Review: Depends on what you expect
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 26, 2011
Epic is defined as a long poetic composition, usually centered around a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in an elevated style. This story definitely fits that criteria.Tasha and Cade are two young twins who have experienced tragedy and are having trouble moving forward in their lives. Windwhisper, a hawk and god from a magical land called Dream, comes to them one day and allows them access to Dream when they sleep. Dream is a seemingly perfect land where the twins can forget their sorrows for a while. There, they can be Talon and Sunflower, a prince and princess of Dream. But soon they find that Dream is under attack by Phobetor, the lord of Nightmare. Windwhisper transports them bodily to Dream, where Cade is given a quest to stop Phobetor.In the epic style, the descriptions are lush and detailed. You can visualize many scenes in the landscape very well, sometimes too much. At first I enjoyed the descriptions, but towards the middle I began to skim some of the descriptions as they became repetitive. The quest is long and full of challenges, but somehow a number of them seem simplistic. In fact, the storyline seems more suited to middle school kids or young adults, except for some of the themes that are presented such as infidelity, rape and suicide. Some of the characters I found inventive and charming, such as the pegacats, but in many cases the characterization seemed flat and you didn't get anything beyond the surface description.Overall a good story, but not a deep, multilayered read such as Tolkien.