My latest book review is about A Cast of Stones by Patrick Carr. I was sent this book by Bethany House Publishers for review. I do not have to give this book a favorable review…but…
Oh.My.Word.
I loved this book…and seriously cannot wait to get my hands on the next one. I sure hope there is a next one.
Carr weaves an amazing tale about two boys…Errol and Liam. Errol is a drunk and Liam is near perfect. Their lives are intertwined, but to what degree, we do not find out until later. A Cast of Stones focuses on Errol’s story.
We meet Errol and he is pissed drunk. He is given a mission to take a bag to a hermit who lives in the hills. Errol really wants to finish this job because it will give him enough coin to stay drunk for a few weeks. Yeah, it’s that bad. Errol realizes someone is watching him, tracking him, hunting him. An assassin! And from that point on the story develops, grows and deepens. The characters develop, grow and deepen. We find that Errol has an amazing gift, but the full extent of that gift is not revealed until much later.
Errol has many trials and meets many folks along the way who help him on his path. He has few friends and many more enemies. He is being hunted, but he doesn’t know why.
There is a kingdom in danger. A spiritual war. And an unlikely hero.
I really enjoyed Carr’s pacing in this book. It kept me enthralled and introduced a whole new world to me…all without boring me to tears. This story features rich history, legend and lore, and fighting. Who doesn’t love that. Carr takes many ideas from religion, particularly Catholicism and weaves it into a fresh new tale.
The reader starts off not really liking Errol. I mean, he’s a drunk. Then we go from not feeling very sympathetic to empathetic to rooting for him. I really like who Errol becomes on the pages of this book.
For a first book, Carr did an amazing job weaving a wonderful story…and I sincerely cannot wait to read more!
Bravo, Mr. Carr. Bravo!
nwminnesotamo 