Stone of Fire

I got this book because it appeared on the free listing on the Kobo book store and I thought, "why not, I like a thriller and some action adventure." The story line was interesting and appealed to the archaeologist in me. The expression was good and the dialogue flowed well. I did find some of the info dumping a bit overwhelming, but I can understand why it was there, bit difficult to fill a reader in on the historical background of everything without it, but it was a little consuming and I did skim over some paragraphs. I think the main reason for this was because of there being twelve stones each with their own history. That brings me to the other issue I had, the middle of the book, where they are going after the apostles stones was show more quite repetative. The author had set herself the task of doing the same thing over and over again and trying to make it fresh and engaging. It worked the first few times, which is admirable, but then I had a "and here we go again" feeling as I pushed my way through the second part of the middle. The book, however, is a quick read so it wasn't that bad, I just felt it could have been tighter to carry the reader along better. Overall an adventuresome read, and I will probably read more in the series at some point. show less

This was an enjoyable little read, but I feel it needed a touch more depth. They seemed to find each of the stones quite quickly and with relatively little trouble. I would like to have seen more characterisation and a few more characters. A good first attempt at fiction. If I come across the next one I will read on to see if the style and substance of the book improves.

Slow down, I want to get — wait, no I don’t…

One of my many criteria for books that I read for enjoyment is page-turn-ability, i.e. it makes me want to read it all in one go; the first book in the ARKANE series by J.F. Penn more than meets this need.

Morgan Sierra is a kick-ass individual with Israeli Special Forces training. If you need the comparison, she falls somewhere between Indiana Jones and Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon, combining esoteric knowledge about religions and their psychology with the ability to take on the violent baddies on their own terms.

Wrenched from her quiet practice in Oxford, Morgan and ruggedly handsome ARKANE agency operative Jake Timber are forced on a quest to find twelve stones taken from the tomb of show more Jesus Christ by the twelve apostles after Christ’s ascension into Heaven. Known as the “Pentecost stones”, the artifacts are alleged to contain great power on their own, even more when put together. And there are at least two camps willing to go to any lengths to obtain them.

Morgan and her sister have two of the stones, given to them by their parents and, in order to motivate Morgan to find the stones, her sister and niece are hostages in the grasp of a powerful man.

ARKANE is an academic research collective on the surface; as Morgan’s quest progresses, she finds it has an official mission to find dangerous religious artefacts to keep them falling into the wrong hands and the resources to match the mission.

As I said before, the pace of this first novel is just right, pushing things along while informing the reader at the same time. I’d say Penn knows what she’s talking about when it comes to religion and the way individuals can become obsessed with religious ideas and the way the world works. The characters are believable and I found myself rooting for the good guys almost immediately!

If anything, it all ended too quickly for me, but then, that might have been because I couldn’t put it down! show less

Very typical thriller, very tropey and with pedestrian prose. Some of the dialogue was almost cliche-like in its predictability. That being said, the history was interesting, and I do enjoy an archaeological relic hunt. The story moved almost too fast, with very little emphasis on the mystery of the stones. The antagonists were barely sketched out. I always wonder why someone wants to destroy the world. And after a while the action felt repetitive, as the characters search for the individual Apostles' stones. Despite all my quibbles, i still kept reading. So there's that. Undecided whether I'll read another in this series.

GOODNESS, BUT I LOVED THIS BOOK! I felt sorry for Morgan who had lost her dad and then her husband had been killed in a never ending war. Now, back to safety after retiring from the military, she was back at Oxford University teaching. When her office is attacked her military training kicked in and it was kill or be killed. I liked Jake but I was leery of him as well both Morgan and Jake had issues to resolve but with her sister and young niece abducted from their home and a bargain to find and trade the Twelve Apostle's Stones for their lives had both Jake and Morgan flying allover with ARKIANE's help to find the missing stones. Book one is filled with twist ad turns that keep the pair hopping, and I AM SO READY TO READ BOOK 2!!

A thriller whose MC is hunting down powerful stones with magical properties (Infinity War, anyone?). Decently written but severe gaps in logic: the first, the MC & her sister were each bequeathed a stone but had no idea their significance. But then the MC is able, without any research or explanation, explain in detail the provenance of both stones. Such gaps occur thruout the story. Self-published. In need of a logic editor.

Got this on Whispersync for less than $3.
While the historical aspects are excellently researched, and the heroine is great, and the organization known as ARKANE seems to be the landlubbers equivalent of Cussler's NUMA, the plot needs strengthening and smoothing. Fortunately, with book series (unlike TV and movies), the writing gets better and better with each addition.
I enjoyed this thriller and also doing further research into things unfamiliar to me. The publisher's summary is adequate and spoiler free.
The narrator has a voice quality that I find grating, but that's just me.