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C. L. Schneider is a New York-based author of adult epic and urban fantasy. Born in a small Kansas town, she grew up in a house of avid readers and overflowing bookshelves. Her first full-length novel took shape in high school, on a typewriter in her parent’s living room. With a passion for dark stories full of action, suspense, and emotional conflict, Schneider creates complex characters and vivid, fantastical worlds. Her epic trilogy, The Crown of Stones, tells the story of Ian Troy, a man born with an addiction to magic. Flash Point is the first book in her new urban fantasy series, Nite Fire, featuring shapeshifters, dragons, and parallel worlds.
Learn more about C.L. Schneider and her work at clschneiderauthor.com where you can read reviews, excerpts and sneak peeks, and subscribe to her newsletter. An active part of the indie author online community, you can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and Google+, where she is often found chatting about books, zombies, coffee, and the daily ups and downs of a writer’s life.
Reviewed by Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite
For a rollicking, unpretentious good adventure, The Crown of Stones: Magic-Price by C.L. Schneider has few rivals. Ian Troy is a descendant of a gifted, yet shunned race called the Shinree, whose magic can only be harnessed and used to help other races as the need arises. Ian joins the Rellan army to fight against their oldest enemy, the powerful Langorian invaders, but when he sees that Rella is about to fall, he turns to the one thing he knows best to end the war: magic. He uses an ancient relic, the Crown of Stones, which has incredible power and ends the war, but the price he pays is too heavy for him. Filled with regret, Ian retreats into a life of solitude, drinking his wits away, but when an assassin makes an attempt on his life and his old enemy comes after him, he reconnects with his past and his magic.
C.L. Schneider is a great writer and she has a particular gift for well-crafted scenes and an intricate plot. The story starts in the midst of intense action, and I loved the fact that the protagonist as well as the conflict is immediately introduced. From the first page, Schneider keeps the action cranked high and there is no slowing down. The setting is an imaginary world that will excite readers, brilliantly painted in breathtaking prose and vivid descriptions. The twists in the plot will hit readers powerfully and arouse their interest in the characters and the story. The Crown of Stones: Magic-Price is the perfect blend of fantasy and adventure, a tale of magic, bravery, and war. I couldn’t put it down until I had reached the satisfying denouement.
