Review: Good
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 9, 2009
Trench warfare, World War I, mage's, dragons, zombies, and cruel death; they blend together in an odd short story; that is, oddly, engaging.Certainly, not what I expected, the story opens with incredibly well built imagery of trench warfare. Tension is well built. The impending doom of a battle is clear in the language. The author does a comendable job of creating the rules for the ensuing battle.There is an inflection point where the mages are introduced, the story goes south for a number of paragraphs. The word mage is repeated a lot. The repitition is abrupt compared to the introductory paragraphs where the author chose words very carefully with little repetition. More fantasy words are used and then it becomes clearer, this is real battle combined with a fantasy land battle. Although I hesitate to say fantasy, because this could also be viewed as how Marten copes with the horror around him; although not real, he sees the mages, zombies, and dragons as if they are real.Fortunately the story recovers very nicely and flows into a comprehensible and vivid description of the battle. Once the author settles into the type of phrasing from the early paragraphs, the story regains its power.This is an interesting blending of styles, historical and fantasy. Aside from the transition point, a very well written, visual account that is an engaging read.