Free Kindle Fantasy Novella

Rose Of The Oath.

A Beauty And The Beast Novella

Legends Of Light Book 1

By Hope Ann

They were coming. They never stopped coming.

A wolf howled, the call rising to an eerie pitch before dropping, hurtling downward. The echo barely faded when another howl replied. Always… Always, forever, and yet again, they would come.

His breath slipped between his teeth and he finally lifted his gaze from the crimson rose as the wind hurtled off, whistling through the narrow pass that led outward. Out into the forest. Out into Aslaria.

And so he waited. 

Meanwhile, war clouds the horizon and rebels gather under a mysterious leader. Alone, with her two younger sisters, Elissa watches the mountain road desperately for her brother’s return. Instead, she receives news of his capture by a strange figure covered in scars and cloaked in wolf skins.

With rebels drawing nearer, she sets off to find her brother. To save him. There is no one else who can.

Yet she soon finds the rose that granted her warning now holds her captive in safety. Outside the valley, war threatens those she loves most. Though her strange host claims the ancient promises of the Prince’s return and victory over the rebels, Elissa knows the blood-drenched truth. She is on her own. Elissa will do anything to keep her family safe, but more than one kind of wolf stalks the Blackwood and danger lurks closer than she could ever imagine. 

Perfect for those who love fantasy, but don’t have the time to sit down for a full-length novel, this first novella in the Legends of Light series presents the story of Beauty and the Beast as you have never read it before. Danger, sacrifice, and treachery combine a thrilling retelling of a favorite fairy tale.

Each Legends of Light novella focuses on one of the nine aspects of the Fruit of the Spirit while also following the conflict between the Prince and Tauscher and retelling popular fairy tales in a clean, exciting, and inspiring manner.

Note: A novella is not a full-length novel. At 107 pages, this novella is a fairly quick read which can be finished in two or three hours.

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Movie Review - Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Journey 2

The Mysterious Island

2012

New Line Cinema / Contrafilm / Walden Media

New Line Cinema / Warner Bros. / Warner Home Video

7.25 / 10

It's great being a child at heart with a decent imagination as it allows me to thoroughly enjoy films like this.  Starring Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, and Luis Guzman, three actors who I admire, I was only too happy to give this a watch.  The thing I like most about Johnson is that even though he's a mountain of a man, he's happy to share the limelight with the other actors, and at times to take a backseat, and this is no exception; because it isn't a vehicle for just one person it builds a depth and context.  This is required to help make the storyline more believable.  

Sean (Josh Hutcherson) is a single child of a broken marriage who is unsure of the new man in his mother's life, Hank (Johnson).  It's this relationship that binds the film together.  If this was unbelievable then making you believe in the Mysterious Island would have been nigh on impossible.  However, the writers Richard Outten and Brian and Mark Gunn give the viewer one of the more realistic relationships seen onscreen; and both Johnson and Hutcherson add the icing on the cake.

When Sean intercepts a coded message, it's with Hanks help that is gets decoded and the possible location of Jules Verne's Mysterious Island is revealed.  Hank decides to take the chance on locating the island in the hopes of developing his relationship with Sean.  Even if it's a wild goose chase, their time together should allow them to bond.

Luckily for Grandpa Alexander, Michael Caine, they find the island and the adventure starts.

Director, Brad Peyton, does a decent job of keeping the pace going, whether to build tension, comedy, or action sequences and I cannot fault his work at all.

The special effects are still passable today, saying they were done in 2012.  The flight of the bumblebees is a great sequence.  I especially loved the elephants, that scene raised a smile to my lips and a laugh to my voice - very clever.  However, the strange flora and fauna they come across while on their trip to the Nautilus is a letdown and is comical in both their look and shape.

Another thing that irked me was Guzman's character which seemed to be just around as a comic fill-in.  It would have been nice to see him have a little more depth, plus the story really didn't need this type of character as there was enough humour throughout.

I found this to be a much better film than Brendan Fraser's Journey To The Centre Of The Earth back in 2008, in every aspect. So if you enjoyed that movie then you should like this one too.  If you like good wholesome family entertainment then I would recommend this film, it's lighthearted and heartwarming fun - a good film to watch when it's cold and wet outside.