Review of The Hermit Gryphon
-
Janet Cook
- Minimum Wage Millionaire Reader
- Posts: 15
- Joined: 16 Apr 2023, 14:44
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 0
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-janet-cook.html
- Latest Review: In It Together by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
Review of The Hermit Gryphon
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Hermit Gryphon" by Paula Grover.]
My first thoughts as I sat down to read this book were: this reads as though it could be a video game like Legend of Zelda, or a card game like Magic: The Gathering, or a board game like Dungeons and Dragons. I thought the poem in the beginning was a nice touch. I found myself excited to read more. Ultimately, I give this book a 3 out of 5 stars.
I would have given it a 4, but there are a few things that bumped it down to a 3. At first, I found the dialogue and “language” of the story to be beautiful and easy to read. There seems to be no unintentional grammatical or editing errors and no foul language. What I did have an issue with is the number of characters introduced. Chapter One unpacks a lot of characters to keep track of and try to relate to within the context of each scene. It also lacks setting. There is almost no description of the what Tal sees around her. One missed opportunity to give us a good picture of the land was when Tal reaches “The highest mountain top” (Chapter one). This would have been the perfect time for the author to describe the terrain that Tal was navigating. There is a weak description of ”the famous Forest Lake that Tale Weaver raved about” (Chapter six), but again a missed opportunity to describe the setting as Tal flies over the water. This is a trend throughout the book; heavy dialogue with very little setting.
When Gripe Piper is introduced, he has childlike dialect that I find to be overly done in Fantasy Fiction. I had to read his dialogue twice for me to understand what he was saying. At first, I thought he was ignoring the fact he had been wounded in a surprise battle and randomly telling Tal that he was going into the city to find a “gaggle of females” (Chapter 3), however after re-reading I realized, he was telling Tal that he was back there trying to get his lost gaggle back unsuccessfully and was just leaving the place when the attack occurs. There is no indication of where “back there” was because at this point, Tal is lost… I found this very confusing and Piper’s dialect make it more difficult to understand.
The Trinity of Chance starting in Chapter 9 gives us a lot more of Tal’s past, but at this point, I think the story needs to move faster. Relational Key: The Gryphonic Families, while useful, should be at the begging of the book, not at the end of Part One. This would have made the characters easier to keep track of throughout the first part of the Book.
By Part two, I am starting to get burned out. It is heavy on dialogue, and the story has become too slow and drawn out. There have been far too many characters to keep track of and try to connect to in context to their part in Tal’s past heinous acts and her present road to redemption. The dialogue has become difficult to read and is far too abundant.
There easily could be less dialogue and more setting.
Overall, this is a great tale, with plenty of action. It is a journey of Pain, self-realization, and the will to change. We see a tyrant redeemed and lives put back together, however, it is long winded and becomes very hard to follow.
******
The Hermit Gryphon
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
My first thoughts as I sat down to read this book were: this reads as though it could be a video game like Legend of Zelda, or a card game like Magic: The Gathering, or a board game like Dungeons and Dragons. I thought the poem in the beginning was a nice touch. I found myself excited to read more. Ultimately, I give this book a 3 out of 5 stars.
I would have given it a 4, but there are a few things that bumped it down to a 3. At first, I found the dialogue and “language” of the story to be beautiful and easy to read. There seems to be no unintentional grammatical or editing errors and no foul language. What I did have an issue with is the number of characters introduced. Chapter One unpacks a lot of characters to keep track of and try to relate to within the context of each scene. It also lacks setting. There is almost no description of the what Tal sees around her. One missed opportunity to give us a good picture of the land was when Tal reaches “The highest mountain top” (Chapter one). This would have been the perfect time for the author to describe the terrain that Tal was navigating. There is a weak description of ”the famous Forest Lake that Tale Weaver raved about” (Chapter six), but again a missed opportunity to describe the setting as Tal flies over the water. This is a trend throughout the book; heavy dialogue with very little setting.
When Gripe Piper is introduced, he has childlike dialect that I find to be overly done in Fantasy Fiction. I had to read his dialogue twice for me to understand what he was saying. At first, I thought he was ignoring the fact he had been wounded in a surprise battle and randomly telling Tal that he was going into the city to find a “gaggle of females” (Chapter 3), however after re-reading I realized, he was telling Tal that he was back there trying to get his lost gaggle back unsuccessfully and was just leaving the place when the attack occurs. There is no indication of where “back there” was because at this point, Tal is lost… I found this very confusing and Piper’s dialect make it more difficult to understand.
The Trinity of Chance starting in Chapter 9 gives us a lot more of Tal’s past, but at this point, I think the story needs to move faster. Relational Key: The Gryphonic Families, while useful, should be at the begging of the book, not at the end of Part One. This would have made the characters easier to keep track of throughout the first part of the Book.
By Part two, I am starting to get burned out. It is heavy on dialogue, and the story has become too slow and drawn out. There have been far too many characters to keep track of and try to connect to in context to their part in Tal’s past heinous acts and her present road to redemption. The dialogue has become difficult to read and is far too abundant.
There easily could be less dialogue and more setting.
Overall, this is a great tale, with plenty of action. It is a journey of Pain, self-realization, and the will to change. We see a tyrant redeemed and lives put back together, however, it is long winded and becomes very hard to follow.
******
The Hermit Gryphon
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
Latest Review: In It Together by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
