A Review of The Last Warrior Queen by Mary Mackey

I'm reviewing this novel since the setting of it is similar to the setting of my own novel. It is about a woman named Inanna, a woman with a healing touch trying to survive in the chaotic ancient world she was born into. Her courage enables her to overcome obstacles throughout the course of the story as she seeks to become a great warrior queen.
The story involves a belief in ancient Sumerian gods and goddesses and is an excellent read. However, some parts of the story are strange and violent. Strangely enough, some people in the story believe the main character is part-wolf. I suspect it might be a feminist work since it involves a woman escaping from a male dominated society.
Overall, it was OK. But I wouldn't highly recommend it unless you're interested in a story that involves tragedy. I think the main demographic for this book was women and feminists. I personally think the book could have been more exciting if it had had more conflict between a main antagonist or kept true to the spirit of an epic adventure that tends to make stories popular. In other words, it could have been more exciting than it was.

Lost City of Z Review/Recommendation

There's a relatively new book out that has been promoted on Amazon.com and NPR radio. It is called The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. I don't review many non-fiction works since I'm currently a fiction writer but I downloaded an ebook preview of it and it continues to captivate me. Mostly because it was written by an anthropologist and an interest in anthropology was partially what influenced my fictional work, The Jewels of the Ishamah.
In this book, author David Grann gives us surprising views of the Amazonian tribal people through the eyes of legendary British explorer Percy Faucet during his expeditions in the 1920's. Among his finds were that the Amazonian people were better survivalists than Europeans had previously thought--they lived off the land and none of them were starving. He eventually goes on to find elaborate ruins of cities that have been left behind or abandoned by the ancestors of the current tribesmen in his search for a lost city in the jungle.
It's a highly fascinating read for anybody interested in archaeology of anthropology. I highly recommend this book.

Writer's Blog: Sample of Content from The Jewels of the Ishamah

My epic fantasy novel The Jewels of the Ishamah is now available on Amazon.com. Here is a sample of a scene from that book. This scene involves the main villain Athan and the voice of Ankidesh in his mind as he tries to unite the four magical jewels for his own gain:

Chapter 34: The Plot of a Madman

In the dim light, Athan walked toward a corner of the room at his right. He stopped and poked his walking stick at an odd tessellated image on a stone block which sat near the corner of the large room. It was an image of a golden griffin holding a tablet in its talons.
Athan stared at the image for a moment with a look of glee on his face, as if recognizing what it meant. Then he pushed the block aside with unnatural strength for a man his age. After the stone block had slid aside, scraping loudly across the floor, Athan proceeded toward the wall on his walking stick and strained his eyes in the dim light of the room. An ordinary looking tablet was fitted into the wall near the corner behind where the stone block had been. It had ancient writing carved on it. It appeared as if the stone tablet had been carved into the wall itself.
"At last," Athan said excitedly, standing before it. "The hidden stone tablet. It was here all along, as I suspected. The spell that is written upon it shall unleash the full potential of this power once I have attained all four jewels."
"Good," Ankidesh's voice echoed through the room. "Good."
"It is said that whoever utters the spell upon this tablet correctly in the Sumerian language will rule the universe as one of the gods. This tablet hasn't aged at all. It is in perfect condition."
"Yes!" the voice of Ankidesh echoed. "And I know the ritual to make it work."
"We're going to be gods!" Athan cried like a thrilled megalomaniac. "Our reign over a new world begins tonight!"

For more exciting content visit Amazon.com and search for The Jewels of the Ishamah. More content coming soon.