Day #5 of “The Click of a Pebble” Book Blog Tour: My Review

Posted: February 26, 2021 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Blog Tour, Book Review, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, Review | Tags: Barbara Spencer, Book Review, carinatae mythology, Fantasy, Magical Realism, The Children of Zeus, The Click of a Pebble, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours | 2 Comments

What they are saying on Amazon:

“This was a great coming of age fantasy story. I really enjoyed seeing these young characters struggle to survive in the aftermath of the massacre that leaves them only each other to depend on. Their journey drew me in and had me reading this entire book in one sitting, I’m looking forward to reading more books set in this fascinating world.”

In her Day #3 post for this tour on Robbie’s Inspiration, author Barbara Spencer talks about magical realism. I really loved her definition. She describes it, “Magical realism takes place in our world and follows its rules, except occasionally those rules are skewed.” I haven’t read a lot of magical realism, but what I have read have mostly were silly stories that were just kind of fun to read, with no real buy in because they were so ridiculous.

Not so with this skillfully crafted tale, which begins to lay a solid basis for the magical elements of the story. The Click of a Pebble had my buy in from the first pages and maintained it throughout the story. It was sweet and tragic, but there was nothing silly about it.

The Click of a Pebble is the tale of three children, Yost, Zande and TaTa, the only survivors of a massacre of their people. Ripped away from all they have ever known, they must stand together and go on, holding on to who they are in a place where things are new and different and try to fit in. They quickly learn that they dare not reveal their true origins, or risk falling prey to the same bigoted thinking that brought on the demise of their clan, because they are different, gifted. As they grow to know the family which welcomes them into their home, they begin to develop attachments with those around them and feel as if they belong. But, they are carinatae, children of Zues and what lies ahead for them is very different from the futures imagined by those who take them in.

Barbara Spencer has done a marvelous job of drawing the reader in and making her care about the characters, masterfully weaving historical detail into this wonderful coming of age fantasy. It touches on issues that ring true for many of us, at the same time portraying a time and culture in detail, with well developed characters readers will relate to. As the first book in her The Children of Zeus trilogy, Spencer does not tie everything up with a nice bow, but instead chooses the perfect point in the story to close off this chapter and leave the reader with a need to learn how all the loose ends will be resolved. I give it five quills.

In case you missed a blog stop along the way on The Click of a Pebble Book Blog Tour:

Day #1: Writing to be Read

Day #2: Patty’s World

Day #3: Robbie’s Inspiration

Day #4: This is my Truth Now

Get your copy of The Click of a Pebble today.

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Book you WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!

Welcome to WordCrafter’s “The Click of a Pebble” Book Blog Tour

Posted: February 22, 2021 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Blog Tour, Book Promotion, Books, Fantasy, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, Writing to be Read, Young Adult | Tags: Barbara Spencer, The Children of Zues, The Click of a Pebble, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, Writing to be Read, Young Adult Fantasy | 8 Comments

When I picked up The Click of a Pebble to review for this tour, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The cover was ellegant, yet a bit mysterious, which had a certain appeal for me, and the title doesn’t give anything away, although it does add to the sense of mystery. I wanted to know more about this story. Only after I’d begun to read, did I understand why the author, Barbara Spencer, had chosen that particular title, and why it was the perfect introduction to this touching coming of age story.

Known as swan-people for their ability to shape-shift not only into the swanlike form of the carinatae, but also the celeste, the winged shape of Zeus himself. The children of Zeus although peace-loving, have always been forced to live apart from humans, persecuted almost to extinction.

Three children survive the latest massacre: Yöst, Zande, the son of the Black and destined to be the clan’s next leader, and a small girl, Tatania, who insists on being called TaTa.

This is their story.

The Children of Zues trilogy, of which The Click of a Pebble is book 1, is a delightful coming of age fantasy, which I was soon emmersed in. It’s about the carinatae, or Swan People, decendents of Zues, who live among and pass themselves off as humans. When I started reading, I didn’t know what carinatae meant, or where this wonderful myth came from, but it didn’t take long for my curiosity to peak, and I wanted to know more.

So, I began to explore the internet to see what I could learn. Wikipedia defines carinatae as, “Carinatae is the group of all birds and their extinct relatives to possess a keel, or “carina”, on the underside of the breastbone used to anchor large flight muscles.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carinatae). This makes sense, since swans are then carinatae. But, I still wasn’t familiar with this particular myth, so I set about brushing up on my Greek mythology. The only mytholgy I found that dealt with swans in any way, was the story of Zues and Leda, which seemed to fit in with Spencer’s story.

When visiting the author’s blog site, Two Sides to Every Story, I learned that this myth was indeed at the heart of The Children of Zues trilogy, which is a prequel to The Year the Swans Came. This information excited me, because what it means is that Barbara Spencer has created a new set of mythologies from the old myths that we are all familiar with. Wow! Isn’t it fabulous that as authors, we can actually do things like that? And Spencer has done an excellent job of pulling threads from the original myth and weaving them into a mythology all her own. Now that is what being an author is all about!

It is my pleasure to present the The Click of a Pebble Book Blog Tour this week. Our wonderful blog hosts have lined up a greast tour for us, with reviews on Patty’s World and Writing to be Read, and an author spotlight on This is My Truth Now, and hear from the author,, on Roberta Write’s, and finishing off the tour on Barbara Spencer’s blog site, Pictures from the Kitchen. I hope you will join us and follow the tour to learn more about Barbara Spencer and The Click of a Pebble.