Cacophony

The Realm Trilogy, Book 2

By: L. Marie Wood

Narrated by: Jarrod Taylor

Toddlers and playdates and white picket fences. Afternoons in the park, steak on the grill—all in the perfect neighborhood.

Gabby was living a life that many people could only wish for and she was over it. It wasn’t that she disliked her world—it wasn’t that at all…she loved her family and the life that she and her husband had made.

She just wanted more— more action, more stimulation, more excitement.
Gabby was bored.

But while she spent her days washing sand out of hair and making PB&J sandwiches, a battle was going on in The Realm, a cosmic tug of war over the most inimitable of prizes: Gabby’s very soul.

©2023 L. Marie Wood (P)2024 Lisa Marie Wood

60% of the time works every time

The reader has that nice supple sound that fits the narrative quite well. Almost a tactile quality that gives gravity to the prose. The story leaves our former protagonist and moves on to his grand daughter. So the story we got introduced to in the first book takes a backseat in this installment. A book within a book that begs the question why not just give us the internal book. Great sections of interpersonal relationships building mixed with dark vindictive punishments. Some subtle horror that retreats from the graphic nature of the first book. Book 3 needs to pull a lot of threads together to form a linear story. The writing quality is top notch, but at present it’s a lot of individual parts that left me wondering what genre I am reading. I will say this, I hope the villain or villains get a lot of front time in the next book. At present I feel like a blind man looking for a flashlight with both hands.