Review by MellieBellie -- Herai by Aaron D Key
Posted: 18 Feb 2020, 01:10
[Following is a volunteer review of "Herai" by Aaron D Key.]
I choose to review Herai by Aaron D. Key. It’s about a city of people who live in a network of caves in a hillside. The story diverges into two realities, differing in one seemingly minor event. But that event leaves one person alive in one version, and another one alive in the other. The youngest daughter of the ruler of the city is attacked, in one version, and the mystery to solve of who did it and why. But everything isn’t perfect in the other version either. There are secrets as well, and while most of the characters are the same people, one person’s absence makes more difference than what it would seem to.
I enjoyed this book greatly. It was an interesting premise for a setting, a whole city in connected caves. The author didn’t rattle off exposition explaining how things worked. It was told very naturally within the story, with simple references dropped in here and there. The author did very well at keeping the mystery going while telling the stories. I noticed there wasn’t much indication of exactly how much time had passed between scenes, which echoed the lack of time awareness that would be found living in caves without much sunlight to indicate time passing. I also liked that the two versions were told in alternating chapters, although it took until Chapter 3 for me to realize that. There were quite a few characters. Almost all of them are in both stories, but they aren’t all in every scene, so it wasn’t overwhelming, like being at a party introduced to one person after another.
I liked the slight differences in personality for a couple of the characters in the two versions, showing that the presence of one person can affect things in ways one might not expect. There were no sex scenes, but there was discussion of sex and some subtle references to people’s sexual feelings. One of the major sexual partnerships was between two men, so if that’s a problem, be aware that it’s mentioned quite a bit. I like that it was treated as naturally as the partnerships between men and women were. My only dislike is a common thing in Sci-fi stories: a lack of female characters. It stood out in this story because in a city of people, there were only a handful of women, and only Herai herself had much involvement in the stories.
Herai appeared to be well edited. I noticed only one definite typo. There were several instances of missing commas after clauses in some sentences, but these didn’t detract from comprehension.
I’m rating it 4 out of 4 stars because it’s a wonderful mystery story in an interesting setting. It’s got a great depiction of social structures, and how people exist within the social structures. Sadly, I would advise people bothered by romance and sex between two men that they may not be able to enjoy this, but I would recommend it to anyone fascinated by human behavior, or fans of fantasy whodunits.
******
Herai
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
I choose to review Herai by Aaron D. Key. It’s about a city of people who live in a network of caves in a hillside. The story diverges into two realities, differing in one seemingly minor event. But that event leaves one person alive in one version, and another one alive in the other. The youngest daughter of the ruler of the city is attacked, in one version, and the mystery to solve of who did it and why. But everything isn’t perfect in the other version either. There are secrets as well, and while most of the characters are the same people, one person’s absence makes more difference than what it would seem to.
I enjoyed this book greatly. It was an interesting premise for a setting, a whole city in connected caves. The author didn’t rattle off exposition explaining how things worked. It was told very naturally within the story, with simple references dropped in here and there. The author did very well at keeping the mystery going while telling the stories. I noticed there wasn’t much indication of exactly how much time had passed between scenes, which echoed the lack of time awareness that would be found living in caves without much sunlight to indicate time passing. I also liked that the two versions were told in alternating chapters, although it took until Chapter 3 for me to realize that. There were quite a few characters. Almost all of them are in both stories, but they aren’t all in every scene, so it wasn’t overwhelming, like being at a party introduced to one person after another.
I liked the slight differences in personality for a couple of the characters in the two versions, showing that the presence of one person can affect things in ways one might not expect. There were no sex scenes, but there was discussion of sex and some subtle references to people’s sexual feelings. One of the major sexual partnerships was between two men, so if that’s a problem, be aware that it’s mentioned quite a bit. I like that it was treated as naturally as the partnerships between men and women were. My only dislike is a common thing in Sci-fi stories: a lack of female characters. It stood out in this story because in a city of people, there were only a handful of women, and only Herai herself had much involvement in the stories.
Herai appeared to be well edited. I noticed only one definite typo. There were several instances of missing commas after clauses in some sentences, but these didn’t detract from comprehension.
I’m rating it 4 out of 4 stars because it’s a wonderful mystery story in an interesting setting. It’s got a great depiction of social structures, and how people exist within the social structures. Sadly, I would advise people bothered by romance and sex between two men that they may not be able to enjoy this, but I would recommend it to anyone fascinated by human behavior, or fans of fantasy whodunits.
******
Herai
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon