Review of Umbral Ten
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Josh Parkinson
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Review of Umbral Ten
[Following is a volunteer review of "Umbral Ten" by Douglas Murphy.]
Umbral Ten by Douglas Murphy is the first installment of a dark fantasy series about a mismatched group of characters who wake up in a changed world after what appears to be some sort of magical disaster, with no memory of how they got there. The book follows the survivors as they try to piece together what happened to leave them all unconscious and survive in a world once ruled by order, now thrown into chaos with monsters, a blood moon in the sky, and a mysterious evil ruling, all while trying to tolerate each other’s company. The story all takes place as the group, made up of a mage, a librarian, a holy knight, a bad-mouthed nun, and two mercenaries, try to find a way from the island they woke up on to the mainland fighting monsters and trying to work out why the world has changed. It works as a perfect opener to this series but gives you enough of a stand-alone story not to leave you on a cliffhanger mid-action.
The way the story is introduced works really well, as you feel like you know just as much as the characters to start with, and as their understanding grows so does the readers’ and it feels like it unravels very naturally. The wider lore of the world, and the backstories of the characters, seem well developed and are revealed gradually, relating it to the current events in the story at a pace that is easy to follow, but leaving you with enough mystery to want to find out more. The characters are fun and very contrasting, their interactions are interesting and develop in unexpected ways, often leading to humorous exchanges. I also enjoyed the action and combat and how the different approaches of the characters seemed to reflect the personalities of the characters whose perspectives you were following at the time.
The plot was sometimes predictable as a fairly standard fantasy quest line, and, as it is quite a short book, it felt like everything happened quite quickly. It seems like one of the characters may have changed gender in the development of the story, which left me slightly confused at points, but none of this affected my enjoyment of the book overall.
My opinion of this story is overall a very positive one and I would give it at least 4 out of 5 stars as a rating. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series to learn more about the characters, and the wider world of the setting, and to understand how the many threads introduced in this opening story will weave together. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a dark fantasy and is looking for a new series to get themselves invested in!
******
Umbral Ten
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Umbral Ten by Douglas Murphy is the first installment of a dark fantasy series about a mismatched group of characters who wake up in a changed world after what appears to be some sort of magical disaster, with no memory of how they got there. The book follows the survivors as they try to piece together what happened to leave them all unconscious and survive in a world once ruled by order, now thrown into chaos with monsters, a blood moon in the sky, and a mysterious evil ruling, all while trying to tolerate each other’s company. The story all takes place as the group, made up of a mage, a librarian, a holy knight, a bad-mouthed nun, and two mercenaries, try to find a way from the island they woke up on to the mainland fighting monsters and trying to work out why the world has changed. It works as a perfect opener to this series but gives you enough of a stand-alone story not to leave you on a cliffhanger mid-action.
The way the story is introduced works really well, as you feel like you know just as much as the characters to start with, and as their understanding grows so does the readers’ and it feels like it unravels very naturally. The wider lore of the world, and the backstories of the characters, seem well developed and are revealed gradually, relating it to the current events in the story at a pace that is easy to follow, but leaving you with enough mystery to want to find out more. The characters are fun and very contrasting, their interactions are interesting and develop in unexpected ways, often leading to humorous exchanges. I also enjoyed the action and combat and how the different approaches of the characters seemed to reflect the personalities of the characters whose perspectives you were following at the time.
The plot was sometimes predictable as a fairly standard fantasy quest line, and, as it is quite a short book, it felt like everything happened quite quickly. It seems like one of the characters may have changed gender in the development of the story, which left me slightly confused at points, but none of this affected my enjoyment of the book overall.
My opinion of this story is overall a very positive one and I would give it at least 4 out of 5 stars as a rating. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series to learn more about the characters, and the wider world of the setting, and to understand how the many threads introduced in this opening story will weave together. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a dark fantasy and is looking for a new series to get themselves invested in!
******
Umbral Ten
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Refuge by Mike Shellenbergar
