I have to be honest. I wanted to review this book because I just really love a good sci-fi/fantasy book. The truth is however, I was all-but-ready for this particular story to be mediocre at best. Unfortunately, Christian authors do not the best fantasy writers make. Or rather – they either make the BEST (read C. S. Lewis) or they basically flop. (Please feel free to prove me wrong. I would like nothing better!)

I am pleased to report that this book was better than I’d expected! Eye of the Sword is book two of the Angelaeon Circle by Karyn Henley. I’m looking forward to back tracking a bit and reading the first book Breath of Angel.

Eye of the Sword focuses on Trevin, our hero. At times he doesn’t look very heroic – more like someone who’s always in the wrong place at the wrong time – but as the story grows he proves himself to be the hero we knew he was destined to be.

Trevin’s supporting cast is made up of kings, a princess, various levels of angelic beings, mighty warriors and a whole other group who range from badly misled to down-right evil.

At first I was a little concerned by the elaborate names, not only of the characters but also of the places in this book. Eldarra, Aubendahl, The Dregmoors, Ambria, Hanamel – you get the idea. It took me a little while (and a bit of flipping back to an earlier page to check that the person I was reading about was the same person who did such-and-such) but pretty soon I had no problem keeping everyone straight.

It is easy to spot a fantasy author who has read one of the great ones (J. R. R. Tolkien), it inevitably comes out in their writing. So it was with Karyn Henley. Nevertheless, this book was still full of originality and creativity! It was exciting and interesting to read the entire way through and even at the end there were plot twists that kept me guessing…

Near the beginning of the story (while I was being all critical) I had this sense of something missing in the writing. I couldn’t smell the story the way I can with some books. By the end of the book I had forgotten all about that. I closed the final page with a sigh that only comes at the end of a satisfying story mixed with a little regret that it is over. Thankfully the story is NOT over – there is at least one more book yet to be published and I get to go back and read book one!

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a light, engaging novel that has a good combination of adventure and romance.

*I received this book free from the publisher through the Waterbrook Press book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.*