Review: The best kind of epic fantasy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 26, 2011
This is an example of the best sort of high fantasy. The worldbuilding and detail that went into it reminds me of Tad Williams, an author I adore. The detail of the opposing peoples and belief systems, as well as the role of the gods, was fascinating and well-realized. The many characters required for a story of this magnitude were varied and complex. As the story and the world goes, it's what every high fantasy reader is looking for.It's also a great example of the detail and care every self-published writer needs to take with his product in order to be taken seriously. The cover is breathtaking, the formatting flawless, it was properly proofread. There are none of the punctuation and grammar distractions that self-published novels are often riddled with.I love it in almost every way. That said, I had reservations about the actual prose. The style of writing is sometimes distracting, and detrimental to the characters and the conflict. Typically, this sort of thing is a real problem for me, but it's a huge statement about the quality of the storyline, the pacing and development, that I hung in there to see how it all ended. Every beginning writer (me) has his weaknesses, and I think this is a good one to have. It's a skill that can be learned in the way the imagination and creativity necessary to build this type of story cannot be.In any case, The Black God's War is definitely worth the read for the places it will take you. It's a great ride.