Review: The Holder's Dominion by Genese Davis

The Holder's Dominion by Genese Davis
Release Date: March 1 2013
Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press
Format: ARC Paperback
Pages:392
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Publisher

Goodreads Synopsis:
After her father’s death on a mountain rescue mission, Kaylie Ames watched her family shatter. She fled Tacoma for college in faraway Austin, figuring that even the worst campus drama would be a relief. But when her old friend Elliott turns up on his knees in the grocery store aisle, raving about something called a morphis, Kaylie feels compelled to enter Elliott’s unfamiliar world.

Guided by Elliott and his friends, Kaylie signs on to the massively popular online game Edannair. There she discovers a world of beautiful vistas and magical creatures, where people from all over the globe step into the roles of warriors on fantastical quests. But a real-world evil threatens the players: the mysterious Holder, leader of the elite team known as Sarkmarr, is coercing his followers into traumatic offline dares known as “morphis assignments.” To save her friends, Kaylie must infiltrate Sarkmarr and survive the Holder’s tests. 

Will she find the courage there to hold her real-world family together?

My Thoughts:

Holy WOW! This book was awesome! I absolutely loved every word of it! I feel
honored to be one of the first to read it, before it hits the bookstores even.

Kaylie Amos suffered a horrible tragedy. She lost her father to mysterious
circumstances. Her mother reacted by completely shutting down, acting as if her husband
never existed. No one could mention him and the pictures were all put away. In turn, this
causes Kaylie’s brother Hunter to act out by running away for days at a time. Kaylie does
the only think she thinks she can do to cope, she runs away to college.

While there, she reconnects with a childhood friend, who introduces her to the
most amazing online world. But while the game world itself is awesome, awe-inspiring
and beautiful, Kaylie discovers that people are doing real-life challenges
called ‘morphises’, which are causing real life pain and trauma all for the approval of a
mysterious man called ‘The Holder’. But Kaylie sees the way he treats people. Why
would anyone go through this for anyone so nasty? Just how deep into the game is Kaylie
willing to go? Will she begin her own morphises?

I really like Kaylie as a character. Watching her struggle with the pain of losing
not just her dad, but really her family as a whole, was heart-breaking. At times,
throughout the book, I was almost in tears. Kaylie’s character developed nicely
throughout the story; her reactions to situations were natural and believeable.. I couldn’t
help but hope that she would hook up with Perdonic, or Rawley, two of my favorite
characters. Perdonic was a great mentor, supporting kaylie in the game, while Rawley
was the perfect antagonist. Ms. Davis gave both character’s substance and terrific
personalities.

Ms. Davis descriptions of the online world of Edannair were so detailed, so
beautiful, amazing and intriguing that I actually googled it to see if it was real. Sadly, it is
not, but I don’t doubt that once this book gets out, someone will develop it. Or rather,
many some ones. Will it be as big as World of Warcraft or Dungeons & Dragons?
Maybe; I hope so. I will definitely recommend ‘The Holder’s Dominion’ to anyone and
everyone, not just readers of a genre or videogamers. It is an amazing story that flows
beautifully, catches the reader’s interest very quickly and leaves you wanting more. My
only question—will there be a sequel?

I personally enjoy playing Role Playing Games (RPG) and adventure games with
my husband and children. I have played some online games and definitely would enjoy
Edannair. Do you play video games? Online or counsel games? What kind of games do
you enjoy playing?