Review of Destiny's Child
Posted: 02 Jan 2024, 10:31
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Destiny's Child" by Matt Hammond.]
A whirl of swords and sorcery
To read a fantasy novel is to escape through a portal into another realm. In Destiny's Child, author Matt Hammond has created a rich and compelling universe.
The continent of Ahrendessa is home to many peoples, and Destiny's Child is a saga with several protagonists. Both the Nordinian knights Kendoval and Annyon and ancient mage Neddalleous (Nedd) are acting on a prophecy to forestall a threat that could doom Ahrendessa. Main hero Malakier finds himself joining the knights after his village is sacked by green-skinned beasts known as Coltharis. Although he mourns the loss of his home, he was an orphan who never quite fit in - and so the adventure begins.
A definite strength of this novel is its plot. It is complex but hangs together. Hammond keeps the various strands under control as the story builds to its climax. The novel is on the longer side, and I sometimes wondered if all the details and side characters were essential. However, despite some repetitiveness, it was fascinating to learn about this exquisitely constructed world.
Hammond did sometimes err on the side of including too much exposition. An example of this occurs when Nedd and the companions he picked up -- Tanglash, a thief, Seztan, a rescued arena fighter and Reaver, a bailiff who was chasing them -- arrive at the city of Allendora. The narrative pauses for a lesson on the city's history and geography, but it would have been preferable to have the characters discover this piece by piece. This happens later in more effective scenes when Nedd has occasion to move through the city levels.
It's fabulous when authors create a full-fledged world, but better sometimes if they keep the details at the back of their mind rather than lecturing the reader too much. In that connection, this book would benefit from more editing; the style was sometimes stilted and information was repeated unnecessarily. It was also riddled with errors, which were distracting. These included homophone errors like "boarders" instead of "borders" or "breeches" instead of "breaches", and inconsistently spelled character names; for example, Reaver became "Raver" at one point.
Reaver was one of the more complex characters, as was his original quarry Tanglash, and it was interesting to see their relationship develop. However, many characters were flat; the plot was the main driver. As discussed above, the setting was elaborate and colourful, but at the same time, it was full of cliches. With its elves and dwarves, a lethal passage through the mountains and bond swords, it owed much to Tolkien and generally read like fanfic.
Familiar tropes can entertain, of course, and I could recommend this book to readers who don't object to these. There is also much to impress those that favour fight scenes. Hammond details weaponry and strategy, zooming out to troop formations and zooming in on melees. He's also as strong on sorcery as he is on swords. So while this story contains some excellent elements, its promises are half fulfilled overall. As it's halfway there, I'd give it two-and-a-half stars if I could, but since that isn't possible, my rating is two out of five. I deducted stars because of some repetition and tired cliches, because many characters are flat, especially the antagonists, and because the errors were distracting. More thought could also be given to the organization of the narrative, as some chapters felt unbalanced.
Yet as I say, readers who could overlook these aspects might enjoy the action and intrigue of the plot, the contours and texture of the world, and the work that went into constructing both. This book might be unsuitable for younger or more sensitive readers in that it contains detailed depictions of brutality, including rather gratuitous sexual violence.
******
Destiny's Child
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
A whirl of swords and sorcery
To read a fantasy novel is to escape through a portal into another realm. In Destiny's Child, author Matt Hammond has created a rich and compelling universe.
The continent of Ahrendessa is home to many peoples, and Destiny's Child is a saga with several protagonists. Both the Nordinian knights Kendoval and Annyon and ancient mage Neddalleous (Nedd) are acting on a prophecy to forestall a threat that could doom Ahrendessa. Main hero Malakier finds himself joining the knights after his village is sacked by green-skinned beasts known as Coltharis. Although he mourns the loss of his home, he was an orphan who never quite fit in - and so the adventure begins.
A definite strength of this novel is its plot. It is complex but hangs together. Hammond keeps the various strands under control as the story builds to its climax. The novel is on the longer side, and I sometimes wondered if all the details and side characters were essential. However, despite some repetitiveness, it was fascinating to learn about this exquisitely constructed world.
Hammond did sometimes err on the side of including too much exposition. An example of this occurs when Nedd and the companions he picked up -- Tanglash, a thief, Seztan, a rescued arena fighter and Reaver, a bailiff who was chasing them -- arrive at the city of Allendora. The narrative pauses for a lesson on the city's history and geography, but it would have been preferable to have the characters discover this piece by piece. This happens later in more effective scenes when Nedd has occasion to move through the city levels.
It's fabulous when authors create a full-fledged world, but better sometimes if they keep the details at the back of their mind rather than lecturing the reader too much. In that connection, this book would benefit from more editing; the style was sometimes stilted and information was repeated unnecessarily. It was also riddled with errors, which were distracting. These included homophone errors like "boarders" instead of "borders" or "breeches" instead of "breaches", and inconsistently spelled character names; for example, Reaver became "Raver" at one point.
Reaver was one of the more complex characters, as was his original quarry Tanglash, and it was interesting to see their relationship develop. However, many characters were flat; the plot was the main driver. As discussed above, the setting was elaborate and colourful, but at the same time, it was full of cliches. With its elves and dwarves, a lethal passage through the mountains and bond swords, it owed much to Tolkien and generally read like fanfic.
Familiar tropes can entertain, of course, and I could recommend this book to readers who don't object to these. There is also much to impress those that favour fight scenes. Hammond details weaponry and strategy, zooming out to troop formations and zooming in on melees. He's also as strong on sorcery as he is on swords. So while this story contains some excellent elements, its promises are half fulfilled overall. As it's halfway there, I'd give it two-and-a-half stars if I could, but since that isn't possible, my rating is two out of five. I deducted stars because of some repetition and tired cliches, because many characters are flat, especially the antagonists, and because the errors were distracting. More thought could also be given to the organization of the narrative, as some chapters felt unbalanced.
Yet as I say, readers who could overlook these aspects might enjoy the action and intrigue of the plot, the contours and texture of the world, and the work that went into constructing both. This book might be unsuitable for younger or more sensitive readers in that it contains detailed depictions of brutality, including rather gratuitous sexual violence.
******
Destiny's Child
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The words I speak of have included "by" and "bye" and "to" and "too." These were the simplest ones, but I think my last book had at least 15 to 20 of these exchanges. Of course, I have been getting a lot of my recommendations from others on here, so I tend to go with books that people have praised for being without error. I went off the beaten path... 
Until next time...