Title: Branded
Author: Joseph T. Humphrey
Publisher: Intrepid Pen Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1955729017
Pages: 494
Genre: Teen & Young Adult Christian Fantasy
Reviewed by: Anthony Avina
Hollywood Book Reviews
Memories are a tricky thing. They can easily define who we are, and can help leave a blueprint or road map of the roads we’ve taken to get to the point we are at now in this thing we call life. The mission to regain lost memories can become quite a personal and important journey for people to take, when they have lost those precious moments in their lives. As actor Macaulay Culkin once said, “I am a collection of thoughts and memories, likes and dislikes. I am the things that have happened to me and the sum of everything I’ve ever done. I am the clothes I wear on my back. I am every place and every person and every object I have ever come across. I am a bag of bones stuck to a very large rock spinning thousands miles an hour.”
In author Joseph T. Humphrey’s Branded, the author delves into the concept of memory and how the lack of a past life’s memory can bring destiny to our doorsteps in the blink of an eye. After a young girl arrives in his classroom screaming at him to run before being hauled away, young Henry Murphy’s world is turned upside down. He discovers he and his parents were from another world once, having fled powerful dark beings known as the Nekura, and his parents never told him because their memories of that place were taken from them. Having hid the location of a powerful source of energy, Henry is thrust into a battle against the darkness using the Light to combat the Nekura and stop them from using the power source to destroy both worlds in the process.
This is an exhilarating and chilling Young Adult Fantasy and Mystery Thriller! The author has a great style of writing which really hones in on the personal tensions and emotions these characters are experiencing as this frightening new world comes melting into the world they once knew as home. The imagery and descriptive style of writing the author employs here highlights the scary experience that change and discovery can have on a person, let alone the change that comes with discovering another world existing other than your own. The action and mythology the author has developed in this narrative are so engaging, and the author finds a great balance of world-building and mythology with the more personal intricacies of these characters. Most interestingly are what makes up their bonds with one another.
The novel itself is perfect for anyone who is a fan of Young adults reads, especially Mystery, Suspense, and Fantasy as a whole. As a fan of all these genres, I really found myself invested in the story right from the haunting first chapters, as this seemingly ordinary day turns spine-chilling as a friend of the protagonist is carted off by unknown forces. The concept of memory and destiny are such fun themes to play with in this story; I couldn’t help but feel the author did a great job of subtly laying in themes of the unknown hero hiding on a new world and destined for so much more. Similar, yet different enough from the origins of DC’s Superman, it feels like its own unique brand of storytelling, as readers will be emerged into an original fantasy world.
A memorable, entertaining, and gripping Fantasy and Mystery Thriller, author Joseph T. Humphrey’s Branded is a must-read novel. The perfect blend of teenage character study, mind-bending fantasy, and frightening scares from creatures of the darkness, all come together to elevate the danger and urgency of these kid’s mission into the unknown. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!