Review: Good potential
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 13, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011The Raie'Chaelia by Melissa DouthitThe Raie'Chaelia, by Melissa Douthit, is a young adult high fantasy novel. It's set in Naeo'Gaea, a world with kingdoms and magic. The world is actually one of the best draws about this novel. When you begin it seems like it's going to be a very normal fantasy world, but the more you read the more interesting it gets. I think I would be able to appreciate the world more if the map was better, but alas, maps are always crappy looking on the kindle. A format issue, not and editing issue.There are some editing issues however. There are some places where it feels like there was supposed to be a different word there, some sentences that are clumsily put together and the changes in voice are often a little jarring, sometimes happening mid-paragraph.The plot is pretty basic as fantasy novels go. Our scrappy girl goes on a quest after her home is destroyed and meets friends on the way to seeking her fate. One problem is that the book starts really slowly, with little action and mostly descriptions of our heroine, the landscape, and flashbacks to what happened before she started on her journey. What started before the journey is so interesting and action packed that I often got very frustrated because if that was the interesting part, then why didn't we start there? It was pretty difficult for me to push through, because I'm the kind of person who really wants the book to hook me in the first 20 pages. The characters are the best draw. The dialogue is very good, though Douthit falls into the trap of using dialogue to explain things that one would guess are obvious to people of the world, so that it sometimes feels a little contrived.All in all it is a pretty good first novel, and I think that young readers will be satisfied with it, and at 2.99$ you can't really beat the price. Adult readers, however, may not be interested in this one, especially if they lean toward the more modern dark fantasies.