OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The White Orchid and the Willow" by Joel Anthony Collins.]

The White Orchid and the Willow by Joel Anthony Collins opens with Creyton, a lone hunter who lives on the Island of Jade, finding a mysterious book while on his way to town. Creyton makes a living by selling fur and game which he catches with his pet eagle, Eliza, who is almost preternaturally intelligent and can understand his commands far more easily than anyone might expect from a bird. The two of them travel to the town with the book, and there they are swept up into a plot involving betrayal, the royal family, and the future of the island.

The book Creyton finds is a fascinating plot piece and leads to what should be an interesting story. The pages of the book have the ability to change color and communicate through pictures to Creyton, though it isn’t always easy to tell what the book means to say. What is easy to tell is that it has some kind of tie to magic. Unfortunately, the magic behind the book is never really explored and is only explained very briefly.

This is the main weakness of the novel: I didn’t get a very good feel for the world it was set in. Instead, it felt as though the setting and most of the characters only existed as means to move the plot along. The secondary characters feel flat and more like plot devices than actual characters. Revelations tend to come out of nowhere, and it’s hard to tell what their purpose is beyond delivering Creyton to the next part of the story. I often found myself pausing and wondering why a certain character was willing to act the way he did or why a certain piece of information was revealed when it was. The only answer I could come up with was that the story had required it, and while that is essentially why anything happens in a story, there always ought to be something more driving the actions of characters.

I really wish I had been able to enjoy this novel more. As I said before, the story looked interesting, and the writing at times verges on beautiful. Collins gives lush descriptions of the setting and of the book’s transformations, but descriptions aren’t enough to support a plot. It takes fully-fleshed characters and a strong sense of the world to do that, at least for books where the author is trying to tell a story rather than just paint a picture. Collins is rather better at the latter, and I can only give this book 2 out of 4 stars.

I’m not entirely sure who would enjoy this book. Die-hard fantasy fans might, but many would probably wish the story had been a little stronger. It’s the first in a series, and perhaps the other books will answer some of my questions about the characters and the world, but I’m not too optimistic.

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The White Orchid and the Willow
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Thank you for your review!

Those questions that you had about why a character did certain things are extremely important. I wanted the readers to question why, so that they could think about the characters, what they could possibly be feeling, and see what their actions were because of them. My questions are: why did you stop and "why" and try to have a perspective of the characters to a deeper degree? And which characters did you feel were "flat"?

The character's and setting were supposed to give you better insight to the main character: what he was thinking and reveal conflicts of all kinds. The narration is limited to only one mind, so the narrator simply can't show you everything, but there was tons of foreshadowing for the plot and for characters, and I feel that you could have done better at trying to understand that I'm not going to hit the reader on the head with plot points and etc. The very first paragraph, alone, is a representation that I knew exactly where I was going with my story. Honestly I think that if you were to read it again, you would have a different opinion. When a painting is sitting in a gallery, you are supposed to extrapolate from it, not be told every little brush stroke, and the reason he chose that color. Just the mere wanting to ask why should clue you in to that fact. Every time you look at a piece of art, you will gain more from it. The reader should be cognitively thinking. I never will blatantly tell the reader what they should think about a situation or a character, or the conflicts. They are much better when realized on their own. There are clues all over that are supposed to give you insight.

I should have written the sequels and released them all at once. Many of the questions that you would have would be answered, but I feel that stopping where I did is better, because it puts emphasis on the ideals of what I was trying to accomplish. Obviously nobody will understand every little detail, and I didn't want that to be the case. What is the beauty by explicitly being told everything I want you to think? There is none. I wanted each reader to have a unique perspective of my story. I have definitely accomplished this.

Thank you for reading my art.

Great review, RussetDivinity!

I enjoyed reading your insightful review, as well as the author's thoughtful response.

The book summary sounds very interesting. I am a big stickler for character development and do not care much for setting descriptions so this probably is not the style of writing I would enjoy. I'm so curious about the island and the mysterious book though!

484 people have added my novel to their "to-read" shelves on goodreads...

Great review and analysis. I would be interested in the book, it does sound interesting. I'm going to have to look for it.

Nice thread. An author who responds magnanimously and hopefully sees success with the whole range being read.

i always appreciate a great review. thank you for your honesty! I'm still interested enough in this book to read it in the future I think, but I like that I'll know what I'm in for now.

Thank you for reading the review!

-- 01 May 2016, 13:33 --

Just so you guys know! This novel is available for free until midnight tomorrow, May 2nd. I made it free for the weekend! enjoy. over 235 people have downloaded it in the past two days!