The Lemorian Crest, by Hannah L. Clark: Mini-Review/Excerpt/ Giveaway!!

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The Lemorian Crest,

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giveaway, too!

The Lemorian Crest

(Cobbogoth, Book 2)

Hannah L. Clark

Trade Paperback, 436 pages

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

August 22, 2015

Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction,
Young Adult Fiction

After being raised from infancy in Boston, Mass., Noria (a.k.a Norah Lukens) has no idea what to expect upon entering New Cobbogoth, where she never would have guessed that paths of light can make you vanish; doors can lead to realms both near and far; myths and legends are actual history; a mere kiss can seal two souls as one, and, of course, a stone is never “just a stone". Her Uncle Jack’s stories never could have prepared her for the magical and dangerous place her native realm is turning out to be.

When the Gihara’s promises begin to crumble, her best friend and soul-mate Jamus (a.k.a. James Riley) is in more danger than ever. Then when his father Lylend abandons her to search for an ancient relic called "The Lemorian Crest" and she is taken captive by the very people she’s risked everything to save, Noria begins to lose faith in the Cobbogothian gods and the mission they sent her home to accomplish.

Only when a series of new friendships and loyalties are forged in the most peculiar of places, does Noria dare hope again. Hope for Jamus’s safety, for their future together, and for the survival of the entire Cobbogothian race.

Book 1, Uncovering Cobbogoth, was published in 2014 by Cedar Fort Publishing.

Amazon US/Amazon UK

Just from this short excerpt, I know I want to buy and read this book! The concepts introduced here are totally fascinating and mind-blowing. The characters are very engaging, and the world-building amazing! I like how Clark has interwoven fantasy and science fiction. Dark matter is a hypothetical scientific concept, first postulated by Jan Oort in 1932, then Fritz Zwicky in 1933. Vera Rubin again postulated it in the 60s - 70s, based on more solid evidence. So it's great to find such a creative use of this concept in a fantasy novel!
(Source: Wikipedia)

At her wit's end where James's safety is concerned, Noria and two new friends set out to rescue him. Before they can too far, they are intercepted by an old acquaintance -- a figure that Noria's friends believe to be dead. But Noria soon learns Totherma's interception is a godsend! She has a much less dangerous way to locate James.


Dark Matter Doors

Totherma waved her hand, and suddenly three circles of light appeared on the ground on either side of us.

"I've seen those before!" I said.

"Do you know what they are? she asked.

"They look like the Venn diagram," I shook my head. "But I don't know what they're called here. They just appeared before one of my visions of James. And then....it was like -- well, I saw myself over there, but then I was here. It was like I was...."

"In two places at once?"

"Exactly!"

Totherma nodded, as though being in two places at once was exactly what she expected me to say. "These," she said, gesturing to the circles, "are a dark matter door. And yes, they are exactly what their name implies -- a door that opens a passage into dark matter."

"Dark matter?" I breathed. Samir, my old Physics tutor, had taught me about dark matter in our lessons. Dark matter was the space between space. Earth's physicists still weren't exactly sure what it was or did, but Totherma was most likely about to tell me. After being here a while, I thought I might already know.

"Is dark matter what you call the matter between realms?" I asked.

Totherma beamed down at me, like a proud teacher admiring her favorite pupil. "Yes. That and everything else. There is dark matter all around us right now; we just can't see it because it's in a metaphysical sphere."

"Like a spirit world?" I asked.

"Some in the Olden Realm have called it that. You may have also heard it referred to as the Fairy Paths, or the Underworld, or Ley lines. In a way it's all of those things. Right now, all you need to understand is that it's a way to get from one place to another very quickly."

"Like a hoption hole," I said.

Totherma nodded slowly. "Similar, but hoption holes can only be used within the sphere of a single realm. Dark matter doors have the ability to take you to different realms entirely."

"So James is in a different realm?" I asked, alarmed.

"I didn't say that."

"But if he was, a dark matter door could take me there?"

"Precisely." Totherma smiled. "The other difference between a hoption hole and a dark matter door is that you cannot through a hoption hole without your body, whereas with a dark matter door you can't pass through with it."

I realized what she was saying. "So the other day, when I saw myself in two places at once," I began, trying to wrap my mind around what she was saying, "it was because my soul had separated itself from my body?"

Totherma nodded.

I shivered in spite of the warm night. It was what I'd suspected that night in my neutralocite cell.

Finally, Totherma moved over to one of the circles of light. "Now watch carefully so I don't have to do this twice."

I nodded, keeping my eyes fixed on her.

She floated into the circle. As soon as she was directly over its center, she vanished.

I blinked at the circle. "Totherma? Totherma, where are you?" I called.

Can you hear me, Noria? It was Totherma's voice.  I jumped spinning around to find her, but no one was there.

I'm in your head, libkin. Traveling through dark matter allows me to speak to your soul.

I turned back to the circles of light. For the first time, I noticed there was a peculiar design inside one of the circles. It was simple, but elegant and something about it reminded me of the crop circles "aliens" left in barley or cornfields back in the Olden Realm.

I'd just completed the thought, when Totherma was back. She floeated out of the circle with the design, and hovered in front of me again.

"I apologize for not asking permission first," she said, "but I find the first time goes easier that way."

"I don't understand," I said. "Is this how you were able to meet Uncle Jack outside the Caves of Aegissida all those years ago?" A dozen questions flooded my mind. "Is this how you were able to help me stop Cifer from figuring out I had the Haven?"

"Yes. What you see before you -- this image of me -- it is not really me," she said. "Or I should say, it is not really my body standing before you. It is my soul, correct?"

I nodded.

"And my body is back in my own rodaor, safe and sound."

"But why not come in the flesh?" I asked, still confused.

"Because my body cannot pass through the dark matter. Only metaphysical matter can."

"Like the Dogrils without Cobbogothian bodies? I asked.

"yes, and if you still wish to see James," Totherma explained, "I can take your soul to see him through a dark matter door."

"Really?" I asked. "You can do that.....right now?"

"Libkin, I am the Opalian Eye; there is very little I cannot do." Her proud words hung in contrast to the self-deprecating twist of her mouth.

I smiled up at her. She gave all the appearance of a "Grand Lady", and yet, it was refreshing to see that she was able to make light of her power, in spite of her position. I liked her more and more.

"So how does it work?" I finally asked.

Totherma paused a moment, as though she was carefully mulling my question over. "Let's see, I could keep you here for years and years, trying to explain it to you, or, for the sake of what's at stake, I could just show you."

I hesitated a moment. I didn't love the idea of leaving my body here in the open while Totherma took my soul through one of these dark matter doors. But I closed my eyes, picturing James -- saw him writhing, broken and burning up as though I was right there in the room with him.

It was all I needed to make up my mind. "Show me," I said.

Totherma smiled and then reached out, as if to take my chin in her hand. "First, I need permission to help your soul out of your body."

"Permission?" I asked.

"Yes. Whenever a situation warrants it, I like to ask permission before I enter another's body. It is your body, after all. Only the Dogrils and Cifer invade others' minds and bodies so thoughtlessly."

"You have my permission," I said, my voice shaking a little. It was one thing for Totherma to randomly show up in my mind; it was quite another to wait, knowing that she would any second.

The first book in the series!

Hannah L. Clark lives with her husband and two children in the Rocky Mountains. She has always known she would be a storyteller. In 2006, she graduated from Utah Valley University with a bachelor's degree in English, and immediately began to write her first novel.

Uncovering Cobbogoth was Clark's first book in the seven-book Cobbogoth series, based on her mythological brain child, "The Legend of the Cobbogothians". It was released in May, 2014, through Cedar Fort Publishing. Book 2 in the series, The Lemorian Crest, was released in August, 2015.

Clark loves running, mythology, singing while playing the guitar, herbal tea, escaping into imaginary worlds, and being with her peeps. Like her heroine Norah, she also kind of believe that trees might have souls, but must clarify that she has never actually hugged a tree. The closest she has ever come to that kind of bizarre behavior was the time she hugged the pillars outside Harry Potter Land. Which, all things considered, is not bizarre at all, if you take into account how exquisitely happy she was to finally be there. ;-)

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