Bookbag in the UK have posted their review of Wolfblade. It's a pretty nice review, all in all, even if the reviewer was actually surprised she enjoyed it:)

She has only a few complaints, though, and I can't say I blame her. They annoyed me too, but I was stuck with them.

Her first gripe was names...

Two fairly major characters are named Laran and Lernen and while they couldn't be more different personality-wise, the names are similar enough for me to get muddled up.

Oh, I hear you... and I feel your pain. This is what happens when you write prequels you never really planned to write. In the Demon Child Trilogy, the two characters were so minor they barely rated a mention. Then I had to make them major characters in this series. I had a bruised leg from kicking myself while writing this series for being so short-sighted:)

Then there's the magical race, called the Harshini who all seem to have hugely long names and are mostly referred to by their nicknames (so why bother with the long names)...

...because when I was young and foolish long, impossible-to -pronounce, alien-looking names seemed like a really clever idea... and then I wised up and realised long, impossible-to -pronounce, alien-looking names are, well, stupid (and worse, distracting), so I shortened them, leaving me open to this sort of perfectly valid criticism. Would-be writer's take note!

...and then there's just the unfortunate names such as the woman called Veruca.

Actually, I'm not sure what the problem is with this name. Is it a brand of UK condoms or something I don't know about? Hehehe

Anyway, bottom line, it's a great review. Thanks, Bookbag:)

Hi Jennifer...
thought I'd give you the heads up on Veruca.
In Scotland this is another name for a Wart. hehehehe.
Now you know....'unfortunate name'....
Love Karen

And in NZ as well so it's not just a Nth hemisphere thing.

Hahahaha... I made it up!

and then there is the Veruca gnome in The Hogfather by Pratchett... he goes around giving them to you! You find him where things are damp!

And there is the bretty Verruca in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.

What I love here is that you have sort of answered the review and have shared some interesting tidbits I did not know!

In DC I was having a difficult time with remembering the names of characters. In the first book you mention Jasnoff of Karion, king Hablet of Fardohnya and Lernon of Hythria. I got them confused all the time...right up until I'd say around the end of Treason Keep start of Harshini.

As for the names of the Harshini, I think it's only painful if you're made to spell them out correctly. *laughs* The shortened versions work just fine though.

I think the names used in both series are pretty consistent! which I think is the most important thing. I actually think the Medalodian names sound similar to the Hythrun and Fardohnyan's (Tarja-Alija, Mahina-Adrina etc) which is a little strange given the difference in their societies...as well as the fact they speak different languages. Oh that's right, the Hythruns seem to have last names that relate to their station in life.

(Krakenshield, Wolfblade, Hawksword...Mariner?) At least that's how I like to think of them.

And according to the above comment I think a lot!

*facepalm*

Well i quite liked the Harshini names - they are a different, impossible race, so why not give them different, impossible names? *g* Although I must admit the only ones I can remember off of the top of my head is Brakandaran, Shananara (what a tounge-twister!) and Glenanaran LOL.

Oh, and 'verruca' is a name for a plantar wart LOL:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantar_wart