Blog Tour: The Grip of God

 Blurb: (From Goodreads)

Duncan, BC Canada: Award Winning Writer Rebecca Hazell Releases First Book in Trilogy of Historical Fiction Novels

Rebecca Hazell's The Grip of God, the first novel in an epic historical trilogy, is available on amazon.com and its affiliates and by special order through your local bookstore. The saga’s heroine, Sofia, is a young princess of Kievan Rus. Clear eyed and intelligent, she recounts her capture in battle and life of slavery to a young army captain in the Mongol hordes that are flooding Europe. Not only is her life shattered, it is haunted by a prophecy that catalyzes bitter rivalries in her new master's powerful family. She must learn to survive in a world of total war, always seeking the love she once took for granted.
Sofia's story is based on actual historical events that determine her destiny. Readers will delight in this very personal and engaging tale from a time that set the stage for many of the conflicts of today's world.

Praise for the trilogy 

“How deftly and compellingly Hazell takes the reader with her into that mysterious and exotic world, and makes it all seem so very close to hand!” – Peter Conradi, Fellow of Britain's Royal Society of Literature and author of Iris Murdoch: A Life, and of A Very English Hero.

"I enjoyed watching her morph from a spoiled sheltered princess with slaves of her own, into a tough, savvy survivor, with a new awareness of social injustice. The book is action packed. I couldn't put it down." -- from a review on Amazon.com.

"I got completely caught up in the characters and story and always looked forward to getting back to them. What a fully fleshed and fascinating world you developed and it was wondrous to learn so much about that time and the Mongol culture. Your gifts come out in your lush descriptions of place and objects. All very vivid and colorful." --author Dede Crane Gaston

The novel is available both in paperback and Kindle versions and through your local bookstore by special order. The subsequent two novels in the trilogy are scheduled for publication later this year.

Buy Links: 

 Amazon

 Barnes & Noble

About:

Rebecca Hazell is a an award winning artist, author and educator. She has written, illustrated and published four non-fiction children’s books, created best selling educational filmstrips, designed educational craft kits for children and even created award winning needlepoint canvases.

She is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, and she holds an honours BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Russian and Chinese history.
Rebecca lived for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1988 she and her family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in 2006 she and her husband moved to Vancouver Island. They live near their two adult children in the beautiful Cowichan Valley.

Visit Rebecca:

Website | Goodreads | Facebook

My Thoughts:

 To say that this is an epic story would be a complete understatement. This is a massive book, but it doesn't feel like it. It's got a great story, a wonderfully developed main character, and threads upon threads of history woven into it. The book may be long, but the story moves at such a swift pace that once you get to the end, you are craving more.

Princess Sofia is such a unique character. She's headstrong, patient, kind, and intelligent.  She's loving and kind to everyone that she meets, yet also understands how the world works. You forget her age at the beginning, since she comes across so very mature from the start.

She's also incredibly tough.  As the story progresses, she is faced with hardship after hardship, and without her strength and faith, she would have crumbled. Instead she steels herself and learns how to survive in a strange and dangerous situation. Her determination to survive and move past her situation (trying not to spoil the story) makes this a very captivating read.  

Tour Schedule:
Monday, February 17Review at Must Read Faster

Tuesday, February 18Guest post/giveaway at Must Read Faster

Friday, February 21
Interview at Oh, For the Hook of a Book

Monday, February 24
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book

Wednesday, February 26
Review at A Rose in the City

Thursday, February 27
Review at Book Drunkard

Friday, February 28
Guest Post at Book Drunkard

Monday, March 3
Review at She is Too Fond of Books

Thursday, March 6
Review at Celticlady's Reviews

Friday, March 7
Review at Historical Fiction Obsession

Monday, March 10
Guest post/review/Giveaway at Lost in Books

Tuesday, March 11
Guest Post at The True Book Addict

Wednesday, March 12
Review at The True Book Addict

Thursday, March 13
Review at HF Book Muse- News
Review at Create with Joy

Friday, March 14
Guest post/giveaway at HF Book Muse- News
Guest post/giveaway/review at Le Vanity Victorienne