Fantasy | Secrets of Goth Mountain | Gary J. Davies
Johnny Goth abandons his job in a box-making company to finally find out what makes him have super-powers and why he remembers unicorns and shape-shifting friends from his childhood, while his mother insists he forget all that. Reaching Goth Mountain, he finds his Indian (native American, actually, not from India) friends are fighting a rearguard action against a logger who is salivating over all those old-growth forests that the Reservation and The Goth have been protecting. Johnny meets Elizabeth Winters, a teacher on the reservation, and a much nicer person than his cheating fiancée Angela (oh, right, I already told you about this). Mr Dark, an almost-elemental, is an evil being who loves death and destruction, and has naturally teamed up with the logger. Many shenanigans later, Gary J Davies delivers the happy ending (yess! An author who swears to create only happy endings!)
As I mentioned last time, I'm slow at reading e-books, mainly because they aren't waterproof, and partly because the devices I'm using nowadays all need new batteries, and work only when connected to the mains. (Alas, technology).
So, I've just finished Secrets of Goth Mountain, and very entertaining it was, too. Like a Disney movie, almost, but with better special effects.
Johnny Goth abandons his job in a box-making company to finally find out what makes him have super-powers and why he remembers unicorns and shape-shifting friends from his childhood, while his mother insists he forget all that. Reaching Goth Mountain, he finds his Indian (native American, actually, not from India) friends are fighting a rearguard action against a logger who is salivating over all those old-growth forests that the Reservation and The Goth have been protecting. Johnny meets Elizabeth Winters, a teacher on the reservation, and a much nicer person than his cheating fiancée Angela (oh, right, I already told you about this). Mr Dark, an almost-elemental, is an evil being who loves death and destruction, and has naturally teamed up with the logger. Many shenanigans later, Gary J Davies delivers the happy ending (yess! An author who swears to create only happy endings!)
The writing is breezy and whizzes along. The backdrops are gorgeous. The spellings sometimes trip you up (proof-editor! Drink more coffee, please, and don't rely on autocorrect), but not often enough to be jarring. There are a lot of old-friend tropes, but trees hitting villains with broken-off branches is surely brand-new!
This book can be read by anyone above 12, for a good time. Nothing heavy at all, and you can anticipate some of the outcomes (like who's the hidden villain), but the action runs along smoothly, and there are no forced scenes.
The thing I like better than an author who promises happy endings is an author who makes all his books self-contained, even if the same characters turn up elsewhere. With a multiverse to play in, that's reassuring. You know how much I hate falling into a series and wondering if I should press on. Okay, I'm off to read one of his other books (oh yeah, they were free on Smashwords in July 2014).
Thanks much for your kind words. Yes, I like my books to have happy endings. I did re-edit and release this book so it should be much 'cleaner' now. Eight of ten of my books are free (priceless), the other two are cheap. For more fun read the sequel to Secrets of Goth Mountain, the priceless epic Ebook 'Government Men'. Yes it is a series but not one like Lord of the Rings where you have to read all books to get to an ending.
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