This Virtual Book Tour is presented by Goddess Fish Promotions.

You can see the entire tour schedule by clicking HERE.

 
 

 

Welcome everyone to Mother/Gamer/Writer for the Fallenwood Blog Tour!  We are excited to have you here today for our review, plus  a special guest post on Creating a Fantasy World from the lovely Leslie D. Soule.  The author is also giving away a $25 Barnes and Noble Gift Card to one lucky commenter, so make sure you leave a comment and check out the rest of the tour stops so you can increase your chances of winning!
 

 
Thank you and good luck!
 

 

 

 

Fallenwood

By Leslie Soule

  • BN ID: 2940011217173
  • Publisher: Decadent Publishing
  • ASIN: B004QOA2HC
  • Publication date: 3/4/2011
Find it:  Goodreads   |   Amazon   |   Barnes & Noble
 

 

 

 
Overview:

Fallenwood—a land where magic is the life force, dragons are sages, and wizards good and evil battle for supremacy. When 16-year-old Ash is thrust into the middle of Fallenwood’s power struggles, she is also forced to face her own inner battles. Life on Earth was hard enough on Ash, who is locked in grief for her stepfather. Now, the fate of Fallenwood rests on her shoulders. She must destroy the Great Crystal—the catalyst for all the land’s magic. As the kingdoms prepare for war, Ash must look inside to find the power to save the world, and herself.

 

 

 

 

My Thoughts on Fallenwood:

 

This book brings a sense of mystery to the table as Ashley (Ash for short) finds herself in a parallel universe to life as we know it. She is just a normal young woman and works the grindstone of life one excruciating day at a time. Ash wants what every young woman wants and that is to love and peace in her life. Until one painful day she is flung into Fallenwood where she meets some very unexpected friends that join her on a journey to not only save this strange land from destruction, but she must also find herself and purpose in life.

This book holds much conflict at its heart as Ash starts on her journey. She has lost so much in her short lifetime that she is pained to her very core. Ash constantly questions her own existence in her world and once again in Fallenwood. She has fought her own demons, but they have only merely been kept at bay. During her adventure they constantly serve as a reminder of all her failures in life, but can she overcome them to save the day? Is Ash willing to sacrifice herself or will she back down when she is needed most? Does she finally find love? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find that out!

If you enjoy gentle romance, mysterious prophecies, female heroines (and villains), magic, and alternate universes this book was made for you. The author Leslie Soule really does a wonderful job of spanning multiple genres, but never leaving a stone unturned. I also love the way she chose to end the story where you want more and more. I hope to see Ash and her wonderful gang again in the future.
 

The writing style is easy going with varied paragraph lengths depending on focus. This makes it easy to never become overwhelmed or lost in the story’s communication. I believe that teenagers, young women and those young at heart would really enjoy reading and find a connection with Fallenwood for years to come.
 

 

My Rating

5 out of 5 Controllers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Build A World

Leslie D. Soule

 

 

Hey there, everyone! Thanks for joining me here today.

So today I’m here to talk about what goes into World Building. This is one of the really fun parts of writing fantasy. You get to create your very own world. With fantasy literature, magic is typically involved. In his book titled How to Write Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Orson Scott Card lays down some rules for how to handle magic in your fantasy world. He explains the importance of explaining magic’s origin, as well as its price. Without a “price” for magic, each time it’s used, characters can become overly powerful to the point of seeming like demi-gods. Then the reading isn’t fun anymore because you’ve killed the believability. It’s fantasy, but it has to be believable fantasy in order for readers to get into it.

This origin of magic may very well determine the creation of your world itself in planet form. It may determine where your cities are located or if there is a class system in place. For me, the main thing seems to be consistency of thought, and this is achieved easiest, since I’m a visual person, by the creation of a map. I have a crude Fallenwood map on my closet, showing boundary lines between kingdoms, which cities belong to the various kingdoms, and where the landmarks I’ve written about are located. So I would definitely suggest drawing out a map of some kind so that when you write, you have a starting point for getting your bearings.

I’ve found that boundary lines are very important. They determine which kingdoms may have strategic alliances, which kingdoms might go to war against each other, etc. I would argue that there’s no “wrong” way to create a world, as long as you’re not stealing from something that’s already been created and claiming it’s your own. Fantasy is a very free genre – if you want to create mountains of crystal where blue dragons who spit green blobs of poison live, you can write that. As long as your creatures adhere to laws of nature and physics, and as long as the magic that you create for your world is not overly powerful, the possibilities for what you can create are truly endless.

Thank you for joining me here today. If you’d like to be entered to win a Barnes & Noble gift card, please leave a comment, along with your name and e-mail address.
 

 

 

 

Excerpt From Fallenwood

 

The dragon’s eyes glowed, for a flickering moment, with white light.

 

“Ash,” the dragon continued, “Welcome to Terra Illumina…or as it is more commonly known, Fallenwood.” Then a fierce roaring laugh erupted from the stone, as though the dragon thought the new name a joke. “A dark, difficult, dangerous path lies before you, Ash Kensington.”

 

Ash’s heart grew heavy. In truth, she knew that she was destined to some terrible, dark fate. For so long, her life was filled with sadness and doubt, and one horrible thing after another. What else can I hope for?

 

“But Ash, you must not lose hope. Our world needs you…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


About the Author:

Website

Leslie Soule lives in Sacramento, California. Fallenwood is her first fantasy novel. She has received her B.A. in English from Sacramento State University and is currently working on her Master’s degree in English at National University.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recent Posts and Giveaways:

 

 

© 2012, Diayll – MotherGamerWriter. All rights reserved.

Diayll – MotherGamerWriter

Names Diayll, I am a 30 year old country girl, living and enjoying life. I run a blog, mothergamerwriter.com and I am working on completing my first novel. You can find me representing the Xbox and anything else game related on Twitter at MomGamerWriter. But don’t take my word for it, check me out!



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Brought To You By: Diayll – MotherGamerWriter I love Comments, Please Leave Me Some Love! February 9, 2012
  • http://exam-world.com/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=8041 nametags

    We stumbled over here by a different web address and thought I should check things out.
    I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward
    to looking over your web page for a second time.

  • bn100

    I enjoyed the review and the excerpt. The book sounds very good.

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

  • http://www.literarysweet.com Heather Capewell

    Wonderful guest post. This will come in handy whenever i get around to donning the authors cap ;) Thank you for your wonderful book ;)

  • http://www.lesliesoule.com Leslie Soule

    Thanks, M. Narkis, MomJane, DeAnna Schultz and Catherine Lee! Well, this blog tour has been a lot of fun. The last stop on the tour is tomorrow, over at LASR.
    Hope you can join me there!
    http://lasrguest.blogspot.com/

    -Leslie Soule
    http://www.lesliesoule.com

  • Catherine Lee

    What a great review, Heather. I think back to myself at 16 and realize that I would not have been able to handle everything that has been thrust upon Ash.

    catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

  • http://twitter.com/SacredmOOn1 DeAnna Schultz

    This book in a lot of ways sounds like a book I’ve just read lately. All’s Fair in Vanity’s War by Elizabeth Marx. I loved that book. So I can only assume I’ll love this one too. Great post! Thanks for the chance to win it and read it myself! :)

  • momjane`

    I am absolutely going to get this book. It sounds absolutely awesome.

  • M. Narkis

    I love the sound of “Fallenwood”! I grew up reading fantasy and also love a little romance, so am excited to find a book that seems to meet all those guidelines. Thanks, too, for the review.

    mnark111 AT gmail DOT com

  • http://www.goddessfish.com Goddess Fish Promotions

    Thank you for hosting Leslie today!

    • http://mothergamerwriter.com Diayll – MotherGamerWriter

      You are so welcome!! I loved the guest post!!

  • http://www.lesliesoule.com Leslie Soule

    Hey there, Karen H! Well, Dara England designed the cover. Decadent, my publisher, sent me a form asking what I’d like on the cover. Then Dara created a few designs and sent them over to see what I thought. The Fallenwood cover is actually the first design she came up with (quite impressive!). I’ve had lots of compliments on it. She’s done a fantastic job!
    Thanks for the review, Heather!

    Well, I will be away from the computer for most of the day, due to work, but I’ll be back on here later tonight to reply to comments. :)

    -Leslie Soule
    http://www.lesliesoule.com

  • Karen H in NC

    Hi Leslie,

    Another interesting post. The cover of Fallenwood reminds me of another book I’ve seen on the internet lately, that of a man in a grey hoodie in a pose very similar to the girl on your cover. Did you have a hand in the cover design or was that done by the publisher alone?

    kareninnc at gmail dot com