Sacha Black
Autor de Keepers (The Eden East #1)
Sobre El Autor
Series
Obras de Sacha Black
The Anatomy of a Best Seller: 3 Steps to Deconstruct Winning Books and Teach Yourself Craft (Better Writers Series) (2022) 6 copias
8 Steps to Side Characters: How to Craft Supporting Roles with Intention, Purpose, and Power (Better Writers Series) (2021) 4 copias
The Anatomy of Prose: 12 Steps to Sensational Sentences Workbook (Better Writers Series) (2020) 1 copia
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
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Miembros
Reseñas
4.5 stars.
Keepers is the debut YA fantasy novel of Sacha de Black. I enjoyed the premise of the novel – a society that does its utmost to achieve a sense of balance – and found it to be an unusual and highly imaginative idea.
It’s a YA novel with stacks of opportunity to deliver emotional feelings, (the main protagonist Eden East is young and has to cope with a lot.) I won’t divulge too much here for fear of spoiling the novel.
One of Black’s great strengths is her ability to write physical attraction between two individuals so well! Wow, loved those parts! I’d say that Trey was one of my favourite characters in the book. I can imagine him as a very worthy candidate for the title ‘book boyfriend!’ And I really enjoyed Victor too! There is a love triangle of sorts as Eden is bound to Shifter Victor Dark and can’t bare to be, but Victor wants Eden like mad.
There were parts of the story where the author’s ability to write engaging prose, and dialogue took flight and her writing made me go wow, this is amazing. I see great potential in Black’s writing.
What I didn’t like:
A minor point (it may just be me!) There’s a glossary of terms in the front matter which took me out of the story a bit to begin with. I would have liked these terms added individually as short postscripts at the bottom of each relevant page.
My recommendation:
This is a confident debut, with interesting world building and potential for further conflict and interest in book two. Definitely a recommendation.
My rating: 4.5 stars.
… (más)
Keepers is the debut YA fantasy novel of Sacha de Black. I enjoyed the premise of the novel – a society that does its utmost to achieve a sense of balance – and found it to be an unusual and highly imaginative idea.
It’s a YA novel with stacks of opportunity to deliver emotional feelings, (the main protagonist Eden East is young and has to cope with a lot.) I won’t divulge too much here for fear of spoiling the novel.
One of Black’s great strengths is her ability to write physical attraction between two individuals so well! Wow, loved those parts! I’d say that Trey was one of my favourite characters in the book. I can imagine him as a very worthy candidate for the title ‘book boyfriend!’ And I really enjoyed Victor too! There is a love triangle of sorts as Eden is bound to Shifter Victor Dark and can’t bare to be, but Victor wants Eden like mad.
There were parts of the story where the author’s ability to write engaging prose, and dialogue took flight and her writing made me go wow, this is amazing. I see great potential in Black’s writing.
What I didn’t like:
A minor point (it may just be me!) There’s a glossary of terms in the front matter which took me out of the story a bit to begin with. I would have liked these terms added individually as short postscripts at the bottom of each relevant page.
My recommendation:
This is a confident debut, with interesting world building and potential for further conflict and interest in book two. Definitely a recommendation.
My rating: 4.5 stars.
… (más)
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review which follows.
As a fantasy writer, I love writing about the hero’s journey. However, as Author, Sacha Black points out, your villain is just as important as your hero. Of particular interest to me was the concept of creating a villain who could stand up to your hero by making the villain credible and believable. This is where the 13 fundamentals of a bad guy come into play. Each concept is discussed in practical terms filled with examples from other books and films that make the concepts easy to relate to.
The author writes in such a way as to coach you on your writing journey by liberally sprinkling her own sense of humor throughout the pages making the discussion fun and never boring. Some of the topics covered were how to avoid cliches, the psychology behind the villain and what motivates them, along with an excellent discussion of anti-heroes.
One of the most important things I gleaned from this book was to not allow my hero to have an easy go of it. The more obstacles I could throw at my hero the better my story would progress. Sacha Black puts it this way:
“No motive, no conflict. No conflict, no story.”
Another section of the novel was dedicated to establishing the mental health of your villain which was created to serve as a reference section for the writer. Here, the author’s advice is clear. When mental health disorders are used as character traits, don’t base them off of myth or stereotypes. Research the mental health disorder and authentically portray your character.
At the end of the book are listings of positive, negative, and neutral traits, along with the lists of positive, negative, and neutral values that can be used in character formation. I found the listing of soul scars to be helpful when trying to figure out what motivates my characters to act or react in a certain way.
I loved this book and will use it as a reference in the future creation of my characters. No matter where you are in your writing journey, you will take away something useful the next time you find yourself crafting your perfect hero, anti-hero or villain.
Author, Sacha Black has created a free short course on villains which is included as a link in the acknowledgments, called Villain School 101. I will read and review that book/class at a later date, so please stay tuned.
MY RATING:
Character Believability: 5
Flow and Pace: 5
Reader Engagement: 5
Reader Enrichment: 5
Reader Enjoyment: 5
Overall Rate: 5 out of 5 STARS… (más)
As a fantasy writer, I love writing about the hero’s journey. However, as Author, Sacha Black points out, your villain is just as important as your hero. Of particular interest to me was the concept of creating a villain who could stand up to your hero by making the villain credible and believable. This is where the 13 fundamentals of a bad guy come into play. Each concept is discussed in practical terms filled with examples from other books and films that make the concepts easy to relate to.
The author writes in such a way as to coach you on your writing journey by liberally sprinkling her own sense of humor throughout the pages making the discussion fun and never boring. Some of the topics covered were how to avoid cliches, the psychology behind the villain and what motivates them, along with an excellent discussion of anti-heroes.
One of the most important things I gleaned from this book was to not allow my hero to have an easy go of it. The more obstacles I could throw at my hero the better my story would progress. Sacha Black puts it this way:
“No motive, no conflict. No conflict, no story.”
Another section of the novel was dedicated to establishing the mental health of your villain which was created to serve as a reference section for the writer. Here, the author’s advice is clear. When mental health disorders are used as character traits, don’t base them off of myth or stereotypes. Research the mental health disorder and authentically portray your character.
At the end of the book are listings of positive, negative, and neutral traits, along with the lists of positive, negative, and neutral values that can be used in character formation. I found the listing of soul scars to be helpful when trying to figure out what motivates my characters to act or react in a certain way.
I loved this book and will use it as a reference in the future creation of my characters. No matter where you are in your writing journey, you will take away something useful the next time you find yourself crafting your perfect hero, anti-hero or villain.
Author, Sacha Black has created a free short course on villains which is included as a link in the acknowledgments, called Villain School 101. I will read and review that book/class at a later date, so please stay tuned.
MY RATING:
Character Believability: 5
Flow and Pace: 5
Reader Engagement: 5
Reader Enrichment: 5
Reader Enjoyment: 5
Overall Rate: 5 out of 5 STARS… (más)
“It is the duty of a Keeper to keep the Balance of fate.”
The Fallon’s wield the power of the people as shapeshifters, sirens, elementals, and dryads. Their job is to save lives and to make things right for the kingdom of Trutinor. The Keepers read the Balance of fate, remove Imbalance, and realign the people to their intended path in life so they can find their true destinies.
Trutinor is separated into four territories (north, south, east and west), each ruled by the specific abilities of the Fallons who balance the fate in that area. A coming of age exam pairs a male and female Fallon together – whether they like it or not, resulting in a binding ceremony where the two are bound for life. Remember, there must always be a balance, so it is not unusual for opposites in personality to be united.
Eden East, an elemental, has been promised to be bound to Victor, an evil shapeshifter. The boy failed his final exam, and Eden passed, creating bad blood between them. Trey Luchelli, a siren Fallon from the South is named head boy of Stratera Academy, while Eden East has made head girl. When they were children, Trey and Eden were the best of friends. What fate has conspired to bring them together again and for what purpose?
The night of the binding ceremony draws near, and events are set in motion that will change Eden’s life forever. Mystery and treachery swirl around Eden when an ancient prophecy is revealed that will change the balance in Truitnor which sets up a power struggle of epic proportions – if she survives.
The plot to Keepers is tight, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t foresee the next twist in the story as it progressed. The characters are well rounded and easy to relate to. Eden East as the protagonist is the perfect kick-ass heroine you would expect the author, Sacha de Black to create. The ending is spectacular, and once again I must emphasize, I never saw it coming as the setup to the next book in the series falls into place.
As a high fantasy adventure, I must say, Keepers has found a place as one of the most creative fantasy novels I’ve read. I know of nothing written like it. The descriptions of the magical binding ceremony were so fantastic that I read them twice. This is the kind of storytelling that leaves the reader with a book hangover. I couldn’t get this story or the characters out of my head. I loved this book!
I’ve added this novel to my ME TIME category for Fantasy because the book literally blew me away. Step into the world of Truitinor and let the magic sweep you away! ❤
MY RATING:
Character Believability: 5
Flow and Pace: 5
Reader Engagement: 5
Reader Enrichment: 5
Reader Enjoyment: 5
Overall Rate: 5 out of 5 Fairies… (más)
The Fallon’s wield the power of the people as shapeshifters, sirens, elementals, and dryads. Their job is to save lives and to make things right for the kingdom of Trutinor. The Keepers read the Balance of fate, remove Imbalance, and realign the people to their intended path in life so they can find their true destinies.
Trutinor is separated into four territories (north, south, east and west), each ruled by the specific abilities of the Fallons who balance the fate in that area. A coming of age exam pairs a male and female Fallon together – whether they like it or not, resulting in a binding ceremony where the two are bound for life. Remember, there must always be a balance, so it is not unusual for opposites in personality to be united.
Eden East, an elemental, has been promised to be bound to Victor, an evil shapeshifter. The boy failed his final exam, and Eden passed, creating bad blood between them. Trey Luchelli, a siren Fallon from the South is named head boy of Stratera Academy, while Eden East has made head girl. When they were children, Trey and Eden were the best of friends. What fate has conspired to bring them together again and for what purpose?
The night of the binding ceremony draws near, and events are set in motion that will change Eden’s life forever. Mystery and treachery swirl around Eden when an ancient prophecy is revealed that will change the balance in Truitnor which sets up a power struggle of epic proportions – if she survives.
The plot to Keepers is tight, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t foresee the next twist in the story as it progressed. The characters are well rounded and easy to relate to. Eden East as the protagonist is the perfect kick-ass heroine you would expect the author, Sacha de Black to create. The ending is spectacular, and once again I must emphasize, I never saw it coming as the setup to the next book in the series falls into place.
As a high fantasy adventure, I must say, Keepers has found a place as one of the most creative fantasy novels I’ve read. I know of nothing written like it. The descriptions of the magical binding ceremony were so fantastic that I read them twice. This is the kind of storytelling that leaves the reader with a book hangover. I couldn’t get this story or the characters out of my head. I loved this book!
I’ve added this novel to my ME TIME category for Fantasy because the book literally blew me away. Step into the world of Truitinor and let the magic sweep you away! ❤
MY RATING:
Character Believability: 5
Flow and Pace: 5
Reader Engagement: 5
Reader Enrichment: 5
Reader Enjoyment: 5
Overall Rate: 5 out of 5 Fairies… (más)
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 12
- Miembros
- 84
- Popularidad
- #216,911
- Valoración
- 4.2
- Reseñas
- 8
- ISBNs
- 16
- Idiomas
- 1
Confession time. No, it’s nothing to do with my prison record, or my descent into villainy. It’s simply this – I’m pretty lazy about reading books about writing – but Sacha Black’s 13 Steps To Evil has completely changed my mind! What a fantastic kick ass little book! I wish I’d read a copy years ago.
It’s a detailed resource, which informs and entertains in an illuminating, and humorous way. There are so many excellent examples that I am giddy with the potential for villains. The mental health section is handled with great sensitivity (one of my characters self-harms, so I read this with considerable interest,) and I was also fascinated by the detail on narcissistic personality disorder too.
Sacha’s extensive knowledge of villains prompts me to ask….. Is Sacha a secret villain? Or has she been hanging out with dodgy characters? The mind boggles. No, none of these apply… at least I don’t think so! Sacha Black has done her research, and it shows. She studied Psychology to 1st Class Degree level and thereafter completed Masters in Research Methods in Cognitive Neuropsychology. She has also spent an exorbitant amount of time watching villainous films, (from a tender age,) and has read tonnes of books, and absorbed popular culture like a sponge. Where does this woman get her energy? I am in awe, totally star-stuck… or should I say villain struck!
My recommendation: 5 stars. Get a copy now and write a review. Share the love!… (más)