Review: Lashway's Ascendance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 17, 2014
Budding author Andrew Lashway’s new book covers some ground which is oddly realistic for a fantasy novel. As seen by the Harry Potter novels, the story of the male Cinderella character has been growing in popularity. Merek is a young man who is responsible for just about all of the work in his home, but is treated with absolutely no respect. Instead, he is berated and abused, and he seeks an escape into a greater world. While not all young adults will relate to the themes of abuse, the need for escape is a common feeling for someone of Merek’s age, and it is captured well in Lashway’s novel.Thankfully, these themes do not comprise the whole of the book. There is still a great deal of room left for good old-fashioned fantasy and adventure. The kingdom of Wentana is given a fairly complex political background considering that the novel appears to be geared towards younger readers. More importantly, however, Wentana is given a populace of believable characters. Even those which the reader is not necessarily meant to like often have their sympathetic sides, so long as the reader is willing to look for them.Some of the writing is a little rough, but the majority of Lashway’s prose is excellent at portraying the landscape and populace of Wentana in a way that will convince the reader to continue exploring the kingdom page by page. Even before Merek becomes a knight and continues his journey with a well-rounded cast of friends, the world that Lashway has created will likely have the reader hooked. This is a relatively short read for a fantasy novel, so many readers will likely be awaiting Lashway’s next foray into the fantastical realms of fiction.