Shara and the Haunted Village, by Jeffery Getzin

I just finished this little novella last night and have to say it was an enjoyable read. I give this book a solid 3 1/2 stars.

Shara and the Haunted Village

The reasons I liked it;

• It's a quick read with a nice fast paced adventure.
• It's very reminiscent of a D&D scenario campaign. I've read a lot of D&D books and I enjoy them, although I know not everyone does. To me, it always feels like you're part of the adventure.
• The story had a nice, neat ending - the kind of ending you would expect for a story like this, and I found it gratifying and clever.
• The demon gets a full 5 stars, and she's reason enough to read the book if you enjoy a good fantasy novel. IMO, she was the star of the show.

The reason this book didn't get a higher rating.

• There were some scenes/errors in the book that pulled me out of the story, making it hard to get 100% absorbed.
• The main male lead reminded me of a certain rogue leader of Bregan D'aearth, and he never really broke out as his own character until towards the very end. (Edit: See Jeffery's comment below! Very interesting.)

Now, the issues that pulled me out of the story I believe could be fixed with a bit more polishing. That would make this a stellar fantasy read that I would recommend to anyone. As it stands now, I know some people don't have a high tolerance for these types of errors, and I would be afraid to recommend this and then have the reader be turned off from the author. 

That being said, is this book worth polishing when the author could be working on new novels? I would say no, it's fine the way it stands now, and precious time could be devoted to writing new adventures. 

As for myself, I would gladly pick up another book from this author, particularly one that would revolve around Shara again. I could see her going on another adventure, one even further from home, and she has a ton of potential character growth.

Jeffery Getzin has his own webpage. You can find him here.

~ ~ ~ ~

NOW, on to a little Dreamland blurb. I know I skipped writing last week in favor of a much needed break, but I picked it up again this week and I got to finally introduce two main characters for book 2 to Joss. It's so exciting and I loved finally seeing them take shape in the words. They're exactly who I had rumbling around in my mind for these past few months.

Editing is also still going well. No hiccups or delays to report there. Nothing exciting either! Editing is so hard, but I'm done whining about it for the night. I'm satisfied with what I accomplished today, and I'm ready to start the weekend. Yay!