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Charlie Brooks is the award-winning author of Greystone Valley, Reality Check, and Shadowslayers. He is a native of Vermont, where he got his start writing gaming articles in Dragon Magazine. His short story "Fantasy as you Like It" won the 2006 Chaffin Award for Fiction, and his tale "Eight-Bit Heaven" won the New Millennium Writings Fiction Award. In between writing novels, he practices juggling, magic tricks, and balloon animals. As of yet, only the magic tricks have made their way into his stories.
Reviewed by Si Ning Yeoh for Readers' Favorite
If you (or your kid!) are in the mood for a light-hearted story of magic and battles, humor and adventure, you might be interested in giving Charlie Brooks’ Greystone Valley a whirl. Greystone Valley tells the tale of Sarah, a dreamy young girl dealing with the death of her father. In her grief, she has withdrawn from her friends and family, taking refuge instead in the marvelous adventures her imagination and storybooks can conjure up. Her self-imposed isolation is interrupted, however, when she is unexpectedly plunged into the strange new world of Greystone Valley. Baffled and bewildered, she inadvertently attracts the unwanted attentions of an evil warlord bent on multiple world domination and battles with him and his monstrous beast-men army through dragon caves and magical castles. Along the way, she allies with Kay, an inept young wizard, Dax, a cheerless old warrior and Keeley, a chirpy little dragon, and through her adventures with them she is gradually reminded of the true value of friendship, loyalty, courage and home.
I found Charlie Brooks’ Greystone Valley to be a relaxing way to while away a lazy afternoon. My favorite part of the book was definitely Sarah’s companions, all of whom stole the show whenever they popped up in the plot. Each of them initially seemed friendless and were misfits in their own way - Kay with his ineptitude, Dax with his gloominess, and Keeley with her tiny size - so it was quite heartwarming to see them forge a strong bond of friendship and loyalty to each other and to Sarah. I only wish that we could have learnt more about their back story - the tantalizing hints we’re given about their past just makes me certain that any story focusing upon them would make for a vastly entertaining read too. All in all, I found this a fun read!
