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Ja'Hanna: Generation 1 (Wildvine Series) Kindle Edition
Wildvine County, somewhere in the United States, is that pivotal point where the travelers from multiple worlds and universes meet...
Dayree was born to a powerful family in the Taksearhe Clan. She was expected to have strong Talents, yet her gifts never emerged. Mocked by some, ignored by others, she took the opportunities offered to her and explored other gifts, becoming a craftsman and then a teacher. In the process, she found her soulmate, Jayx.
Years later, when their village was threatened by rebels who wanted to control their world, Dayree's gift awakened, enabling her talented cousin to evacuate the entire village to safety--stepping through the vortex between worlds, to a planet called Earth.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 12, 2015
- File size3.7 MB
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First 3$14.97
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First 5$24.95
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All 8$39.92
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First 3$14.97
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First 5$24.95
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All 8$39.92
This option includes 3 books.
This option includes 5 books.
This option includes 8 books.
Product details
- ASIN : B017XDPEZC
- Publisher : Writers Exchange E-Publishing (November 12, 2015)
- Publication date : November 12, 2015
- Language : English
- File size : 3.7 MB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 292 pages
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
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On the road to publication, Michelle fell into fandom in college and has 40+ stories in various SF and fantasy universes. She has a bunch of useless degrees in theater, English, film/communication, and writing. Even worse, she has over 100 books and novellas with multiple small presses, in science fiction and fantasy, YA, suspense, women's fiction, and sub-genres of romance.
Her official launch into publishing came with winning first place in the Writers of the Future contest in 1990. She was a finalist in the EPIC Awards competition multiple times, winning with Lorien in 2006 and The Meruk Episodes, I-V, in 2010, and was a finalist in the Realm Award competition, in conjunction with the Realm Makers convention.
Her training includes the Institute for Children’s Literature; proofreading at an advertising agency; and working at a community newspaper. She is a tea snob and freelance edits for a living (MichelleLevigne@gmail.com for info/rates), but only enough to give her time to write. Her newest crime against the literary world is to be co-managing editor at Mt. Zion Ridge Press and launching the publishing co-op, Ye Olde Dragon Books. Be afraid … be very afraid.
www.Mlevigne.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com
www.YeOldeDragonBooks.com
www.MtZionRidgePress.com
@MichelleLevigne
By Michelle L. Levigne
Guardians of the Time Stream: 4-book Steampunk series
The Match Girls: Humorous inspirational romance series starting with A Match (Not) Made in Heaven
Sarai's Journey: A 2-book biblical fiction series
Tabor Heights: 20-book inspirational small town romance series.
Quarry Hall: 11-book women’s fiction/suspense series
For Sale: Wedding Dress. Never Used: inspirational romance
Crooked Creek: Fun Fables About Critters and Kids: Children’s short stories.
Do Yourself a Favor: Tips and Quips on the Writing Life. A book of writing advice.
Killing His Alter-Ego: contemporary romance/suspense, taking place in fandom.
The Commonwealth Universe: SF series, 25 books and growing
The Hunt: 5-book YA fantasy series
Faxinor: Fantasy series, 4 books and growing
Wildvine: Fantasy series, 14 books when all released
Neighborlee: 13-book humorous contemporary fantasy series when complete
Zygradon: 5-book Arthurian fantasy series
AFV Defender: SF shipboard adventure series
Customer reviews
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- Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2016Ja’Hanna, the first book of the Wildvine series by Michelle Levigne is a lot of things. It is a well-written pseudo science-urban-fantasy coming-of-age / romance. I realize that’s quite a jumble but it tries to be all those things and couple besides. The story revolves around Dayree, the young pre-teen daughter of the noble Taksearhe Clan. Perceived as lacking the clan’s distinct psionic powers (or Talent) she is an outcast even as a child. The single-viewpoint third-person narrative follows Dayree’s growth and her increasing tribulations as she tries to establish her place and identity in the world Rehdonna. This installment ends when she is in her late twenties.
I am an author myself, so I am particularly critical of the works I read. I am a stickler for viewpoint, immersiveness, pacing, and world-building. Author Levigne has a steady hand on wheel of this literary ship and the presentation is confident, competent and smooth with no glaring plot or psychology holes. Being an action writer myself, I found the work to be a bit exposition heavy and slow to get rolling. The first real hook into the over-arching plot isn’t until late in chapter four, and things don’t get really fired up until chapter 13. The action is somewhat passive and people looking for a sword-slashing enemy-trashing gore-fest will be disappointed. There is violence, but the focus is on family cleaving together against adversity and societal pressure.
One of my main quibbles with the book IS the adversity. The war-like Tobrizz who are set up as the overall threat are nebulously driven and faceless (at least in this volume). The experienced reader in me relegated them to paper tiger status because the real threat (members of Dayree’s own clan) are so distinct in the way they are played down. One of the things of having written twenty plus books of my own is that outcomes of stories rarely surprise me. By the half-way point I had a fair idea of where Ja’Hanna was headed. It really pleases me when I’m surprised by a twist I didn’t foresee. The ending here is satisfactory with no huge unexpected twists. Most of the important story questions and character arcs and fulfillment are tied up. Enough unanswered questions and issues are left to pull us toward the next volume. I did find the tease (and failure to reveal) Jayra’s (Dayree’s daughter) powers to be slightly annoying.
Ratings: (1 – 5)
Execution: 4.5 – This is well crafted, clean and consistent. No head hopping or other jarring technique. My biggest quibble with the work is the handling of star-breaks / space-breaks, and the fact that some should have been chapter breaks. The transitions around the breaks could stand for significant beefing up. I found the use of italics for both 1st person internal thoughts and telepathic dialogue to be somewhat jarring. In my own work, I use <> to handle telepathy to distinguish internal speak from thought speech e.g. <Can you hear my thoughts?> Corim asked.
Setting/World-building: 3.5-4.5 – The characters are well integrated into the world of Rehdonna and there is ample suggestion of depth. Author Levigne is somewhat stingy with the setting frame-work and details. I laud that there are no blocks of reader feeder or expositive backstory, but feel that more energy could have been spent to bring the reader into the milieu both in terms of lore and sensory enticements. I admit I am a sucker for the psionic talent smorgasbord, so my disappointment is doubled when those powers aren’t explored and extrapolated more. Teleportation and dimension travel have huge nuances and possibilities, and the narrative handles their treatment more as matter-of-fact rather than reverence.
Characters: 4.0 – Dayree is a sympathetic protagonist and decent service is done to her thoughts, feelings, desires and needs. In the opening chapters, she seems a bit melodramatic, but I suspect that may be fairly true portrayal of a teen with actual reasons for angst and drama. Jo’am is likable as the wise clan leader, and Jayx is a suitable romantic interest and partner. Davlan and Ayleen are Dayree’s supportive parents. Tolik serves well as the clumsy and dogmatic clan-side antagonist. My chief observation is that save for Tolik’s foibles, the rest of cast is wart-free. I would have liked to see a rougher edge and little more contention to increase the tension and character revelations in the flatter sections of the novel. I would also have greatly appreciated more physical details. The protagonists could be less generic and more distinct, and the use of tags would have helped.
Overall: 4.0 – To anybody who has never written a novel, just putting the wraps on a coherent enjoyable narrative is a huge accomplishment. This is another well done piece among Michelle Levigne’s myriad contributions. If you are already a fan, then you have something to look forward to. This is an intricate world with a lot to offer.
--Will Greenway (20160607)
Author of the Ring Realms Cycle
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B007OWPNMC
[...]
- Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2016Overall, I liked the story, the positive points were the character developments, while the rest of the story was a bit of a muddle. It seemed to take forever before I had a smattering of understanding of the geopolitical structure of the world. Even then, I am still confused as to the different relationships between the Council, the Elders, Dayree's parents, etc. That said, I felt that I got to know the characters quite well, they had strong voices and were likable and believable.
I think that the book could really do with some significant editing, where the reader re-writes and streamlines the beginning so that the reader gets a base line understanding of the world and how it works. The beginning of the book made me think of Jumper by Stephen Gould, at least the movie version that I saw. There were fast paced bits that had a hard time congealing together. Eventually, I became immersed in the relationships between the characters, I enjoyed Dayree, and tried to ignore the confusing bits about which clan was who and what they were going on about.
I would read another book by this author, but I hope she takes my comments and the other 4* rated critique on board. I too am an author, and while I loved my original manuscript when it was published, the critiques of my book were quite similar. My MS lacked pace, had way too much history in the beginning and took forever before anything happened. Happily, after my bruised ego was assuaged, I rewrote the entire MS, producing a tighter faster paced novel, and the editing freed enough space to add more material that.
I am giving this book 4/5 stars based on the character development and the fact that I am giving the author the benefit of the doubt concerning the aforementioned flaws. I think with some further hard work, and ruthless editing, the book could be streamlined for clarity and pace. Then I would love to hear more about the origins of this world, and have more description of social structure and magic.