Once Upon Another World
Once upon a time in a very ordinary place, there was an ordinary man with an ordinary life. At least that is what Mr. Sinclair wanted to believe to be true, until a little bit of the extraordinary touches his life and it will shatter his view of reality. When the destiny he knew nothing about catches up with him, nothing will ever be the same again. The question is, will he be able to survive it?
'Truth is stranger than fiction', these words are an axiom on which a great many things may pivot. For Raven Sinclair these words have long since become a credo, a principle philosophy by which he has lived much of his life. As a creator of fiction, it might seem to some that these words would fade when faced with the realities he creates in his novels. But the Truth of his own reality is in fact stranger than the fiction he creates. Gifted with more than five senses, an outcast by choice, and someone compelled by a driving force he does not understand, Raven's truth is about to become a great deal more like the fiction he has created.
A single decision leads to events he could never have predicted and shoves him into motion down a path that he has unknowingly been following even before he was born. And it leads him to the last thing he could have expected, the long awaited love of his life. He finds her in the very last place he might have thought to look, as part of a government conspiracy to capture and control people just like him. All too soon he must confront a government that wants nothing more than to make him a toy soldier, a past he knew nothing about, a reality far bigger than he could ever imagine, and forces that will alter him and the way he looks at the world around him forever.
And even though for a time his changed life becomes quiet once more the forces of destiny are still guiding him along a path that leads right into the darkness. An ancient evil has been stirred up from the forgotten worlds and cosmic dust to strike at the very heart of his world, and it is not in his destined path to run from it.
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Salak'patan Series
Salak'patan Series consists of one book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Reviews and Comments
Once Upon Another World (Book One of the Salak'patan Series) by Shiva Winters The title and the cover almost had me thinking 'fairy tale'. Once I dove in feet first it was more like Zelazny's Amber series and Farmers Tier series rolled together and given a special Shiva Winters touch. Raven Sinclair is a powerful character well matched by his counterpart LeShana, who is not only lovely but also as powerful and kick-ass as Raven. Suffice it to say, I loved this book, It's a five star novel with a few hick-ups. Depending on the copy you have there could be a large number of grammatical errors. There has since the first print date been an edit that fixes many of those. I can live with some of this in dialogue- no one speaks perfectly all the time. This book is offered free, but it's nice to see that even with the free there is an effort by the author to improve. The story starts with Raven on Earth trying to keep his group of special people safe from those who might exploit them. Enter LeShana and possibly more people who want to take advantage. It takes a while for Raven to trust these people, but it's important not only to him but to them because he has a past with them that he's not aware of. The overall story- the plot the theme and the character development are all pretty solid. And though it seems this might be the least favorite of the Authors choices of her own work I think it's a great starting point to begin the series. As it stands Once Upon Another World is a well packed novel with a fairly tight plot that has plenty of twists to keep the reader guessing. It also demonstrates some skill in world making that Shiva should be proud of. She has a writing style that I was comfortable with, it seems to be consistent and improves as the series progresses. This is an awesome first novel and a fantastic series of books.(Although I believe it's a first for the author only in this genre.) If you like the Zelazny novels or the Farmer series you should enjoy this series. J.L. Dobias