A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr

The Fait of the Kingdom Awaits 

The Cast of the Stones

In the backwater village of Callowford, roustabout Errol Stone is enlisted by a church messenger arriving with urgent missives for the hermit priest in the hills. Eager for coin, Errol agrees to what he thinks will be an easy task, but soon finds himself hunted by deadly assassins. Forced to flee with the priest and a small band of travellers, Errol soon learns he's joined a quest that could change the fate of his kingdom.

Protected for millennia by the heirs of the first king, the kingdom's dynasty nears its end and the selection of the new king begins - but in secret and shadow. As danger mounts, Errol must leave behind the stains and griefs of the past, learn to fight, and discover who is hunting him and his companions and how far they will go to stop the readings of the stones. 

Review: I LOVED… loved….really loved… this book! If you've been following this blog you'll know that I read the second book of this series ("The Hero's Lot") this last summer and I gave it a rather uncertain review as I wasn't sure if I liked it because I spent the entire time trying to figure out what the heck was going on. A slight problem could have been that I was reading the SECOND book first? Note to self: Read books in order. I almost didn't recognize the gem that is this series….and that would have been a serious loss. This is a great series.

Seriously, "A Cast of Stones" was just fabulous! I loved the story and the characters - my goodness! So, so good! I am seriously glad that I went back and read the first book. I am now reading the second book (for the second time!) and can't put it down. I can NOT wait for the third book to be released (February 18th - YAY!!!).

Enough celebrating, let's get down to facts. What did I like? Well, Errol Stone is a great character. He starts out as such a bum. The first few pages of the book find him sailing through the air off the end of a bouncer's boot and landing in the slime outside of a tavern…completely and totally drunk at nine o'clock in the morning. Errol is the town drunk and he's pathetic. All he can think about is getting his next tankard of ale. There is something about Errol that makes you kind of like him, but there is a lot about him that is simply undesirable. As the tale goes on, Errol is transformed. Following him through this exciting, riveting story as he goes from being a drunk into an unlikely and very believable hero is just fantastic.

The characters are great. The story is strong. The drama and excitement is there. I loved it. A great fantasy read!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Bethany House Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from BakerBooks, a division of Baker Publishing Group"