Ball, Krista D. Blaze. Tranquility No. 1. Kindle, 2016.
Krista Ball is an author who has found a happy home in self-publishing. She is a prolific writer of fantasies and does not keep her readers waiting too long for the next installment. Low-priced electronic copies make selling series a better bet for the author than stand-alone novels. This is a trend I regret, but it is an inevitable part of the minimally advertised self-publishing world where one book must sell the next. Blaze is the first volume of a now 10-part series. It is powered by good world-building. We have elves, more or less in the Tolkien mold. Their enemies are magicians who practice the dark arts. No white here. Lady Bethany, our heroine, is the half-breed daughter of an elven goddess who has worked her way to the top ranks of the elven army. To complicate matters, she must keep her semi-divine status on the down low, and her chief opponent is her sister, who has become an able practitioner of magic. And, oh yes, somebody just discovered the explosive properties of black powder. Add some erotic moments, some court drama, and some battles, and there you have it. Sword, sandal, and wand fantasy is not my favorite genre, but Ball’s prose is not bad, and she tells a readable tale. 3.5 stars. ( )

It took the authors a while to build the characters, but the final battle was rush through. The book is interesting enough, but I am not sure that I will seek out the second book in the series. ( )