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OFFICIAL AUTHOR
INFO: Joshua Walker is the author of The Song of the Sleepers series. He was born in
Sydney, Australia and was an avid reader from the age of five, when he first
read The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien ‘all by himself’. Josh currently lives in
Melbourne, Australia with his wife and BFD (Big Fluffy Dog). In between
spending time with his family and friends, he sticks to a regimented writing
routine, and is also a primary teacher. He also makes his own beer, and likes
to think it’s pretty good.
OFFICIAL BOOK
BLURB: On the peak of the Mountain
Pass, the Four-Front War takes its final breaths.
The
walls are closing in.
The
allies are dwindling.
The
last front is on its knees.
OVERVIEW: Joshua Walker’s ‘The Rest To The Gods’ is a promising display of word building prowess sure to keep
your fingers eagerly turning those metaphysical kindle pages. Wholly original
and action packed, by the time you finish you’ll be left questioning the nature
of time since it cannot have possibly traveled so quickly in the space it takes
to peruse this nifty novella.
Whilst the character
development did feel constrained within the minimal novella size, and the lore
fed in by the mouthful it was fun and ultimately, that’s a fantastic measure of
a good book.
“Do not think that by heartening your heart
you can accomplish your every goal in this life, child”
I start this
review by being honest...
This book was 100%
a mood read. I’d seen the cover going around on social media and being the whimsical
plank that I am, I decided to blow up the TBR…
Again!
But, as readers
will find when they spend time in Joshua’s world, this was not without good
reason. For Joshua invites into a Redwall-esque world in the midst of a grand
war, and he certainly does not hang about!
We start in
media res with our protagonist Nischia who is one of the eponymous
Sleepers. Caught in a battle high up in the peaks, Nischia and the Aobians face
overwhelming odds in a last stand for their kingdom.
A sleeper is
essentially Joshua’s in-world mage, and they use a magic system known as
Luminosity to power their cism (aka
magic). It was inventive and refreshing and I was certainly intrigued to learn more, even if the
terminology at times could be a little overwhelming.
Alongside the
present day, Joshua also delves into Nischia’s past and her initiation into the
order of the Sleepers, which is where most of the emotional heft of this
novella comes from. Nischia certainly has what one could deem a ‘troubled’
past, although it is usually Nischia caught in the midst of these troubles, and I found I could really admire her
strength and tenacity through all she suffered.
The dual narrative
allows Joshua to expand on the present via the past and vice versa, which adds
a nice sense of progression to the novella, each chapter revealing a new aspect
of character. Furthermore, it kept me on the hook, finding myself eager to
return to the next piece of the story regardless of timeline, and never left me
wanting!
Surprisingly the
present narrative was my personal favourite, despite the more character driven
nature of Nischia’s past. Personally, I found that there simply wasn’t enough
page time available to devote to Nischia’s past to show the depths that I would
personally find fully compelling. The broad themes on display in Nischia’s
past, of overcoming adversity and emotional turmoil are certainly very
respectable, however there is a lot to unpack and I think being a novella
hindered its ability to really delve as deep as I would've liked.
Accordingly the
underlying political plot occuring didn’t have the impact I believe Joshua was
aiming for. For me the surprises that came in this section felt underwhelming
because we hadn’t had the time to fully connect to the cast of characters before
things turn on their head. This undermined the impact of those twists which for
me developed rather too quickly. Whilst this is certainly an ambitious novella,
broad in scale, yet intimate in character, I do think with more page time it
could’ve been more impactful.
To speak of my
favourite section though, we go to the present day, where most of the creative
world building is on display. I really loved the feel of these anthropomorphic
characters in the vein of Brian Jaques’ Redwall series; they were endearing and
incredibly easy to root for. Who doesn’t love a good last stand after all!
There *was* a lot of new terminology introduced rather quickly, and this may
potentially put off new readers, however I think as readers it's important to
understand that we don’t need to grasp every concept to enjoy a fun new tale.
Joshua does an admirable job of centering us through the character of Nischia,
so one can always ground themselves with her character in the midst of the
unfolding chaos.
I do think again
that the small page count did hinder some aspects of the suspense and action,
but this is surely a promising aspect too, as I trust with a wider page count
that Joshua will find a suitable rhythm. The fast pace certainly aided in
turning the pages, despite somewhat undermining the suspense of the piece.
Despite being an
almost singularly located novella, we do learn a lot about the wider world, and
the culture of the Aobians with their great tree was a great example of
inventive worldbuilding. Especially in today’s age of climate change it's
always welcome to see a culture rooted (no pun intended!!) in the beauty and
majesty of nature. This makes the world feel as if a living character itself,
similar to Pandora in the Avatar movies. I certainly appreciate how much we
could learn from worlds such as this and their connection to nature.
CONCLUSION: Overall, a very promising debut which has
certainly left me ready to delve into Joshua’s subsequent works. Pacy and
punchy, grounded characters in an inventive world, despite the page count
undermining some aspects, i couldn’t turn those pages fast enough! Watch out
world, the Aussie author squad is coming for us!! (Seriously, Mark Timmony, Luke Schulz, now Joshua, it’s fantastic!)
12:00 AM | 
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1 comments:
You had me at Redwall-esque! I've been reading more novellas lately and now I'm curious about this one. Great review.