Brendan O'Gara

A fantasy dystopian? Or a dystopian fantasy?
A band of unlikely friends are brought together for an epic journey in a post-apocalyptic world complete with dwarves, elves and orcs.
Okay so at first glance of the cover of this book it reads and looks like a fantasy novel. However the back synopsis suggests a dystopian novel. Then again, when you start reading you get the feel of a fantasy novel again. There really is no true mention of the dystopian element within the novel itself. And this is what I personally have a problem with with these types of books... If this is a dystopian tale, set 4,000 years after the destruction of humankind where only a third of the population remains, how exactly are there characters like elves and dwarves and orcs? Where did the fantasy characters come into play and how exactly? None of this is explained in the book. It makes it very hard for a reader like me to understand exactly where and how the story is set.
There's lots of action starting from the beginning and the book is written very well. Unlike most high fantasy novels this one was very easy for me to follow along with.
Even with the issue that I mentioned above, this book really does make the fantasy theme work. Perhaps a different synopsis on the back of the book would be more pertinent? Or perhaps moving the setting to a different world or dimension?
I did find a few typos in the book but another once-over by an editor would fix that right up so no worries there.
One thing in the beginning of the book that I really did not like or appreciate was the campfire scene where they are all sitting around and one by one go through telling all of their back stories. I felt that this was very daunting to read and not very well done. I feel that since this is Book 1 of something that will obviously become a series, it would have been better to leave at least a few of the back stories for future books. It is always good to leave just a little bit of mystery. It keeps the reader wanting more.
Other than the issues I have mentioned above the story is engaging and very reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. There are familiar terms and names that are used in this book. The journey was fun and the character development throughout the book was also very well done.
With everything said and done I would recommend this book BUT I would definitely like the author's to flesh it out a bit more and rethink some things. With the copy that I am in possession of, it seems that the book is only half done, but it has great potential! It definitely needs a little more work before I can fully recommend it.… (altro)