THE PERFECT PAIR DOLPHIN TRILOGY'S MESSAGE MORPHS INTO DARK FANTASY - REVIEW BY CRAIG NICO

Belinda Fellgate: The Kiss of Flauros

Trying to look for the perfect "POP" word to start my review is proving to be quite a challenge. Why? Because I absolutely loved everything about this book and, for the life of me, can't think of any word stronger than the word "LOVE"!

Paranormal forces close in on Belinda and her companions when they visit the dreaded Circus Macabre. I can guarantee that you will form an instant attachment to the characters, who are incredibly relatable with NO disconnect whatsoever.

Understand, though, this attachment actually starts in book one, Belinda Fellgate: HellCat, but grows exponentially in the Kiss of Flauros.

Without giving too much away, have you ever read a book that has the ability to scare you? That has an ominous aura? Well, trust me, you’ve found it here! When a book has a character comparable to Dracula, a green black-eyed giant with brown-stained canine teeth, behemoths with men’s bodies and bulls’ heads, and a red frog-like creature called “Snotnose”, what more can I say? And if that’s not enough, enter the Dark Lord himself - Satan!

Welcome to Hell’s insurgents!

As with the first novella, HellCat, predictability is STILL NOT THERE. Every paragraph leaves you guessing; wanting and needing to know more.

Will Belinda receive the Kiss of Flauros on her fifteenth birthday? Flauros, the ferocious panther demon whose legions guard Hell’s Gate. If Belinda accepts his kiss, she will achieve maximum power to challenge the most evil demon of all: Malamok.

I could go on and on, but I'll give you just one more tidbit. Amongst the new characters in this book is a long-haired boy. He is important because he highlights one of the most pivotal points this novella makes: the gargantuan horrors that captive dolphins suffer in the aqua-circus.

The authors have cleverly woven into this text the amazing true story of "The Perfect Pair": the two beautiful armor-clad Atlanteans who once performed and perished in the aqua-circus - a facet of this story I truly loved. Have the authors deliberately used the concept of the fictional Circus Macabre as a parallel to the horrors of the real-life aqua-circus?

I can't begin to tell you how proud I am to see this message - possibly one of the most pivotal anyone can imagine – because I'm not exaggerating when I say that, to my mind, the horrors of dolphin captivity are second to none.

This is a spectacular read, carrying illuminating insights, and I am literally counting the days until the release of the next novella, Belinda Fellgate: Malamok.

​Craig Nico, ARA