A review by samanthaardenlockheart
Dohva - The Land Within: A Tale of Elemental Sorcery and Ancient Mysteries by Sophie Haeder

adventurous challenging informative mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

​​<i>There may be spoilers in this review. Proceed with caution. ♥️</i> 

Very recently, I’ve been wanting to get back into reading more fantasy books, and I also wanted to support a new author. <i>Dohva – The Land Within</i> by Sophie Haeder looked like a wonderful start to this fantasy journey I want to go on.

This book is about Dohva, a floating land that is trapped by a powerful elemental orbit where its inhabitants are stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of death and rebirth (reincarnation). Avala seems to be the main character who possesses the power of wind, and after someone she dearly loves is chosen by the High Monks as one of “the ten”, she begins to ask piercing questions about the nature of Dohva, and the cycle of rebirth that happens. She questions the way the magic that holds up the island works, and its morality. The majority of this novel is constructed in a multi-perspective fashion, following the characters Avala, Sineth, Garon, Kima, Venja, and Kalira as they go on their unique journeys throughout this novel. 

In all honesty, I found the multiple perspectives of this fantasy book to be perplexing at first, almost as though not enough time was given to fully flesh out their identities. I felt easily confused as I switched between the multiple perspectives. Also, it felt like some of the characters became too intimate with one another too soon; when it comes to romance, I personally prefer more of a slow burn… but the fact that the characters became so romantically involved was an important facet of the plot. Unfortunately, I also thought that the characters were flat and hollow; they all sort of have the same personality and style of inner thoughts. However, I really did enjoy the magic system present in this world and felt it was easy to follow. I think that the author did a wonderful job of balancing world-building with the characters’ experiences. 

With all of this being said, I think that this was a wonderful debut novel. I would like to give this a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, but GoodReads will only let me do whole stars; so for that reason, you will see a four-star rating. I understand the effort and time that it takes to write a quality novel, so it is rare for me to put in a low rating on anything that I read. Plus, I would love for more readers to be exposed to Haeder’s work. I’m so excited to continue my journey into reading more fantasy novels.