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A review by wasauthor
Shadows of the Dark Realm by Tyler Edwards
3.0
I received an advance reader copy of Shadows of the Dark Realm for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.
If you want an epic fantasy to do one thing, it's to tell an epic story. Some achieve this; others don’t. And some are truly epic in their scope and world, earning the moniker of epic fantasy. Shadows of the Dark Realm does the latter. It's packed full of action and adventure, woven together by a massive story and world.
It's not a short book, but it’s also not overlong for the genre, and the author packs a lot of story in for its page count. The novel tells the story of the prosperous world of Parisia, protected by the book’s MacGuffin, the Darkstone. When the Darkstone's taken by an elder dragon, the world falls into ruin, threatening Parisia’s very existence. A band of misfit “Seekers,” including noble, a knight, a thief, a witch and a wizard, are tasked with reclaiming the Darkstone and saving Parisia. The plot comes together well, with plenty of twists and turns.
The world will be familiar to readers of epic or high fantasy, and feels like it stepped out of the European Middle Ages. It's packed with creatures and magic that fans will enjoy. The setting is similar to so many books of its ilk, but it's woven together in a way that makes it feel like it sits apart from its contemporaries.
The book's early parts move slowly as it takes its time to set the scene and introduce the characters. For much of the first act, it plods along and feels unfocused. Once the story gets moving, the pacing picks up, and it's soon moving at a breakneck pace. The pace works well for the story while ensuring the reader remains engaged.
Shadows of the Dark Realm’s plot, world building and pacing aren’t supported by its prose. It's underwritten, lacking much detail. While some books are light on dialogue, at many points, it feels as though this is light on prose. It’s enough to tell the reader what they need to know, but rarely goes any further. The prose is easy to read but doesn’t transport the reader into the world, instead feeling overly simplistic. I also found regular spelling and grammatical errors which took me out of the story. Further editing to rectify these issues and add some colour to the writing would have helped greatly.
Being light on prose, the book is heavy on dialogue, which too suffers from spelling and grammatical mistakes. While the characters broadly have their own voices, there isn’t much to differentiate them, and though the dialogue's easy to follow, it doesn’t sound natural. It often feels like it’s filling space to have the characters talking, rather than furthering the story.
Despite a large cast of characters, its focus is on the five Seekers embarking on their quest. They are mismatched, and the dialogue reflects this. They are entertaining but lack depth, with most of the characterisation focusing on how different they are to each other. They sit snugly within the tropes one would expect from their classes, and the book does little to explore them further.
The book isn't quite one of those rare epic fantasies that isn’t part of a series. Though billed as standalone, there's more to come, which becomes apparent as the reader reaches the end. Although it’s the beginning of a larger story—and given this book’s scale, one that is sure to expand in entertaining ways—it largely stands on its own. While there’s more to come, the story being told feels complete.
Shadows of the Dark Realm tells an entertaining, fast paced story against the backdrop of a beautifully built world. As great as the story is, I would have appreciated more depth and nuance to its characters, and the writing doesn't work as well as it could, particularly when considering the various errors peppered throughout.
My full review will be available on my website from 21 February 2024. To read it, and a host of other reviews, click here.
If you want an epic fantasy to do one thing, it's to tell an epic story. Some achieve this; others don’t. And some are truly epic in their scope and world, earning the moniker of epic fantasy. Shadows of the Dark Realm does the latter. It's packed full of action and adventure, woven together by a massive story and world.
It's not a short book, but it’s also not overlong for the genre, and the author packs a lot of story in for its page count. The novel tells the story of the prosperous world of Parisia, protected by the book’s MacGuffin, the Darkstone. When the Darkstone's taken by an elder dragon, the world falls into ruin, threatening Parisia’s very existence. A band of misfit “Seekers,” including noble, a knight, a thief, a witch and a wizard, are tasked with reclaiming the Darkstone and saving Parisia. The plot comes together well, with plenty of twists and turns.
The world will be familiar to readers of epic or high fantasy, and feels like it stepped out of the European Middle Ages. It's packed with creatures and magic that fans will enjoy. The setting is similar to so many books of its ilk, but it's woven together in a way that makes it feel like it sits apart from its contemporaries.
The book's early parts move slowly as it takes its time to set the scene and introduce the characters. For much of the first act, it plods along and feels unfocused. Once the story gets moving, the pacing picks up, and it's soon moving at a breakneck pace. The pace works well for the story while ensuring the reader remains engaged.
Shadows of the Dark Realm’s plot, world building and pacing aren’t supported by its prose. It's underwritten, lacking much detail. While some books are light on dialogue, at many points, it feels as though this is light on prose. It’s enough to tell the reader what they need to know, but rarely goes any further. The prose is easy to read but doesn’t transport the reader into the world, instead feeling overly simplistic. I also found regular spelling and grammatical errors which took me out of the story. Further editing to rectify these issues and add some colour to the writing would have helped greatly.
Being light on prose, the book is heavy on dialogue, which too suffers from spelling and grammatical mistakes. While the characters broadly have their own voices, there isn’t much to differentiate them, and though the dialogue's easy to follow, it doesn’t sound natural. It often feels like it’s filling space to have the characters talking, rather than furthering the story.
Despite a large cast of characters, its focus is on the five Seekers embarking on their quest. They are mismatched, and the dialogue reflects this. They are entertaining but lack depth, with most of the characterisation focusing on how different they are to each other. They sit snugly within the tropes one would expect from their classes, and the book does little to explore them further.
The book isn't quite one of those rare epic fantasies that isn’t part of a series. Though billed as standalone, there's more to come, which becomes apparent as the reader reaches the end. Although it’s the beginning of a larger story—and given this book’s scale, one that is sure to expand in entertaining ways—it largely stands on its own. While there’s more to come, the story being told feels complete.
Shadows of the Dark Realm tells an entertaining, fast paced story against the backdrop of a beautifully built world. As great as the story is, I would have appreciated more depth and nuance to its characters, and the writing doesn't work as well as it could, particularly when considering the various errors peppered throughout.
My full review will be available on my website from 21 February 2024. To read it, and a host of other reviews, click here.