In the opening volume of a complex new fantasy series, Hammer offers readers lavish battles, dizzying amounts of gore, and a system of magical patrons called Battle Angels that fans of the Final Fantasy video games should enjoy. - Kirkus Reviews
The battles, during which the Sons of Odin-and Jean, the Daughter of Thor-summon superpowered guardians, are splatterfests (demons are blasted "into dust and smoke, torn flesh and large spurts of dark blood") - Kirkus Reviews
A marathon of fantasy gore and slow-building characterizations in a land confronting demons. - Kirkus Reviews
In this second installment of Hammer's (Odin's Awakening, 2014) epic fantasy series, the complexities of magical warfare and romantic loyalties continue. Taking center stage once again, however, are the action sequences. They're akin to panoramic oil paintings of orgiastic chaos, as when "Hawks, Crows and Pixies broke away from the Shadow Men to punch through vampire chests in bright flares....Skulls exploded on impact, limbs falling as torn debris." - Kirkus Reviews
This immersive, colorful, and action-oriented fantasy series smoothly maintains its rapid pace. - Kirkus Reviews
In his third installment of the series, Hammer continues to tap a vein of phantasmagoric mayhem that should mesmerize video gamers and fans of the Lord of the Rings alike. Nearly every page displays eye-popping battle visuals: "Lightning filled the sky, a rainbow of coloured bolts, a thousand falling every second to turn the grey haze into a bright neon flare." - Kirkus Reviews
Provides an action-packed turning point in the series and sets the stage for fresh adventures. - Kirkus
Hammer goes back to the deep imaginative well that has served him in the four prior volumes of this fantasy series. This volume explores father-son relationships and the missed opportunities therein. - Kirkus Reviews
A sweetly surprising finale expands the potential of subsequent volumes. Readers craving another dose of superlative magic battles and ambitious plotting won't be disappointed. - Kirkus Reviews
Hammer, L. a.: -
L. A. Hammer has a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art Painting and Literature studies. In 2020 he was awarded to the Degree of Master of Arts, Writing and Literature, Specialising in Creative Writing. His Masters' exegesis was of a new King Arthur mash up, with Cleopatra, Robin Hood, Julius Caesar and Dracula, all rolled into the one adventure, and that's just a few of the planned names to feature in this symbolic reality where animals and humans fight side by side, and magicians are a rare breed. The exegesis was complemented with studies into Arthurian Celtic Legends of the 12th to 13th centuries A.D. such as Wolfram's Parzival, and looking at religious symbolism in such stories, as well as studying Joseph Campbell's hero journey, Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, Carl Jung, and other related texts, such as Nicholas J. Higham's King Arthur text, and Stephen Knight's texts on Robin Hood. This new series; Book One of the Heroes of Legend was first published May 2021.
Hammer has walked the Kokoda Track at age 16, and has swum with white tipped reef sharks on the Great Barrier Reef in northern Queensland at a similar age. His childhood holidays included many trips to Queensland, including Expo '88, and a crocodile cruise at night where he played spotlight boy at the front of the boat. He fed the giant milkfish at the Darwin Aquascene at about age 8. He has many fond memories of those days, as well as his high school studies at a country college where he flourished in his love for art, reading and writing, drama, though his passion for reading fantasy novels began at a much younger age.
Books Four to Five of Sons of Odin was published in print late 2020. There will be another 800 page Book Six at least, or perhaps a Books Six to Seven in one printed volume, with a possible middle series of six books that detail the early adventures of Highlander's son and grandson, Pendral and Rayne Dragonsword.
