Review by odlanra -- We are Voulhire: The Fires of Virko
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odlanra
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Review by odlanra -- We are Voulhire: The Fires of Virko
[Following is a volunteer review of "We are Voulhire: The Fires of Virko" by Matthew Tysz.]
We are Voulhire: The Fires of Virko by Matthew Tysz is the second book of the Voulhire series. In the other books of the series, I had learned that Voulhire was a place with knights, yet with buildings, skyscrapers, restaurants, and microscopes. The second book clearly showed, to my amusement and wonder, that Voulhire is an amazing place. Its sword-bearing men in armor, mages, and monks are all placed in an advanced setting. I say advanced because part of the setting and background of the story incorporates relatively new events or concepts in politics and economics that happened or were developed at a later age: lords as against mayors, fascism and martial law, merchant class, and capital secularism.
The second book of the series has more than one story-line, each one intersecting with the other. The main story-line of the book started with an incidental desire to acquire metals to improve the economic condition of a town but ended up with a strong responsibility to search for and kill a demon. What transpired next and afterward was the culmination of horrors silently inside the city and the hearts of both those seeking control and those wanting revenge.
I believe that the story captures the attention of the reader right away with a suspenseful, yet dreadful and mysterious start. From there, the story evolves, carrying and capturing the reader through mystery after mystery, expectations and remarkable interconnections, questions after questions, and finally, horrors after horrors. I found myself somewhat puzzled, questioning, forced to wait, somewhat unbelieving, sorry, surprised, and horrified. I settled down with interest and excitement as suspense presented itself. After all of these, horrors came flowing in.
Throughout the story, points on governance, politics, capitalistic economies, religion, secularism, social status, parenting, and personal virtues are inserted. Together with the other books of the series, I have the sneaking suspicion that the story is a scaled-down satire on some of these topics. I do not or I may not necessarily agree with the points emphasized. It does not matter. But I believe these points carry a lot of thought-provoking ideas: “All you need is a rigid capitalistic system…..haves and have-nots.”; ”…..it fits the description of wide-eyed children, of squinting drunkards. Just like religion. Just like science.”
The development of the characters of the story is well thought of using various events, including recalls and memories. The only thing that I could remember bothering me initially was when I became confused about who feels what during the discussion on the psychology of relationships. I felt compelled to question why should such relationships be so numerous in the story. Looking back, perhaps I was already placing the character as a would-be hero. And perhaps my being naive and new to such realities has contributed to my disliking it at first.
I found no typing errors. I did find some sentences that I, as a mere reader, would doubt if with an error or not. But these are minimal and probably either justifiable as ordinary conversation lapses or still understandable. It is easy for me to give it a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. I would recommend it to mature readers of fantasy, magic, and horrors.
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We are Voulhire: The Fires of Virko
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
We are Voulhire: The Fires of Virko by Matthew Tysz is the second book of the Voulhire series. In the other books of the series, I had learned that Voulhire was a place with knights, yet with buildings, skyscrapers, restaurants, and microscopes. The second book clearly showed, to my amusement and wonder, that Voulhire is an amazing place. Its sword-bearing men in armor, mages, and monks are all placed in an advanced setting. I say advanced because part of the setting and background of the story incorporates relatively new events or concepts in politics and economics that happened or were developed at a later age: lords as against mayors, fascism and martial law, merchant class, and capital secularism.
The second book of the series has more than one story-line, each one intersecting with the other. The main story-line of the book started with an incidental desire to acquire metals to improve the economic condition of a town but ended up with a strong responsibility to search for and kill a demon. What transpired next and afterward was the culmination of horrors silently inside the city and the hearts of both those seeking control and those wanting revenge.
I believe that the story captures the attention of the reader right away with a suspenseful, yet dreadful and mysterious start. From there, the story evolves, carrying and capturing the reader through mystery after mystery, expectations and remarkable interconnections, questions after questions, and finally, horrors after horrors. I found myself somewhat puzzled, questioning, forced to wait, somewhat unbelieving, sorry, surprised, and horrified. I settled down with interest and excitement as suspense presented itself. After all of these, horrors came flowing in.
Throughout the story, points on governance, politics, capitalistic economies, religion, secularism, social status, parenting, and personal virtues are inserted. Together with the other books of the series, I have the sneaking suspicion that the story is a scaled-down satire on some of these topics. I do not or I may not necessarily agree with the points emphasized. It does not matter. But I believe these points carry a lot of thought-provoking ideas: “All you need is a rigid capitalistic system…..haves and have-nots.”; ”…..it fits the description of wide-eyed children, of squinting drunkards. Just like religion. Just like science.”
The development of the characters of the story is well thought of using various events, including recalls and memories. The only thing that I could remember bothering me initially was when I became confused about who feels what during the discussion on the psychology of relationships. I felt compelled to question why should such relationships be so numerous in the story. Looking back, perhaps I was already placing the character as a would-be hero. And perhaps my being naive and new to such realities has contributed to my disliking it at first.
I found no typing errors. I did find some sentences that I, as a mere reader, would doubt if with an error or not. But these are minimal and probably either justifiable as ordinary conversation lapses or still understandable. It is easy for me to give it a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. I would recommend it to mature readers of fantasy, magic, and horrors.
******
We are Voulhire: The Fires of Virko
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: We are Voulhire: The Flesh of the Mind by Matthew Tysz
