The Contract of Maddox Black
The Chronicles of Maddox Black
by E Earle
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Pub Date Jan 03 2017 | Archive Date Dec 25 2019
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Description
Determined. Daring. And soon to be Dead.
Hanging for witchcraft is the least of Maddox Black's problems. Becoming sworn to a demon Hunter is another…
Thought dead for seven years, Maddox returns home to Greyport, intent on claiming her deceased father’s infamous travel journals.
Before she can lay her hands on her inheritance, she discovers her drunkard cousin has already promised the journals to the Grim. To make things worse, the bankrupt Earl of Greyport is blackmailing her to race for them across the Damned Seas and a Hunter is knocking on her door, claiming she’s to join his Demon-exorcising Order.
Running out of options, Maddox does the unthinkable and strikes a deal with the unnatural Hunter, leading her down a whirlwind of walking corpses, using dismembered fingers as currency, burning down plague-ridden villages and bribed to find a mad prince’s kidnapped sister.
To survive, she will have to become the very thing people feared her to be...
Advance Praise
If you like Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, you will love this book! As I was reading this book, I told my husband - this will be a movie someday!
Interesting story of a heroine mariner wanting to claim her father's journals to open up the navigational passageways to return some semblance of prosperity to her town. To accomplish this she works hard to acquire a fishing sloop from a retired captain while trying to claim her inheritance. While she walks in the footsteps of her well known and respected father, she is hindered by whatever her mother was or was perceived to be. Things being what they are, she cannot accomplish her goals without creating new partnerships that take her on a bigger journey than what the readers initially signed on for.
I understand the author sailed the skeleton coast and crossed the Atlantic on a Super Maramu while putting the finishing touches on the next installation in the series. I'm already interested in the next story but now I'm curious how her gypsy-sailing adventure influenced the story of Maddox Black.
I was super excited to read this book as I have read plenty of blogs from the author about her world travels. Being a fictional piece I went in with an open mind and a tall rum and coke. To my delight the story took an unexpected turn from what seemed to be a Robin Hood of the sea feel to more pirates of the Caribbean vibes. I absolutely loved the story! Excited to start the next book in this series!
Great book. I finished it in two days because I couldn’t put it down. The sequel is just as good.
Available Editions
ISBN | 9781520303949 |
PRICE | $1.28 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
I love Earle's writing style, it was very easy to fall into this story and Maddox is a great spirited character who's easy to like and relate to.
Her journey, her rebellious nature and determined search for her father's book is engaging and keeps you turning pages.
A great read and easily recommended!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC!
I liked the way the author plunges the reader into her version of a swashbuckling hunt for identity in a dark world. How can any young female reader not love a female lead like this who shears her hair off in a moment of rebellious rage? It is easy to make the leap into the reality of the sea witch's daughter and the family stolen from her cousin. Overall, I find E.Earle very talented and I became interested in this world she created.
A heroine wanting to claim her father's journal. She want to open passageways to return semblance of prosperity to the town. She works hard to acquire a fishing sloop from a captain. While walking in the footsteps of her father, she is hindered by what her mother. She cannot accomplish her goal without new partnerships and take on a bigger journey.The story was written well and I enjoyed the writing style. The characters was sympatic and understandable. The plot nice made, very good story.
I really enjoyed this book and the main character Maddox. It brought you in right at the beginning and was hard to put down. It fed information about the setting/characters at just the right pace, which I don't often find in these epic adventure stories.
I loved this book! I can’t wait to read book 2! I hope to see the relationship between. Wulfrik and Little Wolf develop into something “more.” ;)
The only thing negative about this book was the formatting. I assume the printed book reads smoother than this digital copy.
****Review****
Action-packed world with a kick-ass heroine
This is a world I would love to visit. I found myself on an emotional roller coaster, Maddox Black only wants to open the damned gates but every step of the way she has to fight outside sources ready to kill her. I was hooked from the first page to the last. I actually groaned out loud (Annoying my partner in the process) when it ended.
This is a series I am going to follow closely. E.Earle has a unique was of writing drawing the reader with every page. Truethfully I am hoping the next book Wulfric and his little wolf evolve the relationship, they way he said mine made me instantly think they was mated.
Thank you to Netgalley/ E.Earle/BookGoSocial for the ARC in exchange for a honest review
I initially had a problem with this book - I was about to give up about 10% of the way through - much sooner than normal, but then suddenly the story improved and much that had been obscure began to make senses. All after she met The Hunter.
Maddy’s father was rather more than he seemed and thus his journals were rather more than just journals of his travels. Thus they became very important and more than The Grim were after them. Although it was stated that only Maddy and her father could read them as they were in a special code. And her mother was more than just a woman from the Half Woods too. And over the course of this story, Maddy begins to learn that she is more too. Powers have been inherited from her father as well as her mother.
Is it a good story? Well it is a gruesome story and not one to read at bedtime unless you want nightmares. The author has let their imagination run riot in the ‘how awful can this creature be?’ vein of story-telling. Will I read more of this story? Probably not as it is just a bit too gruesome for me, but I would like to know that the children are rescued unharmed, more than that doesn’t bother me. 4 stars in the end.
I thought the story was excellent and the gruesomely vile creatures and characters Maddox meets along the way fuel the story so well. It did have similar elements to The Witcher that I appreciated, even more so by the fact that the similarities were not blatant rip offs or TOO similar.
My only complaint was with the editing process. Words were left out of sentences, words were used in place of other words unintentionally, etc. This is the only reason this book AND the second book in this series were not given 5 stars. It becomes far more distracting for my brain than I would like and did end up taking away from the overall experience of reading an otherwise awesome story.
However, I enjoyed this first installment so much that I immediately bought the next one on Kindle so I could find out how the story progressed. I love the imagination and the characters' drive to accomplish what needs to be, regardless of how they are perceived. The author's ability to create and imagine a fun, dark, and adventurous narrative is wonderful, and stories like these are the reason I'll be a lifelong reader.