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“Nielson builds a world of heroes and villains, lust and love, vengefulness and vengeance that will appeal to any lover of the fantasy genre.” – GoodbooksToday.com Reviews
Ghost Dancer is a fantasy novella by author K.D. Nielson, weaving an intricate tale of vengeful spirits and fierce loyalty among friends and family. It brings to life the earthy inhabitants of the Haven of Areamea, a port where anything is possible even the impossible. When her friend Ambassador Acacia goes missing, Colonel Alera travels to Haven at the behest of her employer King Bolinor of Amberwine. Upon arrival she learns her friend’s body has been found, along with three men; all the victims of murder. The Ambassador’s body is covered in strange rune like markings. One of the three dead men is found to have been in disguise. Under the escort of Freeman Standish, Alera sets out to find the killer. Their travels lead them to the market place where human and elven slaves are being auctioned off to the highest bidders.
Cannibals and brutal rapists bid against tavern owners and nobles for the captured bounty. Alera buys an elven woman to save her from a group of brutal Blues, thus incurring their wrath as well as attracting the action of others. The elf is As-na, a Ghost Dancer or exorciser of ghosts and spirits attached to the living, who has a mysterious link with Alera’s past as well as her present. Together the trio must work to stop an evil that is growing and lurking within the bowels of the Arena, an area where death and deception abounds; an evil that could and will destroy everything if the Ghost Dancer cannot stop it.
The plot of Ghost Dancer is intriguing and well developed in such a short work. The characters intertwine skilfully and evoke feelings of love or hate, hope or fear as they dance through the readers mind. With an almost Tolkienesque quality Nielson builds a world of heroes and villains, lust and love, vengefulness and vengeance that will appeal to any lover of the fantasy genre.
