North by Lucas Ehrenhaus - Blog Tour Review

Today on Life Of A Nerdish Mum I am sharing my review of North: A Tale Of Yore Per The Burden Of Dwarves by Lucas Ehrenhaus. Something a little different, so big thanks to Faye at Authoright for having me along.

North

After one of the most decisive warring campaigns in European history between Barbarians and Romance, the sheer possibility of a full-scale Roman invasion into Barbarian lands launches a lifelong recruitment process, which drives to the re-discovery of old mighty forces in the long forgotten North. The most apolocalyptic pan-tribal conflict amongst central and northern European natives will ensue.

My Review

North is really well researched and presented. I like the use of story to tell the history and facts while mixing them with conjecture as to what really happened.

I enjoyed the illustrations and family trees, which I felt really added depth to the book and the maps, well everyone loves a book with a map.

It was a really nice change to read about Norse mythology, as a lot of the books I've read have been based on Greek mythology. I'll be passing this onto my step daughter too as I'm sure she'll find it fascinating.

The writing throughout was vivid and brought both the story and the characters to life.

There is a nice interactive feature as part of the book. I won't spoil it, but it really added a certain something to the reading experience.

I gave the book 4 stars.


About The Author

Lucas Ehrenhaus was born in Belgium. Raised in Argentina, lived in Spain for fifteen years, travelled western Africa, Scandinavia, and the north- west of South-America.

Growing up his primary education took place at a Scottish school in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Struggling with secondary studies he started working in a vending company as a driver. Illustration was a constant throughout this period. In Spain there were a series of odd jobs in ten years whilst experimenting with photography and graphic design; two years after the economic crisis hit Madrid, he became an In-Company English Teacher in several big companies for five years during which his passion for northern European history took over. An urge to help other people drove Lucas to travel to Scandinavia in order to go through a programme for volunteering. This took him to western Africa, north western South-America and back to Scandinavia, living mainly in Norway and in Denmark on & off. This added to a broader insight to Northern Scandinavian culture where the finishing of the book North took place. 

He currently lives in the U.K.

Don't Forget To Check Out The Rest Of The Tour

The Legend Of Sidri by Rauf Khalilov - Blog Tour Review

Today Life Of A Nerdish Mum is part of the blog tour for The Legend Of Sidri by Rauf Khalilov a wonderful children's fantasy and I am sharing my review. With big thanks to Faye of Authoright for having me along. 

The Legend Of Sidri 

In the mythical realm of Badalonium, a young boy named Sidri lived happily with his beloved parents. But the family is shattered by an evil figure from the afar, triggering a series of events that lead Sidri on a journey of self-development, friendship, family reunions and retribution.

My Review

The Legend Of Sidri really took me back to my childhood reading! The coloured pages and the absolutely stunning illustrations, even the font used gave the feel of a classic children's fantasy and I felt at "home" straight away before I'd even read a word. The story itself continued along that same and there were morals and talking animals (both things were in all children's fantasy books when I was younger). 

Sidri was a very strong character and one that you wouldn't mind your children wanting to be like as he is smart and brave and kind. 

The world building is done exceptionally well and I could picture myself there, surrounded by the magic. Part of what makes this possible, is the fact that though words are used that are "made up", they sound natural to read and are easy even for a younger reader to sound out. This means that you don't lose immersion in the story trying to figure out how to pronounce something. I really enjoyed the adventures Sidri has and the trials and travels he has to go through as he gets older. 

The Legend Of Sidri is only 40 and a bit pages long and passed far too quickly for me, I would have happily read a sweeping, epic fantasy set in this world. However I'm not the target audience and I think it's a perfect book to introduce a kind of fantasy to children.

Oh and there's a map! You can't help nut loving a book with a map. 

Overall a really enjoyable book and one I will be passing on to mini Nerdling to read in the future. 

I gave this book 5 stars. 

About The Author

Rauf Khalilov is a lawyer by profession. He lives and works in London. He is married and has two kids. Rauf enjoys spending time away from work with his family, but when he has spare time left, he plays chess, writes poetry and music, sings, exercises and cooks. Rauf has a dream to own a farm with a lake where he would have a restaurant that would serve food produced on his own farm. He would also like to create a centre within the farm for children with special needs where they would receive education through play therapy with animals and nature.   

Don't Forget To Check Out The Rest Of The Tour