What is your opinion?
"Ironwood"
"Interesting Story, with Jacob, the second Son of Baron Ironwood to learn his duties, provide his numbers and prepare for marriage to Anna......Along the way, the wise Monk, Francis came to Ironwood, filled the ears of Jacob with hope and positive direction, a gift for Jacob well needed. The Story flows beautifully, the engagements among the characters strong and direct. The future yet to unfold, but planned for, gave Jacob hope. Anna was young at 16, yet bright, charming and impulsive. A Dance to come as the two lives meld into one.........both unsure of the results to follow.. Sean, you are a excellent writer, Author, and story teller..........your story line, plot writing skills are terrific......Some grammar issues, small, could be a bit improved when editing.........really enjoyed your work and hope to see alot more from you in the future..............well done Sean.....................william elliott kern"
doughsa1
"Well written story, enjoyed it very much. Characters were interesting and well thought out."
Here's to the first book and more to come!
"I was fascinated by your story. And the critiques I have are honestly so trivial (and mostly to do with formatting), that it honestly doesn't detract anything from what I really care about - the characters and the plotline. I absolutely commend you for the female characters you've written. They're real, they're powerful, and they're independent all in their own unique ways. I honestly haven't seen such good handling of characters in fantasy stories for a while now. But that's not to say the male characters weren't good either. I absolutely loved Jacob as the naive, honorable noble, and surprisingly, Halvar was one of my favorite characters despite the antagonistic situation he finds himself in with Jacob. My first critique is honestly really mild. You have a longer novel at hand, so I suggest you actually cut some of the chapters up into smaller chapters. Though that doesn't seem to have an actual effect on the storyline, there is a psychological effect on the reader when they're reading and they're like "Wow, the chapter's still going" versus "Whoa, that's the end of the chapter. NEXT!" B/c it can become rather fatiguing when a chapter doesn't seem to end, and it's completely psychological in this case. My second critique is the dialogue. For me at least, when you cut up a dialogue into paragraphs, I actually lose track of who's speaking and sometimes had to scroll back up to check the conversation hadn't shifted to a new character. I would suggest that either give a single paragraph of dialogue to each character that speaks or find a way to replace the dialogue with narration instead. However, as I've said before, my things have nothing to do with the actual story written, and I loved every moment of it. Just something to note: the first chapter did start out slightly cliche with a noble boy not excited about the prospect his father had laid out to him etc etc, but that's not an issue with me because I love reading books that start cliche and become something different (which is your novel). However, I know some people not agree with me as happily, so I just thought I'd give you a heads up on that was all."
Ironwood
"The story is interesting yes, although I have not read the whole book ... The world created by the author is quite different. :)"
love love love
"I actually enjoyed reading this! i dont really enjoy reading fantasy that much but I really enjoyed reading this that I forgot I was meeting my friend. i would love to read a sequel if there is one. I really want to know if athena gets married again or not. she's my favorite character. "
Ironwood
"One word comes to mind : awesome. The author creates a believable setting with his use of language and description, an intriguiging plot with elements of surprise and suspense and characters worthy of getting to know. A great read overall with a wonderful balance between fantasy and realism, profound insights and witty humor. I would recommend this book and read a sequel."
Great fantasy!
"Prologue through chapter 1: Okay, so I only had enough time to read this much in this sitting, but OH MY GOSH, I really love it so far! I was hooked in the prologue, and you didn't let me go in that first chapter. You do a great job of setting the scene in your writing and describing setting. Your imagery gave me a clear picture of what was happening, and you are also very good at describing the political setting involved. I found myself really sad in the prologue when Michael died. It was very emotional, even though I hadn't known him for long. I also like Jacob and the enmity between him and his father. The dialogue between them was very interesting. Your writing occasionally was on the borderline of info-dumping, but I think that you pulled it off for the most part. The only time i really noticed it was when the monk was contemplating the history of Ironwood. Also, I noticed some grammatical errors with your dialogue. When you split a large line of dialogue into two paragraphs, each paragraph should start with parenthesis but should just end with a period - no parenthesis - until the ending line when the person stops speaking. Other than that, the writing was very clean. I added this story to my reading list so that I can come back to it. Great work!"
Good
"The overall story is good. It's just written in a format that I cannot relate to. It sounds a lot like a textbook but other than that, I really liked it. The descriptions were good and the plot was really interesting. The characters were original and well thought out. I just wish the author write in a more, for lack of a better word, modern style. "
Page Turning
"Wow! This was a really great story. I really enjoy reading fantasy, so it didn't take long for me to become invested in the book and its characters like Jacob. I really liked your writing style, and it seemed to flow very well. The descriptions that you used for your world were also created nice imagery. There were a couple of technical errors here and there, but that can definitely be fixed through a read through. These errors don't really distract the reader from the story though. :) Overall, it was a very interesting work that kept me on the edge of my seat as I kept reading it. Note to the author: **Sorry that my review came so late, but I hoped it informed you of a lot."
Good read
"I have enjoyed this book quite a bit. I enjoy fantasy, but I am rather picky with it. There is a lot of trash out there when it comes to fantasy. However, I think this is quite a good fantasy book. I liked the characters particulary Jacob and the monk. A book I would recommend to people. The only problem I saw was each chapter seemed to have one typo, or short phrase repeating itself. A minor problem at worst, it just seemed to happen once per chapter"
Ironwood
"I really enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end. I now feel invested in the characters and look forward to reading the next one. The world was very well described, and the plot was unique and enjoyable."
Ironwood
"Ironwood reads with a special blend of medieval type chivalry and the genesis of a pantheon. It has well defined antagonists, and a milieu of evolving nations to keep the interest of anyone inclined to follow the young leader and his growing band of enablers. "
Ironwood
"Ironwood is an incredibly rich fantasy story with a well built imaginative world. Jacob was a great character, very likable, and you cheer for him as he struggles to restore order to Ironwood. The pacing was decent a good balance of action with plot and character building. There were a few moments where it lagged slightly, but nothing that keeps you from turning the pages to find out how Jacob and his band of helpers are going to get the shield recovered. Great job!"
Ironwood
"The world and characters that you created were interesting and I just love reading fantasies that have a a lot of lore behind them. However, I do have to admit that I didn't get fully invested into the story until the shield got stolen, I dunno I felt like perhaps the story should start with the shield being stolen or have more of a build up to it so we're immediately thrown into the action but that's just a suggestion. I also notice that there's a lot of exposition thrown in in huge paragraphs and I think some characters back stories could be broken up through out the story since it can be overwhelming if you introduce a bunch of characters and immediately gave a whole info dump on them. But overall the plot was entertaining and I look forward to reading the sequel."
GoldWood!
"Ironwood was a joy to read from start to finish. The author does a lot well in creating a very detailed world with realistic characters. Characters also had their own time to shine with different chapters putting more focus on their actions to allow the reader to learn more about them. I found character's like Athena to be very well fleshed out and actually my favorite in the story. I loved her interactions with Jacob (who along with Francis were my second favorite) and it was entertaining to see the ways in which they handled each others emotions. The plot was also very easy to follow while being intriguing enough that you didn't really want to stop reading. Now to talk about things that were not perfect and that is not to call them bad. There were a few grammar errors but not large enough that it made understanding what was being said impossible. The only other problem I had (and this might be a personal thing) was that there were a few sections of description that seemed to drone on. I found myself reading half a paragraph and then skipping it entirely because the detail of the world being built was far to much!(But once again this might be preference). Generally this was a minor gripe and I never skipped more than a few lines with only one exception being when we were being told the history of St.Thomas in which I completely ignored the story(I'll put the reason in the comments along with another gripe which is spoilery.) All in all I did enjoy the story and I would definitely read a second book. Ironwood has my seal of recommendation!"
Promising
"There are good things in the first chapter. The world is obviously detailed and well thought-out, with lots of strangeness and mystery - exactly as a Fantasy world should be. Michael is a good character too, and I like that the great hero dies at the start. That's brave, and it leaves the reader wondering how the good guys can cope without him. But there's a large problem. From the phrase "Michael had been the most amazing person alive", through to "Michael always survived. Until now", the chapter is just an info dump. The reader is given a large amount of information in one big block, which is hard to digest even if he can maintain concentration. I think it would be better to leave that until later in the story - we get the idea that a great leader is dying, we don't need to be swamped in detail. When you do return to it, could you try to break it up into dialogue, rather than narrative? Having two people speak their memories makes the information easier to absorb. This is a significant issue, but don't take it to mean that I didn't like the chapter - I did, though mostly for the ideas in it. There's good stuff here, it just needs bringing out."
Excellent
"I'll lead by stating that Fantasy isn't a genre that I usually read, but I can still recognize excellent writing when I read it! I haven't read the entire work, but I can see that the characters are interesting and well defined. The descriptive nature of the story is also wonderful - I could really see the images. Not what I'd usually go for, but I would recommend it to other readers whole-heartedly."
Ironwood Solid
"A modern hero's perspective, where nearly contemporary responsibilities evolve into great adventures, and the hidden powers of a past era are reborn to threaten all the progress of a millennium. Higher principles and personal ambitions, will and emotion all come into play as the world seems to hang in the balance. Introduces a world that feels relevant, but adheres well to the fantasy and adventure genre. It's fun! "
MET
"I enjoyed "Ironwood". I am not a fantasy genre reader, so it took me about 12 pages to get into the story. It was well worth the wait. I found myself liking the characters and rooting for them. The descriptions were good and allowed the characters to come through. Each night I would find myself saying just 1o more pages before I close up for the night. I was also taken with the twists in the plot of the story. The ending left me wanting more. That is the best that can be said about a book."
