Feeling Challengy?

I always like book challenges - usually they help to expand my reading material and I have discovered some new authors. I am currently embroiled in the Bravest Challenge courtesy of one Sam Sykes, but that did not stop me picking up another gauntlet!

Here is the challenge:

So, we're trying to find those "diamonds in the rough". And while we know this won't work out best for everyone, as a collective, maybe we can find some really good stuff that no one has read.

Consider yourself challenged.

If you have a blog, let us know and we'll link to you when you get a review up of your challenge book. If not, give us a comment or an email and we'll post about it.

Sounds good, non? Find full details of the challenge and information about other books here.

For my challenge I have picked the following book:



Here is the blurb:

The god Orok gave to his five children crystals of surpassing beauty, to be embedded in The Orokon to ensure the harmony of life - until the dark god Koros stole his crystal and plunged the world into chaos and despair. In the village of Irion the crippled boy Jemany Vexing, bastard son of the beautiful but frail Lady Elabeth, lives in the dilapidated castle with his dying mother and his fanatical Aunt Umbecca. Ela, seduced, it is believed, by a common soldier, is a social outcast, while her dashing brother Tor is a traitor, wanted for crimes against the false king. Unable to walk, Jem is condemned to a wretched half-life, until he meets a mysterious dwarf ...and with his new strength comes a new friendship, with the wild girl Catayane; their love holds the secret to incredible magical powers. As the horrors of the Bluejacket regime begin, so Jem becomes aware of his greater destiny, for his is the quest to find and reunite the five crystals of The Orokon. But he is not the only seeker: the evil sorcerer Toth-Vexrah has his own plans and will let no one stand in his way.

Traditional epic fantasy at its best!

So, I will be working away at this book behind the scenes to tell you whether it is, in fact, a diamond in the rough. Wish me luck!