Review: A different kind of floating world
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 25, 2014
Ken Lim is a self-published writer living in Melbourne, Australia who writes speculative fiction writer and is a life-long reader of fantasy. When he's not crafting stories, Ken geeks out on gaming, movies and TV. Though his writing really began with the five series creation called The Fae Liaison Initiative, The Starfall Knight is his first novel in a new epic saga. He now has published another book The Steelbound Sun. Not much information about the author is available except an occasional note from Lim who states, `The author of these books supposedly translated them from the original Selaren, somewhat like how Robert E Howard transcribed the adventures of Conan from a ghost, except with a lot less depression and suicide.' Lim is currently alternating his time between a full-time job and working on novel-length manuscripts aimed at traditional publishing.Ken Lim marries science fiction with fantasy in creating worlds hardly imaginable except through the eyes of an author with the penchant for making the impossible seem almost plausible. Here he has created a floating world of Saruwa, landmasses (or aerocks) that float around in the `sky' or space of the universe powered by a volatile mineral a called andonite which some individuals can control and use to pilot the masses. Though the story has a `cast of thousands' Lim manages to define them all fairly well. The most approachable characters are Alessa, a powerful figure who is convinced subsistence on the floating landmasses is not the real answer to the meaning of life, and Devan who is the more stable protector of their space in this strange floating world. The story is delivered in chunks and bits not unlike the aerocks and the numbers of names, while rather ordinary in contrast to the bizarre names used in other fantasy books, tends to disseminate confusion until well into the book. Basically it is a war for `land' and control, with the usual crew of bad guys versus good guys and the threats bring war and a rather surprising ending.For those with a passion for fantasy tale in space this book will satisfy, especially since it is a rather early start for a committed young author. If the genre isn't you cup of tea, at least it reads quickly and has elements of shock and humor that keep it afloat in flight. Grady Harp, February 14