Swords and sorcery.Mythical creatures and unholy Demons.Battles and betrayals.Witches and Wizards.Noble heroes and ruthless villains.From the savage steppes of Nagali to the heart of intrigue in Quing Tzu, this anthology is packed with tales of the supernatural, of action and adventure.Set in the same world as the epic fantasy Convent Series, beginning with A Dead Wizard’s Dream, this collection … adventure.
Set in the same world as the epic fantasy Convent Series, beginning with A Dead Wizard’s Dream, this collection of eleven original fantastical short stories explores lands heretofore unseen in the series.
Featured in The Chronicles of Maradoum Volume 1 …
Li Mao and the Yaoguai
The Boulders and the Buffalos
Conn and the Faun
A Deadly Present for the Khan
Were-jackals
Kidnapping
Phut and the Blood Worms
The Waystation
The King’s Own Tournament
The Wish-Bird, the Qilin and the Demon
Arvid, Aslaug and the Undead
more
Tales and fables with a message. Short stories that tell tales about betrayals, abuses of power, plots to gain power, heroism, and good triumphing over evil.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
One of the best books in the epic fantasy genre. It has something for everyone. While my first preference has always been dark horror, I thoroughly enjoyed the narratives. I was transported to strange and magical realms. I was given a glimpse of weird and scary mythical creatures with malevolent intent and extraordinary humans who had to contend with them as well as evil wizards. There were victories and casualties with some heroes coming to a tragic end. I recommend this book as it gives you an escape from mundane reality.
Chronicles of Maradoum Volume 1: A Fantasy Anthology, my third read from author Ross C. Hughes and the third read from him this week. An anthology of fantasy short stories. I look forward to reading more from this author, In fact my next read is Chronicles of Maradoum (#2). (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
This is a very pleasant and entertaining collection of short stories that all take place in the world of Maradoum. The same universe of “a dead wizard’s dream” and it’s very interesting to learn more about this fascinating world and the various people populating it, each one with their own folklore, traditions and religious beliefs. There are strange animals as well, some resembling the fauna of our own world, but yet eerily different. And not all of them are friendly! Monsters of whom everyone thought they were extinct or never existed at all, suddenly turn up very much alive! Friends can turn out to be worse companions than strangers, wicked witches hating other people, strange cultures whose people aren’t very different from us in love, jealousy, hate and other emotions. Each short story could be the opening chapter for a longer and more intensive tale. Even in the few pages that you have to get to know the characters, there’s a base for more detailed likeable and interesting main characters of a larger story. I would advise reading this book before you start the series to get an idea and a feel about the world of Maradoum.
I received a free ARC through StoryOrigins and this is my honest review.
For the record, I received an Advanced Review Copy (ARC) of this book with the request that I leave a voluntary honest review for other potential readers. Having said that, here is my honest opinion and review of this book. Though I am not usually a fan of or read short stories, I actually found these stories to be very good. Where as most short stories seem rushed and don’t do justice to the characters, these short stories don’t present such a rushed pace feeling and do provide excellent world building and character development. I find myself pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the short stories. Having all of the stories set in various parts of the same world extends a sense of continuity to them all. The writing style is great quality and easy to read (a few minor grammatical errors, but nothing is ever perfect and it didn’t upset the flow of the stories) with a smoothly flowing pace through out each of them. It would be very difficult to choose any one of them as my favorite since, in my opinion, they each work well to bolster and support the others. I am going to have to obtain the first full book in this world to read after this (although, several elements through out the stories seemed very familiar so I may have already read one of the books). So, in answer to the big question of whether or not the book is worth the time spent to read it, the answer is an unqualified yes.
**** SPOILER ALERT ****
Ross delivers a varied, but entertaining group of stories.
The author does a very fine job of world building and character development in each story.
I encourage my fellow readers to pick up this entertaining collection.
In the interest of transparency: I was given a free review copy of this book and I am voluntarily sharing this review. It is my own honest opinion.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Chronicles of Maradoum, but I’m very glad I took the chance to listen to this collection of tales from Maradoum. Each of these short tales is a complete story and I found all of them to be very entertaining. Additionally, I really enjoyed Joseph Turner’s narration, his various voices for the variety of characters really made the story come alive. I’m looking forward to listening to Volume 2 of this series.