Review: Well written and interesting fantasy~
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 4, 2013
Rebel Elements is an extremely well- written fantasy novel about the studied use of harnessed magic in an other-world setting. In this story, all magical adepts are conscripted to learn and harness their powers under tutored and government approved conditions, within a kingdom of conquered lands and political strife.Our protagonist, Bayan, is virtually kidnapped from his family and homeland where he will serve his emperor as a magical adept, or live out the rest of his life as a potionner- a menial and dis-respected cast-off. Eventually, Bayan will make friends and find his place in this new world in which he finds himself, although, through-out much of the book, the reader wonders if Bayan will ever get over being angry long enough to adjust-Positives- As stated before, this is a beautifully written novel. There were no grammar issues, the formatting was flawless, the sentence structuring was superb, and a great deal of attention was paid to nice details like- glossaries, maps, and descriptions designed to help the reader get a feel for this vast, magical world.The dialogue was also spot-on. This was quite a feat as the large cast of characters all had different dialects, social mores, and individual belief systems- Well done!Negatives- As always, I state both sides of what I read (and feel) in the books I review... This was a good book, there is no doubt about that. So good, in fact, I may pick up the rest of the continuing series as it presents itself. However, there were a couple of flaws-First- both Bayan, and the girl Kiwani, have deep anger issues... this is a good thing within the context of the story-line, (strong emotions make for stronger magical constructs!) Unfortunately, anger is an ugly emotion and tends to leave an ugly taste in the back of your throat. I wish that the author could have used a lighter touch with the negative emotions involving her principals- I found myself (at times) rather disliking the characters I was supposed to be rooting for.Second- Right around the 70% point of the book I found myself veering dangerously close to "I don't care land!" This was because of the great care the author took in describing everything extensively. On one hand, I find this to be very helpful, especially in fantasy writing. On the other hand, it did (for me, at least) slog the plot-line down a bit.In most fictional novels, that is the point where the pivotal moment occurs- the tension... and I began to wonder if this was going to happen at all. I muscled through, though, and was glad I did. The final battle was filled with heroic deeds, and nifty magic tricks- there was some understanding attained and some growth within the hearts of our protagonists.Final appraisal- this is a well written and interesting fantasy novel by a new author that bears watching- 4 stars!