Epic World War I tale - Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I fancied an epic tale based around the First World War. This was a good read, but a little too much like Downton Abbey in my mind. Ken may have written this book first (I didn't check the date), but I was rather hoping for a tale of the trenches. This was interesting and swept across UK/USA/Russia/Germany, following many different characters. It was a little too much of a history book and all the major events were covered wit one of the characters being present. I liked that the UK contribution was from a Welsh perspective and a mining community, without it being about tunneling under the trenches which is what I was anticipating. There was some coverage of the trenches but that was a small aspect. Overall, an interesting read and very good characterisation with folk at all the appropriate levels to follow key incidents. Downside, a little too much of a diary of events.


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Book Review, War of the Dwarves - Markus Heitz

The War of the Dwarves by Markus Heitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nice thing is - it is a long book, so value for money. Overall, it's entertaining but not a page-turner and, unlike some books, I didn't find myself compelled to read late into the night. The characters are good generally but there are times when they are a little too comical. You do want the central hero, Tungdil, to do well and he does. There are some nice twists to keep the story from being too straightforward, but the plot is fairly predictable at times. Telling the tale from the dwarves viewpoint is nice and you do find yourself rooting for them. I preferred book 1 as I felt that, after a slow start, there was more twists than book 2 which for me was a little too obvious. Having said that, it was a fun book and good value for money, given the size of it.


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Book Review: The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham

The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book won't be for everyone. In parts it's a bit slow and some of it is about banking. However, it's a fresh tale with some unique and very readable characters. It's also quite brutal. Geder is a great character that starts off slowly as a caricature of a person, someone to poke fun at, but events soon create a very interesting person and you are left wondering where the tale will take him. The beginning is also interesting and very well written and gives the reader a hint of things to come. I will definitely keep an eye out for other books in the series.


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Read Legacy of the Eldric, Fantasy by David Burrows

http://davidburrows.org.uk/legacy_of_the_eldric.html

Writing a Book: Author Branding

I read a lot of articles about this before I found one that made sense:

Your best brand is your name. Perhaps with hindsight I should have chosen something more distinctive or catchy --  Doc Burrows (yes I have a PhD), or Doctor David, or David J Burrows. Changing to a pen name may be useful if your name is taken on Facebook or Twitter. For me, unfortunately, on Twitter David Burrows was taken so I had to settle with DavidJBurrows which dilutes my brand. Again, this is where a pen name may be worth considering. Anyone tried that and found a problem?

Clearly your name should be linked to your genre, so on Google David Burrows Fantasy gets me a high hit rate. David Burrows Author also does quite well. I also make it some way into Fantasy Author as a Search Phrase.

Another brand is your title. Mine is Prophecy of the Kings as I have a trilogy. But, each book title is part of your brand.

The trick is then marketing and getting your name out there sufficiently to get people searching for you. That's the hard part.