Review: Secrets of the Ether All Mankind is Born From
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 1, 2012
The title of this review comes from a rather beautiful line from this novelette. I had high expectations from this story as I have read some of Hall's previous work before and I was not disappointed by far.As usual Bryan sketches out the literary equivalent of black and gray shades creating an exquisitely layered sense of unnerving darkness. His characters rule the stage in this story, showing rich complexity in their behavior and interactions. I'm definitely looking forward to the first novella and have a feeling this will become a series I'll be following to its completion.The only reason I didn't give this five stars (and I wanted to really badly) was because there were parts in which the language was either somewhat repetitive or awkward, but only briefly here and there. The story is well worth overlooking this. It just felt so close to being a solid gem that the few rough edges stuck out that much more to me.Overall, a great and inspiring novelette and a very promising beginning. 4.5 stars!