Sometimes writing can be a hard slog. You sit for hours, weeks, and months, hoping the words that are flashing from your brain to your fingers will awaken a reader's imagination. Is it worth it? Well, when you get reviews and comments like this, hell yeah!
All right now, kids! I just finished and five starred 'Companion of Darkness' by CJ Rutherford, and reading this book was like a trip back in time - about twenty years - when I was immersed in the pages of some of the greatest Fantasy books ever written. I plowed through Jordan's 'Wheel of Time', Fiest's 'Rift War Saga', William's 'The Dragonbone Chair', and the worlds of Salvatore, Goodkind, and Moorcock. These were the Authors who carried Fantasy forward; beyond Tolkien, White and Lewis - the progenitors of today's new age of Fantasy Writers, and CJ Rutherford, I am certain, shall be riding that wave. In my humble opinion, Rutherford has created an epic saga quite worthy of worldwide appeal. He has done this with a skillful command of the English Language, (flawless editing), and what I can only describe as good old fashioned storytelling that pushes me to the edge of my seat as I flip the pages. All of the elements are in place: His lead, Jesaela, faces insurmountable odds, yet the reader is compelled, driven to her side. Here, we do not see the standard, information dump, trope-filled 'world building', rather a masterful presentation of a planet rich in history, as seen and felt by the characters. For any aspiring Fantasy Author, Rutherford gives us a flawless 'Show don't Tell' worthy of study. This is Epic Fantasy the way it should be done.
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