Guest Post: Matt Xell

The Canids of Wendsil

Hey everyone! And thanks so much, Ashlinn, for having me on your blog.

In this post (I hope it's not too long) I'll be talking about the Canids, a race of sentient (self aware and conscious) wolves that I developed for my book Tower of Parlen. We'll be looking at what they are exactly and what their role is in the fictional world of Everlon (the setting of Tower of Parlen Min and The Narrow Escapes of Ves Asirin series of books). We'll also be looking at their design and features, what inspired me to come up with these characters, and then, of course will be looking at their unique language.

In the world of Everlon, other than the humans, there are five other sentient beings (or Naru'ei) that inhabit the world. These include the wolves (or Canids) that reside in Serbian Europa, the prime-apes (or Kolus) of Etrik, reptilians ( or Dilas) in Bradil and the Hordhogs ( or khumbas) in the Opus Empra’s India. These powerful beings exist as guardians of the four great Jinn; Bei’alumos of the fire, Katu’nga of the wind, Maori of the water and Hendiri of the earth who are angel like spirits with pivotal roles in the structural balance of the nature, ecosystems and the climates in the world of Everlon. This structure was set up by Noah after the great flood under the instruction of Elohim (the God and Creator of Everlon).

The average adult wolf weighs about 300 to 500 pounds and stands at a height of about 8 to 12 feet (when standing on hind legs only). An average wolf can run at an approximate speed of 75 - 150 miles per hour. There are generally three kinds of wolves: the Kapke (or grey wolves), the Mayake ( or blue wolves) and Haduke (or black wolves). Wolves usually travel and live in packs of over 100. A pack leader is known as the Zagnol, which means 'the great alpha.’ He’s the largest and the strongest of the pack and is distinguished by his silvery-white fur. Of course all packs around the world are ruled by one Queen-wolf known as Ne'era; distinguished by her scarlet fur, she is also the only wolf that can summon the Jinn of fire; Bei'alumos.

Review: Tower of Parlen Min

Tower of Parlen Min by Matt Xell

Published by:XLA Publishing Group

Released:July 23, 2010

Pages:375 e-book

Buy: here
Amazon links:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3

Ves Asirin, an orphaned and introverted boy with a complicated memory loss disorder, wins a trip to the TOWER OF PARLEN MIN, the home of the wealthiest inventor of the time, Jacobius Trent. There, with 19 other children, he must compete in the Sword Challenge; a series of intricate puzzles and daring tasks, for a prize of $12 million. As dazzling, glorious and liberating as the Tower seems to be for him, Ves finds that it keeps a dark and secret history that he has been unknowingly connected to for over 150 years, a secret that will define his future and destiny ... if he can escape The shadow; a powerful and seemingly unstoppable, supernatural serial killer.

My Thoughts-
 This book follows Ves Asirin an orphan who suffers from a memory loss disorder. I liked Ves in the beginning and I did feel sympathy for him, but when he arrived at the Tower he turned into somewhat of a jerk. But the one trait I admired was that Ves was always up for an adventure and liked to learn new things.But many times he would get himself in trouble with the adults and children while doing that.

I only had three problems with the story and the writing. There was a fair amount of grammatical errors throughout the book. Second, we were introduced to all 19 of the children at once, and they were all described at once.Now thinking about it, I should have wrote it all down so I wouldn't be confused.Third, some parts where really slow and others happened very quickly. That wasn't a huge issue though, now onto the things I liked!

First I just want to say I give props to Matt Xell and his team for all the research they conducted! Probably my favorite part was the sword fighting. Those scenes were described awesome!There was so much detail and I learned something about jousting! Second, there was a couple parts that included some mythology and if you didn't know I'm a sucker for mythology specifically Greek which it did include a little of.Third, the wolves and their language, I thought it was a great idea and I liked that the wolves weren't really as they seemed....

Bottom line, the book is a good read although it is quite long,it's perfect for the reader who loves fantasy. I rate this 3 out of 5 stars. So if you want to try this book out you are in luck!I will be giving away five copies for free!!!