Review: Promising story arc, but didn't thrill me
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 4, 2013
"The Merchant and the Menace" is the first in "The Seraphinium" series.  It centers on Kael Brelgson, a young boy who finds out he is a descendant of a deity named Avra, and he is destined to become the next Seraphim.  Seraphims are mighty, magical beings, with the ability to influence world events.  Since this is an epic fantasy series, there is a lot of time spent world building -- describing the theological system, introducing the various societies, and telling about the past conflicts that brought about the current threat of war.On the positive side, this is a clean story from a language, graphic violence, and sex standpoint.  This may be important for some readers, especially younger audiences.  I also found several interesting characters, specifically Kael's father Brelg, a master Elven spy named Teeg, and a Keltar named Gannu.On the negative side, I found the novel was choppy at times with short sentences often comprised of three to seven words.  I think there is a time for this type of sentence to really draw emphasis, but I felt it was overdone in the story.  Below is an example,"Many men tried win her favor.  Sergeant Brelg never once flirted with her.  He remained respectful at all times."I also found the novel lacked much in the way of action for our young hero to be and his band of companions.  There are two minor skirmishes, and one battle that Kael hears about through a secondhand story.  A large portion of the book focused on Kael's education of the world about him, including long theological lectures on Avra, the first two Seraphims, the backstory of Brelg, and the backstory of the Keltaran and Zodrian peoples.While I think the story arc has some promise, I only rated the book two stars.  I didn't feel like there was enough of a hook to compel me to keep reading the series.  The writing was choppy at times, and I really wanted to see more firsthand storytelling rather than learning so much through lectures and stories told to Kael.  I applaud the author's first work, and encourage him to keep trying!