‘Maelstrom’ by Jordan L. Hawk #LGBT #ReleaseDay #Review #Guestpost

Marc reviews ‘Maelstrom’ (Whyborne & Griffin 7) by Jordan L. Hawk. This book was published by the author on December 11th, 2015 and is 268 pages long.

I received a free review copy of this book from the author for the purpose of an honest review.

Why I read this book: I am totally and completely addicted to this series and when I got a chance to receive an advanced review copy of the book and read it before the official release day, I was very happy and devoured it in one sitting. I have been eager to share my thoughts ever since!

 

Between his father’s sudden—and rather suspicious—generosity, and his own rash promise to help Christine plan her wedding, Percival Endicott Whyborne has quite enough to worry about. But when the donation of a mysterious codex to the Ladysmith Museum draws the attention of a murderous cult, Whyborne finds himself in a race against time to unlock its secrets first.

Griffin has a case of his own: the disappearance of an historic map, which quickly escalates to murder. Someone is sacrificing men in dark rituals—and all the clues lead back to the museum.

With their friends Christine and Iskander, Whyborne and Griffin must discover the cult’s true goal before it’s too late. For dark forces are afoot at the very heart of the museum, and they want more than Whyborne’s codex.

They want his life.

Buy Links: Amazon | ARe  | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Goodreads

*****

Author Jordan L. Hawk’s Writing Process

I love reading about the writing process, and how it varies from writer to writer. So here’s a quick, general overview of how I go about writing a full-length novel (half the time for a novella).

Weeks 1-4: Research, brainstorming, and outlining

I give myself a month to do as much research as possible, refine the characters, and outline the plot. There’s a lot of back-and-forth for the first three weeks, as research sparks new ideas, or character traits turn out not to work in the context of the plot, or plot points just don’t work with these characters or this setting. The fourth week is when I flesh out the outline into something I can sit down and write from, including as much detail as possible. That said, the third act is usually still pretty vague by the time I sit down and start writing, and gets filled in as I go.

Weeks 5-7: Words! I can predictably write up to 5,000 words a day, and I often do. But those days are punctuated by ones where I have to stop and jettison a subplot that turned out not to work, or spend a day on administrative stuff, or create a cover.

Week 8: Reach a spot somewhere between the midpoint and the beginning of the third act and realize I’ve badly misunderstood the villain, or possibly mistaken the wrong entities for the villain altogether. Frantically rework outline and start to revise.

Week 9: Feverishly continue to revise while eyeing the upcoming deadline. Panic. Convince self this book is so bad people will not only hate it, but retroactively hate everything I’ve ever written.

Week 10: Hasty revisions are done, the novel is more patched-together than Frankenstein’s monster, but for now it’s on to Act III and the end!

Week 11: This is where real revisions start. I read back through the whole thing and cover over the seams where various bits were stitched together. I also add in any details I left out during the first go-round.

Week 12: Hand off to the beta reader, make any revisions he suggests, final read through, break it up into chapters, and send it to my editor!

And the next day I start all over again from the beginning. I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my process, such as it is!

*****

THE COVER:

Whyborne, the maelstrom and the widdershins symbol. You guys don’t even know how prefect this is until you read this book. *g*

THE TITLE:

Every fan of this series knows what the maelstrom is. Well, perhaps not in any detail, but it is at the heart of Widdershins’ mythology. The knowledge that readers will find out more about it is very seductive 😉

THE STORY:

When I interviewed Jordan L. Hawk after reading Necropolis, I already wondered what would happen with the library of Christine’s dead sister. As you may have noticed, this author never misses a thread. It’s not just this small question from book four that is answered in “Maelstrom”. In book seven of the Whyborne & Griffin series, aspects of all six previous books are mentioned. I love that the time readers invest pays off. Everything that happens is important or will become important.

During all seven books, I have not seen a single plot hole. Even if there is a question that is not immediately answered, it will be addressed at some point. Jordan L. Hawk has teased a lot of big developments in this series and initially, I worried that she would not be able to keep all the balls in the air and bring everything to a satisfying resolution. However, the author does not just tease, she delivers.

Since the first book there have been a lot of major developments that were complete game changers for the series. Events that felt huge and changed the way I saw the characters, their relationships and the story. I did not expect such big revelations so quickly, but it never felt like there were no mysteries left. Every book expands the mythology in a major way and feels exciting and the author  takes the changes serious. The characters live with the consequences of the major twists and try adjust to them and readers have new questions they wonder about.

I love that everything that has happened previously is important to the characters. They have to deal with the past and the author never ignores what happened in previous books. The effects of every event of the past can be clearly felt.

Just because Whyborne’s father seems to respect him more and is nicer and generous to his friends does not mean Whyborne has forgotten how his father treated him in the past or that he was involved in the brotherhood and willing for innocents to be killed. Neither he nor Griffin have forgotten that Griffin was almost sacrificed in book one. All previous books are the foundation for the next one and I felt the importance of events from all previous books when I read “Maelstrom” even more than in any previous book. It brings readers full circle and starts a new chapter for the characters.

The relationship between Whyborne & Griffin is alrready very strong, but it develops even further in this sequel as does the complex relationship between them and Whyborne’s father. Readers will see Whyborne’s brother and sister again, they will see Heliabel in action and there will again be gruesome horror aspects to the story. While the book comes to a satisfying conclusion, there is a stronger cliffhanger than ever before, foreshadowing things to come. Readers will learn more about the city of Widdershins, the Maelstrom and Whyborne. A new potential romance begins and there is murder, magic & mayhem. Christine remains true to herself, even as her wedding has to be organized.

The characters we love have another exciting and dangerous adventure that NO fan of the series should miss. I devoured the book in a single sitting and read until the early morning, because I couldn’t put it down. There is no greater compliment I could give a book.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Buy Links: Amazon | ARe  | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Goodreads

10/10 Pots of Gold (100% Recommended)

*****

Jordan L. Hawk grew up in the wilds of North Carolina, where she was raised on stories of haints and mountain magic by her bootlegging granny and single mother. After using a silver knife in the light of a full moon to summon her true love, she turned her talents to spinning tales. She weaves together couples who need to fall in love, then throws in some evil sorcerers and undead just to make sure they want it bad enough. In Jordan’s world, love might conquer all, but it just as easily could end up in the grave.

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