Academy of Secrets: From the Outcast Angels Christian Fantasy & Science Fiction series

by Michael Carney PH.D.

Overview

A young woman with a mysterious past seeks supernatural powers so that she can make a difference in the world. But can she avoid the grim fate prophesied by the demon Nekhbet?

"Your new favorite book! An absolute thrill ride that will keep you turning the pages until the end." - Christopher H., NetGalley

A thrilling fantasy set in Renaissance Italy.

It's the year 1610. The world is in grave danger if a long-missing artifact falls into the hands of the Academy of Secrets, a group whose members have gained unnatural powers through alchemy. And the young woman Chrymos may hold the key. But is she willing to leave behind all the people that she cares about?

And what about the OUTCAST ANGELS, a ragtag group of former angels exiled from Heaven at the time of the Great Rebellion, who are desperately trying to stop the Academy?

Will the Academy recover the missing artifact? What part will Chrymos play? And will the propheciesof the demon Nekhbet--that the artifact's recovery will trigger the Lost War--come true?

ACADEMY OF SECRETS is the first novel in the LOST WAR CHRONICLES, part of the OUTCAST ANGELS series of books by MICHAEL CARNEY.

An Epic Tale of Angels and Demons, with a hint of Alchemy

http: //outcastangels.com

For those who love Christian fantasy, historical fantasy adventure, epic fantasy, sword & sorcery, tales of great battles and continuing warfare between angels and demons.

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Here's what early readers have said about ACADEMY OF SECRETS):

• "Fast paced enjoyable read!" - Kevin Burt
• Chrymos is a wonderful character. Well developed, with an intriguing story-line that follows her journey from gutter-snipe to...well I can't tell you, that would be giving too much away." - Koeur, writing on GoodReads
• "Chrymos is an extremely relatable character. She cares deeply for those under her protection, especially the children that she takes care of. She has very valid reasons for her actions and thoughts. Even though this book takes place in the 1600's, it does not take the path of minimizing women or having illogical reasons for women to think and act a certain way." - Kim
• "The plot twists and turns but keeps you very engrossed and attached." - T.Vogt, 'Kindle Addict'

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780473355722
Publisher:	Netmarketing Services Limited
Publication date:	05/01/2016
Series:	Lost War Chronicles , #1
Pages:	444
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Michael Carney has been writing professionally since he was 17, which was a long time ago in a galaxy not so far away.

He began his writing career straight from high school, writing radio advertisements for a bright and shiny new radio station in the glorious South Island of New Zealand (only a few hours drive from that wonderful scenery made famous by Sir Peter Jackson in 'Lord of the Rings' and, latterly, 'The Hobbit').

In the decades since, Michael has carved out a career in advertising and marketing, as a copywriter, Media Director, Strategic Planning Director and Online Marketing specialist. These days he writes and administers online training courses covering a range of Social Media Marketing and eCommerce topics at http://NetmarketingCourses.com.

In addition to writing a towering inferno of newsletters, reports and presentations Michael is the author of "Trade Me Success Secrets" (first and second editions), the top-selling book about NZ's online auction site Trade Me.

In his spare time, Michael has also written (and mostly directed) a number of well-received stage plays over the years, some aimed at children and young adults, others produced for Christian audiences.

Michael has been planning out the exploits of the OUTCAST ANGELS for many years.

The Outcast Angels website is at http://OutcastAngels.com

Editorial Reviews

Your new favorite book! An absolute thrill ride that will keep you turning the pages until the end. - Christopher H,, writing on NetGalley

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Fast paced enjoyable read! - Kevin Burt

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Chrymos is a wonderful character. Well developed, with an intriguing story-line that follows her journey from gutter-snipe to...well I can't tell you, that would be giving too much away. - Koeur, writing on GoodReads

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Reasons I loved this book:
First and foremost, Chrymos is an extremely relatable character. She cares deeply for those under her protection, especially the children that she takes care of. She has very valid reasons for her actions and thoughts. Even though this book takes place in the 1600's, it does not take the path of minimizing women or having illogical reasons for women to think and act a certain way. Her views on opulence and her enemies in the book are well thought out and make sense. She is a very no nonsense type of character and does not spend the entire book agonizing over a male character as would have happened in many books I have read. This alone makes this book stand out from the rest. (I also love the twist that occurs because of her character, but because of spoiler reasons, that is all I will say).

My second reason for loving this book is the outcast angels. In many books that deal with angels and demons, both the angels and demons are typecast in a very stereotypical way. The demons in this book may have been so-they are evil, have no relationships with each other or anyone else, think only of doing evil deeds. However, the outcast angels in this book are not at all cast in a stereotypical role where they believe themselves better than the humans. These angels are very relatable, work well with humans, and seem to genuinely care about humans and the world. Yes, they are still working to stop a great evil and have a very lofty mission. BUT, they do not sacrifice humans 'for the greater good' as many stories would do.

My third reason for loving this book has to do with the special powers (yes, this is a slight spoiler, but we find this out fairly quick). In many books where humans are given powers, they are only given huge, life changing kinds of powers that can change the world. This is especially true of the main character usually. I love that some of the powers are small and insignificant and others seem to be huge, while other characters do not seem to manifest a power at all.

My fourth reason is that this book did not slow down at the end 50 or so pages before the end. This is something that really bugs me about some books. In this book, I could only tell in minutes how long was left, but there were still significant revelations to be had within the last 10 minutes of the book. It left it in such a way as to encourage the reader to immediately look into when the next book is due out.

My fifth and last reason to love this book has to do with how it deals with God and Christianity. This book very obviously has a Christian theme overarching the whole book. There are times when Chrymos is praying to God and asking for a sign of his presence or interference. In many books that have a Christian element to them, they would hold very obviously with either completely doubting God's existence or showing God's presence without a doubt in the book. However, neither of those options ever seemed very realistic to me and always left me thinking the book not as well put together. In this book, there is no real conclusive proof to me one way or another. Some may disagree with this, because yes there are angels. However, we see no concrete proof that God is involving himself in the lives of the characters and specifically with Chrymos. This is what I love about it, because in our lives we also have no proof, only faith. - KIM, writing on GOODREADS

From the Publisher