Review of We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
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vishwas kumar01
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- Latest Review: We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies by Matthew Tysz
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.]
After an exhausting journey across the sea, Galen finally enjoys the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet once more. He is a young refugee from the war-ravaged Lands of Princes, a place that has always seemed hellish to him. But luck has shone upon him—or perhaps the favor of the gods—with a ticket out of that cursed country. He has received word that an old uncle has died and bequeathed to him property in the rich, beautiful land of Voulhire. Though his life is in tatters at the moment, he is determined to make the most of this new opportunity and to live a life of comfort, if not prosperity, in Voulhire. He is grateful to see only the surface of things here; all is beauty and peace. But there are things happening across its territories that are not far removed from the kind of realities Galen fled.
Matthew Tysz's We Are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies is the first volume in the new fantasy series We Are Voulhire. The book's main objective is to familiarize readers with the fictional world of Voulhire and its denizens. To be honest, I approached the book with some skepticism. It's a well-known truth that writing a really good fantasy novel is no easy task and that one must do more than just tell a good story. In fact, the author must also create a whole imaginary world that convincingly matches the story. In this case, however, I needn't have worried. Tysz seems to have all the imagination necessary to pull off what he's aiming at, and the characters he conjures up are at least in part endearing, horrifying, and formidable.
The book’s structure deviates from the traditional format of most novels. It has sections that are narrow in focus but long enough to get the point across. Here, we meet each main character and learn their names. These sections effectively convey the essential information. I found the framing of each section unusual, but a good kind of unusual. When you think about it, the frame of each section leads nicely into the main point of the section, both in terms of storyline and in terms of conveying the message to the reader.
Some magical details in the story made me feel a bit uneasy. While there was a reasonable amount of magic in place, at certain times, it felt as if the author was substituting our knowledge of modern technology or science with ancient magic. When the characters needed to contact one another over a long distance, they used mages who could whisper messages into the heads of the characters' intended recipients. Now, come on—if you’re going to use magic to solve the problems in your characters’ lives, at least think of something a little more clever (and less obvious) than that.
I think that most fans of fantasy literature would enjoy We Are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies. I do not, however, feel comfortable recommending it to a younger audience, as it contains a fair amount of violence that I consider moderate but still somewhat concerning.
The author has, in my view, succeeded in his aim of presenting the setting and characters of his new series. For the first installment of We Are Voulhire, I offer a 5-out-of-5 star rating. Tysz has my attention. I look forward to reading the next installment, which I believe is the highest compliment a sophisticated reader can pay to a writer after finishing a book. The book has been exceptionally well-edited.
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We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
After an exhausting journey across the sea, Galen finally enjoys the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet once more. He is a young refugee from the war-ravaged Lands of Princes, a place that has always seemed hellish to him. But luck has shone upon him—or perhaps the favor of the gods—with a ticket out of that cursed country. He has received word that an old uncle has died and bequeathed to him property in the rich, beautiful land of Voulhire. Though his life is in tatters at the moment, he is determined to make the most of this new opportunity and to live a life of comfort, if not prosperity, in Voulhire. He is grateful to see only the surface of things here; all is beauty and peace. But there are things happening across its territories that are not far removed from the kind of realities Galen fled.
Matthew Tysz's We Are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies is the first volume in the new fantasy series We Are Voulhire. The book's main objective is to familiarize readers with the fictional world of Voulhire and its denizens. To be honest, I approached the book with some skepticism. It's a well-known truth that writing a really good fantasy novel is no easy task and that one must do more than just tell a good story. In fact, the author must also create a whole imaginary world that convincingly matches the story. In this case, however, I needn't have worried. Tysz seems to have all the imagination necessary to pull off what he's aiming at, and the characters he conjures up are at least in part endearing, horrifying, and formidable.
The book’s structure deviates from the traditional format of most novels. It has sections that are narrow in focus but long enough to get the point across. Here, we meet each main character and learn their names. These sections effectively convey the essential information. I found the framing of each section unusual, but a good kind of unusual. When you think about it, the frame of each section leads nicely into the main point of the section, both in terms of storyline and in terms of conveying the message to the reader.
Some magical details in the story made me feel a bit uneasy. While there was a reasonable amount of magic in place, at certain times, it felt as if the author was substituting our knowledge of modern technology or science with ancient magic. When the characters needed to contact one another over a long distance, they used mages who could whisper messages into the heads of the characters' intended recipients. Now, come on—if you’re going to use magic to solve the problems in your characters’ lives, at least think of something a little more clever (and less obvious) than that.
I think that most fans of fantasy literature would enjoy We Are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies. I do not, however, feel comfortable recommending it to a younger audience, as it contains a fair amount of violence that I consider moderate but still somewhat concerning.
The author has, in my view, succeeded in his aim of presenting the setting and characters of his new series. For the first installment of We Are Voulhire, I offer a 5-out-of-5 star rating. Tysz has my attention. I look forward to reading the next installment, which I believe is the highest compliment a sophisticated reader can pay to a writer after finishing a book. The book has been exceptionally well-edited.
******
We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
