The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree The Outlaw King Book 1 eBook S A Hunt
Download As PDF : The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree The Outlaw King Book 1 eBook S A Hunt 
From award-winning author S. A. Hunt comes a blockbuster fantasy tale inspired by such old-school fantasy classics as Stephen King's The Dark Tower, C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, and Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.
After coming home from a stint in Afghanistan, veteran Ross Brigham learns that his father has passed away. Dearly departed Dad was a famous fantasy novelist, and the 300 fans that show up for the funeral demand that Ross finish E. R. Brigham's long-running magnum opus.
Ross and two of the author's devotees investigate his untimely death and discover that he might have been murdered...and the time-bending gunslingers of Dad's steampunk novels might be real.
As they try to acclimate to the arid deserts of the author's fantasy world, the three damaged heroes become pawns in a war for humanity's survival. The Muses have grown tired of immortality and now incite atrocities on Earth, trying to lure down a leviathan from the stars.
Can Ross and his new friends stop the scheming satyrs before both worlds are eaten?
The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree The Outlaw King Book 1 eBook S A Hunt
While I'm not a huge fan of the Western genre, a Western fantasy seemed unique enough that I figured I would give it a spin. The book itself advertised itself as comparable to Stephen King's "The Gunslinger" and C. S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" as well, which seemed like an oddball but interesting mix of two very different books. And while I found the similarities to both works to be superficial -- and while the writing of this book isn't perfect -- there's still a great deal to enjoy in this first book, and it makes me eager to pick up and read the rest of the series.Ross Brigham has returned home from a stint in Afghanistan to find his father has passed away -- a father who wrote a bestselling series of fantasy novels but whom Ross never felt close to. When his father's fans show up at his funeral and beg him to continue the series, he reluctantly accepts, and begins to go through his father's possessions in an effort to research the series. What he finds is disturbing clues as to his father's true fate... and a doorway to another world, where he and two fans find themselves in the very world his father wrote about -- a world of knight-like gunslingers, Old West style towns populated by fantastic creatures, ancient but advanced technology... and a strange conspiracy that threatens not only this world and Earth, but all worlds in existence...
Hunt's writing is excellent, especially compared to many other Kindle freebies I've picked up in the past. His description is good, his characters memorable, and his worldbuilding abilities on par with many traditionally-published fantasy novelists. If I have any nitpicks about the writing, it's that at times he tends to overdo it with the metaphors. Metaphors work best when they're not forced, and some of the descriptive phrases he picks are more awkward than anything else. Also, not everything needs a flowery word to describe it -- does the world "silvery" really describe bladder pain well?
The characters, while not the most memorable, are nicely fleshed out and relatable. Ross isn't a perfect protagonist, but neither is he so flawed it's impossible to relate to him -- he hits a nice balance between "too perfect" and "completely unlikable." The secondary characters are well-done as well, both Ross's newfound friends among his dad's fans and the denizens of the alternate world.
As for the world itself... it's fantastically built, and while it does bring to mind Stephen King's "Gunslinger" at times it's original enough to not be a ripoff. It does complicate the plot to bring in a sudden plot arc involving the nature of fiction and creative muses, and at times I felt like some of these elements were flying right over my head. It will be interesting to see how this arc plays out in the future, though.
A good start to a promising series, "The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree" is a unique and fascinating fantasy, with some meta-questions about the nature of fiction in the meantime. This is a series I plan to follow.
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The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree The Outlaw King Book 1 eBook S A Hunt Reviews
First off, I do recommend this book. I'll buy the second one when it comes out. So keep that in mind as I now offer some criticism.
This is the kind of book that would have sent an agent or publisher running as soon as they heard the words "fantasy western." The trope of having a fantasy author being sucked into a fantasy world would have scared them away as well. But that's not the problem with this book. And, incidentally, it's why is awesome. It bypasses the traditional publishing industry so we get to read these books.
My complaints with this book lie in the prose. He nails it quite often, but frequently just plain overdoes it with the similes and metaphors. And his action sequences are often confusing. Especially those that are more metaphysical in nature. Hunt has a tough time conveying the mind bending visuals he must be imagining in a way that is easy to follow. I found myself skimming these parts because they were confusing while at the same time not being engaging enough to make me want to read them twice to be sure I was following.The worst of these is the one that opens the book. Not because it's the most confusing, but because it's at the beginning of the book.Now that I've finished, I think that were I to go back and reread the first chapter, it would make more sense, but that's small comfort when you're reading through the first time.
There was also a world building inconsistency wherein the protagonist, thus far unable to read any of the written language of the fantasy world, finds a book containing a huge info dump (which also could have been handled a little better) and is able to suddenly read it.
BUT, I'm glad I stuck with it, because I do want to see how the story progresses, especially now that the grander picture has been revealed and the stakes are more clear.
While I'm not a huge fan of the Western genre, a Western fantasy seemed unique enough that I figured I would give it a spin. The book itself advertised itself as comparable to Stephen King's "The Gunslinger" and C. S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" as well, which seemed like an oddball but interesting mix of two very different books. And while I found the similarities to both works to be superficial -- and while the writing of this book isn't perfect -- there's still a great deal to enjoy in this first book, and it makes me eager to pick up and read the rest of the series.
Ross Brigham has returned home from a stint in Afghanistan to find his father has passed away -- a father who wrote a bestselling series of fantasy novels but whom Ross never felt close to. When his father's fans show up at his funeral and beg him to continue the series, he reluctantly accepts, and begins to go through his father's possessions in an effort to research the series. What he finds is disturbing clues as to his father's true fate... and a doorway to another world, where he and two fans find themselves in the very world his father wrote about -- a world of knight-like gunslingers, Old West style towns populated by fantastic creatures, ancient but advanced technology... and a strange conspiracy that threatens not only this world and Earth, but all worlds in existence...
Hunt's writing is excellent, especially compared to many other freebies I've picked up in the past. His description is good, his characters memorable, and his worldbuilding abilities on par with many traditionally-published fantasy novelists. If I have any nitpicks about the writing, it's that at times he tends to overdo it with the metaphors. Metaphors work best when they're not forced, and some of the descriptive phrases he picks are more awkward than anything else. Also, not everything needs a flowery word to describe it -- does the world "silvery" really describe bladder pain well?
The characters, while not the most memorable, are nicely fleshed out and relatable. Ross isn't a perfect protagonist, but neither is he so flawed it's impossible to relate to him -- he hits a nice balance between "too perfect" and "completely unlikable." The secondary characters are well-done as well, both Ross's newfound friends among his dad's fans and the denizens of the alternate world.
As for the world itself... it's fantastically built, and while it does bring to mind Stephen King's "Gunslinger" at times it's original enough to not be a ripoff. It does complicate the plot to bring in a sudden plot arc involving the nature of fiction and creative muses, and at times I felt like some of these elements were flying right over my head. It will be interesting to see how this arc plays out in the future, though.
A good start to a promising series, "The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree" is a unique and fascinating fantasy, with some meta-questions about the nature of fiction in the meantime. This is a series I plan to follow.
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