Review of We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies

[Ginny Ledger]

[Following is a volunteer review of "We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies" by Matthew Tysz.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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‘We are Voulhire: A New Arrival Under Great Skies’ is the first instalment in a fantasy series set in a multi-dimensional world. It follows multiple characters during the kingdom of Voulhire’s so-called ‘golden age’. The only threats are that of the Riva, a rebel group, and the terrifying and powerful Lord Meldorath. Matthew Tysz’s masterful prose allows the reader to feel fully immersed in this world. I found his descriptions of magic and combat particularly compelling. From the first pages, Meldorath’s power is clear to the reader. The chapters written from Meldorath’s perspective do nothing to quell the fear that the other chapters incite.
The world-building in this story is excellent, and I am excited to read more about it in further instalments. The story is told from multiple perspectives, allowing us to form our understanding of the world, rather than plainly stating it. It is written mostly in 3rd person perspective, except for the chapters following the main character, Galen Bray, a new arrival to Voulhire from the war-torn Land of Princes. This choice allows us a closeness to Galen that we do not feel with the other characters, which is fitting since, like Galen, we are also newcomers to Voulhire. During his chapters we get to explore Voulhire with him, contrasting his view of the world with those of the citizens of Voulhire, who have mostly known peace. The other characters allowed us to gain further perspective into the kingdom's politics as the narration followed nobles, rebels and even visitors from other worlds.
The characters are varied in station, personality and moral compass but I feel that the author has explored their motivations and goals in a way that makes all the characters fascinating. Often, the pitfall of having multiple perspectives in a book is that there is one character whose chapters you don’t enjoy; however, I didn’t have that problem in this book.
My only criticism of this book is that it was a bit slow in the beginning but, in hindsight, I feel that it was an important set-up for the rest of the plot.
Overall, the book's worldbuilding was amazing, the characters were interesting and I noticed almost no errors. Therefore, I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars.

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We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
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