Review: Great read, but ends abruptly.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 15, 2013
The tale of two poor farm boys apprenticed to a nemocracer, because they have no other option. There's zombies (but the controlled raised from the dead on purpose type), dragons, gods, mercenaries, kings and everything else a high fantasy fan could desire. The writing is great, the lore is fantastic, and the pace moves along at a good clip. So why only 3 stars?The end. Or lack thereof. I got really excited about this book as I was reading. It's unusual to find a well-written high-fantasy book amongst the traditionally published, let alone in the indie world. The author takes his time exploring the world, without being heavy-handed. There's characters you want to know more about, there's history that make sense, there are rules of magic. Kerkhoff uses many of the tropes of fantasy, and leaves the cliches behind. There I was, happy as can be, curled up with e-reader in hand, not paying attention to page numbers, because I thought I was no where near the end. But I was wrong. The book ended abruptly in the middle, and I stared at the final blank page unbelieving for a good two minutes. Now I know that in fantasy it is typical to create a series. I also know as a writer, this is a good way to garner more income, hook them with the first and then sell them the rest. But I know as a reader, you absolutely must wrap up the story in each individual book. Be'Askaas was no more than a section in a book, rather than a book in a series. This makes me upset as a reader, because it means the author is basically demanding that I go and buy the next if I want to find out what happens. I want to be able to read the book, put it down, ruminate, and then pick up the next in the series at a later point (whether it be 5 minutes or 5 months later).Of course everyone is different and publishing is changing, so if you are okay knowing you will have to buy the whole series to get any satisfaction, then I highly recommend this section, and I hope the author will continue writing.