CSFF Blog Tour: "Corus the Champion" Day 1

You know, I'd like to bill this as my triumphant return to the Blog Tour. But I'm not exactly sure what I'm triumphant over. Certainly not the calendar, as I originally posted this three weeks early. And, truth be told, I suspect that the blog tour has done just fine without me. So hey, everyone, I'm back.

What brought me back was Corus the Champion by D. Barkley Briggs. When I heard that we were going back to Karac Tor, I signed up immediately. Yes, I'm selfish like that. I couldn't wait to read this book (which, in the interest of fairness, was provided to me for free by the publisher).

The Barlow boys are still in Karac Tor. They've defeated the witch named Nemesia but things are not going well. For the Horned Lord is out to break Corus the Champion and then the rest of the Hidden Lands. Each of the boys have a role to play in trying to bring him down, but it's going to cost them, some of them dearly, as they seek a way to stop their enemy.

I have to be honest, I had a really hard time getting into this story. I think it has something to do with the fact that I read the first book almost three years ago. I remembered bits and pieces of it: one of the brothers has magical music, there was an adventurer named Creed who had a magic sword that didn't like it when he lied, and that's about it. For the first third of the book, I was trying desperately to play catch-up. It made for slow going. I seriously thought I wouldn't be able to participate in the tour because I'd still be reading. But once I got past the midway point, things picked up and I obviously finished in time.

That said, this book felt a little muddy to me. I enjoyed it; the storyline involving Ewan engaged me the most. The other plots seemed too connected to the overall plot (which I have largely forgotten) and for the most part, the book felt like the middle chapters of a larger epic and I felt more than a little lost. Maybe it would have helped if I read the first book again; alas, it has since disappeared from my house!

I'm not saying that this is a bad book. Far from it. Briggs did a fantastic job building a believable world and some very fun characters. Creed is still a favorite. And it was enough to make me want to keep traveling in Karac Tor when I get a chance to read The Song of Unmaking. Hopefully it won't take three years again.

Go and see what the other tourists have to say:

Gillian Adams Noah Arsenault Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse CSFF Blog Tour Carol Bruce Collett Theresa Dunlap April Erwin Victor Gentile Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Marzabeth Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen Sarah Sawyer Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Rachel Starr Thomson Steve Trower Fred Warren Phyllis Wheeler Nicole White Rachel Wyant