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Paperback Book Details
  • 08/2013
  • 9780615838236 0615838235
  • 435 pages
  • $$14.99 (paperback), $2.99 (eBook)
Cornerstone

Adult; Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror; (Market)

Lieutenant Mordecai must protect a young heiress from assassins while she desperately searches for an ancient relic. They must hurry to find the stone before a malevolent madman uses its power to change the world. But even if they win, the lieutenant's problems are far from over. Will he destroy the dangerous relic, give it to the heiress, or steal the stone for himself?
Reviews
Cornerstone Review by SuperFastReader.com

Synopsis: 

Tasked with protecting a vulnerable heiress pursing arcane knowledge, an elite soldier finds himself following her to an ancient city in pursuit of a madman and an object that grants ultimate power.

Review: 

Cornerstone is a solid debut, offering a world with strong possibilities for a developed storyline. I think Peter Diamantopoulos was smart in the choices he made regarding point of view and structure, because he did keep me guessing throughout. I really hope that in the second book he develops his ideas further than he does here, and capitalizes on the strong cliffhanger he set up.

Cornerstone review from Fantascize.com


Cornerstone by Peter Michael Diamantopoulos is an intriguing maze of motivations and backstory all told from a first-person point of view. 

It centers on a soldier named Mordecai relaying his tale to the general, Uriah, and the arbiter, Rehoboth. As he is being interrogated, the past events unfold for the reader. At first, he journeys with a teenage heiress Amethyst and her teacher Damascus to protect her from assassination attempts. Afterwards, he continues with them in their quest for the Cornerstone in the hope of preventing war. 

Amethyst is an interesting mixture of a competence, self-reliance and naiveté, which is both her strength and weakness. Damascus is both wise and mysterious, and neither the reader nor Mordecai are entirely sure whether or not to trust him, but there is an incredibly strong bond between pupil and tutor. 

Mordecai himself is a little hard to pin down, dark and self-deprecating, and simultaneously both out for himself and looking at the bigger picture. He is willing to kill in order to protect the mission and Amethyst. His tragic backstory comes out in different pieces as Amethyst grows to know him better. 

The first person point of view allows us to see the world as Mordecai does, but it also allows for the commentary and questions of the general and the arbiter. This helps us see the precarious situation that Mordecai and Damascus find themselves in at the end of their journey, and it pulls the reader along the journey in order to solve the many mysteries presented. The ending was surprising and shocking and yet made perfect sense. 

We never forget that Mordecai is telling his tale, first to his interrogators and then to us. Mordecai also questions and reflects on his experiences, which causes those listening to become impatient, but these pauses give us insight into his character and show his sense of bravery in the face of questioning, even with his life on the line. He attempts to show exactly what he was thinking at the time in order to vindicate both Damascus and himself in the mind of the interrogators and to shed some doubt on exactly how everything happened—because he has his own goal in mind. We also don’t see anything except what Mordecai observes or tells. 

The themes of good and evil and their relation to the individual are examined. Mordecai also asks his audience to consider how the choices we make, well-intentioned or not, affect the world around us. Manipulation plays a role, as does wisdom. The story often brings up questions of truth and duty in the face of orders that one believes to be wrong. I personally can’t wait to read more of Diamantopoulos’s work.

Jean Hall's review for Reader's Favorite

Lieutenant Mordecai is brought in front of his superiors to defend his actions and his loyalties. There has been an assassination attempt on the life of teenage heiress Amethyst, whom he protected against a firebomb. He is confident as a trainer of the Vanguard soldiers that are sworn to protect the kingdom of Estavion. He narrates his story, and the reader follows along. Lieutenant Mordecai first presents himself as a bold hero, but his account becomes less reliable as the story progresses.

The kingdom has an epidemic of drought and famine which has stirred up old rivalries. Protecting the heiress and harnessing the power of the mysterious cornerstone is Mordecai's quest. He takes the heiress away from the kingdom to save her life. Princess Amethyst's tutor Damascus goes along with them on a silk-sailed ship. Amethyst and her tutor exhibit surprising magical powers. The Glacian people are a threat to the safety of Amethyst and the continuity of the kingdom. But the Glacians are not the only danger in a world where men are not gods or angels.

Peter Michael Diamantopoulos in Cornerstone has created a fantasy world with hidden motives and grand adventures. The author uses lofty and clear prose. A description of a diplomatic summit shows the people in attendance, "It was a painting of harmonious chaos, like rustling fields of wheat." Cornerstone is an innovative story of palace intrigue and mystical adventure.

Rating: five stars

Review by Brian Driver (Amazon top 1000 reviewer)

For those who DO NOT like long reviews, you can simply read the rest of the paragraph: simply put, CORNERSTONE is a terrific novel – from start to finish. If “cookie-cutter” fantasy is not your style – if you’re tired of books that are imitative of one another, then CORNERSTONE is the book for you.

Are you still here? Well, if you need proof, go ahead and read the beginning of the book. Download the sample Kindle offers, and begin reading it. See how intriguing it is…and see if you can put it down. I will tell you that this book hooked me from the very beginning, and I found myself immediately immersed in its blend of charmingly romantic Old World culture, violently served sword-and-cutlass battles, and surprisingly effective magical fantasy. But what HOOKED me occurred chapters later, once I’d already been more than satisfied by the writer’s capable technique: it was when things went quite literally south, and when the romantic stereotypes began being broken.

As I’ve said, the intrigue of this tale began within the opening chapter, during which the narrator – a heroic and proven lieutenant named Mordecai -- is speaking to the inquisitors of a government interrogation as well as narrating the events of recent months to them. The great success of this book is not only that both narratives WORK, they are essential to the story.

While the inquisitors halt the action quite often to contest or clarify a narrative point – to the lieutenant’s growing annoyance – the real story depends upon the lieutenant’s testimony, which is centered upon his protective escort of a young, beautiful woman who was nearly assassinated within the opening of the book; and her mentor: a wise, venerated wizard who bristles at Mordecai’s very presence -- despite the fact he has just saved her life. Our trio is taking a voyage via a remarkably fast sailboat known as a kite runner to a remote, mythic location where the course of their investigation might just save the world, or plunge it into ruination.

What I loved about Diamantopolous’ writing style is that it displays a far more assured and clever hand than anyone who is writing a debut novel has a right to possess: his twin voices in this book are stunningly detailed and powerful, and the force of his character’s narratives is one that would cripple the story were it told by anything less than his more-than-capable exposition. I felt that the world he created is as fully formed and descriptive as any author's I’ve seen. His depiction of this world leaps off the page as assuredly as if he were reciting the details of a real world peopled by complex societies and their actual histories. Whether he is detailing the workings of sailing vessels, or alluding to the ancient, learned cultural forebears who serve as the quasi-religious backbone of their present society, the author seems to be recounting minutiae as effortlessly as if he had lived there himself. I felt that this society LIVED, as did the events within it.

I would be remiss if I did not warn you that this tale has a ever-deepening dark side, too: while it is at once a picturesque, quaint book in which characters travel by horse or boat, and they speak quite often with a formal phrasing (again, expertly handled by the author), the events that happen within this story can be murderously dark – even downright ugly. This is not a book of mere pleasantries, there is a seedy, hideous underbelly of life that lives at the heart of this tale, and never let it be said I didn’t notify you.

To further testify to the book’s power, upon finishing it I rushed off to the author’s website to sample the series’ FAQ page and then glimpse a long letter which provides a kind of segue from CORNERSTONE to the following novels in the series, RESONANCE, ARTIFICE, and FULCRUM. A hint: DON’T do this UNTIL you finish the novel, at which point you’ll probably need no reminding. There are several other intriguing elements on the site, including artwork and other items that inspired the author’s vision of the characters and places at the core of the book, as well as a little information on the rest of the ”Touchstone” series he is writing, but I’m glad I waited to view them, too.

My hat is off to Mr. Diamantopolous. This is a hell of a book, and readers will understand the weight of that phrase once they finally – and reluctantly – have to close this volume.

Formats
Paperback Book Details
  • 08/2013
  • 9780615838236 0615838235
  • 435 pages
  • $$14.99 (paperback), $2.99 (eBook)
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