Reader reviews.

The Diamond Gate Review 

It’s tough to get reader reviews. Really tough.

I do not understand how newly released books debut with dozens or even hundreds of reviews. Perhaps some day I will, but today is not that day.

I released a fantasy novel, The Diamond Gate, in 2016. It took me a long time to write that book and it’s a long one: almost 150,000 words. Although it’s been pretty much a non-seller, it remains one of my favorites if only because it builds on a fairy tale. I love fairy tales.

Fairy tales deliver the ultimate fantasy. They don’t care about being politically correct and most often are not. They allow for grand ambition, petty grievances, and heroic deeds of derring-do. They also make assumptions that readers take in stride because it’s, you know, a fairy tale.

The Diamond Gate begins after the fairy tale concludes with “They lived happily ever after.” Because they didn’t. It builds upon the premise that the princesses who danced their shoes to pieces didn’t want to be rescued. They were in no distress, even if their shoes showed otherwise.

In the fairy tale, the princesses dance every night with fairy suitors. The suitors’ intentions are honorable, but humans in their hubris don’t consider that. It’s an enchantment, so it must be bad. The hero of the fairy tale isn’t a bad guy: he’s a soldier down on his luck. He’s kind and often compassionate. He’s also smart. 

​But the princess he chooses doesn’t want him. She wants her fairy suitor.

And what about her sisters? What do they want. What happens to them?

Because I love a good romance, the princesses all get their own romantic subplots. Some end in tragedy. Some end in plot twists they don’t see coming. Some end just as they should.

I added characters, too: the princess’ brothers. Four of them, two older and two younger. That deepens the political ramifications and complexity of the story. The princes have as little choice as their sisters in whom they wed—and they didn’t get the pleasure of dancing with fairies.

Antagonists include the Champion, the enigmatic, inscrutable, heavily armored warrior who serves as the royal defender, the siblings’ father who’s a ruling duke (not a king), a mad king, a despot, a power-hungry crown princess of another country, and various other individuals who will do anything and everything to secure power for themselves.

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world. And dangerous, too.

The Diamond Gate contains lots of action and thrills aplenty, but won’t offend those sensitive to explicit content. Sure, sex is part of romance, but this book leaves the bedroom doors closed.

Anyway, The Diamond Gate finally received its first review--and it’s a great one! Download the book (it’s only 99 cents) and see if you agree with the reviewer.

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