It has been a while since I’ve done any kind of update on my writing progress, so I thought I’d let everyone in on what’s going on.

Right now, I’m editing Fireweaver, the second book of my Sunweaver trilogy. So far, the edits are going well, but it will still take some time because I need to do some light editing on the third book, Sunlord, before publishing Fireweaver. I want to make sure I don’t have any continuity errors.

I am also in the process of drafting Essence Blade, the first novel of a new series I’ve titled Essence Warrior. This series could be anywhere from three books to five books. I haven’t figure that out just yet. Right now, I’m about halfway through the drafting the first book. After that, I’d like to work on the second book of Essence Warrior, but I may find I need a break from the world.

Here are my current publishing plans:

I’m anticipating Fireweaver releasing sometime this spring, with Watersong, the first book of another trilogy (The God War’s Chosen), following during the summer.

After that, I will publish Sunlord, most likely during the fall or early winter, completing the Sunweaver trilogy.

After that, I will publish Godchild, the second book of The God War’s Chosen. My plans beyond that obviously include the final book of The God War’s Chosen. They also depend on how much progress I’ve made with the Essence Warrior series and any other projects that might catch my interest by then.

As always, thanks for reading.

The first thing that stands out to me about this book is the author’s writing style. Kelliher has a slightly more poetic style than I’m used to seeing in fantasy, using a great deal of figurative language. Apart from that, the prose is also very readable. The book was also paced very well, keeping me turning pages because something interesting was almost always happening.

The battle sequences in the last twenty percent of the book were also a joy to read. They gave me that frantic feeling I love getting during the climax of a book. The revelations at the very end also have my excited to read the rest of the series.

But I do have a few criticisms. While the pacing was great for keeping the story going, I felt at times that the characters didn’t get as much time to develop as I would have liked. I liked most of them well enough, but I didn’t feel as much of an emotional connection as I would have liked. That connection grew as the story went on, so I’m hoping it continues in the following books.

On the editing front, I did notice a few typos, but nothing that’s a dealbreaker as far as I’m concerned.

Rating: 8.5/10

This was a very entertaining story from an author I’m growing to like more and more, and that’s a great thing because Holmberg is an insanely prolific author.

In this one, the main character is Fes. At the start, it seems like Fes is the stereotypical street thief archetype, and that’s not a bad thing. As the story progresses, we find out that Fes has some special talents that allow him to find artifacts from the long-vanished dragons. Again, this is hardly groundbreaking material, but Holmberg manages to write an entertaining tale around these common tropes.

Soon Fes finds himself caught up in a quest to recover a very powerful dragon relic. He ends up teaming up with Alison, a woman with whom he has a lot of history, and this makes for some great character interactions.

And that’s where I think this book does well. In terms of the plot and world, there’s nothing that jumps out at you as wildly original, but I didn’t care because I cared about the characters. At the beginning Fes is more of an anti-hero only in it for the money. As the story progresses, however, you see more and more of his character, and he develops into someone who’s in it for something more than just the money. By the end, I found myself rooting for Fes and his comrades.

This book is also set against the interesting backdrop of a civil war of sorts within the empire. We don’t get the full picture from either side in this story, but it does set up a conflict with great potential for the rest of the series.

Overall, this is the kind of simple but entertaining fantasy I enjoy reading. Holmberg is quickly becoming one of my favorite “comfort read” authors. It’s the kind of fantasy I like: inspired by the classics, but with enough modern twists to make it feel fresh. I see a lot of potential in this series.

Rating: 8.5/10

I will also add that I’m currently on the fourth book now, and the series keeps getting better with each book.

I currently have deals running on three of my books. Empire of Chains is free, The Shadowed Land is available for only $0.99 instead of $3.99, and Sunweaver is available for $0.99 instead of $2.99.

You can get them by following this link: https://www.amazon.com/Ryan-W.-Mueller/e/B071YXBZRW/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

You can also click on the cover images in the right-hand sidebar.