Scan barcode
lauraew333's review
3.0
I received a copy of The Alfaeren Legacy from the author, Marc Jacobs. All opinions expressed are my own.
Meh I have so many feelings about this! On one hand, I see so much potential but on the other, this debut was not as developed as I would like it to be. I debated for a while about the star rating for this, whether it should be 2 or 3 stars and as a compromise, I ended up in the middle because of various elements. Allow me to explain.
1. The plot. This book takes the form of a traditional hero's journey and by that standard, it excelled wonderfully. There is a very clear overarching plotline with a couple teeny secondary plotlines mixed in. The main story line is clear and direct and there's never any doubt what the next step is. The plot is actually the one element of this book I loved wholeheartedly. I'm all for a good fantasy with a hero's journey circle and this fit the bill to a T. There is never a dull moment as the Middlethird sisters gain allies in their attempt to right both their wrongs and the wrongs of those who came before them. It is well-charted and fiercely defended.
2. The characters. This is where is starts to get a little bit dicey. The characters were all there and they all had their own personalities, however, it was all telling and not showing for the most part. I'll talk about this a bit more in the writing section but suffice to say, the characters felt a bit flat, in my opinion. My favorite character, and by far the most well-defined, is Aly (the girl who grew up on Earth) because we really get to delve into her world as she tries to find out more about her family's past lineage. The rest of the characters were fine, but I felt like they didn't have too much feeling to them.
"Kali doesn't have any friends, Mr. Gibbens," said Kilyn. "Oh. Maybe she'd have some if she had cabbages." Albo was nothing if not persistent.
3. The setting. This was really interesting to me and I felt that it was well done, to a point. This book is a curious mix between fantasy and science fiction. In their exploration of worlds, it's made clear that Teynia (Kilya and Kila's world) is one of many planets in the actual universe (as in the universe we live in) which is where Earth and other, more science fiction-y societies come into play. I think this was handled rather deftly and it's fascinating to see how the worlds interact. As for Teynia specifically, I thought that while it was nicely defined and painted, there was a little too much information without any reference points. The characters would know the specific names of rivers with no explanation as to how they would know it and no map is provided. While this isn't a deal-breaker for me, it's something that threw me out of the story.
4. The writing. This is where my beginning comments come into play. I think this author has some really great ideas and has potential as a fantasy author, I see definite missteps throughout this book. For example, the POV. About 10% of the way through, I figured out that this was written with a limited omniscient narrative POV (there's a third person narrator that can selectively see into the minds of most of the characters). However, there were strange foreshadowing moments where the book read more like a frame story (think The Princess Bride movie) and there were references to the reader without explicitly talking to the reader. This made the method of delivery feel a bit fuzzy and ill-defined. There were also issues with character authenticity through word choice and sentence structure and I often came across questionable paragraphs.
The Final Verdict:
A wonderfully defined story with heart-pounding action. Unfortunately, the character development and writing flow need a bit more polish. I do look forward to seeing how the author develops his prose more fully.
2.5 stars
Meh I have so many feelings about this! On one hand, I see so much potential but on the other, this debut was not as developed as I would like it to be. I debated for a while about the star rating for this, whether it should be 2 or 3 stars and as a compromise, I ended up in the middle because of various elements. Allow me to explain.
1. The plot. This book takes the form of a traditional hero's journey and by that standard, it excelled wonderfully. There is a very clear overarching plotline with a couple teeny secondary plotlines mixed in. The main story line is clear and direct and there's never any doubt what the next step is. The plot is actually the one element of this book I loved wholeheartedly. I'm all for a good fantasy with a hero's journey circle and this fit the bill to a T. There is never a dull moment as the Middlethird sisters gain allies in their attempt to right both their wrongs and the wrongs of those who came before them. It is well-charted and fiercely defended.
2. The characters. This is where is starts to get a little bit dicey. The characters were all there and they all had their own personalities, however, it was all telling and not showing for the most part. I'll talk about this a bit more in the writing section but suffice to say, the characters felt a bit flat, in my opinion. My favorite character, and by far the most well-defined, is Aly (the girl who grew up on Earth) because we really get to delve into her world as she tries to find out more about her family's past lineage. The rest of the characters were fine, but I felt like they didn't have too much feeling to them.
"Kali doesn't have any friends, Mr. Gibbens," said Kilyn. "Oh. Maybe she'd have some if she had cabbages." Albo was nothing if not persistent.
3. The setting. This was really interesting to me and I felt that it was well done, to a point. This book is a curious mix between fantasy and science fiction. In their exploration of worlds, it's made clear that Teynia (Kilya and Kila's world) is one of many planets in the actual universe (as in the universe we live in) which is where Earth and other, more science fiction-y societies come into play. I think this was handled rather deftly and it's fascinating to see how the worlds interact. As for Teynia specifically, I thought that while it was nicely defined and painted, there was a little too much information without any reference points. The characters would know the specific names of rivers with no explanation as to how they would know it and no map is provided. While this isn't a deal-breaker for me, it's something that threw me out of the story.
4. The writing. This is where my beginning comments come into play. I think this author has some really great ideas and has potential as a fantasy author, I see definite missteps throughout this book. For example, the POV. About 10% of the way through, I figured out that this was written with a limited omniscient narrative POV (there's a third person narrator that can selectively see into the minds of most of the characters). However, there were strange foreshadowing moments where the book read more like a frame story (think The Princess Bride movie) and there were references to the reader without explicitly talking to the reader. This made the method of delivery feel a bit fuzzy and ill-defined. There were also issues with character authenticity through word choice and sentence structure and I often came across questionable paragraphs.
The Final Verdict:
A wonderfully defined story with heart-pounding action. Unfortunately, the character development and writing flow need a bit more polish. I do look forward to seeing how the author develops his prose more fully.
2.5 stars
livthebooknerd's review
I have no desire to finish this book...
full review coming soon!
full review coming soon!
shh_reading85's review against another edition
4.0
I received this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Visit me at Shh I Am Reading for more reviews like this!
Wizards!
Dragons!
Aliens!
Oh my!
I was really thrilled to be reading a book featuring two sisters who go on a grand adventure to save their world from the forces of evil. It kind of reminded me of The Hobbit a bit, which is not a bad thing at all.
Kali and Kilyn Middlethird are orphans of Deben and live in the trees with other orphans. When they are chosen to go on a journey to bring back herbs for the tree dwellers, they’re thrilled. On the way back, they’re forced to seek shelter after a freak storm crashed above them. In doing so, they followed fresh air to try to get out. Instead, they happened upon a long forgotten secret and snatched what they assumed was a valuable rock they could sell at the markets.
In grabbing said rock, they open a locked Gate and release an evil they had been lurking for thousands of years.
This spurs the girls and their newfound friends (and ultimately family) to go on a journey of a life time to save their world.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Alexandra or Aly as she prefers, is set to the task to researching her family by her teacher. Man, I wish I could have done that in school. Anyhow, as she embarks on her own journey, she finds flaws in her family’s past. Flaws that bring up more questions than answers.
Long story short, Aly and Kali, Kilyn and Ice (Kali and Kilyn’s uncle) are long lost relatives from different planets. They manage to get together using magic portals and battle shadow minions and even meet a nice alien.
The sci-fi part threw me for a loop but it was interesting nonetheless.
The story, it has a few flaws like information overload in some spots and in other spots, I felt like some of the lore of Teynia wasn’t explained enough.
I would love to know more about the dragons and why they were in hiding though. What each dragon represents to the lore.
But either way, I enjoyed the story. It was interesting and complex. Each character filled their spot easily and they all had their own shot at learning something about themselves, whether that was a strength or a weakness.
I recommend this story, especially for young adult. It’s a great and wholesome story with magic and grumpy dragons! Nothing like a good ol’ battle of Good versus Evil.
Visit me at Shh I Am Reading for more reviews like this!
Wizards!
Dragons!
Aliens!
Oh my!
I was really thrilled to be reading a book featuring two sisters who go on a grand adventure to save their world from the forces of evil. It kind of reminded me of The Hobbit a bit, which is not a bad thing at all.
Kali and Kilyn Middlethird are orphans of Deben and live in the trees with other orphans. When they are chosen to go on a journey to bring back herbs for the tree dwellers, they’re thrilled. On the way back, they’re forced to seek shelter after a freak storm crashed above them. In doing so, they followed fresh air to try to get out. Instead, they happened upon a long forgotten secret and snatched what they assumed was a valuable rock they could sell at the markets.
In grabbing said rock, they open a locked Gate and release an evil they had been lurking for thousands of years.
This spurs the girls and their newfound friends (and ultimately family) to go on a journey of a life time to save their world.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Alexandra or Aly as she prefers, is set to the task to researching her family by her teacher. Man, I wish I could have done that in school. Anyhow, as she embarks on her own journey, she finds flaws in her family’s past. Flaws that bring up more questions than answers.
Long story short, Aly and Kali, Kilyn and Ice (Kali and Kilyn’s uncle) are long lost relatives from different planets. They manage to get together using magic portals and battle shadow minions and even meet a nice alien.
The sci-fi part threw me for a loop but it was interesting nonetheless.
The story, it has a few flaws like information overload in some spots and in other spots, I felt like some of the lore of Teynia wasn’t explained enough.
I would love to know more about the dragons and why they were in hiding though. What each dragon represents to the lore.
But either way, I enjoyed the story. It was interesting and complex. Each character filled their spot easily and they all had their own shot at learning something about themselves, whether that was a strength or a weakness.
I recommend this story, especially for young adult. It’s a great and wholesome story with magic and grumpy dragons! Nothing like a good ol’ battle of Good versus Evil.
livthebooknerd's review against another edition
I have no desire to finish this book...
full review coming soon!
full review coming soon!
fafabookcorner's review
Mini review:
DNF
I received this E-ARC via the author in exchange for an honest review.
I really wanted to like this one! But unfortunately the writing style didn't work for me.
Still recommend.
DNF
I received this E-ARC via the author in exchange for an honest review.
I really wanted to like this one! But unfortunately the writing style didn't work for me.
Still recommend.
afrolicthroughfiction's review
3.0
Review originally posted on A frolic through fiction (book blog): https://afrolicthroughfiction.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/taking-a-lot-in-with-the-alfaeren-legacy-by-marc-jacobs/
*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review*
This book was eventful, to say the least.
It was a bit of a rocky road for me. I did enjoy it. I really did. But there were a few issues that stop me short on the rating scale.
So, with this being a fantasy book based on two girls going on a great adventure including magic and dragons, it’s fair to say I was highly interested in the plot. It was dramatic, it was lively, it was action-packed. There was so much going on in this story.
But that’s where the info-dumping comes in. Every so often, there’d be certain points when so much information was revealed in one go, where entire pages would be taken up on explanations…sometimes it just stopped the flow of my reading. I mean, the book itself was a fairly quick read. But every time I came to a lengthy patch of explanations, it’d slow me down considerably and I felt like I had to be careful not to miss anything. This, combined with a lot of unnecessary name dropping (of both people and places that didn’t need mentioning by name)…well…like I said, it just seemed to stop me short.
Other than that, I really enjoyed discovering and journeying through the world. It reminded me slightly of The Hobbit, with the journeying through mountains, dragons flying around and magical elements. I wanted to learn more about the world – the places, how things worked, the creatures discovered there. And while taking this journey through the world with main characters Kali and Kilyn, there’s never really a dull moment.
All the way through the book, there’s something happening. Whether it be something that’s gone wrong, a problem being faced, an unexpected turn of events or simply some new information discovered, every single chapter had something important happening. Everything that might have been considered “boring” – eating, sleeping, the everyday necessities – were skipped past and moved on from. It felt like you were being told the story from an acquaintance of sorts, where they sit and guide you through the events, and brush over all the uneventful parts.
To me, the book definitely picked up about halfway through. By then, there’s a few different perspectives, and I found it really intriguing to see how all the different character’s stories link together. It wasn’t anything too complex, but it was certainly enough to keep me turning the pages.
So while I was sometimes put-off by the writing, feeling like it would be more suited to younger readers with it’s simple but lengthy explanations, the story itself I found rather entertaining. The plot was non-stop drama, and is enough to keep your interest throughout. I feel like this would be good for younger people who are a bit intimidated by the epic fantasy books out there.
Order from Amazon
[Available in Paperback and Kindle]
More...