Scan barcode
A review by gameoftomes
Into the Wildbarrens by Christian Sterling
3.0
Not a bad book by any means, but not my taste. I’m sure that there are younger readers and teens who will devour this story, who will love how it feels like a quest story crossed with fantastical role-playing games.
The world building is detailed but dumped onto the reader in regular intervals. The story starts with an initiation ceremony that introduces the magical quest and the myriad magical companions of the novice wizard Falin. It kind of feels like the beginning of a PC game and continues that feeling through episodic set pieces filled with mostly predictable danger.
There is some playing with tropes, such as a save the princess from the dragon side-quest that turns out to be an affable princess & dragon friendship, with the girl running away from her awful father.
Overall, I just didn’t connect to the characters on an emotional level. That left the stakes not seeming high, and the weaknesses of the story feeling emphasized. However, there is much imagination in terms of different magical races, history of the world, and political predicaments. I’d love to see where this author goes from here.
The world building is detailed but dumped onto the reader in regular intervals. The story starts with an initiation ceremony that introduces the magical quest and the myriad magical companions of the novice wizard Falin. It kind of feels like the beginning of a PC game and continues that feeling through episodic set pieces filled with mostly predictable danger.
There is some playing with tropes, such as a save the princess from the dragon side-quest that turns out to be an affable princess & dragon friendship, with the girl running away from her awful father.
Overall, I just didn’t connect to the characters on an emotional level. That left the stakes not seeming high, and the weaknesses of the story feeling emphasized. However, there is much imagination in terms of different magical races, history of the world, and political predicaments. I’d love to see where this author goes from here.