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adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was hard for me to decide on how many stars to give this book. On the one hand, the story deserves five stars. Ollie clearly has a vivid imagination. There are some really interesting ideas and some quite good metaphors. He doesn't shy away from dark themes, which is refreshing. The story is not overrun with cliches, either. It's a truly interesting and unique tale.
Where it falls short is how it's written, though. It took a lot of time to get into the groove of the narration because the narrator speaks directly to the reader a lot. A lot. To the point that you don't feel like you're reading a story, but being told a story. I don't know if this was his intention, but it's offsetting. There are a lot of fourth wall breaks that take the reader out of the story.
What's worse, though, is that Ollie has a bad habit of telling rather than showing. These two reasons, the narration and the telling is what knocked off a star. It's most likely caused by the narration style of being told a story rather than being in the story. It's a shame. It's a real shame because there are a lot of situations that I would like to experience instead of be told about.
What knocks off the second star is not Ollie's fault, but his editor's. I think I found one misspelled word. No biggie. It was a homonym. Spellcheck would miss it. But if Ollie's editor doubled as a proof-reader then it should have been caught. That's not her biggest downfall, though. Her biggest downfall was structure. If characters are conversing then their dialogue is all grouped into one paragraph instead of being separated onto separate lines for each time a new character speaks. It gets confusing. It creates a text wall. And ... it gets confusing.
All in all, this is a good book. The story really saves it. It's worth reading. It's worth continuing. I'm invested in the story and want to know what happens next. Hopefully Ollie gets some guidance and gives us a fully realized world to explore without hand-holding in the next book.
Where it falls short is how it's written, though. It took a lot of time to get into the groove of the narration because the narrator speaks directly to the reader a lot. A lot. To the point that you don't feel like you're reading a story, but being told a story. I don't know if this was his intention, but it's offsetting. There are a lot of fourth wall breaks that take the reader out of the story.
What's worse, though, is that Ollie has a bad habit of telling rather than showing. These two reasons, the narration and the telling is what knocked off a star. It's most likely caused by the narration style of being told a story rather than being in the story. It's a shame. It's a real shame because there are a lot of situations that I would like to experience instead of be told about.
What knocks off the second star is not Ollie's fault, but his editor's. I think I found one misspelled word. No biggie. It was a homonym. Spellcheck would miss it. But if Ollie's editor doubled as a proof-reader then it should have been caught. That's not her biggest downfall, though. Her biggest downfall was structure. If characters are conversing then their dialogue is all grouped into one paragraph instead of being separated onto separate lines for each time a new character speaks. It gets confusing. It creates a text wall. And ... it gets confusing.
All in all, this is a good book. The story really saves it. It's worth reading. It's worth continuing. I'm invested in the story and want to know what happens next. Hopefully Ollie gets some guidance and gives us a fully realized world to explore without hand-holding in the next book.
Loved this book. Perfect for all ages. It's like if Middle Earth and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter came together.
Highly recommend it
Highly recommend it
The plot was ok if a little stereotypical - evil guy trys to steal the throne and is defeated/ child who was hidden at birth is the true heir to the throne - but mostly it was just very dull prose. So much more could have been done with this if there was even a little decent description. And I can't understand why no proof reader picked up on the speech of different characters all being on the same line, it makes it less clear who is speaking and is irritating.
From the second I heard about this book I had to have it - Ollie Locke is an amazing person & the idea of reading a fantasy book written by him got me so excited! And he absolutely did not let me down. The Islands of Fandye is a book where magic leaps off the pages, where images are conjured up in your mind like a spell has been cast on you & where your emotions become impossible to control. I loved this book so much & can’t wait for the rest of the series.
⚠️ This book contains very mild violence & death ⚠️
Extended Review: https://wp.me/p8MbIo-2G8
⚠️ This book contains very mild violence & death ⚠️
Extended Review: https://wp.me/p8MbIo-2G8
When I bought this book I didn't realise it is aimed at a young audience, or who the author is. However, I enjoyed the story, albeit written in a very simplistic way and I felt that it could be made much longer with more details. Apparently it is the first in a trilogy and I would probably be interested in reading the next two books.
Actual rating: 2.5 / 5
This was cute. I think I preferred the first half of the tale more than the second and probably would have rated it a bit higher had it felt similar.
As it stands, I thought there was too much added the second half, especially for such a short read, but I guess all these bits of information could keep a child's mind focused and entertained. For myself, it just read as a bit all over the place and not entirely driven.
I think some scenes were a bit unsettling for a younger audience. Some of the plots of Sorlax and his minions were a bit too dark and twisted for a middlegrade reader level villain.
From the authors note, you learn that he started this concept at a young age so considering this, this story is quite impressive and unique, however, it really could have done with more editing (perhaps saving some reveals for the sequel), to make it read more steadily and less chaotic.
Final thoughts are: a decent story that had good potential, but execution was a little messy and lost my interest after the switch in narrative half way through.
If the trilogy does continue and the books continue to be a smaller page count, I'd probably read on. I got this copy in a charity shop, so if I found the others this way, or through the library, I'd give them a go, because I personally wouldn't pay full price.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
This was cute. I think I preferred the first half of the tale more than the second and probably would have rated it a bit higher had it felt similar.
As it stands, I thought there was too much added the second half, especially for such a short read, but I guess all these bits of information could keep a child's mind focused and entertained. For myself, it just read as a bit all over the place and not entirely driven.
I think some scenes were a bit unsettling for a younger audience. Some of the plots of Sorlax and his minions were a bit too dark and twisted for a middlegrade reader level villain.
From the authors note, you learn that he started this concept at a young age so considering this, this story is quite impressive and unique, however, it really could have done with more editing (perhaps saving some reveals for the sequel), to make it read more steadily and less chaotic.
Final thoughts are: a decent story that had good potential, but execution was a little messy and lost my interest after the switch in narrative half way through.
If the trilogy does continue and the books continue to be a smaller page count, I'd probably read on. I got this copy in a charity shop, so if I found the others this way, or through the library, I'd give them a go, because I personally wouldn't pay full price.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén