Firestorm - Reviews

[Mark Robson]

Here's the first:

Firestorm | Fantasybookspot

 

[Joel007]

Can't wait to pick it up off Waterstone

 

[Ian Whates]

Not a bad way to start, Mark. Congrats, and may it be the first of many!

 

[Threddy]

Cool, well done Mark.

You have to go and ruin it though and make us wait until August!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Congrats, and may it be the first of many!

My sentiments exactly.

 

[Mark Robson]

My sentiments exactly.

Thanks everyone.

And Teresa, I'll be reviewing A Dark Sacrifice soon. I'm over half way through now. It's taking a while only because I'm so busy. Getting frustrated with my own reading speed actually, as it's a fascinating story.

 

[Mark Robson]

Here's another. I particularly liked his parting comment!

Dragon Orb (Firestorm) by Mark Robson - TheBookbag.co.uk book review

 

[Joel007]

Good review, I like the part about your vivid characters!

 

[rune]

I enjoyed this first book, and so like the dragons

 

[M@.Price]

Congrats Mark.

Oh, I also updated you Wikipedia with the Dragon Orb information.

 

[Mark Robson]

Thanks, Matt.

Just had this lovely review through from Chris d'Lacey, author of the popular Icefire series:

'I found Firestorm very enjoyable and think it will be a great addition to dragon fantasy lore, especially for top juniors. I was particularly impressed with the way Mark handled the fight scene with the hunters. Very gripping. There were also some breathtaking and very convincing descriptions of flight involving the dragons. I envy his military flying background for that!

This has all the elements of good children's fiction. I think the young readers will latch onto the characters very easily and be looking out for the next book in the series as soon as they've finished the first.'


You can read more about Chris's books at his website: eyegate

 

[Mark Robson]

Another wonderful quote, this time from Sarah Singleton:

“Tightly-plotted, full of action and adventure, Mark Robson’s Firestorm is a thrilling read with three engaging young heroes. I particularly enjoyed the incursion of the dragons and their riders into the ‘real’ world and their meeting with the World War I pilots - a deft and original touch in a fantasy story - and best of all, for me, the evocative descriptions of the terrors and delights of flying.”

To get such wonderful quotes from other authors leaves me feeling dizzy!

Check out Sarah's website here: Sarah Singleton

 

[Mark Robson]

This review will appear in July's edition of 'Books for Keeps':

Firestorm: Dragon Orb
***
Mark Robson, Simon & Schuster, 320pp, 978 1 84738 068 5. £6.99 pbk

Dragon Orb, first in the ‘Firestorm’ series, is another story about young people flying around on dragons. Once again, they learn how this is done the hard way, overcoming scary dragons and learning to fly. Once again they must work together. Once again, the dragons have their own way of communicating. We’ve flown this way before.

This time there’s a difference. ‘Firestorm’ breathes a little fire into the hackneyed motifs with two magical qualities. Firstly the book is imbued with a real sense of what it actually feels like to meet your dragon and fly away. The characters are engaging and the narration effectively immerses the reader in their shocks and fears, as well as the magic of flying and realising ‘They had only been flying a matter of minutes and he was already further from home than he had ever been before’.

Secondly, and vital to the latter ingredient, the characters comprise a gaggle of truly believable youths, resulting in a story that has a genuine voice. Scenarios, such as one young dragon master’s figuring out of his future with his father, the suspicious tension between the youths and their realisation that the magic is real, all come across as believable. Add to this some truly quotable lines, such as: ‘The eastern sky was brightening by the heartbeat’ and we have a great story.

I have one qualm over the book’s approach to obsessive disorder and fear, and did feel the fear was tricked through rather than overcome, but this is a small qualm in an otherwise superb start to this new series. HTh

 

[M@.Price]

Lots of great reviews! Can't wait...

 

[Threddy]

Dragon Orb, first in the ‘Firestorm’ series,

I thought Firestorm was the first in the Dragon Orb series.
Am I being silly or is this review wrong?

 

[Mark Robson]

I thought Firestorm was the first in the Dragon Orb series.
Am I being silly or is this review wrong?

No, you're not being silly. The cover is unusual as it has the series title bigger than the book title. It's an easy mistake to make. It's too late to stop the review going out like this now, but it doesn't really matter. If people look online for Dragon Orb, rather than Firestorm, they are much more likely to find my books straight away. Firestorm seems to be a brand name for lots of things!

 

[Mark Robson]

Had this through the other day from my publishers. It seems the boy's school sent them this review - I'm going to the school as part of my tour in September. I think I'll be giving this young lad a pat on the back while I'm there!

“Four riders…”
“One mission…”
The dragon Oracle is dying. It needs the four dragon orbs to save it: Day, Dawn, Dusk and Night - these are the four dragon species and each has their own orb.

When I first started this book I was hooked by the thrilling first paragraph. As I got further through the book I found that this paragraph was not alone as each page had me wanting more. The writing style was perfect for the way the author told the story. When I got to the final page I flicked through the blank pages to see if there was more writing or even a note or something and almost cried when I found that there was no more.
I would rate this book 10/10 because it keeps you hooked on every page.
I would recommend this book to anyone over 7 who likes fantasy action.

Review written by Joe - Age 12

I'm not sure I could recommend this book for 7+ ... more like 9+ (and an advanced 9 at that) but I very much appreciated the sentiment. It was also interesting to see a 12 year old boy raving about a book and then recommending it as being suitable for much younger readers. This is the second instance of this I've seen in the past week. It's great to see there are youngsters out there who can be objective enough to make such statements without worrying about if it was 'cool' or not.

 

[Ian Whates]

What a fabulous endorsement, Mark. It must really give you a boost to receive such heart-felt and unsolicited praise, which seems intended more as an expression of gratitude than anything else.

As someone who's a good deal older than 12, may I add that Joe is quite right!

 

[Patrick Mahon]

Congratulations Mark - as Ian says, it's a great endorsement of the book. But I'd also agree with you that this is great news more generally, that reading your book made a lad of 12 feel so positive that he was prepared to write a review like this, regardless of whether it seemed cool or not. I hope you feel suitably proud of yourself!

 

[Mark Robson]

Thanks, guys. I take it from your comment that you've scanned the ARC I gave you then, Ian. Had an interesting lunch with my editor and senior editor today. They have asked me not to close off the series totally at book 4, as they are already considering asking for more stories spinning off from this series. Considering the first book has not even launched yet, I'm taking that as another positive sign.

Edit: Oh and they've brought the launch of Book 4 forward to August 09, so now all four books will launch in a single year!