First Chapter Review: Golden Chariot by Chris Karlsen

I'm slightly changing the format of my first chapter reviews by eliminating the title and author line at the beginning of the post. That information is in the blog post's title and on the book cover. It seems redundant to me. :)

I won a copy of this book when I visited the author during a blog stop at The Dark Phantom Review. The synopsis of the book captured my attention, so I wanted to dig into it right away.

BLURB:  The rare discovery of a ship sunk during the time of the Trojan War has been found off the coast of Turkey, near Troy. Charlotte Dashiell is an American nautical archaeologist and thrilled to be part of the recovery team. The wreck may contain proof of her highly controversial theory about the Trojan War.

Charlotte is present when the Turkish government agent assigned to guard the site is murdered. Her possible involvement and a questionable connection to a private collector of black market relics bring her under suspicion. Atakan Vadim is the Turkish agent sent to investigate her. Unknown to either of them, the smuggler behind the murder plans to steal a valuable artifact and frame Charlotte for the theft...after they murder her.

COVER:  Great. Exactly what I would expect for this book. It captures the setting and the plot perfectly.

FIRST CHAPTER:  Charlotte is on a boat in Greece when she is awakened by an explosive sound. Traveling through the darkness she goes to find Ekrem and Heather. The friends soon meet up with a crewman who helps direct them to rescue boats, but they are separated.

KEEP READING:  Definitely. This is a different setting and plot than I would typically read, but the synopsis made me want to dive right in. I love history, so that this story will tie into the Trojan War adds excitement for me. The first chapter isn't long, but it's filled with suspense and danger. Karlsen drops us right into the action and keeps us on guard as Charlotte and her friends find each other and make their way on deck. I can't reveal more, but I will say the first chapter ends strongly and I am eager to continue.

File Size: 3348 KB

Print Length: 316 pages

Publisher: Books to Go Now (March 14, 2012)

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

ASIN: B007KNLC02

SRP: $2.99 for Kindle

I won a free copy of this book from a blog. I was not asked to write a review. A full review will follow at a later date. I received no monetary compensation of any kind for sharing my thoughts.

Guest Article about Book Covers at The Dark Phantom Review

I found an interesting guest article from author Lillie Ammann at The Dark Phantom Review blog today. Here's an excerpt:

Authors who write for large New York publishers often don’t see the cover art for their books until the cover has already been printed. I’m fortunate that my small press publisher, GASLight Publishing LLC, allowed me to have input into the cover design of Dream or Destiny.

The cover designer submitted a great first draft. The body of a woman in a nightgown lay on her side on a hardwood floor, and the spine of the book looked like a blood-splattered door jamb. However, in Dream or Destiny, the victim was shot while lying on her back in bed, and there was no blood-splattered door jamb in the story.

I gave the publisher several suggestions, but the cover designer couldn’t find stock photos that would work with any of my ideas. He suggested several photo Web sites, but the publisher and I couldn’t find anything that fit the story. GASLight’s publishing plan didn’t include original artwork, but we all became increasingly frustrated with the cover. Now I understood why book covers don’t always match the contents of the books.

Read more of this article here.