Here at Fantasia Reviews, he want all kinds of fantasy fiction to be seen. Novellas are tricky to review, as while many are great, they may not have enough meat on their bones to give us something interesting to see. Today, we review two very different novellas, and we hope you enjoy.
Fantasia Reviews The Orbs of Lycheeia
“Not understanding that a balance between science and magic was essential to maintain his way of life, man chose to follow the ways of science. Life was a feudal existence and the age of magic had been reduced to a legend. With science still in its infancy and the legacy granted a millennium ago by the Monarch Dragons now beginning to fail, the situation was becoming dire for both realms. Halthmur the Grey Guardian had been maintaining the balance, but would not live beyond the spring solstice. Without him the boundaries would fall. The Orbs of reawakening, entrusted to Queen Lycheeia, the last human ally of the Monarch Dragons, now needed to be returned to Halthmur. Rumalth had been entrusted with this crucial task, to be completed before the looming spring solstice, in order to maintain the balance between the two realms. If he was successful humanity would remain blissfully unaware of the existence of the magical realm, allowing both to live in relative peace, in ignorance of the other. However, Luthieera, an evil sorceress, had plans of her own that could jeopardize everything.” – From Amazon
Story –
Good
We rate stories on engagingness, and that, The Orbs of Lycheeia has in spades. Mister Harding provides us with a glimpse into an intriguing world he has created and he leaves us yearning for more. While traditional fantasy cliché flows through the veins of this story, it is not so strong as to turn off the casual reader.
Writing and Formatting –
Decent
While in some areas Mister Harding shines, the clunky dialogue is unfortunate and littered throughout the story. While we did not find it to be a deal breaker, we believe it is worth mentioning. As well, a handful of typos and formatting errors could be addressed to make what is already a good read even better.
Literary Value – Average
The Orbs of Lycheeia is part fantasy, part romance, part action-adventure and all around fun. That being said, the novella is little more than fun and will not likely leave you pondering any existential issues.
Overall – A Good Read
We enjoyed reading the Orbs of Lycheeia and we believe other lovers of fantasy will as well. While there is a decent amount to the book, it leaves the reader wanting more, and we cannot wait to read more by Mister Harding in the future.
Fantasia Reviews Elven Magic: Book One
“A Fantasy Short Story/Children’s Book about Elves and Witches, This is an introduction to a series of short stories and unlocking the secrets of the spell book may not be as easy as it would seem. The constantly teased elf using the magic she has been taught must unlock the power of the book. This version is without names and the rest of the series will elaborate. Sort of like a prologue. This is only Book 1 of 3” – From Amazon
Story – Uninspired
Where to even begin? This story is a mess, from its pacing to its core, there is little redeemable about the book, and for the egregious price of $3.63 (thank you KU!) we can hopefully save you the time and money if you were debating picking this up to see if it improves – it doesn’t. Now, we don’t do this to pick on the author, but to show what so many readers fear. This book is underwritten. Very little time seems to have been taken to put it together, as if it were created during a fever dream or a bad trip and the contents remained unexamined before publishing. To any author who thinks that editing is only for the professionals, it is not. Too little time was spent writing this book and it feels like we may have put more effort into reviewing it than the author did in creating it.
Writing and Formatting – Needs Improvement
Sadly, after the poorly conceived story, the poor writing and formatting seem like a slap in the face.
Literary Value – Insignificant
Indeed, the whole thing is an incoherent mess and needs some serious TLC.
Overall – Needs Improvement
So, one may ask, why did we review this book? Well, with luck, we can inspire the author to go back and fix it. Given some elbow grease and time, this story could be readable, good even, but this happens all too often when young or inexperienced authors try to go it alone, without knowing that writing takes time, hard work, and dedication. We don’t mean that authors shouldn’t self-publish; we think they all should. What we mean is that one should not expect to put some words down on paper and call it a story, every skill should be honed, and to all hopeful authors out there, you need to practice, practice, and practice some more.
The Orbs of Lycheeia can be found here.
Elven Magic can be found here.