The Sword's Choice
The Sapphire Eruption
By I. M. Redwright
My first thought, as I read the last words of The Swords Choice – The Sapphire Eruption by I.M. Redwright was, “What? It’s over??? Oh man, what a bummer.” That’s because I absolutely loved this author’s story-telling and did not want to stop reading. Luckily, the story continues in Book 2 so I will have an opportunity to read the full accounting.
There’s so much depth and history throughout this book that it was easy to feel like I was immersed in Noakh, the phoenix’s world. Being a fan of Piers Anthony, I absolutely love it when an author assigns special meanings to words. In this case, the main character’s name, Noakhhail, means “Don’t Give Up” and through many trials and tribulations, he completely lives up to that admonition.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many times when he is on the verge of throwing down his sword, so to speak. Wondering whether he will or won’t is what keeps the story moving along so swiftly. There are so many perils and situations that are full of action and adventure that there’s not a moment of boredom in the entire book. It reminded me a lot of The Sword In The Stone by T.H. White amongst many other rich, epic Arthurian fantasies. I also loved the idea of a world containing four separate elemental kingdoms.
Oh yes, I forgot to say, Noakh comes from the Fire Kingdom where a “phoenix” is chosen to become the new king. Since it happens so early in the story, it’s not really a spoiler to say that he is chosen to be that phoenix when he is a little baby and things go so awry that he must be spirited away to a safe place to avoid being murdered.
There are many other characters to be admired in the book but I have only concentrated on Noakh, here, because he was my favorite. The review, itself, would be as long as a book if I delved too deeply into the others. Suffice it to say, this is a great read. Check it out for yourself.
I give this book
