sábado, 28 de marzo de 2020

Blood Creek Phantom By Jay Barnson, Book Review


Blood Creek Phantom is book three of the Blood Creek Series by Jay Barnson. The story continues of Jenny and her friends as they battle Thadeus and The Coven here and around the bend.


Plot

The story in book two, Blood Creek Beast, finished off with a fight taking place in both worlds, and Blood Creek Phantom picks up shortly after the second book ends. In this installment, half of the story is told from Jenny's point of view and her fight around the bend against the forces led by Thadeus's daughter, Taliel. In our world, Sean provides us with the changes taking place in Maple Bend, and his discovered talent.

Jenny has grown in her powers. She has been tested as the war for control of the two worlds finds her. She is reunited with friends who help her and finds new ones. Circumstances can make for unexpected alliances. Jenny has to push herself to limits she didn't know she had and learns that war, and life, can involve making hard decisions.

In Maple Bend, Sean learns more about his talent of seeing ghosts. He also learns that not all ghosts are bad. This leads him to deal with his own insecurities and situations from his past at the same time figuring out what he can do to help his new friends and the challenges they face as The Coven and Thadeus push forward their plan of control.

Style

Blood Creek Phantom continues in the same tone and presentation as Jay Barnson's first two books of this series. The storylines are easy to follow and clearly intended for a young adult to new adult readers. He doesn't present anything that should worry parents.

A war is taking place, but the graphic details take place off page. We know there are people dying, but we are not given the grisly details.. The description of the monsters faced by the heroes are the most graphic descriptions given, and anyway, they are monsters.

There is a strong delineation between good and evil. There are a few passages where it is clear the hero of the scene has to make a hard choice of how to complete the task they want to accomplish. This sometimes leads them into gray areas that are explored through their thoughts. Every time, though, it is made clear the purpose of the decision, however harsh, has a greater purpose.

Overall

Blood Creek Phantom is a worthy sequel. The story continues with strength from the first two books. We return to Jenny's story and pick up the story of Sean, a character introduced in book two. There is no harsh break from one part to the next. The style is the same and allows for easy reading through the books.

Without giving away the ending I will say it is clear the story hasn't ended. Part of the battle has been completed. The heroes have been tested. Thadeus remains and there is still more for Jenny, Jack Jessabelle, and Sean to do.

Here are the links to the reviews of the first two books.

Blood Creek Witch (link)
Blood Creek Beast (link)

These books are available on Amazon.

Blood Creek Witch (link)
Blood Creek Beast (link)
Blood Creek Phantom (link)


  
About the Author

Jay Barnson is a writer, software engineer, and an award-winning video game developer. He grew up on a steady diet of classic Science Fiction and Fantasy, much of it from the pulp era. He has written fiction and non-fiction for several anthologies and magazines, including The Escapist and Cirsova, and a DragonComet award winner. A transplant to Utah, Jay was born in the hills of West Virginia, and uses the word "y'all" by choice, not by habit. And for the last time, he's not the one to blame for the one sock of each pair that keeps going missing in your dryer. It was the aliens. Aliens!


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