Blog Tour: Trickster's Totem by H.B. Bolton: Reviews + Giveaways

Hi ya'll!  Welcome to my stop on the The Trickster's Totem Blog Tour hosted by CBB Book Promotions.  I am very excited to be here because I love mythology and I especially enjoy reading books with the less popular mythos as the main theme.  Please click here to visit the tour page for the schedule of blogs participating in this tour.  
Also be sure to check out my son, Anthony @ Kids Corner For Super Reading, for his reviews of the first two books in Relics of Mysticus.  This is his first blog tour and I am very proud of him!  (I helped a little with the typing but he wrote the reviews all by himself.)  

Title: The Serpent's Ring
Series: Relics of Mysticus Book 1
Author: H.B. Bolton
Publisher: self
Date of Publication: July 2012
Source: paperback, 232 pages, received from author for tour for my honest opinion of it.

Book Synopsis:
Evan and Claire Jones are typical teenagers, forced to go with their parents to yet another boring museum ... that is, until something extraordinary happens to make their day a little more than interesting. After following a strange little creature into a closed exhibit, Evan and his older sister, Claire, discover the Serpent’s Ring, one of the magical relics formed from the shattered Mysticus Orb. Purely by accident, they have awakened its powers and opened a portal to Sagaas, land of ancient gods.

Before the siblings can comprehend what has happened, the Serpent’s Ring is wrenched from Evan’s hand by an enormous fish and flown back to Aegir, the Norse god of the sea. Evan and Claire, accompanied by a band of unlikely heroes, must retrieve the Serpent’s Ring before Aegir uses its immense powers to flood all the lands on Earth.

The Serpent’s Ring is FREE for Kindle May 28^th-June 1^st.  

My Thoughts:

Right before I found out about this blog tour, I was talking to my husband about how I wished there was more books out there about Norse mythology and other lesser known deities, and then BAM!  I seen this tour coming up!  Wow! Was that divine intervention or what? 

I loved the theme of this story right off!  It is really interesting that there is another place where all the different mythos have an entrance there.  Sagaas is somewhat like the meeting place of all the different mythologies and this is where Claire and Evan find themselves after unlocking a load of power on Earth.  

I applauded the author for having the protagonists be a brother/sister team.   Claire and Evan get on each other nerves but when it matters these two are there to protect each other from the dangers of this new adventure they find themselves on.  

Claire is an young lady that seems like your typical boy crazy girl but then we see her through self come out as she discovers she gets a new power.  Then we actually see her grow in maturity and understanding.  I loved watching Claire help others and you could tell she is a caring person just by how the other characters related to her.  

Evan.  Oh my dear little Evan.  He, on the other hand, was much different than Claire.  Evan's immaturity shines through the pages as he goes off by himself into the house even though it was off limits.  Its hard not to have doubt in Evan's ability to save the world but even Evan tries to grow a little in the story.  A little.   I found myself wanting to chastise Evan for not paying attention when their lives depending on it, instead he was too busy eating.  I find he does that a lot too.  

But besides me "mothering" Evan, he was a great character for boys in the 9 years old and up age group.  He has a lot of jokes and I found myself laughing at some of the things he said.  

I think The Serpent's Ring is a great story to get even your most reluctant readers into reading.  It has adventure, wonderful characters, and a surprising ending that I loved too.  

I give it four hearts!

Book Links:

Amazon | GoodReads | Barnes & Noble 

Title: The Trickster's Totem

Series: Relics of Mysticus book 2

Author: H.B. Bolton

Date of Publication: April 15, 2013 
Source: received from author for my honest opinion and for the tour

Book Synopsis:

Life has returned to normal for fourteen-year-old Evan and his older sister, Claire. That is until Dunkle, a clever but stinky little imp, pays an unexpected visit to their school. He has come to take the siblings back to Sagaas, the mythical realm of the gods. Once again, a Relic from the ancient Mysticus Orb has fallen into the wrong hands. Only Evan and Claire, with their unique mystical abilities, can help find it.

Through the power of the Trickster’s Totem, a coyote trickster has escaped. His laughter echoes throughout the realm, as he spreads mischief and mayhem. He burns an entire crop of popcorn, carves his grinning image into sacred artifacts, and things really get interesting when he shape-shifts into Evan’s friends.

Claire and Evan must capture the Trickster, retrieve the Totem, and be careful not to become sidetracked by robotic Steampunk animals, “sweet” pixie-like Pains, and a problematic mermaid … all while dodging Mothman-like aces. Most surprising, Evan discovers the true reason dragons exist in the Native American Spirit World.

My Thoughts:

I do believe H.B. Bolton is after my heart!  I love, I mean LOVE anything that has Native American beliefs and folktales as the primary theme.  I have like this minute percentage of Cherokee blood in me but I have always been drawn to books, towns, movies, etc.  that has a Native American theme or character in it.  So The Trickster's Totem really reached out and grabbed me in the first few beginning lines.  

Evan is doing what he does best: misbehaving.  He is using his power, even after he was told not to use in on Terra (Earth).  He doesn't seem very happy to see Dunkle show up for help in another relic being stolen.  

I feel like Evan is going to take a lot more books before he really grows as a character.  He is doing so slowly but I still see a lot of immaturity in him; probably more so in this book than in the first book.  I think it still amazes me that he gets such a powerful totem animal.  

I still find it surprising how much Claire just goes with the flow.  In most young adult/middle grade books, the female protagonist is the one that usually fights the logic of all the "magic" being thrown at them.  But not Claire.  She just welcomes all the info that comes her way, as well as any changes that affects her.  But we find that Evan fights this a lot more.  He likes it being about him but he tends to not like following others in leadership.  It is fun to watch Evan deal with Chayton's leadership,  Amadahy's frustrating attitude(which is similar to Evan's in my opinion), and Kehl's guidance.  

The action does seem a bit slower in this one but that didn't bother me at all.  I felt book 2 had more of a "soul searching" feeling to it.  I enjoyed it a lot and I love to see all the different creatures we see throughout the book.  I also like how eating the food there affects different abilities to everyone.  I will definitely not eat the fairies, or Pains, food at all!  

The reader can really see that H.B. Bolton loves writing and creating these amazing worlds that keep the reader guessing what will happen next.  

The Trickster's Totem has some wonderfully exciting world building and I feel like we are going through a house with different mazes, hidden rooms, undground areas; there is more places hidden in the Relics of Mysticus that I can't wait to explore with my sons.  

I give it five hearts!

Book Links:

Amazon | GoodReads | Barnes & Noble

Connect with H.B. Bolton:

Website | Facebook | Twitter  | Goodreads | Pinterest | Amazon Author's Link

Author Bio: A magical part of H.B. Bolton’s childhood was being swept into worlds of enchanting characters, fantastical creatures and extraordinary powers—simply by picking up a book. As a mother and a teacher, she was compelled to create imaginary worlds of her own in order to share them, not just with her children, but with all children. H.B. Bolton lives in Florida with her supportive husband and two highly spirited children. Shh, can you keep a secret? Not only does she write books for the young-at-heart, adventurous sort who yearn to dive into a good young-adult fantasy story, she also writes spellbinding, heart pounding women's fiction. These particular books are written under the name Barbara Brooke, but that's another story, altogether.

 Books by H.B. Bolton:

The Serpent's Ring (Relics of Mysticus, Book One)
Breaking Down (a short story)
Hungry (a short story)
Coming May 1, 2013
The Trickster's Totem (Relics of Mysticus, Book Two)

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