Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Self-Pub Summer: Cloak of Shadows, by CK Dawn

I bet you all thought I was gone for good, didn't you? Well, you're not getting rid of me that easily.

Needless to say, it's become pretty apparent that I picked a bad time to do a big blog-theme-thingy like "self-pub summer", since this summer has just been so busy and chaotic. I guess it doesn't help that the books I picked have been largely disappointing and retaining my motivation to keep reading in my precious moments of personal time has been a struggle. Who knew that trying to read 7-8 relatively short novels in 3 1/2 months would be so hard?

So, you'd think that after being burnt out on dealing with work, mild family crises, and largely joyless reading these past few months I'd have learned my lesson not to overextend myself, right? Hahahahaha nope! Because up next--as of Sept. 1st, anyway-- is Fall of Fantasy, during which I'll be spending the coming fall semester reading/reviewing six books by big-name fantasy authors, plus embarking on a sporking of another. I had also wanted to start watching and doing weekly episode recaps of The Legend of the Seeker, but that would just be crazy, right? I mean, come on, I'm insane enough as it is, even I have limits. So, between taking 18 credits, working the late shift at a work-study job, and finally getting ready to graduate, I could very well be even busier than I've been this summer. But the strange thing is, I always seem to have an easier and less stressful time handling such a full schedule when I'm on campus than when I'm at home. I think it's something psychological having to due with 1) the feeling of having marginally more freedom over my own life while away from home; and 2) the feeling that my life has some sort of forward momentum and is progressing towards some sort of goal, as opposed to the holding pattern that I seem to get stuck in over summer break. I think that's a big part of why I've been in such a creative rut lately. Just don't tell my parents that...

But, I think I've wasted enough time with my elaborate excuses. Let's just get this review over with already.

(WARNING: Rant mode activated. This will be a mostly spoiler-free review, but there may be a few tiny, non-earth shattering revelations.)


Cloak of Shadows (book 1 of the Netherwalker series)- CK Dawn