Two Great New Reviews of The Termite Queen, v.1!

My enthusiastic thanks to
Erika M Szabo and Shebat Legion

for the following 5-star reviews of

The Termite Queen, v.1: The Speaking of the Dead. 

Check out Erika's books at Amazon and at Smashwords. 

Find all of Shebat Legion's books at Amazon.

Review by Shebat Legion

Where does one even start? Brilliant? Yes. Original? Absolutely. Well written? Without a doubt! Comparisons come to mind; Dune, Watership Down, The Jungle Books… but that is where it breaks down for me as truly, it is rare to come across a work of fiction that carries the reader this many light years beyond that of the ordinary. I could attempt to describe the premise of the story but that would be doing you, hopeful reader, an injustice. I would only be describing the setting and not the nuance, this is something that needs to be discovered for yourself. I feel fortunate to have been introduced to this series written by Lorinda J. Taylor and would have no hesitation about placing it next to my most beloved books on my bookshelf. My only disappointment is that this book has not plummeted up the charts as it deserves. Read it for yourself and explain this to me, please. If I could give this book more than five stars I would gladly do so.

Review by Erika M Szabo

This book made it to my bookshelf's "read it again in print" section. When I first saw the book cover, I scrolled over it without giving it a second glance. The title didn't trigger my want-to-read-this-book either. Only after I read Lorinda's short story that she donated to my Read for Animals project, her writing style piqued my interest. I started reading the book one in her series and her storytelling and writing style captured me instantly. Her dialog are amazingly written and the characters are so easy to connect with. The names were confusing at first and hard to remember, but after a few pages A'a'ma became my instant favorite and the names of different species also fell into place and now they just roll off my tongue when I speak the names out loud, such as Tish'ra that I wanted so badly to stay alive, Kwi'ga'ga'tei or Ta'rei'so'cha. I never thought possible to forget that I was reading about a bird, termite or other species; I paid attention to their personality. Lorinda masterfully triggers emotions in the reader with a few carefully placed words, builds tension and drives the story; however she is a bit long winded when it comes to describing the anatomy of the species and interplanetary customs and practices. Although it is a bit slow reading those parts, her attention to meticulous details is unbelievable, thus I caught myself reading certain pages twice in order to take in those details instead of skimming through the less interesting parts. I didn't like Gwidian at first, but Lorinda had built their relationship into a love story so masterfully, that eventually I accepted him. The termite planet and complex society is created brilliantly with conspiracy, intrigue and assassination plot to commit murder. Overall this story is very enjoyable, the intriguing story line and budding love story sucks you right in. Highly recommend it to readers who like a fascinating, complex and perfectly detailed story.