Lord of Order

Lord of Order

Brett Riley

2021

ISBN: 9781945501425 (hardcover)

IMBRIFEX BOOKS

437 pages

'Wow, what a concept!' Brett Riley has written a novel entitled 'Lord of Order' that is to me a cross between a thriller and a horror story. It is a novel that could be science fiction. This is the story of what would happen if New Orleans were a prison city. 'Lord of Order' is a futuristic novel that keeps things and ideas of the past. There are two to three groups in this story and they are known as Crusaders, Troublers, and Conspirators. It is also a book of having faith in yourself and your ideals. The main characters of Gabriel, Hobbes, and Boudreaux the Crusaders along with a Troubler by the name of Stransky who have a lot in common, but will need to work through their differences in themselves and New Orleans. Brett Riley has written a novel that is set in the future but has aspects of the past and present as keeping the names of famous sites, and characters having chores like citizens had in colonial times like gatherers and lamplighters. Professor Riley could use his novel in his courses to show comparisons and contrasts in setting and character.

'Lord of Order' has some scenes that even fans of extreme horror movies would like. Brett is a novelist that has the talent of showing and telling his story. He is a very illustrative writer for I could see all the characters in their various scenes from the Crusaders building the wall and all the Troublers chained and moaning. Also, as the reader I could see all the characters faces clearly and feel the fear of the Troublers and the hubris of the Crusaders. This is a book that could let us learn to always have a sense of someone larger.

Dare to Dream

Nikki Webster & Scott Webster

2021

ISBN: 9781838750633

Nightingale Books

22 pages

'What is a dream?' A dream is what we are wishing for in hopes of it coming true at least to me that is what a dream may be. Nikki and Scott Webster has written a children's picture book about a small girl with a big dream. The main character named 'Hero Girl' goes to sleep one night and dreams her dreams of many events that could happen to this 'special' little girl and her friends.

Nikki and Scott Webster has written this story to show and teach a little about diversity and acceptance of each other and our achievements. As an American reader I really like the English dialect to the story, as I seen and read with the use of the word 'Mummy' for 'Mommy'. It doesn't hurt that I have a touch of British blood in me from long ago family. The story is written to me as a poem each pretty much of two to four lines and each using rhyme scheme to make reading this story more fun and teachable to preschoolers and kindergarteners their letters and sounds. The artwork is simply beautiful and again makes the use of muted shades of various colors and dreamlike. 'Dare to Dream' is a dream and could lead to a discussion with young children about their dreams and aspirations. Children could also draw pictures of their 'dreams'.

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It has been a few months since I have written and I am not sure if I shared these two reviews in the past since I began writing for Vocal. If I did share these a while ago I am sorry, but I did make some changes to these reviews from the last time.