Review: A seriealized novel gets a good start
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 16, 2012
The story of this book takes place in a unique world with two very different sets of people. The Sualwets live in the sea, though they can survive on land as well for a prolonged period of time. The Erdlanders are more like us and live on land only. There is a war going on between them, and there is a lot of distrust and hatred. In the middle of this war, Nilafay, a Sualwet gets pregnant with an Erdlander's child and hence Sera, her daughter has the characteristics of both. I loved the premise of the world created by the author and I believe that there is tremendous potential in this plot. However, that does not come through in this first part. I am quite sure that this will not be the case if and when we read further.Both the main characters in the book, Sera and Tor, really work well. They bath have a lot in common, and they immediately become attracted to each other, which I can completely understand. They both have something that is broken within them, and are both unique. They both have also lived away from civilization for a very long time and so feel somewhat out of place when they enter the civilized world. I loved the way in which they meet, how they get to know each other and how their relationship progresses in this book. Tor, who is the other main character in the book besides Sera, seems to have magic in him which adds a new dimension to the book. I'm quite interested in knowing how this relationship will progress further as the book continues.I found the Erdlanders' world to be something out of a science fiction story and there is a lot of mystery surrounding it. With all the organisation and technology, it initially may seem like a great place to be, but there is something sinister going on there. What this is, is not revealed yet. Also, there is nothing about the Sualwet world in this book. This is the problem with the place at which this book is cut off. There are just too many things about which we have no idea.This first part of the story is an introduction. As such, a lot of time is spent on introducing the world and developing the characters. This is exactly what I would expect from every good fantasy book. However, this also means that this part is lacking in action and this is something I sorely missed. In fact, the one page prologue has the most action in the book, and that is something that took place in the past. I think the author could have continued the story and stopped at a place which would keep the readers wanting more. The ending was a definite `miss' for me.This is the first time I have read a serialized novel, and starting this, I knew I was not going to get the whole story. I knew I would be left somewhere hanging. But it still left me a little jarred.I have a big issue with this book being serialized. This part of the book was released in October 2011 and the next part is scheduled to be released this month. That is a whole 6 months after the first one came out. With such a long wait between releases, I would tend to lose interest in this book very quickly. This book is definitely not like a series, with each book having a concrete conclusion. Each part seems to be randomly cut off, which leaves a bad taste. So, according to me, this is definitely not working. I know I could have loved this book if I would have read it in one go. But, will I continue to read it with no clear indication of how many parts are coming, or when? Frankly, this makes me really wary of putting in the effort to continue. I would suggest that the author take the time and think about how she wants to release each part. A serialized novel should have a release schedule telling us exactly when each part will release and how many parts to the story there will be. As it stands currently, I don't even know how much the author expects people to spend on reading her book completely.This book has huge potential. I can see an amazing story developing. Will it happen? I don't know. I just have to say that I will look at one more volume of this book and see if it holds my interest. If not, I am letting it go.