Saturday, May 28, 2011

4 Stars for The Treasures of Carmelidrium

4 Stars...Realm of Magic, Realm of Love, May 26, 2011  
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Treasures of Carmelidrium (The Chronicles of Gil-Lael) (Kindle Edition)
The Treasures of Carmelidrium by N.R. Williams is an action-packed fantasy adventure. Gil-Lael, the world Ms. Williams has created, teems with princes, elves, unicorns and a nasty horde of beasts called symberveen. When gifted flutist Michelle (Missy) Kersten crashes her Jeep Wrangler through a portal to this alien world, she doesn't realize what's happened at first. The landscape resembles her native Colorado, and even though the handsome man who greets her wears a costume straight out of the Middle Ages, well, surely there must be a logical explanation. Maybe he and his companions are making a movie. Only there are no cameras or any other modern equipment in sight. All she sees are men who look at her as if she's some weird being from another world. Which, of course, she is.

Within a short time Missy meets a unicorn with magical powers and a band of loathsome, bear-like creatures who attempt to kidnap her. She learns these symberveen possess a devastating ability to invade human minds with horrible visions, and being clawed by one of the beasts often spells death. About this time the lovely young lady figures out she's not in Colorado anymore. Her abrupt loss of family, friends and a promising musical career hits her hard. All she wants to do is get back home. But how?

Missy finds a balm for her troubled heart in the arms of Healden, Prince of Gil-Lael. He's kind and protective, and he's definitely not hard to look at. Through numerous dangers and surprising developments, Missy fights her growing attachment to the handsome prince. Staying with him would mean never seeing her beloved family again. She faces impossible choices that don't only involve herself and Healden, but all of Gil-Lael. For Missy wasn't brought there merely to find romance; she must fulfill a prophesy. If she fails in her appointed task, the world she has grown to love will fall into the hands of a vicious, mind-altering fiend who wants to control everything, including Missy and her magical flute.

The only critical comment I can make about this book is that it's a bit long. I found myself distracted at times, especially through the first half. Condensing it somewhat would pick up the pace. Aside from that, this is a wonderful tale that carried me to a fantastic world I hope to revisit in N.R. Williams' next book.

Lyn Horner, author of Darlin' Druid (Texas Druids)

Thank you Lyn, Nancy

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice review. I just started reading this and so far I am loving it :)

Unknown said...

Congrats on the great review.

N. R. Williams said...

Thank you Siv, I'm excited to hear what you have to say.

Thank you Kay.
Nancy

Su said...

Great review! I'm afraid The Treasures of Carmelidrium is still on my ridiculously long to-read list, but I'm getting there. Looking forward to reading it!

N. R. Williams said...

That's sweet, thank you Su.
Nancy

Unknown said...

This is great review and I am so happy for you. I have my copy and am waiting for my schedule to get little less crazy to finish. I get drawn in every time and it is almost a physical sensation when I have to stop. It's like I'm really there in the story.

Michael Di Gesu said...

Congrats on the review Nancy....

I'm glad to see you book is still being enjoyed by new followers!

Golden Eagle said...

Congratulations on the review! :)

Erin Kane Spock said...

Congrats on the great review!
I have your book on the Kindle ap on my Droid. I let a student read some of it during silent reading time and she loved it. She plans to order a copy for herself to read on her iPad. :)

Nas said...

Congratulations on a lovely review. It's already on my reader, but haven't got around to it. Thanks for posting this review!

N. R. Williams said...

Thank you everyone. I am encouraged by your kind words and excited by the prospect of many of you reading my story. I hope to hear how you like it when you're done.
Nancy