#Giveaway~ Blog Tour ~ Krymzyn by BC Powell (The Journals of Krymzyn #1)~ Guest Post ~ #Review

Krymzyn  (The Journals of Krymzyn #1)

by BC Powell
Publication date: October 4th 2014
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Science Fiction

Synopsis:

Chase was twelve the first time he arrived in a strange land where dark, ominous clouds never move, ancient trees violently spring to life during Darkness, and people seem to live without emotion. Doctors tell him they’re hallucinations, but he knows his visits are real. She’s there-Sash-and she’s more real than anyone he’s ever known.

His visits stop but, as years pass, the memories haunt Chase. Without warning, the young man suddenly finds himself again in a world called Krymzyn. Arriving during Darkness, he’s rescued from death by the extraordinary, beautiful but terrifying young woman he first met when he was twelve.

When Chase is thrust into the war of balance against vile creatures who threaten all who live there, Sash helps him understand his purpose in Krymzyn. A dark secret from the beginning of time reveals he might be able to stay there forever. To prove he belongs in Krymzyn and be with the only woman he can ever love, Chase will have to risk his own life in the ultimate battle.

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AUTHOR BIO:

BC Powell is a fantasy author from Los Angeles, CA. "Krymzyn" is his debut science fiction fantasy novel, the first book in a series titled "The Journals of Krymzyn."Powell has a diverse background, having held several creative positions in the entertainment industry, including executive roles at ABC-TV and Technicolor. In recent years, he's authored several non-fiction works, primarily educational books and training programs for trading the financial markets. He dual majored in journalism and philosophy at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.Writing fiction has been his lifelong passion and goal. "Krymzyn" is his first published novel and represents, in his words, "finally finding the story I want to tell with characters that are able to bring that story to life." He's an avid reader and lists Ernest Hemingway, Frank L. Herbert, Stephen King, Jane Austen, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. as his favorite authors.Brad, as he prefers to go by in personal communication, lives with his longtime girlfriend, three sons from a previous marriage, and their rescue dog and cat. He enjoys hiking, ocean kayaking, spending time at Southern California beaches, movies, and reading.

Author links:

Website /Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

My Review

I liked this book, but not loved it. Its not anything specific, as its written really well, and the characters are very likable. The world building was amazing. I could see it all in my head as Krymzyn was described. I guess it was part that it was almost unbelievable, in the same way his doctors and parents thought he was have hallucinations during a seizure because of the brain tumor, and he only "visited" this place when he was in the seizures that this happen, so it sure makes us think this as well.

But as it goes on, it does seem he really does visit this place called Krymzyn and meets Sash, a very unusual girl. But one thing too again, that makes me think, that its not another world, but more a possibility of an afterlife, almost as if he gets a glimpse of it, like its where he will go when he dies.Though in that world it is said that if he died in the real world, while he was there, he could stay. So not sure. Guess I need to make myself believe its actually another dimension/world of sorts like I think the author wants us to.

I read a ton of paranormal/dystopian/sci-fi/fantasy books, in fact its all I read, so I can easily get caught up in the "non-normal" but this book gave me too much feel of the normal, that it made it harder to believe. Can't pinpoint what it was that gave me that overall feel.

But I think I may like the next book better, as it sounds like it may strictly be in the other world of Kryzmyn and not our real world. At least I am hoping anyway.

I will say I did not like the part toward the end, as his entrance into Krymzyn was not something I liked to read about, and sure do not think that is something that should be in a book. Just my opinion, and do not want to say exactly what it is, so not to spoil it. I know the author made a note that they do not condone this type of thing, but it still didn't sit right with me. 

I still do like this book, and found it a very interesting read, and think anyone who likes fantasy books with some real world in it, will like it as well. I will say I didn't feel there is anything sci-fi about this book, just straight fantasy. When I think of sci-fi I think futuristic stuff or strange technology, stuff like that. My personal opinion of course.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

I was provided a copy of this book for my honest review 

This review is also at Goodreads and Amazon.

Excerpt 1

“Murkovin!” a roaring male voice echoes through the hills.

Rain plummets from the sky, blackened storm clouds churn in place, and my eyes try to adjust to Darkness. I spin to the shout behind me, immediately knowing I’m on the same hill as I’d been when I was twelve. There’s not a doubt in my mind.

Needles race up my spine when I see the shirtless creature crouched at the base of the hill. Tall with black veins bulging from ghostly white skin, the beast of a man scans the terrain. Wearing only black leathery pants, firm ridges of muscle lining his stomach and chest, he wildly swings a metal spear in one hand.

His head snaps to me. Long black hair twined with white whips across his face while his empty hand slashes the air in front of him. When his eyes touch mine, shadowy sockets flare blood red. The brute charges up the hill at me.

I lurch the other way and sprint into the meadow below. A torrent of rain slams against my skin as deafening creaks pierce the air. I see the flailing tree in front of me and try to stop, but my bare feet slip across the slick wet grass.

A glowing red limb lashes at me, slams into my chest, and hurls me to the ground. As the branch smashes into me again, I jerk my hands up in defense. Blood instantly spurts from gashes torn into my face, neck, and arms. Rolling across the grass, I frantically try to get out of its reach.

When I stop a few feet away, landing flat on my back, I stare straight up. A monstrous bough high above flexes into a fisted hand. I try to jump to my feet but a blur scoops me from the ground. As we speed away from the tree, silky wisps of black and scarlet brush across my face. A thunderous slam vibrates from behind us, the wooden fist pounding into the ground where, a moment earlier, my body would have been.

Into the valley we race until we’re outside the range of groping limbs. After we slide to a stop, I’m gently set on the grass. I look up to see the girl I met when I was twelve standing over me—the girl called Sash.

Her thin arms are barbed with muscular detail as she tightly grasps her spear. Metallic points, steel spikes sticking out the top of a pack slung over her shoulder, flash from behind her head. She peers down at me through radiant amber eyes.

“Are you injured?” she growls, silver raindrops beading down her hair.

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TITLE: Building a Strange, New World

Building the world of Krymzyn was one of the most exciting but also more challenging aspects of writing this novel. Not challenging because I don’t know the world inside and out. I spent countless hours wandering through Krymzyn, getting to know every detail of the landscape and every person living there.

The real challenge is showing the reader the world in a way that they see what the protagonist Chase sees and feels what he feels while being there without bogging the reader down in too much detail. My nature is to be highly organized, take things one step at a time, and I’m extremely detail oriented (translation, I have mild OCD). That’s not a joke. I get up from bed at least three times every night to check that the front door is still locked.

In my first draft of this novel, I began by building the world of Krymzyn and then told the story. That’s fine in early drafts, but It doesn’t work in the end. In fact, it’s just boring to the reader and I’d risk losing them by the second chapter.

I had to slash and burn over ten thousand “world building” words between drafts two and three that did little for the story. I next had to complete quite a bit of restructuring, incorporating important aspects of the world directly into the storytelling. While I wanted to know the exact number of blades of grass in every meadow, the precise dimensions of Sash’s cavern, and where every tree and plant was located on the two-hundred-square-mile Delta of Krymzyn, that really wasn’t needed for the reader. Anything that didn’t further the story and characters or was just extraneous detail really had to be cut from the manuscript.

Strangely, the first aspect to the world I created in Krymzyn had nothing to do with its physical characteristics. I started by defining the emotional spectrum of the people who live there. The seemingly narrow range of emotion in the people of Krymzyn is really critical to the story.

After the emotional range of the people in Krymzyn was established, I could then move on to the physical characteristics of the world. These may appear relatively random early in the story, but they prove to all have a very good reason to be the way they are. A fantasy world can’t just be different from the world we live in for the sake of being different. The world needs to evolve through the course of the story into something cohesive with valid reasons to be the way it is.

When we finally reach the protagonist’s moment of enlightenment in the novel, the “gotcha moment,” everything should come together in a sudden, complete understanding by the reader. This was confirmed by beta readers and my wonderful editor, Mickey Reed, when they all had the same reaction to that moment in the book: “It all makes total sense now!”

In the final manuscript, twenty-five percent of the actual world building is done in the prologue of the novel, all through Sash’s “Ritual of Purpose.” There’s very little excess description, just what’s needed to set the scene, further the action, and get a very good sense of who Sash is as a person.

Another twenty-five percent is done in just a few paragraphs during Chase’s first visit, when he initially meets Sash, learns a little about why he’s there, and finds out what happens when “Darkness” falls. I tried very hard to never “tell” the reader about the world, attempting to always “show” through action.

By the end of chapter two, my goal is that the reader not only is hooked on the story and characters, but also has a very good sense of what the world looks like, how people behave there, and, more importantly, how it feels to be in Krymzyn. The rest of the world building occurs gradually throughout the story, in small doses when needed.

As the series progresses, the world will be expanded. We’ll learn more about the Barrens and the Infinite Expanse. The Serquatine we meet in the first book will be prominently featured in book two, and new creatures will be introduced as we meet the other Guardians of the gateways. The world will continue to develop in ensuing books until we learn exactly what Krymzyn is and discover why the world and creatures exist the way they do. Most of all, we’ll understand why Chase and Sash were brought together in this world.

You can find the other blogs on the tour here, with their reviews and other type of post