A Time of Flames – Book One | Austin Macauley Publishers

‘There is a void within me; a darkness that no amount of booze, sex or drugs, can heal. Each morning, I wake with a name on my lips. Always a girl’s name. Always the wrong name.’

An abducted boy and an imprisoned girl, separated by space and time, are destined to be lovers and saviours of a broken world.

Sebastian is privileged, handsome and lost. He struggles with depression and substance abuse as he desperately tries to come to terms with a world he doesn’t understand.

Sebastian paints to quell the darkness. His work depicts a sombre world full of decaying gothic buildings. One night, as if guided by another’s hand, he paints the portrait of a beautiful woman. He gazes into the jade green eyes that mirror his own, and there he finds a reason to live. With every quickening beat of his heart, he knows he has painted a living, breathing woman. The woman who will heal the void within him. The woman he must find. The woman whose name is on his lips at the break of each new day.

As he begins his search, the path Sebastian treads is more mysterious and dangerous than he could have ever imagined. It leads him to a strange house where he discovers horrifying secrets and learns the truth about the woman he seeks and her link to the ruthless man who called himself his father.

Robin Giddings is a session musician, composer and author of the fantasy novel A Time of Flames. He has Asperger’s, which he sees mostly as a positive thing. He began writing fantasy stories at an early age, creating alternative and sometimes dark worlds where it’s okay to be different. In his spare time, he plays role playing games and fights for animal rights. He now lives in Cambridgeshire with his wife, Jane, and two naughty cats.

Customer Reviews

4.7

6 reviews

mrsj_readsbooks

Holy cow! This is the YA fantasy book you need to read if you are a fan of time travel and Lord Of The Rings. I was very intrigued by the book blurb and was not disappointed. I devoured the book in one day as the story is fast-paced and leaves very little time to catch your breath. Looking forward to the next book in this series!
Radhika

The first in a new series, A Time of Flames by Robin Giddings was a captivating surprising. I did not expect the book to go in the direction it did with the plot but I am thoroughly intrigued with the series and can’t wait to read further about Sebastian’s journey.

I must admit that I was confused in the beginning. The main character of the book is Sebastian yet the third person narrative focused on Raymond, Sebastian’s friend. Later in the book, this course of action proved to be an ace up the author’s sleeve as Sebastian was established as someone who has no interest in living and thus no story worth narrating in the beginning. He evolved into a powerful and determined character towards the end.

The author laid a puzzle in front of the reader at the beginning of the book. It was built piece by piece and was only unveiled in the latter half of the series within the Fantastical and Dystopian world of Vatharlia.

Conway was a villain whose destruction is felt long after his passing. After all he is dead even before the book began. To call him human would be a mistake. It was his actions that established him as someone, we as readers will never be able to forgive.

The atmosphere of loss and disconnect was created by the author at the beginning which is quite unusual for me because I like to feel a connection with a character’s emotions and motives in a book. The bleakness of the atmosphere actually pulled me in as I saw the book as if I was an apparition on the scene.

The latter half of the series took me to Vatharlia where the plot expanded and brought in a deluge of information based on mythology, fiction and war. For Sebastian, it brought a purpose. For Raymond, it almost felt like a second chance at life.

The Kingdom of Vatharla, being in a stage of devastating war and various different groups fighting for dominance in a world, whose fate is in a constant state of flux is the true victim in the book if one sees the bigger picture.

The ‘unnamed’ girl in the book has her own demons to contend with. Both physically and mentally. Her plight and circumstances are not anything that anyone should have to witness. Though she plays a passive character in this book, a strength unforeseen has already been written for her future.

At the end of the book, Sebastian is ready to set out to find the girl he is destined to be with. What’s attractive is that while the world depends on him and his partner to be the ushers of the Time of Joy, Sebastian only wants to find her because she is his destiny.

It was a book that I would not have picked up by myself and yet once I did, I could not put it down before reading it whole.

Happy Reading!

I received a free copy via Austin Macauley Publishers for an honest review.
24hr.YABookBlog

This one sounds like a super interesting book, really enjoyed reading your thoughts on it.
Matty

As an avid fantasy reader, I am always on the lookout for something new and original. With A Time of Flames by Robin Giddings I have found just that.
The fast moving and exciting plot and the complex characters had me hooked from page one.
To fantasy readers, I would say buy it – it’s an absolute must have. To anyone who has not read fantasy, I would say try it – this is a fantasy book which will appeal to a far wider audience
crumpled_bookshelf

It was a book that I would not have picked up by myself and yet once I did, I could not put it down before reading it whole.
whatjpreads

I finished this book last week and omg it was brilliant! This is a YA fantasy with a plot full of time travel and alternative worlds, it is mysterious and captivating. It’s a fast-paced read with characters that are so easy to connect with and easy to like! I was honestly intrigued all the way through the book and I will definitely be picking up book 2 (whenever it is published) The main thing that I liked about this story, is that it was unpredictable. I was constantly questioning what was going on throughout the whole book, and everything only started to become clear right at the end!

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