Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One

Goodreads encourages authors to rate and review their own books, and then pins it to the top so you know which one belongs to the author. Well ... what am I supposed to say? Hello? I hope you like my book? It's the first book of a series. It seems so mercenary, to be the first to review your own book? So how about I just say ... hi?<br /><br />Be epic! <br />Anna

I have just finished your book The "Sword of the Gods: #1 The Chosen", I throughly enjoyed this epic space-opera fantasy.<br />It is set under the auspices of 2 Old Gods; The Emperor and Hashem who are playing a multi-dimensional chess game, which has always been stalemated. The Emperor Shay-tan is the leader of the white chessmen, the "Angelics". Hashem leads the black Saa'tan Empire and "Father" of Lucifer and his cohorts.<br /> It is a multi-dimensional time and space stamped novel, along the lines of "Battlestar Gallactica", the newer series. Where you go back and forth to get different versions of the same situation. It is one of the different types of books that I absolutely revel in and adore.<br /> This is not your usual good versus evil book, it is a fascinating and completely different timelines and stories. I was captivated by Ms. Erishkigal"s choice of setting: Ancient Mesopotamia the "cradle of earth" between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The village Assur is in fact real (as is Ninevah), where a young woman Nin-Si-Anna lives and has seen a vision of sent by She-Who-Is about something so spectacular that it will not only alter her life but those of her village and far afield.<br /> Nin-Si-Anna's is one of a number of time stamps, hers being in a stone age village by the name of Assur, where a stupendous and epic event takes place with the crash of an "angelic" scout craft... sounds a bit of a coincidence, but the jumping between people and places for the same event is well crafted and works very well.<br /> Mik'hail is an "angelic" trained by the Cherubim never to show emotion, as it was beaten out of him as a child, who crashes where Nin-Si-Anna is first contact. The play between these two throughout the book is enthralling and I loved it. Mik'hail has no memory of his life before but knows instinctively how to do things. Such as the use of a pulse rifle to keep attackers from the village, led by the chief's son Jamin and his elite warriors from killing him, but keeps them at bay!<br /> Nin-Si-Anna is an apprentice healer, being taught by her mother Needa, who is the village healer. She has powerful visions sent to her by She-Who-Is thru the teaching of her father Immanu, the village's shaman, who should not be teaching her his knowledge as it is meant for men, but she far out passes him.<br /> Jamin is another main character of devious and deceptive thinking, he believes that Mik'hail has stolen away both his fiancee (the love of his life). Who up until 3 days before the crash was in love with him and his status in the village. He tries numerous plots to try and win back her affection and return to hium because he has an elevated opinion of himself and standing in Assur. Jamin failed at being the hero, who had told the Halifians how to attack the village, which he thought would happen when he killed or frightened them away thus making him the hero of the hour. Then Mik,hail saves Chief Kiyan while Jamin stands scared while the Halifians try to kill his father and loses face once more. Mik'hail fights with his sword like someone from out of the shamanic tales, killing 46 attackers, losing 11 villagers. Thereby making himself a hero in their eyes and even with all his differences, he is invited to stay in the village, instead of his space craft!<br /> I especially enjoyed the spear throwing contest at the Summer Solstice 3390 BC, before which the two old sisters plied him with mead drunk through river reed straws; he who never liked to be anything but looking his best... ended up getting covered in straw and ocher mud from the obstacle part of the course.<br /> The characters of Jophiel, the commander of the "angelics", her mate Raphael and their baby son Uriel made my life miserable because they took him away to be raised as a warrior in the Emperor's forces. More tears were shed when Uriel was dying and getting weaker and they let his parents see him to say goodbye. Then something wonderful happened... but you will have to read the book first!<br /> The Saa'tan Empire with Lucifer as it's Prime Minister is a very different character than in other previous peoples novels. Ms. Erishkigal's Lucifer suffers from migraines (and has my sympathy for I have them), he also has blackouts and does not wake for longer periods of time as the book progresses. He is still a devious, womanizing drunkard with a largeamount of tricks up his sleeve and he uses them well. His relationship with his "Father" Hashem is a most certainly a remarkable, as it shows a more human side of him. Which also happens when he finds a "root-seed" wife, who gets pregnant, when he has been trying with others and not having offspring for over 200 years, now he is going to bea father himself...<br /> This first novel by Ms. Erishkigal held me spellbound with well crafted characters and enthralling interactions in all time and space stamps, with lots of jumping back and forth which could have become very confusing, but succeeded enormously. I am giving this book "The Sword of the Gods: The Chosen #1" 4 and a half stars out of 5, well done. I think that here is an author who is about to break big on the book scene! <br /> What will happen on earth between the 2 Empires in the second book "The Prince of Tyre" is a mystery and I am looking forward to lots more twisting and turning in the multi-dimensional chess game. With enthralling plots, further development of characters....

I really wanted to like this book. It has elements from my favorite genres and the author's take on the Angels/Devils motif seemed really interesting. Also, there are a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews.<br /><br />Unfortunately, I could not get past the stilted prose. In all honesty, it could have really benefited from some decent editing and at least another draft or two. The story was predictable, but it was an interesting premise and fairly engaging. But, again, I kept getting distracted by the writing and it could have been so much better.<br /><br />I honestly have no idea how this book scored so well, both here and on Amazon.<br /><br />I highlighted some passages on my copy so I could point out specific places where I was jarred out of the story.<br /><br />pp. 15, iBooks. "She slapped ochre down upon a date plam leaf as though killing a fish speared for supper as she considered her options."<br /><br />That's a really awkward sentence. It's not too bad, but it's where I first started to notice the writing rather than the story.<br /><br />pp. 15, iBooks. ". . . they discovered her save rate as a healer . . ."<br /><br />We're supposedly in a stone age period. So, the use of the phrase "save rate" as well as the implication that this society would notice such things is questionable.<br /><br />pp. 16, iBooks. ". . . village trallop . . ."<br /><br />I think the author was going for the word 'trollop'. It's one of many typos. Usually, I let these slide since it's hardly reasonable to expect an editor to catch every misspelled word in a work of 80,000 plus words. But it's not endemic to the piece.<br /><br />pp. 16, iBooks. ". . . rubinesque . . ."<br /><br />First of all, it's 'rubenesque' if I'm catching the reference correctly. Second of all, the passage is an internal monologue by one of the characters describing someone else. It's several thousand years too early for this type of reference even if we assume that Peter Paul Rubens actually exists in this timeline.<br /><br />pp. 29, iBooks. ". . . I had no idea you were being literal."<br /><br />Stone age society. No evidence of literacy or even a written language to speak of. How does this character know the word literal? Literally.<br /><br />pp. 30, iBooks. "Blood loss and shock could cause a man with moderate injuries to die where a more critically injured man might survive."<br /><br />The classification for the medical condition referred to as shock wasn't suggested until 1972. Now, this one I might let slide if it was described as the character, in her job as a healer, had noticed some of the symptoms we now know of as shock and described it as such. But come on.<br /><br />pp. 40, iBooks. "She clocked him right in the face."<br /><br />And then she stood over him and said, "You got knocked the f*ck out, homie." But, seriously, we're only getting started on the overuse of cliche.<br /><br />pp. 50. iBooks. "And now w're going to kick them to the curb because that's their job?"<br /><br />This is one of the characters addressing parliament thousands of years in the future. This parliament is made up of wildly varying species from across the galaxy. And I'm to assume that they all understand what "kicked to the curb" means? I'm betting the Electrophori translator was typing wtf into his iPhone 50000S and frantically Googling the reference. Assuming Google is still around.<br /><br />pp. 51. iBooks. "His demeanor changed from sorrow to that of a television preacher."<br /><br />See kids. Even in the future where angels are present physically, there are still television preachers rallying up support for, um, something.<br /><br />pp. 52. iBooks. ". . . risk upsetting the apple cart."<br /><br />You know what, I'm not even going to comment on this one. In fact, at this point in the book I had to force myself to continue. Again, I wanted to give the author the benefit of the doubt, and I really wanted to like this book.<br /><br />But, in the end, it was a tedious read and that ultimately overshadowed any positive points the story itself might have had.

Anna Erishkigal's Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One is riveting and well-written. It grabbed me from the first page and held me spellbound. It races across centuries, spans cultures and skips among and between angels and humans. And it was one of those books I almost didn't read because it's not in my usual genre. I'm a woman of faith AND a lover of reason, and the very concept of fallen angels challenges many of the fundamental tenets of my beliefs.<br /><br />Because this first book of the series was free, I decided to try it anyway, and as soon as I met the main character, a strong female protagonist named Ninsianna, who lives in the Stone Ages, I was charmed. I continued reading, and met more characters I adored, like the angel with the broken, busted wing, named Mikhail.<br /><br />Erishkigal excels at painting complex characters, with believable flaws and lovable quirks. I couldn't even detest her Lucifer, or Ninsianna's scorned prince-lover, Jamin. To me, this is one of the hallmarks of a great writer: can you stand the bad guys without totally worshiping the heroes? As far as Erishkigal is concerned, my answer is a resounding yes.<br /><br />Although she excels at characterization, Erishkigal also weaves a complicated story with a wide cast of characters who lives worlds apart. Sword of the Gods has epic and saga written all over it.<br /><br />If you enjoy a well-written story and a damn good yarn, try this book!<br /><br />E.L. Farris<br />Author of Ripple and I Run

When a winged man falls from the sky, what do you do? If you are Ninsianna, first you ask the goddess, "Can I keep him?" Then, you stitch him up and fix him breakfast.<br /><br />In the tradition of ancient myths, Anna Erishkigal has given us an heroic tale: romance, war, political intrigue, heroes, and gods playing with the lives of mortals. As it should be in any heroic epic, it's difficult at times to figure out who the real villains are. Heroes commit villainous deeds and those we are prepared to despise display a sense of honor--twisted, but a sense of honor nonetheless. Sons betray fathers and fathers betray sons.<br /><br />Beyond the epic moments, are the sometimes humorous and mundane moments of everyday life: Ninsianna's mother seems unable to cook without burning the breakfast, lunch, or dinner--she is equally capable of destruction, no matter which meal it is. Perhaps, I related to this, because my mother frequently became distracted in those boring moments waiting for the toast to pop, the rice to cook, or the meat to broil. But one becomes used to the taste of charcoal, and I chuckled sympathetically at the memory when Mikhail seemingly oblivious to black ash, ate the fish that Ninsianna, who surely owed her mother an apology for past comments, had cooked.<br /><br />All in all, the story kept me entertained, but I would caution, as is the case with many of the unabridged Greek heroic epics, some of the subject matter is for mature audiences.

I'd like to give my thanks to Anna for having done a great job of creating a great work of art, combining expertly narrations from various angles, different elements from Angels to Humans and a superb plot! Though the book was pretty long in e-version and took me quite a lot of time to finish, I felt the book was definitely worth it. The fantasy world can't be more fantastic! Okay, I do sound pretty lame saying that but yeah, I'm very excited to read the next installment, Prince of Tyre. 5 stars, hands down.

For a change a kindle book that was longer than a few pages. Really loved this book, its entertaining, interesting and has a great opening sequence. Loved it so much, i downloaded the next in the series straight away!!

Review for Sword Of The Gods: The Chosen One by Anna Erishkigal<br /><br />The story begins when Mikail, an Angelic, crash lands in 3500bc Mesopotamia. With no memory and life threatening injuries, Mikail is slowly nursed back to health by Ninsianna, a young woman from a nearby tribe. They eventually overcome the language barrier and develop feelings for each other, which is complicated by Jamin, Ninsianna’s jilted ex-fiance, and son of the Chief. As Mikail regains his memory bit by bit, Ninsianna begins to have visions of a great evil coming to threaten her world. Thus Mikail begins to train the village to defend themselves.<br />The other plot in the story has to do with the Angelics and the other hybrids that make up the armies of the Eternal Emperor facing extinction due to oversights and bad planning of the Eternal Emperor himself! Lucifer, the Galactic Prime Minister races to find a solution to his race’s problems with no help from their creator. When it is discovered that Ninsianna’s world is the last world to host the ‘Root Race’ , Lucifer hatches a plan to save his people and the other hybrids by aligning himself with the Shay’tanic Empire in a desperate bid to avert extinction. But Lucifer has been having blackouts, often lasting weeks at a time, with no recollection as to what he’s been doing during those times.<br />A great, compelling story that turns the whole Angels, Demons, God, and the Devil idea on its head, but may border on blasphemy to hardcore religious types. You will see many familiar names in a completely different light, and I found the fresh take simply remarkable.<br />Now for the bad part…<br />Even though the story takes place in 3500bc Mesopotamia and across the galaxy in the same time period, the characters speak in 21st Century terms and words. It somewhat worked for scenes that didn’t take place on Earth, but doesn’t fit with the Stone Age humans. For me, it took away from the whole experience, but not enough to take me away from an enjoying read. I look forward to seeing where this story goes!<br /><br />Justin Osborne.<br />

I thought that Swords of the Gods was a well written and thoroughly enjoyable novel. I found it hard to put it down and it’s been a while since that has happened. The premise of using Angels and Demons as the ‘heroes/antiheroes’, while ‘God’ plays chess with ‘Satan’ made the novel feel like an adventure with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.<br /><br />Archangel Mikhail crash lands in the ancient setting of 3500BC Mesopotamia and is nursed to health by Ninsiana, an apprentice healer from a local village. His injuries are severe and to make matters worse he has lost his memories. Ninsiana’s father, the local shaman, has oral histories about his species and he is accepted into the village. He spends his time trying to fit in, falling in love, and attempting to regain his memories. His place is cemented when he defends the village against raiders, stealing young women. And of course there must be the anti hero – Jamin, Ninsiana’s ex fiancé. He believes that Ninsiana is his, and his spiral into depression is haunting but also familiar.<br /><br />Out in the cosmos, Mikhail’s contemporaries a fighting a losing battle with their genetics. Hashem (God) created the military races but the falling birth rates means that they are at the point of extinction. Without genetic material from the Root Race (humans), who are believed to be extinct, there is very little chance of saving them. However, Shay’tan (Satan) has found Ninsiana’s world and is behind the kidnapping. Lucifer (Hashem’s adopted son) is desperate to save the races and starts a covert breeding program, all the while suffering from migraines and blackouts that are lasting longer and longer.<br />The novel ends as Mikhail regains his memory and manages to send a message to Raphael his best friend and soldier in arms.<br /><br />I am looking forward to reading Volume 2, The Prince of Tyre.<br /><br />Thank you to Anna Erishkigal, for giving me the opportunity to read and review her book.<br />

This was story that took me to an imaginary universe that I actually wanted to physically surround myself in. The mashing of the future and past makes you think what would you do to get a second chance. Mikhail and Ninsianna take a spin on Damsel in distress. You cheer for Raphael &amp; Glicki, while wanting Jophiel to have it all. You are sad for Lucifer....sometimes then get mad you were sad for him in the first place. Everywhere people have status or position but are forgotten that they are living beings. <br /><br />It's a beginning with much detail to give you a clear picture of the wild ride your being set for. Wonderful beginning to an epic fantasy series. Thank you made a new fan of me.