Review by OliviaLouise -- The Crystilleries of Echoland

[OliviaLouise]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Crystilleries of Echoland" by Dew Pellucid.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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At a young age, Will Cleary and his twin sister, Emmy, were kidnapped. Will escaped with the aid of his two pets, a falcon and a wolf, and has no memory of his kidnappers. He is, however, haunted by the loss of his sister as he watches his parents cope in their different ways, yearning to bring Emmy back. One day, just shy of his thirteenth birthday, Will’s pets reveal to him the secrets of his mysterious kidnapping: deep underground, there is a secret land populated by a translucent people who call themselves “echos.” These people call the occupants of Will's world “sounds.” As Will returns to Echoland, he stumbles into a wild adventure of magic, intrigue, and murder.

Dew Pellucid has a knack for world-building in this exciting fantasy adventure story. When reading fantasy, two things should be taken into consideration: the first is how conceivable the magic is, and the second is how well it works with the world around it. In The Crystilleries of Echoland, Pellucid does a great job of gradually revealing the magic of Echoland through various magical objects interacting with the world around Will. Pellucid also thoughtfully creates an interesting history for each object. In terms of how well the magic worked with the present-time world, Pellucid does an excellent job of using the magic she has created to reveal the power dynamics at play in the story and, at many times, the darker side of human nature. One thing I did not anticipate when I started this book was the realistic political intrigue Pellucid created as Will is trying to learn who he can trust in order to help the rightful heir claim the throne. This conflict was both interesting and believable.

The audiobook format works well for this story because it effectively immerses the listener in the world Pellucid builds. The voice that was selected for this book uses modulation to highlight suspense and emotion throughout the story. They also do a great job of creating a distinction between the characters by using different voices for each one.

One small problem with the audiobook was that the chapter numbers on the screen did not match the chapter numbers in the voice recording. This made it challenging to go back and find sections I wanted to listen to again. Finally, there were instances with multiple characters in a scene that were not always referred to by name. For example, there is a scene towards the middle part of the audio where there are four male characters in the same room, and the script refers to one of them as “the tall boy.” This is descriptive and helpful in text, but in an audiobook with a large number of characters, it is better to just refer to characters by name.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable story. I am giving The Crystilleries of Echoland 4 out of 4 stars for the aforementioned reasons. Although the formatting issues were confusing, they did not detract from the enjoyment of the story. If you enjoyed Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia, you will definitely enjoy the magical adventure of this book!

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The Crystilleries of Echoland
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