Review: Proper Fantasy Genre
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 16, 2013
It's good to read a proper Fantasy novel written in this century. They are getting harder to find with the increasingly blurred lines between genre descriptions. For fans of authors like Terry Brooks, PC Hodgell and Anne McCaffrey, this is an imaginative Fantasy that takes you into a well-developed alternate world. Even from the beginning I was impressed with the detail, such as describing a character's hair as "butternut curls," which I found very evocative of specific imagery.The story has some familiar themes such as a journey, a birthmark that is somehow related to a mysterious alternate identity for a character who *might* be a princess of another people, subtle magic, sometimes from jewels and wolves, but it also has very original elements including a type of intelligent creatures called chinuka that are unique to this world rather than the usual elves etc. that so many Fantasy stories have fallen back on since Tolkien.I particularly liked the idea of the daieoden, which I'm not going to explain as I don't like to give spoilers in reviews but it's related to the sort of subtle magic that I find is one of the strengths of the story. I also enjoyed the exotic feel that the names of people and places invokes; interesting and foreign sounding yet easy to sound out for anyone with at least a high school reading level.Most importantly, the story has plenty of action and holds interest as both the world and the characters develop. Near the end I was pleasantly surprised with some interesting (though familiar to me) higher metaphysical concepts within the context of the story. As it is the first book in a trilogy, there were also some plot elements that tease the reader with things yet to be resolved, but then I knew I was going to want to read the rest of the series early on. 4.5 stars out of 5.