arms of her second soul mate . . .

Forced to balance the delicate strands of time between two millennia . . .

Shocked by revelations rewriting the very foundations of history . . . of everything.

Isobel, a rising-star archaeology student, is dropped into two ancient worlds without warning . . . or her permission. Her fiery spirit resists the dependency thrust upon her. Amid frustration at her lack of control, she helplessly falls in love. Twice.

She struggles to adjust to the unimaginable demands of two leaders of men—a laird in the thirteenth-century Highlands and a Pict chieftain in a more ancient Scotland. Isobel transforms from an academic, hell-bent on obtaining archaeological recognition, to a woman striving to care for those she loves, and ultimately . . . into a fearless warrior risking everything to protect them.

*** PLEASE NOTE ***
Scorching (explicit) sex scenes.
Fire extinguisher highly recommended.






Book Review

Dr Aihik Saha


Short Review : Forged in Dreams and Magick will capture your imagination at the turn of every page. Must read for those who love fantasy and adventure.


Full Review : Time travel novels are always a joyride. Especially when it is garnished with a lot of romance, emotions and adventure. Kat Bastion cooks up a perfect time travel book with “Forged in Dreams and Magick”. Its one hell of a novel and you get thrown to different times in the past without a moment to settle down..but still you will enjoy it..
It’s very difficult to merge history with fiction but Kat Bastion has done that seamlessly. The plot intrigued me at each step. Though a few more historical correlations would have definitely spiced it up even more. The author plays on the strings of philosophy with subtleness and never becomes preachy. The socieo-environmental conditions of the periods have been depicted with complete fidelity.

“ ’Done assessing me like your next meal,female?’ ”
The chapter I enjoyed reading the most is the one which involves the dreams (chapter-28)…its beautiful, its quirky, it’s funny..the writer paints with words..Sheer brilliance..from the title of the book I wondered why magick and dreams..Though all through it’s a dream like situation there were no dreams but this chapter adds a different dimension to this fantasy novel. Dream sequences are always difficult because one tends to go over the top. But this one sticks to the surreal zone and does justice to the rest of the book. Kudos!

“Twice in as many weeks I’d struggled with assumptions of what defined my reality, but thought driven insomnia had crystallized the details of my situation.”
Time traveling is difficult. More so when you travel back and forth.. but the hardest path to tread would be when you are travelling in various time periods..to create three different periods and to do justice to each of them shows the writers command over the medium. The writer creates three different worlds with distinction but also takes care that travelling from one world to another doesn’t become a bumpy one. A very interesting scene is where she picks up the language of the Picts. The simplicity brings a smile on the face.
“’I’m your soul mate?’ The shouted realization scorched my ears.”
The characters are lovable; their vulnerability brings them closer to reality. The author has beautifully interwoven various layers into all character be it Velloc or Iain to the lesser characters like Brodie, Gawain, Fingall, Robert, Duncan, Drust and others. Quite unlikely the supporting characters are not a burden. In fact characters like Brodie, Drust complement well to the protagonists and creates an interesting perspective.
“That damn box hadn’t finished with me yet”
The supernatural elements are limited which again I think is very commendable. Though there were ample chances to add more supernatural elements but the author sticks to 3 and builds the plot on the characters and their intense and complex emotions. There is thin line of difference between sleaze and sensuousness. The author surely knows the line too well. The passion plays are raw, intense, spontaneous and honest.
“The intriguing paradoxes of a man-hard edged but tender, accepting but inflexible, twenty-first century past and medieval reference-had me more than a little unsteady on my feet”.
Something worth a mention is the writer’s choice of words and expressions. She has chosen her words wisely and nurtured each expression with a lot of care. This novel wouldn’t have been the same without them.





About The Author



Latest project: No Weddings Series

I'm thrilled to be co-authoring with Stone Bastion, my husband, in a contemporary romance series!

No Weddings (9/8/14)
One Funeral (9/29/14)
Two Bar Mitzvahs (10/20/14)
Three Christmases (11/17/14)
...plus a steamy nightcap novella
For Valentine's (1/5/14)

I'm fortunate to have won several awards for my paranormal romance writing in the first novel of the Highland Legends Series. The first two books are now available on Amazon:

Forged in Dreams and Magick
Bound by Wish and Mistletoe (a novella)

Slated for release in Winter 2014/2015:
~ Born of Mist and Legend
~ Found in Flame and Moonlight

Please also visit the Charity Support and Awareness page on both my blog and website, outlining how a portion of the proceeds of all of my books will go to charities that fight against human trafficking.

More information about me and all that I support can be found on my blog, www.talktotheshoe.com and my website, www.katbastion.com ~ I can often be found on my Twitter account ~ @KatBastion

No comments:

Post a Comment

pin