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hostral's review
4.0
At 35 pages, Branding of a Heretic isn't a début novel but more of a short story giving us a glimpse into the world that Kal S. Davian has created. As such, I read this in one sitting.
I was torn between giving this three stars and four, but I settled for four because of the intriguing conclusion. I won't spoil the tale, but I appreciate the resolution of the problem as it bodes well for future works.
The title does exactly what it says on the tin. A scholar called Claradina uncovers a document that could change everything and is subsequently branded a heretic, but the story is careful not to reveal the exact ramifications of said document until later in the tale.
Claradina is a likeable protagonist in that she's realistic. She doesn't look like a Greek goddess and she doesn't act like a fearless hero. She champions her cause but she's clearly deeply affected by all the hubbub surrounding it.
There are mere glimpses into the world provided by snippets of exposition, and the author treads a fine line between info-dumping and providing context. His protagonist is far from clueless and at one point is cleverly shot down for her own lengthy speech about the world, this means that the author does have to help us along the way a little but I don't begrudge that. There's only so much he can give with the limited space that this tale provides, and I think he handled it well enough.
Having said that, my one critique of the work would be that there was a lack of foreshadowing on some of the actions due to the aforementioned limitations of space.
What was also refreshing to see was a man roughly my age writing fiction with a decided feminine bent. I mean that in the complimentary sense, there are few strong male roles in this short tale and most of the plot is dominated by female characters. In a genre dominated by male protagonists it's nice to see the growing prominence of female characters who haven't been sexualised or relegated to a token gesture.
Now that I'm off my soapbox, I'd definitely recommend this short and will be reading the second in the series in the hopes that it eventually grows into a full-length effort. Well done, Mr. Davian.
I was torn between giving this three stars and four, but I settled for four because of the intriguing conclusion. I won't spoil the tale, but I appreciate the resolution of the problem as it bodes well for future works.
The title does exactly what it says on the tin. A scholar called Claradina uncovers a document that could change everything and is subsequently branded a heretic, but the story is careful not to reveal the exact ramifications of said document until later in the tale.
Claradina is a likeable protagonist in that she's realistic. She doesn't look like a Greek goddess and she doesn't act like a fearless hero. She champions her cause but she's clearly deeply affected by all the hubbub surrounding it.
There are mere glimpses into the world provided by snippets of exposition, and the author treads a fine line between info-dumping and providing context. His protagonist is far from clueless and at one point is cleverly shot down for her own lengthy speech about the world, this means that the author does have to help us along the way a little but I don't begrudge that. There's only so much he can give with the limited space that this tale provides, and I think he handled it well enough.
Having said that, my one critique of the work would be that there was a lack of foreshadowing on some of the actions due to the aforementioned limitations of space.
What was also refreshing to see was a man roughly my age writing fiction with a decided feminine bent. I mean that in the complimentary sense, there are few strong male roles in this short tale and most of the plot is dominated by female characters. In a genre dominated by male protagonists it's nice to see the growing prominence of female characters who haven't been sexualised or relegated to a token gesture.
Now that I'm off my soapbox, I'd definitely recommend this short and will be reading the second in the series in the hopes that it eventually grows into a full-length effort. Well done, Mr. Davian.
barb4ry1's review
3.0
As it's just a short novella it gives no more than a glimpse in the Nihilian Effect Universe. I read it today in the motning in the commute.
The story follows a calm and composed historical scholar Claradina that tries to reveal a recently uncovered document that could change the world forever. As can be guessed not everyone is happy with possible life changing reveal so she has to gain allies.
We can't expect a lot to happen throughout 35 pages and we're proved right. There's some twist in the end and the novella gives us some picture of what we can expect in the future works. I'll try them.
Having said that I'll have to add that the story didn't manage to engage me. I think Claradina was rather bland and flat character. The pacing wasn't as good as I would expect. The first half of the story felt slow and uninspiring. There was just too much of information - amount of races, race names, personal names being packed in this short format. It felt overloaded.
On the other hand it's interesting that the author made an effort to create some new races that may turn out to be intriguing in his future works. The world is barely sketched but the glimpses we get draw interesting picture.
I'll try his next works out of curiosity. Based on this novella though I frankly don't know what to expect and if I'll enjoy what awaits me.
The story follows a calm and composed historical scholar Claradina that tries to reveal a recently uncovered document that could change the world forever. As can be guessed not everyone is happy with possible life changing reveal so she has to gain allies.
We can't expect a lot to happen throughout 35 pages and we're proved right. There's some twist in the end and the novella gives us some picture of what we can expect in the future works. I'll try them.
Having said that I'll have to add that the story didn't manage to engage me. I think Claradina was rather bland and flat character. The pacing wasn't as good as I would expect. The first half of the story felt slow and uninspiring. There was just too much of information - amount of races, race names, personal names being packed in this short format. It felt overloaded.
On the other hand it's interesting that the author made an effort to create some new races that may turn out to be intriguing in his future works. The world is barely sketched but the glimpses we get draw interesting picture.
I'll try his next works out of curiosity. Based on this novella though I frankly don't know what to expect and if I'll enjoy what awaits me.
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