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Review: Chiaroscuro:The Mouse and the Candle



  • For this review, we forayed into the world of vampires. Don't think that because this is a vampire book, and perhaps you never read those kinds of books that you need to just skip this review. You'll find you miss out on a good storyline and the opportunity to meet some new, intriguing characters if you do.

    Author Matthew S. Cox brings the characters and scenes to life as he immerses you in the world he has created. One of the best ways to tell a great book from average fiction is in how well you connect with the characters. A great book introduces you to the characters and, as it progresses, you find yourself being led by the hand by people that you feel sad to leave behind when the story ends. This book does that.

    From the beginning, where we meet Father Molinari, and then are introduced to Sabine, we find an easy bond with them. The scenes are so well laid out that we can almost smell the scents being described, feel the chill of damp evenings, and hear a child asking for her favorite book to be read, or her giggling as she plays.

    Not only do we form a bond with them, we want them to succeed throughout the story. We feel the raw emotions as Father Molinari tries to save his precious Sabine, whom he grows to love as his own child. We become attached to Sabine, and empathize with her and Father Molinari's plight and struggle to stay away from the darker elements of vampirism.

    There are some edits that missed the proofreader’s eye, but not enough that they detracted from the story all that much. Having dates made this a better experience as we could feel the passage of time and anxiety at it slipping away. With every turn of the page, we find ourselves holding our breath to see if today will be the day that a miracle happens, or if evil catches up with our new friends.

    The challenge is in putting this book down as time runs out in the day to continue reading. It’s definitely worth the time and the late nights you’ll probably have as you don’t want to let go of the story.

    About the Author


    Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place.

    Hobbies and Interests:
    Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, andwhat happens after it. He is also fond of cats.

    Special thanks to Happy Geek Media and Amberr for the images in this blog.

    #fiction
    #vampire
    #review

Comments

1 comment
  • Donna B, Mandi Konesni, and Tiffany B like this
  • Tiffany B I've missed those type of books where you can't put them down because they are so good....and you feel like you know the characters so well as one of your real life friends. Thank you for the review. I'll look for this book.