Sunday, June 30, 2019

BOOK REVIEW: Of Wisdom and Valor: The Art of War. The Path of Peace ABRIDGED EDITION: Part II of the Windflower Saga Trilogy by Aleksandra Layland




This is an abridged edition of the epic fantasy novel "Of Wisdom and Valor: The Art of War. The Path of Peace. (Part II of the Windflower Saga trilogy by Aleksandra Layland. Abridged by the author herself, she hopes it will make this story more accessible to a wider audience of adult and young adult readers. Set in a time not now and in a world not of our own in the medieval-like Kingdom of Kimbria. Generations have passed since the flourishing of the Kingdom of Kimbria under its First Golden Age. Corruption is rampant and the common people suffer under poor governance. Finally, they cry out for a monarch to replace the greedy Royal Council. Acting as Regent, the Council elects the young Duchess of Ansgar as the new Queen and orders her to marry a fearsome mercenary warlord. He fetches her from the remote convent where she’s lived for 20 years, but he takes her to his distant castle, not to the Palace so she can take the throne. The Royal Council has no intention that she will ever rule. What ensues is a heroic battle against greed, evil, and conspiracy, with the lives and freedom of the Kimbrian people hanging in the balance.


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REVIEW

While this is supposed to be the abridged version of Of Wisdom and Valor, I still found it a bit lengthy. This abridged version is to be more appealing to younger readers though I think Of Wisdom and Valor lost something in the process.
While reading I truly missed the original full-length version. We needed that in-depth Kimbrian background, jargon to truly understand and grasp the relationship between Leofric and Keridwen. In the Abridged version, they felt like shadows of their former selves. Something was missing from them. Of Wisdom and Valor: Art of War. The Path of Peace is truly an epic read. I’d go tackle the original, though if you truly want to capture the magic of Aleksandra Layland and her epic Windflower Saga.












ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Aleksandra Layland is a retired civil engineer and federal civil servant who worked primarily for the United States Air Force as a senior installation engineering manager responsible for buildings, airfields, infrastructure, fire protection, and emergency preparedness. She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Western Caroline Islands where she helped build school classrooms and cafeterias, low-income housing, and simple village water distribution systems. Her other interests include arts and crafts, family genealogy, religion, and spirituality, fostering peace in the world, and enjoying retirement with family and friends.






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