Shoup, Jane
AMMEY
MCKEAF: Book One of the Azulland Chronicles
Jane Shoup
Lethal Publishing Company 2005
eBook, 313 pgs
ISBN#
1597870064
One of the things I like about doing reviews for Yet Another, is the fact that I don’t have to review books I don’t want to read. AMMEY MCKEAF pulled me right in, and I just had to finish the book. It is a fantasy tale about a beautiful young woman who falls into a quest to save her country from an evil ruler. Supposedly, long ago, there was this island somewhere between England and Spain, a place large enough to have wars fought over it.
Ammey McKeaf is the daughter of a great general. All of her brothers are worthy men as well. So, when war and tragedy come to Azulland, Ammey’s family sends her into hiding where they hope she will be safe. But, of course things don’t go as planned and Ammey finds herself fighting for her country every bit as hard as do her mighty father and brothers. She meets warrior-type men, travels with them, and fights by their side. There’s a lot of sword-play and a bit of magic in this quest, and an interesting plot-line too. Many men, both good and bad, fall in love with Ammey as she travels through her ordeal. She is the perfect woman and very desirable. It is her destiny to meet an opponent who is just as perfectly evil [he tortures women and murders children].
I found only one major gray character in this story [black/white = evil VS good—grey is the in-between character, someone who is truly human with both good and bad traits], and that gray characterization was well done. The rest of the major characters are absolutes. Some readers like this, some don’t. For the minus side of the review, I must state that since I received an “uncorrected proof” I cannot comment on the quality of the editing in the final publication. I do hope the copyeditor had a good eye not only for typos but for rough viewpoint shifts as well. On the plus side, I found the story quite absorbing and look forward to the next in the series. AMMEY MCKEAF is recommended for readers who require Christian morals in their fantasy, for that structure is apparent to the observant, including a touch of deau ex machina.Return to Reviews