Blog Listing
- @Number71
- Beauty In Ruins
- Best Fantasy Books HQ
- Bitten By Books
- Booknest
- Bookworm Blues
- Charlotte's Library
- Civilian Reader
- Critical Mass
- Curated Fantasy Books
- Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews
- Everything is Nice
- Falcata Times
- Fantasy & SciFi Lovin' News & Reviews
- Fantasy Cafe
- Fantasy Literature
- Gold Not Glittering
- GoodKindles
- Grimdark Magazine
- Hellnotes
- io9
- Jabberwock
- Jeff VanderMeer
- King of the Nerds
- Layers of Thought
- Lynn's Book Blog
- Neth Space
- Novel Notions
- Omnivoracious
- Only The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
- Pyr-O-Mania
- Realms Of My Mind
- Rob's Blog O' Stuff
- Rockstarlit Bookasylum
- SciFiChick.com
- SFF Insiders
- Smorgasbord Fantasia
- Speculative Book Review
- Stainless Steel Droppings
- Tez Says
- The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.
- The B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
- The Bibliosanctum
- The Fantasy Hive
- The Fantasy Inn
- The Nocturnal Library
- The OF Blog
- The Qwillery
- The Speculative Scotsman
- The Vinciolo Journal
- The Wertzone
- Thoughts Stained With Ink
- Tip the Wink
- Tor.com
- Val's Random Comments
- Voyager Books
- Walker of Worlds
- Whatever
- Whispers & Wonder
Blog Archive
-
▼
2021
(196)
-
▼
March
(16)
- Exclusive Excerpt: Eulogy For The Dawn by Jeramy G...
- SPFBO Finalist: Darkness Forged by Matt Larkin review
- Cover Reveal Q&A: Sailor's Gambit by Jed Herne (by...
- Breach of Peace by Daniel B. Greene review
- SPFBO: Interview with Matt Larkin
- T.A. Bruno interview
- Master Assassins by Robert V.S. Reddick review
- She Dreams in Blood by Michael R. Fletcher
- The Unbroken by C. L. Clark (reviewed by Caitlin G...
- Exclusive Cover Reveal: Rainbringer: Zora Neale Hu...
- SPFBO Finalist: The Fall of Erlon by Robert H. Fle...
- We Lie With Death by Devin Madson (reviewed by Luk...
- SPFBO Interview: Robert H. Fleming
- The Second Bell by Gabriela Houston review
- One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovs...
- Exclusive Cover Reveal: HEAVY LIES THE CROWN by Be...
-
▼
March
(16)
SPFBO Finalist: The Fall of Erlon by Robert H. Fleming (reviewed by Adam, Lukasz & Mihir)
ADAM
OVERVIEW: The
story starts promising enough. A man is trapped inside a prison fortress in the
middle of nowhere, Edmond Dantès-style. We find out that this important man was
a former conqueror/emperor who united? divided? his people, spurning many wars,
before being toppled by some other group unknown.
Several chapters pass and we learn little else other than he was a man of
import, and with no explanation of how or why his rule meant anything. Instead,
we spend most of our time jumping around different militia camps, visiting
generals and princes and other local influencers. Everyone is angry because
nothing is being done the way they want it — but to the reader, they’re just
names and troop movements. This book didn’t quite work for me.
- Who wins?
- What they’re fighting over?
- WHY they’re fighting?
All are missing details that leave me wondering why I should have a stake in any of this. If it were all fallout stemming from an exiled emperor’s actions, it would have been helpful to know the background and motivations of anyone involved. I’d tried my best to stick with it, but the early focus on random militia movements and artillery positioning details kept my interest at bay. This book didn’t quite work for me.
MIHIR
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS:
This was a very interesting epic fantasy, which also had a very cool cover. I
enjoyed the Critiquing Chemist review as it highlighted a lot of what to expect
and I was pumped for it.
The story opens
with a terrible thing, the city of Erlon has fallen and Elisa Lannes, the Princess
of Erlon is tasked by a “god” to save her people. There’s quite a few
other POV characters:
- -- King
Nelson of Brun
- -- Prince
Rapp of Wahring
- -- Scythe
Commander Andrei
- -- Marshal
Alexandre Lauriston
There’s a couple
other minor characters who also get some POV time but their role is minor.
Elisa is the main character around whom the whole story hinges.
The story takes an
interesting note as it focusses on what happens after the fall. This is a bit
of a different take as usually fantasy stories often focus on the invasion or
the lead up to the invasion. So right off the bat, this was a key difference to
this story. The main plot for the story also focuses on a lot of magic with
godly apparitions who are presented as gods but we as readers get a sense that
there’s something more going on.
There’s also a ton
of scene switching as we get to see a lot of POV characters and all of them seem
to be having conflicting opinions as to what the empire should do next. The
plot unfolds with a rapid pace and that’s one of the positives of the story.
However the story happened to attempt many things and somehow the execution did
not quite match the ambition. This was an unfortunate aspect as I wanted to
like this story and on the base level, it did have quite a lot of things that
epic fantasy showcases well (battles, magic and a big character cast). But and this is crucial, the amalgamation didn’t quite
work out as intended.
This epic fantasy debut will find its fans but it will also have its share of detractors. For me, it did have quite a few things to like. But the other parts didn’t hold up the promise shown and so the end result wasn’t a spectacular one.
0 comments: