Deception Peak

The Ian's Realm Saga, Volume 1

Young Adult - Fantasy - General
244 Pages
Reviewed on 08/24/2014
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography



With a passion for teens, Dianne Lynn Gardner dives into their world with her young adult fantasy novels. She is both a best selling author and an award winning illustrator who lives in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Mother of seven and grandmother of 16, Dianne wants to make sure that the teens she knows have wholesome and healthy books that ignite imaginations, strengthen friendships, spur courage and applaud honor. Though she targets her stories for young adults, her books are enjoyed by all ages.

Besides Deception Peak, book I of the Ian's Realm Saga, other works include Dragon Shield, Rubies and Robbers, A Tale of the Four Wizards series, Diary of a Conjurer, and Cassandra's Castle, all of which will be published in the near future by Rara Avis, an imprint of PDMI Publishing.

New from Master Koda Select Publishing, soon to come is a young adult dystopia novel Altered.

Dianne has just pulled a team together and formed Xylon Productions LLC to film her fifth book in the Ian's Realm Saga Cassandra's Castle. Watch for more from Dianne!

    Book Review

Reviewed by Kim Anisi for Readers' Favorite

Deception Peak: The Ian's Realm Saga, Volume 1 by Dianne Lynn Gardner is a book for teenagers, young adults and "older" adults who still enjoy fantasy stories. It is the story of Ian, whose father somehow found a portal into another world - via a computer program. Ian is a bit hesitant at first, but then starts to see the positives about going into that strange world: it is the ideal, peaceful place to spend some quality time with his dad. But then the landscape turns out to be not as deserted as they thought it was. And returning back home through the portal also becomes a bit of a problem when Ian becomes separated from his father by an old man. Then there are strange people who kind of enslave him. And there is talk of a dragon. How will Ian get out of this? And out of the computer again?

As the story told in Deception Peak: The Ian's Realm Saga, Volume 1 by Dianne Lynn Gardner is quite enjoyable and follows an interesting concept, you might feel like the book is a bit too short, and that a few aspects could have been "drawn out" a bit. But seeing that this is only the first volume in the Ian's Realm Saga, the pace might be just right - it's hard to judge without reading all the volumes in one go. The characters are interesting, even though Ian's father turned out to be a bit of a disappointment (you'll understand when you read the book). I really loved the illustrations that were part of the book. They made it easier to have a clear image of the characters (without forcing that image on you). The whole book had a great layout - if only more authors would put some effort into their book's design like Dianne Lynn Gardner did in this one!