Review: Haunted, Hunted, Spellbinding!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2012
Game Master, Caleath, exiled from the planet Rampart 6, is pursued by Assassins' when it's discovered he could be an Ithaki spawn, one with unique skills and superior genes. Caleath's obsession with the 'Game' has tragic consequences. He is haunted by guilt and by ghostly accusers who died because of it. When he is shipwrecked on an alien planet, in Allorn, a land governed by mages, Caleath, has a chance at a new life if he keeps a low profile. But the evil Ephraim, who exiled him, knows his every move and the mages discover he carries vital data in his memory chip to save the planet from the giant ant creatures, known as the Tarack. The mages are determined to take this knowledge from him.Tortured in mind and body, but terrified to use the healing nano technology in his possession, he is vengeance-driven with the need to serve justice on the madman, Ephraim, who has innocents tortured and killed in the name of the 'Game'. So, hunted by assassins and wizards, Caleath strives to find the satellite beacon and transmitter, his means to escape and return to Rampart 6, where wizards and magic exist only in virtual reality.Caleath is a fascinatingly complex character; slave, felon, hero, but with compassion in his nature he must suppress for the sake of survival. His protection of Gwilt, the lovable innocent, threatens to bring him down.Gwilt is the light that contrasts Caleath's darkness. His admiration of, and desire to follow this exotic stranger brings to Caleath the gift of friendship, but proves to be a dangerous weapon against him. Through Gwilt's curiosity and lust for adventure, we are drawn into the terrifying world of 'a dark soul, black magic and a bloody sword'.Micro chipped magic and advanced technology underpin the tense, conflict driven action that keeps the reader's heart rate soaring from the initial shipwreck to the climactic confrontation of wizardry. With the tendrils of her wizard's hex, Rosalie Skinner spins her magic. She writes with intelligence and a vivid imagination. Her beautiful phrasing colours the alien world and the characters that inhabit Caleath's bleak adventure.  This is a spellbinding Fantasy and Science Fiction thriller.Review by Wendy Laharnar author of the YA Historical 'The Unhewn Stone'.