Review of We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies

[Promise Ogungbamila]

[Following is a volunteer review of "We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies" by Matthew Tysz.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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We Are Voulhire: A New Arrival Under Great Skies is a science fiction/fantasy novel by Matthew Tysz. This book is set primarily in the fictional world of Voulhire and is the first installment in the ongoing We Are Voulhire series. The story is told from the perspective of the numerous key characters in the book.

After fleeing his war-torn home, our protagonist, Galen Bray, arrives in Voulhire, a world he knows nothing about, neither its ways nor its people, but which he is attempting to understand and find his place in. He would come to know that, ultimately, we're all connected by a thin strand of fate and that one man's action can cause a ripple effect across many lives as a play is set in motion by forces beyond him, a play that is sure to affect him and this new world of his.

Matthew Tysz is an artist with a way with words, something that becomes obvious right from the very first page. He has a way of describing scenes such that the reader has no problem picturing said scenes. The fight scenes were what first clued me in on this; the way he described them, every action seemed realistic, not something you needed a stretch of the imagination to believe.

I love how the story unfolds from the perspectives of the different characters. The wide range of characters provides a refreshing point of view, ensuring the readers will not get bored following the story from just one character's perspective. A person becomes more understood when a little is known about their backstory. Even if his actions are not accepted, they're understood all the same. This is something I believe Matthew Tysz was able to accomplish in his book.

Another big plus for me is the simplicity with which new terms were introduced. This ensured the reader was not swamped by the influx of unknown words, something that could easily have slowed down the pace of reading or made me lose interest. I would rate this novel 4 out of 4 stars for the sheer creativity required to construct a world as complex and as rich as the one in this novel and for the other aforementioned reasons. I have nothing against this book.

I love that there is a certain degree of unpredictability sustained throughout the entire narrative; you sort of know where the story might shift to, but you can't be certain of anything. Great job on keeping the intrigue going. If there was a rating higher than 4 stars, then I would award it to this book. Pure genius. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good action novel. Readers of the sci-fi/fantasy genre would be thrilled with this book.
I didn't notice any errors while reading this book, so I have to say the editor did a superb job.

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We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
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[JuliusOnyango]

I also enjoyed the author's writing style storytelling skills. I also loved the originality of his work. This is a nice review.