I met Chris Botkin a few weeks ago through an online group we’re both a part of. Someone in that group asked everyone about their hobbies, and there were a few writers in the group. That sort of spread off into a side discussion among the writers, and the next thing I knew Chris had read Four Things My Wife Hates About Mornings and was offering to court Jean if I kick an untimely bucket.

So, when someone reads Four Things and comes away with an understanding of how awesome Jean is, that person is okay with me.

Chris and I chatted online a little about the book, and he reviewed it on Amazon.

Then he started reading the Jackson Speed novels, and has left reviews on the first three Speed books.

Every night before I go to sleep I pray that when I wake up in the morning I will find that I have a new review on Amazon. And every morning I rush downstairs in my pajamas, sit under the Amazon tree and call up my list of books hoping to unwrap a shiny new review.

Most mornings I am disappointed.

But lately I’ve been able to unwrap Chris’s reviews, and they are among the shiniest of reviews.

I love a review – even a 1-star review that complains about 15-year-olds getting laid – and I treasure every review I’ve ever received. But Chris’s reviews are magnificent. Even if you don’t want to read any of my novels, you should seek out and read Chris’s reviews on Amazon because they make my novels sound very interesting!

As I noted, Chris is also a writer. I am reading his novel Water Music, but it’s a little bit longer than a Jackson Speed novel (by about 250,000 words!) and so I’m still working my way through Water Music.

Chris is a talented craftsman with words. He constructs his sentences with a cadence that marches through his story. In Water Music, he’s created a vocabulary of words for his imagined universe. Typically, this is the sort of thing I find tedious and might well turn me off of a book, but Chris’s language flows seamlessly into the consciousness of the reader and is easily interpreted.

I’m not far enough into Water Music to provide anything near a review, but I can say that I’m looking forward to the moments I can snatch away to read it. There is something very simple and endearing about the universe of the Traeppedelferes, and I am easily caught up in it. Also, reading it, I have an expectancy that each new chapter is going to bring me deeper into this world and it will be a lovely immersion.

Where I’m at in Water Music, there is something a little magical and a little sinister going on in the world of the Traeppedelferes, and I’m excited to know where Chris is taking me.

You should check it out if you enjoy fantasy novels, which I ordinarily do not. So, maybe you should check it out even if you don’t enjoy fantasy novels.

When I am finished reading it, I’ll give it a proper review. But I have this feeling about Water Music that even when I have completed reading it I will not be finished with it. It seems to me that Water Music is the sort of book that stays with you even when you hit the end.