1/5 stars
Synopsis
Warning! This section contains spoilers, if you would like to avoid these spoilers, jump to the review below.
The book started off with Salvine in a cage. Salvine was taken by her captor to someone called the Wilgoblikan, and her former captor was transformed into a monster. She tried to run, but was captured and transformed into a monster too.
The point of view shifted to a young man named Javic. Javic heard a loud noise and went to investigate, and he found a man who didn’t remember who he was. Javic gave the man the name Belford and took him back to his house. Javic’s grandfather, Elric, was dying. The young man that Javic had found was able to heal the grandfather with magic.
After Belford healed Elric, Elric started panicking. He said they needed to leave right away. The three of them traveled to a nearby city. They learned that the city was besieged by monsters called Whunes.
Belford started having lessons on how to use magic.
They were attacked by Whunes, but Belford discovered that a Whune they knocked unconscious was a girl he knew. He made the horrific discovery that Whunes were people. Belford transformed her back into a human but there was something wrong with her mind.
The group kept trying to get to a place where Belford would be safe.
The grandfather told Javic that his parents were killed by Wilgoblikan, so Javic stormed off and vowed revenge, even if it was the last thing he did.
The characters met with someone, and then there was an attack by Whunes. Wilgoblikan was there too, and they fought. Javic discovered he could use magic. They knocked Wilgoblikan unconscious.
The character that the group met revealed that a computer was slowly releasing ancient scientists that it had copied/ saved in its memory. Belford wanted to go to the computer to see if the girl he loved was still in it, but the guy he was talking to said it was on the moon with no way to get to it.
The point of view switched to Salvine, and she and other Whunes were imprisoned with Wilgoblikan. There was a man who was trying to get information from Wilgoblikan through torture, and then the book ended.
Review
I felt like the author did a really good job with descriptions. The descriptions of the surroundings were really well done, especially in the beginning. At the end of the book, the good descriptions mostly disappeared, which was unfortunate.
This book was extremely hard to get through. I think the main reason was because I wasn’t sure who the main character was. The book description implied that the main character/characters would be Salvine and Javic. However, it was mostly written from the perspective of the man Javic found (Belford). I felt like he should have at least been named in the book description. Salvine only appeared in the story about four times, so I didn’t feel like she was important enough of a character to include in the book description.
I felt like the story moved too slowly. They were just…traveling. There were a few spots that had more meat to them, but they started to feel monotonous. They were suddenly ambushed by Whunes, oh no! No worries though, they were able to defeat them every time.
Javic as a character felt too much like a whiny kid. It also felt like he was too obsessed with girls. Granted, I think he was only fifteen or sixteen years old, but at the same time, he must have more in his head than just thoughts about girls.
There were random snippets of half-remembered memories during the chapters from Belford’s perspective. The snippets showed the real world, implying that Belford was from the real world. I felt lied to. Nowhere in the book description did I get the impression that the book would deal with the real world in addition to the fantasy world. Around the 90% mark, that feeling of being lied to intensified because the book suddenly started to feel like a post-apocalyptic science fiction book. With the talk of computers, and of space, and of viruses that destroyed the world.
I wonder if the author wanted the reveal of the virus and the supercomputer to be a big deal, something that would shock the reader. However, it wasn’t set up properly, so it wasn’t a good twist. Good twists in books are the ones that have been hinted at throughout the book, so that the reader can look back and see all of the little breadcrumbs that the author laid. This book…didn’t have that. I legitimately thought the book was in a fantasy world and that Belford had been transported to it from earth. I thought the little mentions of lightbulbs and electricity were odd but I didn’t feel like that was enough of a hint to the twist at the end of the book.
I felt like the author switched between characters too much. I wish I could have gotten to know Belford or Salvine more than Javic. Javic was so whiny. And he didn’t grow throughout the book. Ironically, I felt like Salvine showed the most growth, even though she only appeared about four times. Belford also grew a little bit, but he was mostly just running around confused the entire book. He wasn’t trying to forge his own path.
I did like how the characters were only able to use magic when the moon was out. At the end of the book, it was revealed that the supercomputer controlling everything was on the moon, and I felt like that was a good twist. I was able to see the different references to magic being used when the moon was out, and was able to connect all of the dots. Unfortunately, I felt like the rules of the magic were broken several times when the characters used magic when the moon wasn’t out. It would have been better if there were some explanation as to why they could, but there wasn’t.
Overall, this book was disappointing.
Fireheart Books 