Hi Everyone! I recently read a delightful YA Fantasy. I liked it so much I decided to share my thoughts with you. Enjoy. 🙂

Tracks by K. M. Tolan

Tight, high-stakes plot, a sweet romance, gripping drama, intense action, solid world building, characters you’ll love to cheer on and others you’ll love to boo…Tracks by K. M. Tolan has it all.

The story starts with a good jolt of drama. At the tender age of twelve, Vincent watches, helpless, as his seven-year-old sister is swept away by a mysterious steam locomotive on rails that disappear. After that, the narrative jumps to ten years later–the mysterious tracks reappear and we join twenty-two-year old Vincent on his journey to find his sister.

Vincent travels to Hobohemia, a magical world of tracks, trains, and creatures, beautifully drawn by the author. The vivid fantasy setting along with an assortment of fascinating characters that both help and hinder Vincent’s quest (sorry, no spoilers here) kept me riveted to the page.

The author does a masterful job of exploring some big themes while entertaining us within the fantasy framework: family, home, redemption for past wrongs. One of my favorite lines from the book still haunts me:

“A man does what he has to far more than what he wants to.”

This right here is Vincent. Every step of his odyssey provides him with choices, and ultimately it’s a question of making the right ones for the sake of his family, to make a home, to rectify old mistakes…in short, good stuff!

TRACKS Blurb
Vincent’s sister is swept away by a steam locomotive riding rails that vanish along with her. Ten years later he rediscovers those tracks, and heads down them to bring her back.

Ever look out a train car’s window and think the world rushing by isn’t yours? Welcome to Hobohemia, where hobo kings vie with rail barons over the value of the human spirit, and steam engines still ply the living rails. Vincent arrives searching for his long lost sister, but quickly finds himself immersed in a battle to stop the Erie Railroad from unleashing a horror that will see the end of hobo jungles and craftsmen alike.

EXCERPT
Vincent’s jaw hung slack as the swirling steam formed into a discernible head and shoulders. He stared at a female figure similar to what was on the front of the hobo nickel. Top hat and all.

Her elfin chin lowered, parting vaporous lips. Smoky eyebrows rose, the apparition abruptly circling him before hovering above the pot… Keep Reading –>

TRACKS on Amazon | K.M. Tolan’s Web site