From My Corner of the Universe

I love reading.  My genre of interest is sci-fi and fantasy but I will also read other genres if they are interesting.  Last year, I did a marathon and read 101 books with most being sci-fi and fantasy.  This year, I’ve lowered my goal to 25 books.  I wanted to read without any pressure of deadlines but somehow I found myself just 5 books away from my goal.  I don’t tend to do thorough reviews unless they are just totally beyond my expectation or I’m asked by the author but I will always rate them.  I rate on Goodreads.com and sometimes on Amazon.  Here is the most recent book I finished.  This book was given to me to read and review by the author.  Thank you for allowing me the pleasure to read and review, Mr. Olney.

After I read the book, I had to sit back and let it soak in. It was very fast pace with a lot going on. Lots of action and gore. Lots of characters and interactions. The storyline was great. The characters and the world they lived in were clearly thought out and well created. The dialogue moved the story forward and explained a lot of what was going on. A lot of the history of that world came out in the dialogue but the author also put the history in an appendix at the end of book, which was very helpful. Overall, I enjoyed it.

One thing I felt the story lacked was character buildup. There wasn’t enough substance in the main characters. They felt one-dimensional. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around why they want to rule so badly. What do they gain besides being a ruler and having all the power? There has to be something much deeper. Wanting power is usually driven by something very personal that one can’t seem to let go of that can manifest in the form of revenge. I did not sense that if that was meant to be part of character buildup. The characters had too much trust in everyone they came across. They seem to all be unintelligent and gullible.  Another thing was that I also found myself wondering why, after Luxon fainted a couple of times, he would continue to use his magic. I would think he would be afraid to even feel his magic knowing it would make him weak afterward.

I read this book on a Kindle and should mention that there were lots of grammatical errors and typos. Also, the word, “whilst” was overused (but this may be just a personal thing).  If these things don’t bother you too much and you simply love the pure enjoyment of reading, or if the fantasy genre is up your alley, I definitely recommend this book.