The Labyrinth by Dorian Zari

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424165

This was a pretty absorbing read. The pacing was slow to begin with, but after I’d read about a half of the book, things started happening very quickly and I felt it was harder to put down.
Download from Smashwords here.

For a little about Dorian Zari, here’s an excerpt from his website:

And you still want to know where I'm from? Fine. I come from the land of Vlad the Impaler (which by the way was his stripper name - trust me, we learned about him in history class), and hop between Romania and the UK - another country which has a seemingly immortal monarch.

As for my past. Each person is the willing or unwilling, knowing or unknowing, author of their own works of art.

They write, paint and sing it with every breath, call it their life. Even though the chapters in mine are full of exclamation and question marks, stained pages and worn covers, I never believed in releasing a work of art before it’s finished.

About The Labyrinth

What I didn’t like so much: the pacing wasn’t perfect. I felt the first quarter drag terribly. It took a long while of determined reading to feel like I was getting anywhere, and when I did realise a little bit about what was going on, I felt it was time to move on. “All right I get it, what next?”

It was very wordy. That wasn’t always a bad thing, because most of it was thoroughly entertaining, but at times I just wanted it to get to the point. The Awakener for example. Honestly, woman, just skip every second word, pleeease. Some dialogue felt very forced – for example Dan’s conversation with his psychologist. I think I’d have beaten her over the head with my cane before answering her terribly obvious and condescending questions.

What I did like: lots! Almost everything else. Zari has a beautiful and engrossing writing style. His characters are solid and likeable. My pick is that Zach is Zari’s personal favourite – he has all the best lines, and clearly he had a lot of fun creating him and getting to know him. I found myself guiltily enjoying his character from the very start, and after that he just got better and better.

The creepy paranormal aspect is really quite fascinating. Zari presents his readers with the story of soul mates from a completely new perspective. And although this is a story about superhuman powers and about “chosen ones”, that aspect is new too. There were very few times during the book when I felt I knew where it was headed, and I really enjoyed the surprises.

I am happy to recommend this book to thriller or paranormal fans. Don’t read it if you’re a bit squeamish… there’s a bit of blood and gore, which is fairly central to the whole plot.

Here's a link to buy the book on Smashwords, in whichever format you prefer. $2 - that's a great price! It's well worth it - a fraction of the cost of a book from the big publishers!
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424165