The Chimes of Yawrana (Snowtear Wars) [Paperback]

I was pleased to find myself gradually carried into the wonders of "The Chimes of Yawrana" and its unique world. It surprised me over and over with unexpected dangers, mysteries and creatures I had never heard of before. There are sequera trees, immense fire-breathing draguls, and Shonitaurs-underground beings whose eyes change color with the changing of their moods-as well as several other strange creatures. Also, the story itself is very intriguing. There is death, betrayal, greed and courage in this book-and a young man who arrives to fulfill a 4,000-year-old prophecy. The suspense continues to the last chapter, when you find out that... No, I won't spoil it for you. Central to the story is a life-giving flower called the Snowtear, for which men are willing to fight and die. When several members of the Yawranan Court including the Queen fall ill, only the Snowtear can save them. And as a young prince struggles to retrieve the Snowtear and bring it back to Yawrana, another man plots to gain control of the kingdom for himself. In Yawrana, the people fight an ancient enemy, a race known only as the Lazul. ...This is solid, just-one-more-chapter-before-I-go-to-sleep entertainment from Scot R. Stone, a young author who clearly has a full command of his story and characters. Be prepared to spend several pleasant hours intrigued, thrilled and delighted by a story filled with unexpected twists, turns and a constant array of new surprises. The Chimes of Yawrana is a great story, destined to take its place among the classics of fantasy adventure.
Charles Cordova, author of "Journey To Myridia."

The Chimes of Yawrana by Scot R. Stone is the first book in the Snowtear Wars. The second book is titled The Ice Shadows of Arna (The Snowtear Wars, Book 2)and is available now; the third book titled `The Hallows of Candlewick' will be released in early August, 2007. Mr. Stone is a relatively new name in the fantasy genre and a name that most fantasy fans may never have heard of before. Do not allow the unknown cloud your judgment; with this book Mr. Stone adds a solid addition to the fantasy genre.

Being that this novel is the first of the series, readers can expect there to be a reasonable amount of world building. There also is an introduction of characters and races. However, at no time while I was reading this book did I feel overburdened by the amount of information being presented. The prose found in this novel reads like a conversation, in that it flows smoothly and is easy to understand. Mr. Stone does not throw excessive words around in a grandiose manner. It seems that every word is chosen for a reason and there is very little, if any, fluff in this novel.

The plot of this novel is actually several plots woven together to create an engaging story. The first plot is that of a group of heroes who find themselves trekking across the land to find the fabled Snowtear that has mythical healing properties. There is also a companion plot of a pending war between the humans and a race known as Lazul. These two plot lines take up much of this novel, however, Mr. Stone still finds a way to weave in a couple sub-plots as well just to keep things interesting. One of the sub-plots is that of the Voyagers who appear in the land of Yawrana from across the sea and discovering just what motives they have for their trip. Another sub-plot is that of a plot to unseat the royal family and the methods used to both carry out the plot, as well as to discover who did it (and why). It is obvious from the start that Mr. Stone has poured a tremendous amount of energy into the plot, it's tight; well though out, and succinct. Every event that occurs has ramifications in several areas of the novel. This is certainly an engaging plot that I think man fantasy fans will enjoy.

The characters of this book are as equally engaging. There is a wide array of characters within this novel. Mr. Stone does a good job of defining each character as their own entity by actions and dialog. There are characters that are obviously good guys, there are characters that are obviously bad guys, more importantly, there are characters that are grey the reader is unsure which category they fall into until key events occur. Characters such as Oreus, Noran, and Rygor will surely endure themselves to most readers. I won't get into other characters, because further discussion may lead to small spoilers and I would hate to spoil any part of this novel for anyone. I will leave it at this; almost every character in this book elicited some type of reaction from me, both positive and negative. That to me is a mark of good solid characters, and a definite positive of Mr. Stone's work.

I do have two minor criticisms about this book. One being, at times, the character Oreus seems to act in a too `adult' fashion. He is a 19 year old kid and some of his dialog and decisions didn't seem to fit him at times. I realize there are 19 year olds in the world who are very grown up make adult decisions, but it just seemed `off' to me at time. The second thing is that times the perspective of the book shifts between paragraphs without warning. Most books, including this one, have symbols or some way to let the reader know there is going to be a shift. For instance, there are instances in this book where three ~ ~ ~ separate two paragraphs to denote this. There are times, however, those are not present, and it catches the reader off guard. I realize this is something minor, but I think it still needs to be brought up as the first few times it was rather jarring to me.

Overall, this is a very good book. It's a solid debut into the fantasy genre by Mr. Stone, I am looking forward to continuing on with this series. I think most fantasy fans will enjoy this book, it has much to offer. If you are looking for a book with political intrigue, this will sate your thirst. If you are looking for a book with large scale battles, this book has what you are looking for. If you are looking for solid world building, with new creatures, races etc., give this book a chance. I quite enjoyed reading this novel, and I can already imagine myself recommending this novel to other fantasy fans. This is one of those books I would encourage others to take a chance on, I don't think you will be disappointed, I know I wasn't.

This story was a blast to read. Rarely does an author make me feel like I'm a part of the adventures of their story, rather than a passive observer. Mr. Stone's descriptive style brought the scenes of this story to vivid life. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the Snowtears saga!

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