Review of We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
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Lindsay Salomon
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Review of We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
[Following is a volunteer review of "We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies" by Matthew Tysz.]
We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies is a fantasy book written by Matthew Tysz. It transports us to the kingdom of Voulhire, the place of dreams in Galen Bray's world. Having grown up in the war-torn Land of the Princes, he escapes to Voulhire in the hopes of starting a new life. Unbeknownst to Galen, Voulhire is in a state of silent turmoil. The evil Meldorath is still alive and secretly imprisoned on an island by King Wilhelm, and the Riva Rohavi is gaining strength. With his friend Rowan, he navigates the country in the hopes of picking up where his great uncle left off and gets entangled in trouble at every turn.
I love how I can already sense that the stories of all the characters are meant to overlap at some point. The way the writing has put bits and pieces of clues where I can find a connection from a separate plot point to another is fascinating, and it did make me feel a bit of a buzz when I could spot the connection.
With King Wilhelm, you could feel that this character is good at heart but is weighed down by the responsibility of the crown and the secrets he has to keep for it. He would usually butt heads with Midius Maidon, and I found this relationship quite interesting. There seems to be mutual respect, but also mutual wariness.
Meldorath is powerful, manipulative, and mysterious. I don't quite understand his motivations for his villainy yet. Did he truly feel that he was wronged by the people he trusted, or did he have some sort of twisted vision for a better world that he believed he could get through obtaining more power? His character has a lot of potential, and it'll be interesting to see if he'll be written as nuanced or just a clear-cut bad guy moving forward.
Next up is Eldus Alderman and his family in Hillpoint. These were my favorite parts to read. They were so genuine in trying to help Hillpoint economically and emotionally. They had their differences, especially with his son Marshus, but clearly still loved each other greatly, and it broke my heart when they ended up being dragged into the mess. Also, I loved how it was shown how they were trying to help the citizens of Hillport. Not all fantasy stories tackle how lords govern, and I love it when authors add that in. It gives it a more realistic feel.
Then we have Galen. He's clearly being set up as the major protagonist going forward. It's evident in the way the point of view in the writing suddenly shifts from third person to first person. I found that style quite disconcerting at first, but then I gathered this was the writer's way to emphasize his importance. His little adventures with Rowan seem to be completely withdrawn from everything going on, but it's clear from the moment they obtained that mysterious rock that he would end up at the center of all the fray in the future.
The book has the usual fantasy tropes. Galen is set up to be the chosen one to go up against Meldorath in the future, but I love how it also inculcates a different universe called Caromentis. It makes everything more muddled up, which makes it different from some other fantasy books that I've read. Overall, I really liked the story, and I don't have anything negative to say about it. The worldbuilding was great. The descriptions of the places and people were well thought out. I could feel the emotion in the writing, especially since it's more character-driven. I would recommend this book to older fantasy fans. I've found no spelling or grammar errors, and it looks professionally edited. I give it a rating of 5 out of 5 stars.
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We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies is a fantasy book written by Matthew Tysz. It transports us to the kingdom of Voulhire, the place of dreams in Galen Bray's world. Having grown up in the war-torn Land of the Princes, he escapes to Voulhire in the hopes of starting a new life. Unbeknownst to Galen, Voulhire is in a state of silent turmoil. The evil Meldorath is still alive and secretly imprisoned on an island by King Wilhelm, and the Riva Rohavi is gaining strength. With his friend Rowan, he navigates the country in the hopes of picking up where his great uncle left off and gets entangled in trouble at every turn.
I love how I can already sense that the stories of all the characters are meant to overlap at some point. The way the writing has put bits and pieces of clues where I can find a connection from a separate plot point to another is fascinating, and it did make me feel a bit of a buzz when I could spot the connection.
With King Wilhelm, you could feel that this character is good at heart but is weighed down by the responsibility of the crown and the secrets he has to keep for it. He would usually butt heads with Midius Maidon, and I found this relationship quite interesting. There seems to be mutual respect, but also mutual wariness.
Meldorath is powerful, manipulative, and mysterious. I don't quite understand his motivations for his villainy yet. Did he truly feel that he was wronged by the people he trusted, or did he have some sort of twisted vision for a better world that he believed he could get through obtaining more power? His character has a lot of potential, and it'll be interesting to see if he'll be written as nuanced or just a clear-cut bad guy moving forward.
Next up is Eldus Alderman and his family in Hillpoint. These were my favorite parts to read. They were so genuine in trying to help Hillpoint economically and emotionally. They had their differences, especially with his son Marshus, but clearly still loved each other greatly, and it broke my heart when they ended up being dragged into the mess. Also, I loved how it was shown how they were trying to help the citizens of Hillport. Not all fantasy stories tackle how lords govern, and I love it when authors add that in. It gives it a more realistic feel.
Then we have Galen. He's clearly being set up as the major protagonist going forward. It's evident in the way the point of view in the writing suddenly shifts from third person to first person. I found that style quite disconcerting at first, but then I gathered this was the writer's way to emphasize his importance. His little adventures with Rowan seem to be completely withdrawn from everything going on, but it's clear from the moment they obtained that mysterious rock that he would end up at the center of all the fray in the future.
The book has the usual fantasy tropes. Galen is set up to be the chosen one to go up against Meldorath in the future, but I love how it also inculcates a different universe called Caromentis. It makes everything more muddled up, which makes it different from some other fantasy books that I've read. Overall, I really liked the story, and I don't have anything negative to say about it. The worldbuilding was great. The descriptions of the places and people were well thought out. I could feel the emotion in the writing, especially since it's more character-driven. I would recommend this book to older fantasy fans. I've found no spelling or grammar errors, and it looks professionally edited. I give it a rating of 5 out of 5 stars.
******
We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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