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The Dark Shores #1
Peace and Turmoil
Thirty years of peace have graced the lands of Abra'am. The waning bloodshed from the War of Fire has ended, and the new generations have only the horrid tales of their forefathers to remind them of their countries' pasts. Poverty no longer prevails, the sights and palms of men have grown soft, yet four nations dictate more power than they know. Civil unrest stirs amongst the first, the heir to the throne of Mesidia and the Guardian to its Dagger questioned by a growing rebellion. To its south lies a country of scholars, the mighty nation of Xenith, liberators of the War of Fire and Guardians of the Amulet. Over the Dividing Wall lives the newly freed Sadie, a kingdom with an assassin for a prince and an insurgence at its heels. The fourth is the ancient realm of Eve, the Land Across the Sea, gifted and cursed with the Sight as it shows them what's to come.
Only one knows the fate of the world, but all will be pawns in its reckoning.
Only one knows the fate of the world, but all will be pawns in its reckoning.
732 pages, Hardcover
First published March 18, 2019
94 people are currently reading
6138 people want to read
About the author
Elliot Brooks
3 books6,496 followersElliot is not Elliot's real name. She chooses to keep her real name private for reasons.
Things that are true about Elliot:
She lives in Arizona.
She is the author of the Dark Shores series.
She is married and in love (to the same
person).
She majored in music.
She has her own business teaching music.
She loves books.
She loves the Final Fantasy and Witcher
games.
She enjoys adventuring.
She enjoys drawing.
She does not have any children.
She does not plan to ever have children.
She loves board games. Especially Dominion.
Things that are true about Elliot:
She lives in Arizona.
She is the author of the Dark Shores series.
She is married and in love (to the same
person).
She majored in music.
She has her own business teaching music.
She loves books.
She loves the Final Fantasy and Witcher
games.
She enjoys adventuring.
She enjoys drawing.
She does not have any children.
She does not plan to ever have children.
She loves board games. Especially Dominion.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 163 reviews
April 23, 2019
As a first time author, Elliot has landed on her feet and made an impact. Cannot wait to record my review this afternoon. 3.5 stars (seriously goodreads ALLOW HALF STARS)
March 24, 2019
Peace and Turmoil is the debut novel from booktuber Elliot Brooks. In the interest of full disclosure I do watch Elliot's videos but we've never really talked and I did buy this with my own money.
What is Peace and Turmoil then? Peace and Turmoil is an Epic High Fantasy novel that is the first in a (I believe) planned seven part series. It follows the conflicts of the kingdoms of the continent Abra'am. We primarily follow three major nations; Xenith, Sadie and Mesidia, as their ruling families squabble amongst themselves and their heirs... well to be perfectly honest I still can't quite understand exactly what the fuck was supposed to be happening in this novel. Let's get into it.
The narrative is mostly split between three main POV characters; Gweneviere the heir of Xenith, Dietrich, the heir (I think? more on that later) of the desert kingdom of Sadie and Roland the heir of Mesidia. For the first 35% of the book pretty much nothing of any consequence happens at all. Seriously. We spend a huge amount of time following Gweneviere around as she watches her brother play card games, pulls pranks on her knights, gossips about boys, frets about being forced to marry because she's a royal heir and that's how royal dynasties work (at least I think I do? Again, later). Roland starts doing something after a conspiracy is revealed completely out of nowhere for reasons and then disappears until about half-way through the book, and Dietrich re-enacts how to train your dragon for what feels like a life-time before largely disappearing for the latter part of the book. We also follow a plot involving magical artifacts that are all really poorly established and a fourth POV character, X'odia is a central part of this.
From everything I heard before release, and from other reviews, I heard that the politics of these nations was the core part of the story. You can imagine my disappointment then when I found that this was true, but also makes no sense at all. A lot of events HAPPEN in Peace and Turmoil but the logic and motives behind them are nonsensical at best and completely absent at worst. The most egregious example of this is with X'odia. At the beginning of her story she is given the mission to prevent a potential world-shattering disaster (it's presumably world-shattering anyway, given how much of a fuss everyone makes about it for 20 pages) and then promptly forgets all about it and never mentions it again for the rest of the novel. Seriously. It's just completely dropped and seems to have been introduced as a reason to get X'odia in the same geographical vicinity as the other characters which never pays off either since she remains entirely isolated from 90% of the cast for 90% of the book. The story is frankly baffling. Not because it was intricately plotted and some high-level literary slight of hand was going on, but because nothing that anybody does makes any sense at all and things happen largely because of 'reasons'. There's a number of reasons for this which we will discuss... right now... in detail.
A fantasy story of this scope and with the ambition that Elliot clearly had for the political storyline requires a serious level of worldbuilding. When we talk about worldbuilding for fantasy books so much of the discussion is focused towards magic systems, and different cultures. The one tick I can give Peace and Turmoil is that the magic system is fairly interesting. Everyone in this world has the ability to tap into 'auroras'; colours that appear in their minds that can be drawn upon to produce varying elemental effects. The use of these powers is physically draining to the user so it isn't unlimited and you have to train at it for a long time to be good at it. So far so good. Unfortunately Elliot took it a step to far by introducing something called 'called' weapons. Swords, knives, crossbows, bows and arrows can be summoned out of thin air by characters. Sounds good in theory but if you think about it for two seconds you'll realise that it's completely pointless. See the magic weapons are vaguely as being 'stronger' than normal forged weaponry but this is never shown and the regular weapons are just as good at killing things as the magic weapons. So why would anybody in their right mind use a magic weapon as their primary defence when it can literally disappear from reality if you lose concentration on maintaining the effect? There are times where characters are in life and death situations where the problem they are in would have been resolved easily if they actually had a physical weapon that they could access without having to really think about it.
The world also has a lot of interesting magical creatures called 'Fiends' that have the ability to use the same kind of magic that humans can.
All other aspects the worldbuilding though vary between inconsistent, badly explained, or not explained at all and that causes a litany of problems for the plot. The main part of the story involves all these political tensions between two rival bloodlines that are vying for the throne of one of the kingdoms but the status of all the characters and what they are in charge of, what power they have in country, and what the ramifications are of one triumphing over another are so poorly fleshed out that it makes the whole thing utterly confusing. Noble titles are just plucked out of real history with no real explanation as to what they mean and that makes it impossible for me as a reader to follow what's going on. For example, the main rivalry is between The king of Mesidia and the Duchess of Mesidia. The problem with this is that in real world terms 'King' and 'Duchess' mean very specific things. The Duchess is referred to as 'The Duchess of Mesidia' but Mesidia is a country, not a duchy so she can't be the Duchess of the entire country, that would make her the queen. I know that fantasy worlds are not an exact mirror image of our real world, but if you are going to use real world terms you either have to stick to the rules of what those terms mean or explain how they are different. The book doesn't do either of these things. Another example is 'The Baroness of the Arctic' which is a kingdom all of it's own, but for some reason is ruled by a Baroness and not a Queen even though it's a Kingdom and not a Barony... you get the idea.
Magic and monsters are fun things to design and world-build. Things that aren't that fun are political systems, laws, rules of succession, economy etc. but when you are hinging your plot on political scheming it is essential that your reader understands how these things work otherwise we can't follow the logic behind the actions that characters are taking. This is a massive problem when it comes to how marriage to different kingdoms works alongside alliances and leads to some truly head scratching situations where people's political status is changing left, right and centre. There are lots of times where in a real world context characters would become political prisoners, tried for treason, executed, discharged from the army, you know, all those wonderful consequences? None of that happens here. Characters seem to just be able to do largely whatever they want and it's treated about as seriously as spilling gravy on your nan at christmas. This world-building confusion is unfortunately made worse by some truly weak writing.
- The writing-
The writing in Peace and Turmoil is so so messy, I was genuinely shocked. DOZENS of times the wrong word is used in sentences, and a lot of those times it is the word 'adorned' which Elliot uses interchangeably with 'wore'. For example "I could not salvage the things you adorned before". Adorning something does not mean to wear it. It seems petty to harp on this but this exact mistake is made dozens of times throughout the book and I don't understand how so many people read it without catching it. There's also sloppy descriptions that confuse the meaning of sentences such as "Everyone stayed awake, aching for rest, but hardly a lid stayed closed." In this sentence eyes are never referred to so saying 'hardly a lid stayed closed' could be taken to mean that elsewhere in the room lids of jars were refusing to stay closed causing restlessness. I'm not stupid, I can see what the sentence is trying to say but it's just clumsy. Those kinds of clumsy sentences are littered throughout the entire book and I found it so distracting.
Where descriptions aren't clumsy they're lacking entirely. Action scenes devolve into a chaotic tangle as no work is done to describe the locations of the fight so windows explode out of nowhere where windows were never described and characters are suddenly talking about securing plazas that we are never told they were standing in in the first place. This lack of description trickles down to every aspect of the world. Mesidia, Riverdee and Xenith might as well have been the exact same place. The royal palace is a series of empty rooms with a couple of chairs in it and some paintings on the wall (as far as we know) and the clothes are described incredibly basically such as "blue dress", maybe with the type of cut thrown in SOMETIMES. I'm not asking you to take 40 pages to describe what everyone is wearing to the ball but these details can tell you a lot about characters, setting, and the lore of your overall world. We hear there are paintings on the walls but we aren't told what they're of which is a classic example of a missed opportunity to tell us more about what these people find important enough to immortalise in art.
One of the more baffling decisions with the writing style is the overall point of view. Peace and Turmoil is told through a close third person POV so we only get the perspective on the character we are currently following. This can be used to good effect, and has been, in books like A Game of Thrones where we as the reader are left guessing to characters motivations because we are stuck witnessing the events from the perspective of characters who don't have the full picture. In Peace and Turmoil this style was pointless. The POV shifts characters so frequently and to so many different people that it might as well have been third person omniscient. The chapters are also all very short and chapter breaks are thrown seemingly at totally arbitrary points. This leads to weird situations where we have a chapter say from Gweneviere and the next chapter is also titled Gweneviere and picks up about 30 seconds after the previous one. This gets ridiculous later into the book where several chapters are two pages long and one chapter is a mere two sentences! My theory is that this was done to let the story be 100 chapters exactly so that's...nice?
Overall Peace and Turmoil is an incredibly sloppy book in all elements of the writing craft. The characters are poorly fleshed out, the world building makes no sense, the story is a tangled mess of contrived situations that don't follow any sort of logic, the dialogue is horribly unnatural and the prose could have done with a boat load of polish. There's no way I can recommend this with a clear conscience, and that really is a shame.
What is Peace and Turmoil then? Peace and Turmoil is an Epic High Fantasy novel that is the first in a (I believe) planned seven part series. It follows the conflicts of the kingdoms of the continent Abra'am. We primarily follow three major nations; Xenith, Sadie and Mesidia, as their ruling families squabble amongst themselves and their heirs... well to be perfectly honest I still can't quite understand exactly what the fuck was supposed to be happening in this novel. Let's get into it.
The narrative is mostly split between three main POV characters; Gweneviere the heir of Xenith, Dietrich, the heir (I think? more on that later) of the desert kingdom of Sadie and Roland the heir of Mesidia. For the first 35% of the book pretty much nothing of any consequence happens at all. Seriously. We spend a huge amount of time following Gweneviere around as she watches her brother play card games, pulls pranks on her knights, gossips about boys, frets about being forced to marry because she's a royal heir and that's how royal dynasties work (at least I think I do? Again, later). Roland starts doing something after a conspiracy is revealed completely out of nowhere for reasons and then disappears until about half-way through the book, and Dietrich re-enacts how to train your dragon for what feels like a life-time before largely disappearing for the latter part of the book. We also follow a plot involving magical artifacts that are all really poorly established and a fourth POV character, X'odia is a central part of this.
From everything I heard before release, and from other reviews, I heard that the politics of these nations was the core part of the story. You can imagine my disappointment then when I found that this was true, but also makes no sense at all. A lot of events HAPPEN in Peace and Turmoil but the logic and motives behind them are nonsensical at best and completely absent at worst. The most egregious example of this is with X'odia. At the beginning of her story she is given the mission to prevent a potential world-shattering disaster (it's presumably world-shattering anyway, given how much of a fuss everyone makes about it for 20 pages) and then promptly forgets all about it and never mentions it again for the rest of the novel. Seriously. It's just completely dropped and seems to have been introduced as a reason to get X'odia in the same geographical vicinity as the other characters which never pays off either since she remains entirely isolated from 90% of the cast for 90% of the book. The story is frankly baffling. Not because it was intricately plotted and some high-level literary slight of hand was going on, but because nothing that anybody does makes any sense at all and things happen largely because of 'reasons'. There's a number of reasons for this which we will discuss... right now... in detail.
A fantasy story of this scope and with the ambition that Elliot clearly had for the political storyline requires a serious level of worldbuilding. When we talk about worldbuilding for fantasy books so much of the discussion is focused towards magic systems, and different cultures. The one tick I can give Peace and Turmoil is that the magic system is fairly interesting. Everyone in this world has the ability to tap into 'auroras'; colours that appear in their minds that can be drawn upon to produce varying elemental effects. The use of these powers is physically draining to the user so it isn't unlimited and you have to train at it for a long time to be good at it. So far so good. Unfortunately Elliot took it a step to far by introducing something called 'called' weapons. Swords, knives, crossbows, bows and arrows can be summoned out of thin air by characters. Sounds good in theory but if you think about it for two seconds you'll realise that it's completely pointless. See the magic weapons are vaguely as being 'stronger' than normal forged weaponry but this is never shown and the regular weapons are just as good at killing things as the magic weapons. So why would anybody in their right mind use a magic weapon as their primary defence when it can literally disappear from reality if you lose concentration on maintaining the effect? There are times where characters are in life and death situations where the problem they are in would have been resolved easily if they actually had a physical weapon that they could access without having to really think about it.
The world also has a lot of interesting magical creatures called 'Fiends' that have the ability to use the same kind of magic that humans can.
All other aspects the worldbuilding though vary between inconsistent, badly explained, or not explained at all and that causes a litany of problems for the plot. The main part of the story involves all these political tensions between two rival bloodlines that are vying for the throne of one of the kingdoms but the status of all the characters and what they are in charge of, what power they have in country, and what the ramifications are of one triumphing over another are so poorly fleshed out that it makes the whole thing utterly confusing. Noble titles are just plucked out of real history with no real explanation as to what they mean and that makes it impossible for me as a reader to follow what's going on. For example, the main rivalry is between The king of Mesidia and the Duchess of Mesidia. The problem with this is that in real world terms 'King' and 'Duchess' mean very specific things. The Duchess is referred to as 'The Duchess of Mesidia' but Mesidia is a country, not a duchy so she can't be the Duchess of the entire country, that would make her the queen. I know that fantasy worlds are not an exact mirror image of our real world, but if you are going to use real world terms you either have to stick to the rules of what those terms mean or explain how they are different. The book doesn't do either of these things. Another example is 'The Baroness of the Arctic' which is a kingdom all of it's own, but for some reason is ruled by a Baroness and not a Queen even though it's a Kingdom and not a Barony... you get the idea.
Magic and monsters are fun things to design and world-build. Things that aren't that fun are political systems, laws, rules of succession, economy etc. but when you are hinging your plot on political scheming it is essential that your reader understands how these things work otherwise we can't follow the logic behind the actions that characters are taking. This is a massive problem when it comes to how marriage to different kingdoms works alongside alliances and leads to some truly head scratching situations where people's political status is changing left, right and centre. There are lots of times where in a real world context characters would become political prisoners, tried for treason, executed, discharged from the army, you know, all those wonderful consequences? None of that happens here. Characters seem to just be able to do largely whatever they want and it's treated about as seriously as spilling gravy on your nan at christmas. This world-building confusion is unfortunately made worse by some truly weak writing.
- The writing-
The writing in Peace and Turmoil is so so messy, I was genuinely shocked. DOZENS of times the wrong word is used in sentences, and a lot of those times it is the word 'adorned' which Elliot uses interchangeably with 'wore'. For example "I could not salvage the things you adorned before". Adorning something does not mean to wear it. It seems petty to harp on this but this exact mistake is made dozens of times throughout the book and I don't understand how so many people read it without catching it. There's also sloppy descriptions that confuse the meaning of sentences such as "Everyone stayed awake, aching for rest, but hardly a lid stayed closed." In this sentence eyes are never referred to so saying 'hardly a lid stayed closed' could be taken to mean that elsewhere in the room lids of jars were refusing to stay closed causing restlessness. I'm not stupid, I can see what the sentence is trying to say but it's just clumsy. Those kinds of clumsy sentences are littered throughout the entire book and I found it so distracting.
Where descriptions aren't clumsy they're lacking entirely. Action scenes devolve into a chaotic tangle as no work is done to describe the locations of the fight so windows explode out of nowhere where windows were never described and characters are suddenly talking about securing plazas that we are never told they were standing in in the first place. This lack of description trickles down to every aspect of the world. Mesidia, Riverdee and Xenith might as well have been the exact same place. The royal palace is a series of empty rooms with a couple of chairs in it and some paintings on the wall (as far as we know) and the clothes are described incredibly basically such as "blue dress", maybe with the type of cut thrown in SOMETIMES. I'm not asking you to take 40 pages to describe what everyone is wearing to the ball but these details can tell you a lot about characters, setting, and the lore of your overall world. We hear there are paintings on the walls but we aren't told what they're of which is a classic example of a missed opportunity to tell us more about what these people find important enough to immortalise in art.
One of the more baffling decisions with the writing style is the overall point of view. Peace and Turmoil is told through a close third person POV so we only get the perspective on the character we are currently following. This can be used to good effect, and has been, in books like A Game of Thrones where we as the reader are left guessing to characters motivations because we are stuck witnessing the events from the perspective of characters who don't have the full picture. In Peace and Turmoil this style was pointless. The POV shifts characters so frequently and to so many different people that it might as well have been third person omniscient. The chapters are also all very short and chapter breaks are thrown seemingly at totally arbitrary points. This leads to weird situations where we have a chapter say from Gweneviere and the next chapter is also titled Gweneviere and picks up about 30 seconds after the previous one. This gets ridiculous later into the book where several chapters are two pages long and one chapter is a mere two sentences! My theory is that this was done to let the story be 100 chapters exactly so that's...nice?
Overall Peace and Turmoil is an incredibly sloppy book in all elements of the writing craft. The characters are poorly fleshed out, the world building makes no sense, the story is a tangled mess of contrived situations that don't follow any sort of logic, the dialogue is horribly unnatural and the prose could have done with a boat load of polish. There's no way I can recommend this with a clear conscience, and that really is a shame.
April 1, 2019
Sassy dragons, fearsome fiends, intense politics, action-packed fight-scenes, magical artifacts, enigmatic immortals, an elemental magic system, constant treachery, shapeshifters, and an expansive world.
A solid debut from Elle from YouTube channel Elliot Brooks. I started watching her channel late last year, often finding that we have similar SFF book tastes. She so kindly gave me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. As I received the ARC a few weeks prior to the release date, I feel like it will be very close to the final copy. The book is set to be released March 18, 2019.
Check out the book trailer she made here.
“It's not cruelness that tears apart, but plights, sparked by the differing views of what is and is not righteous.”
Peace and Turmoil has a strong start and I found I really enjoyed the writing style. Parts of it reminded me of many high-fantasies with complex political worlds. Other parts reminded me of the Final Fantasy franchise, with creatures with elemental powers called fiends and auroras that drift like celestial lights from the dead.
❧The Magic System❧
I like that the magic system is based on an elemental magic. Although, not new, the author approached it with a fresh twist. I believe this helped with understanding it better, as many readers are familiar with elemental magic. In the world of Abra'am, people (all people, it's not selective) have the ability to seek out elemental auroras within them. Each aurora is a different color, representing the associated element (red and orange for fire, white purple for lightning, etc.) and each person sees them differently.
People can wear elemental armor in order to absorb any elements cast at them. However, absorbing too much can be dangerous as well. These objects are often made from parts of fiends, for example scales, as certain fiends have the ability to absorb elements. Also, element shackles can be worn by prisoners so that their abilities are rendered useless.
It often takes a lot of effort to call on auroras, as can be illustrated by how difficult it is those in the lower class to even do the simplest of tasks, like warm some water. Those of noble birth are often more adept at casting auroras, as they have had a lot of training, but it can still be draining and they still face their own struggles with manipulating the elements. That isn't to say those in the lower class cannot have the same capabilities, but they often have no need for calling. The time and effort involved to hone the craft is compared to that of learning an instrument.
Mind-made weapons can be created using black auroras, named called weapons (as opposed to man-made weapons, named touched weapons). I appreciate that the magic system is complex and not extremely convenient, with a strict set of rules.
“As much as she fought to ignore their absence, her elements were always there when she closed her eyes. It was so empty not to feel them, like her soul was hovering just outside her body. She imagined this was what stories meant when they described heartache, or betrayal, or sorrow. It wasn't tangible, nor was it a wound, but it was painful.”
❧Art❧
Throughout, we are gifted sketches from one of the character's, Elizabeth al'Murtagh's, sketchbooks drawn by the author herself. There are also some sketches of fiends throughout, created by Monster Artist Madsy.
Characters pictured above: Roland, X'odia, and Dietrich.
And it wouldn't be high fantasy without a map! Each new chapter has a cropped and zoomed in portion of the map, focusing on that territory, which helped me get a feel for each location.
Also, there are stunning full-color renditions of a couple of the characters that were completed by Salome Totladze, or morgana0anagrom on Instagram and a dragon-fiend that Madsy created. I believe prints of these will be sold in the future.
Characters pictured above: Gwenivere and Dietrich. A full-color X'odia is currently in the works as well. *UPDATE 3/14/2019: The X'odia print is complete and it's one of my favorites!
❧Characters❧
Instead of giving a summary, I'll do a run-down of some of the main characters. As there are over 60 characters, I'm going to limit it to four that I personally thought had more chapters dedicated to their POVs and who are each a key player in the respective regions. As the world is complex, I'm going to do my best to limit my descriptions to just the premise, but if they are a bit lengthy, I apologize.
◎Dietrich Haroldson - Cloaked Prince of Sadie, the desert kingdom. Also known as the Assassin or the Shadow. Mysterious and intimidating, Dietrich also often proves that he has a soft side. He is son of King Harold Rorikson, a former slave that led a slave revolt and freed Sadie from Prianthia. Their nation is plagued by an insurgence led by The Redeemers, who believe the West only causes problems for the East. Because of this, when Dietrich was young, King Harold pledged allegiance to the West, and the Redeemers sent men after Dietrich, his mother, and brother. The Redeemers are gaining a backing, as the idea of unifying the East is appealing.
Dietrich has an altar ego as a fiend hunter, Yeltaire Veen, to protect his identity and to allow himself to hunt their enemies. His brother Abaddon is heir to the throne and is known for creating healing elixirs. Their mother Lenore grows weak and is slowly dying. Dietrich's brother sends him on a mission to get the Dagger of Eve from its guardian, Roland, to save their mother's life. Abaddon believes Roland might relinquish his hold on the dagger in order to marry Gwenivere. He fears that if they do not save their mother's life, their father King Harold will be overcome with grief and Prianthia will use this moment to strike Sadie, enslaving them once more.
◎Gwenivere Verigrad - daughter of the King of Peace, Gerard Verigrad, in Xenith, also known as the Realm of Scholars and is the most highly regarded nation. Her father is known for bringing peace to the nation for the past 30 years. She is very strong-willed, temperamental, but also empathetic. She has a much younger brother named Aden and a knight, Garron. Gwenivere is the Guardian of the Amulet of Eve, which negates the effects of another Artifact called the Dagger of Eve. She is in her mid-twenties and pressured to marry before she ascends the throne, but cannot marry the one that she wants. King Gerard is planning a masquerade and Peace Gathering to find her a suitable husband as well as celebrate his long reign of peace. Much of her time is spent in training with Garron, studying the book The Art of Calling, sword-fighting, and casting elements.
◎Roland Laighless - son of Pierre, king of Mesidia. He is described as honest, humble, and very likable. Since he is the Guardian of the Dagger of Eve, he cannot wed the one that he loves, lifelong friend Gwenivere. The Dagger of Eve grants immortality. He has an adopted brother from another territory, ambassador Dorian. Mesidia has been plagued by civil unrest. Victorian rebels believe the Dagger of Eve should be held by the Victorians. To make matters worse, the dagger was meant to be given to Dorian, but he was betrothed to a Victorian named Natalia and King Pierre wanted to keep it safe, especially from Natalia's cunning mother.
◎X'odia - A seer and priestess who lives in Eve, also known as Watcher of the Guardians. She lives across the water from Abra'am, where the people are dark and their nation is known for being peaceful. X'odia is powerful, but has vowed never to harm another being with her elements. Her father is Alkane, the Guardian of another Artifact, the Shield of Eve, known for granting invincibility. He has lived for centuries and is known to be an Evean hero, someone who has been relegated as myth. He is also secretly a member of the High Council. The Shield's powers extend to X'odia, and so she is given the sight with swirling eyes and an almost ageless body. Because of this, X'odia and her father live in seclusion. Her visions are painful and she is rendered immobile while in a trance. She sees a prophecy of traumatic events that will soon befall Abra'am, and so is spurred to cross the seas to attempt to stop these events before they take place.
I hope that wasn't too confusing. As you can see, Elle has weaved so many intricate details to create such a vast world. Be assured that although it might seem like a lot, it never felt too info-dumpy, and are reminded throughout of some of the key aspects so that we can easily keep track. Also, there's a glossary at the end (something I didn't discover until finishing... but I had no issue keeping up).
❧What I Loved❧
•Women and those of color are often portrayed as weak or even enslaved in many high fantasies. However, in Peace and Turmoil, they are often some of the strongest characters. One of the most powerful characters is a woman of color. Though she does have issues later on, it's clear she could free herswlf if she chose to, but due to her vow not to harm others, waits. Also, women are described as having more skill at hunting, as they generally have more patience. A female character, Gwenivere, is meant to ascend the throne and other female characters play key roles in politics.
•The characters are neither fully "good" or "bad." They are morally gray, making them seem more realistic.
•The action sequences were fun and engaging. I had no issue visualizing what was happening.
•“Blood doesn't define my heirs. Dorian is my son, and he would've made a fine king.” I love that although Roland is the only biological child the Laighlesses have, his adopted Yendorian brother was meant to ascend the throne.
•There are high stakes with unpredictable twists and turns.
No one is safe, proving an emotional punch when beloved characters are slain.
•There is romance, but it is very subtle and at no point takes over the plot. Although she explores some sexual themes, it is at no point explicit.
•The magic is accessible by all characters.
•I think the world-building was, for the most part, well done. I didn't refer to the map often, as I read via e-book, but felt that I had a good grasp on where everything and everyone was situated and what made these locations unique, as well as the scope and size of the world. The artwork was an additional nice touch that also helped me visualize characters and fiends.
•Each chapter is prefaced with either an excerpt from an anthology called Fire and Fiends with an accompanying image, a character description from Elizabeth al'Murtagh's journal with an accompanying sketch, letters, a piece of cultural reference like a song, or something a regular civilian is quoted saying.
❧Issues I Had❧
•Due to the large cast, there are many characters that get very little page time and some major characters that readers do not see for a long period of time. I think this, in part, impedes some of their development and my ability to form attachments to them. In addition, some characters that we are told have close relationships, we hardly ever see them interacting with each other.
•I enjoy elaborate political maneuverings, but there were a few points where it seemed overwhelming. I think many readers will enjoy this, but for me personally, it was too heavy at times and I craved more of the action.
•It was not atmospheric enough for my personal tastes. I enjoy writing that is a bit more detailed, to help ground me in the setting more.
•Although I enjoyed reading Peace and Turmoil, it wasn't always compelling. There were some sections that I found difficult to put down, but others where I often didn't feel fully immersed.
•I did notice some grammatical mistakes, especially during a very tense scene in the book, but that may be due to having read the ARC. That was the only time it really pulled me out of the reading experience, as I'm not nitpicky with minor mistakes.
I still had a fun time reading it though, regardless of some of the drawbacks listed above. The aspects I loved far outweigh those that I found hindered my reading experience. I also think that because this is the first in a series, some of my issues will likely be solved in later installments as the foundation is already built and we'll get to know more of the characters better.
I'm not going to lie, and I mean no disrespect, but although I'm a fan of Elle's channel and content, I'm always a little dubious when a Booktuber releases a book, as they usually seem to get mediocre reviews. As we have somewhat similar tastes, I was a cautiously optimistic about Peace and Turmoil. This is the first book I've read that was written by someone who is a content creator on Booktube and let's just say I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I enjoyed myself. It's not perfect or mind blowing, but I felt that her writing was impressive, especially given the scope of the world and she has clearly put a ton of effort into Peace and Turmoil.
This was an overall rewarding read. I really admire authors that tackle high fantasies, especially with worlds as ornate as the one created here. I enjoyed Elle's debut and look forward to future installments in The Dark Shores world. I believe she's built a nice foundation to expand this world even more.
On reflection, I would rate the writing a 3/3.5 stars, but with all of the extras (art and excerpts at the start if every chapter) and complexity of the world, I'll bump it up to a 4 for now.
A solid debut from Elle from YouTube channel Elliot Brooks. I started watching her channel late last year, often finding that we have similar SFF book tastes. She so kindly gave me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. As I received the ARC a few weeks prior to the release date, I feel like it will be very close to the final copy. The book is set to be released March 18, 2019.
Check out the book trailer she made here.
“It's not cruelness that tears apart, but plights, sparked by the differing views of what is and is not righteous.”
Peace and Turmoil has a strong start and I found I really enjoyed the writing style. Parts of it reminded me of many high-fantasies with complex political worlds. Other parts reminded me of the Final Fantasy franchise, with creatures with elemental powers called fiends and auroras that drift like celestial lights from the dead.
❧The Magic System❧
I like that the magic system is based on an elemental magic. Although, not new, the author approached it with a fresh twist. I believe this helped with understanding it better, as many readers are familiar with elemental magic. In the world of Abra'am, people (all people, it's not selective) have the ability to seek out elemental auroras within them. Each aurora is a different color, representing the associated element (red and orange for fire, white purple for lightning, etc.) and each person sees them differently.
People can wear elemental armor in order to absorb any elements cast at them. However, absorbing too much can be dangerous as well. These objects are often made from parts of fiends, for example scales, as certain fiends have the ability to absorb elements. Also, element shackles can be worn by prisoners so that their abilities are rendered useless.
It often takes a lot of effort to call on auroras, as can be illustrated by how difficult it is those in the lower class to even do the simplest of tasks, like warm some water. Those of noble birth are often more adept at casting auroras, as they have had a lot of training, but it can still be draining and they still face their own struggles with manipulating the elements. That isn't to say those in the lower class cannot have the same capabilities, but they often have no need for calling. The time and effort involved to hone the craft is compared to that of learning an instrument.
Mind-made weapons can be created using black auroras, named called weapons (as opposed to man-made weapons, named touched weapons). I appreciate that the magic system is complex and not extremely convenient, with a strict set of rules.
“As much as she fought to ignore their absence, her elements were always there when she closed her eyes. It was so empty not to feel them, like her soul was hovering just outside her body. She imagined this was what stories meant when they described heartache, or betrayal, or sorrow. It wasn't tangible, nor was it a wound, but it was painful.”
❧Art❧
Throughout, we are gifted sketches from one of the character's, Elizabeth al'Murtagh's, sketchbooks drawn by the author herself. There are also some sketches of fiends throughout, created by Monster Artist Madsy.
Characters pictured above: Roland, X'odia, and Dietrich.
And it wouldn't be high fantasy without a map! Each new chapter has a cropped and zoomed in portion of the map, focusing on that territory, which helped me get a feel for each location.
Also, there are stunning full-color renditions of a couple of the characters that were completed by Salome Totladze, or morgana0anagrom on Instagram and a dragon-fiend that Madsy created. I believe prints of these will be sold in the future.
Characters pictured above: Gwenivere and Dietrich. A full-color X'odia is currently in the works as well. *UPDATE 3/14/2019: The X'odia print is complete and it's one of my favorites!
❧Characters❧
Instead of giving a summary, I'll do a run-down of some of the main characters. As there are over 60 characters, I'm going to limit it to four that I personally thought had more chapters dedicated to their POVs and who are each a key player in the respective regions. As the world is complex, I'm going to do my best to limit my descriptions to just the premise, but if they are a bit lengthy, I apologize.
◎Dietrich Haroldson - Cloaked Prince of Sadie, the desert kingdom. Also known as the Assassin or the Shadow. Mysterious and intimidating, Dietrich also often proves that he has a soft side. He is son of King Harold Rorikson, a former slave that led a slave revolt and freed Sadie from Prianthia. Their nation is plagued by an insurgence led by The Redeemers, who believe the West only causes problems for the East. Because of this, when Dietrich was young, King Harold pledged allegiance to the West, and the Redeemers sent men after Dietrich, his mother, and brother. The Redeemers are gaining a backing, as the idea of unifying the East is appealing.
Dietrich has an altar ego as a fiend hunter, Yeltaire Veen, to protect his identity and to allow himself to hunt their enemies. His brother Abaddon is heir to the throne and is known for creating healing elixirs. Their mother Lenore grows weak and is slowly dying. Dietrich's brother sends him on a mission to get the Dagger of Eve from its guardian, Roland, to save their mother's life. Abaddon believes Roland might relinquish his hold on the dagger in order to marry Gwenivere. He fears that if they do not save their mother's life, their father King Harold will be overcome with grief and Prianthia will use this moment to strike Sadie, enslaving them once more.
◎Gwenivere Verigrad - daughter of the King of Peace, Gerard Verigrad, in Xenith, also known as the Realm of Scholars and is the most highly regarded nation. Her father is known for bringing peace to the nation for the past 30 years. She is very strong-willed, temperamental, but also empathetic. She has a much younger brother named Aden and a knight, Garron. Gwenivere is the Guardian of the Amulet of Eve, which negates the effects of another Artifact called the Dagger of Eve. She is in her mid-twenties and pressured to marry before she ascends the throne, but cannot marry the one that she wants. King Gerard is planning a masquerade and Peace Gathering to find her a suitable husband as well as celebrate his long reign of peace. Much of her time is spent in training with Garron, studying the book The Art of Calling, sword-fighting, and casting elements.
◎Roland Laighless - son of Pierre, king of Mesidia. He is described as honest, humble, and very likable. Since he is the Guardian of the Dagger of Eve, he cannot wed the one that he loves, lifelong friend Gwenivere. The Dagger of Eve grants immortality. He has an adopted brother from another territory, ambassador Dorian. Mesidia has been plagued by civil unrest. Victorian rebels believe the Dagger of Eve should be held by the Victorians. To make matters worse, the dagger was meant to be given to Dorian, but he was betrothed to a Victorian named Natalia and King Pierre wanted to keep it safe, especially from Natalia's cunning mother.
◎X'odia - A seer and priestess who lives in Eve, also known as Watcher of the Guardians. She lives across the water from Abra'am, where the people are dark and their nation is known for being peaceful. X'odia is powerful, but has vowed never to harm another being with her elements. Her father is Alkane, the Guardian of another Artifact, the Shield of Eve, known for granting invincibility. He has lived for centuries and is known to be an Evean hero, someone who has been relegated as myth. He is also secretly a member of the High Council. The Shield's powers extend to X'odia, and so she is given the sight with swirling eyes and an almost ageless body. Because of this, X'odia and her father live in seclusion. Her visions are painful and she is rendered immobile while in a trance. She sees a prophecy of traumatic events that will soon befall Abra'am, and so is spurred to cross the seas to attempt to stop these events before they take place.
I hope that wasn't too confusing. As you can see, Elle has weaved so many intricate details to create such a vast world. Be assured that although it might seem like a lot, it never felt too info-dumpy, and are reminded throughout of some of the key aspects so that we can easily keep track. Also, there's a glossary at the end (something I didn't discover until finishing... but I had no issue keeping up).
❧What I Loved❧
•Women and those of color are often portrayed as weak or even enslaved in many high fantasies. However, in Peace and Turmoil, they are often some of the strongest characters. One of the most powerful characters is a woman of color. Though she does have issues later on, it's clear she could free herswlf if she chose to, but due to her vow not to harm others, waits. Also, women are described as having more skill at hunting, as they generally have more patience. A female character, Gwenivere, is meant to ascend the throne and other female characters play key roles in politics.
•The characters are neither fully "good" or "bad." They are morally gray, making them seem more realistic.
•The action sequences were fun and engaging. I had no issue visualizing what was happening.
•“Blood doesn't define my heirs. Dorian is my son, and he would've made a fine king.” I love that although Roland is the only biological child the Laighlesses have, his adopted Yendorian brother was meant to ascend the throne.
•There are high stakes with unpredictable twists and turns.
No one is safe, proving an emotional punch when beloved characters are slain.
•There is romance, but it is very subtle and at no point takes over the plot. Although she explores some sexual themes, it is at no point explicit.
•The magic is accessible by all characters.
•I think the world-building was, for the most part, well done. I didn't refer to the map often, as I read via e-book, but felt that I had a good grasp on where everything and everyone was situated and what made these locations unique, as well as the scope and size of the world. The artwork was an additional nice touch that also helped me visualize characters and fiends.
•Each chapter is prefaced with either an excerpt from an anthology called Fire and Fiends with an accompanying image, a character description from Elizabeth al'Murtagh's journal with an accompanying sketch, letters, a piece of cultural reference like a song, or something a regular civilian is quoted saying.
❧Issues I Had❧
•Due to the large cast, there are many characters that get very little page time and some major characters that readers do not see for a long period of time. I think this, in part, impedes some of their development and my ability to form attachments to them. In addition, some characters that we are told have close relationships, we hardly ever see them interacting with each other.
•I enjoy elaborate political maneuverings, but there were a few points where it seemed overwhelming. I think many readers will enjoy this, but for me personally, it was too heavy at times and I craved more of the action.
•It was not atmospheric enough for my personal tastes. I enjoy writing that is a bit more detailed, to help ground me in the setting more.
•Although I enjoyed reading Peace and Turmoil, it wasn't always compelling. There were some sections that I found difficult to put down, but others where I often didn't feel fully immersed.
•I did notice some grammatical mistakes, especially during a very tense scene in the book, but that may be due to having read the ARC. That was the only time it really pulled me out of the reading experience, as I'm not nitpicky with minor mistakes.
I still had a fun time reading it though, regardless of some of the drawbacks listed above. The aspects I loved far outweigh those that I found hindered my reading experience. I also think that because this is the first in a series, some of my issues will likely be solved in later installments as the foundation is already built and we'll get to know more of the characters better.
I'm not going to lie, and I mean no disrespect, but although I'm a fan of Elle's channel and content, I'm always a little dubious when a Booktuber releases a book, as they usually seem to get mediocre reviews. As we have somewhat similar tastes, I was a cautiously optimistic about Peace and Turmoil. This is the first book I've read that was written by someone who is a content creator on Booktube and let's just say I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I enjoyed myself. It's not perfect or mind blowing, but I felt that her writing was impressive, especially given the scope of the world and she has clearly put a ton of effort into Peace and Turmoil.
This was an overall rewarding read. I really admire authors that tackle high fantasies, especially with worlds as ornate as the one created here. I enjoyed Elle's debut and look forward to future installments in The Dark Shores world. I believe she's built a nice foundation to expand this world even more.
On reflection, I would rate the writing a 3/3.5 stars, but with all of the extras (art and excerpts at the start if every chapter) and complexity of the world, I'll bump it up to a 4 for now.
December 18, 2020
4.5 Stars
This book was my favorite book of the year. Now before you read the rest of my review, please keep in mind that I was a beta reader for this book and this book could be even better.
Now, onto the review!
I would describe this book as the perfect transition between your regular romance heavy YA Fantasy to your regular Politically Dense Adult Fantasy. The romance in this book takes a seat at the back of the bus while still being beautiful and present. The political situation sits at the front but leaves room in the middle for others like: Great Friendships, An Amazing Magic System and an Interesting Religion. The world and its politics are easy to understand and the author does an amazing job at explaining to you the history without boring you to death. The world is very clear and so are the people and hey! Guess what, It’s diverse af! The people in this world come from very different backgrounds, their kingdoms having different histories.
This book has made me: Frustrated, Confused, Annoyed (at characters), Sad and Desperate. Trust me when I tell you, you will love the characters. Oh, and there are plenty of characters that you will love to hate.
The only reason that I gave this book 4.5 instead of a 5 is to leave room for it to wow me more like I know it will.
This book was my favorite book of the year. Now before you read the rest of my review, please keep in mind that I was a beta reader for this book and this book could be even better.
Now, onto the review!
I would describe this book as the perfect transition between your regular romance heavy YA Fantasy to your regular Politically Dense Adult Fantasy. The romance in this book takes a seat at the back of the bus while still being beautiful and present. The political situation sits at the front but leaves room in the middle for others like: Great Friendships, An Amazing Magic System and an Interesting Religion. The world and its politics are easy to understand and the author does an amazing job at explaining to you the history without boring you to death. The world is very clear and so are the people and hey! Guess what, It’s diverse af! The people in this world come from very different backgrounds, their kingdoms having different histories.
This book has made me: Frustrated, Confused, Annoyed (at characters), Sad and Desperate. Trust me when I tell you, you will love the characters. Oh, and there are plenty of characters that you will love to hate.
The only reason that I gave this book 4.5 instead of a 5 is to leave room for it to wow me more like I know it will.
January 16, 2021
What gives a self-published book away more than anything else?
Lack of a proper line-editor.
This book had some promise, but the many confusions of word-meaning and the sometimes garbled grammatical elements diminished its worth and would cause any sensible reader to lose faith in the author's ability.
What it needed was professional editing. It didn't get it.
Here are some of the mistakes from the beginning of the book. Some of these are subtle: ‘why quibble’? ...
Make enough small mistakes over a short period and the reader becomes uneasy - sometimes without even knowing why.
I reached that critical mass early on in 'Peace and Turmoil'.
So:
'Her voice was rasped from having just awoken.'
(who rasped her voice? do you mean ‘raspy’; or do you mean, 'Her voice rasped... ?)
'He sat on his knees...'
(contortionist)
'The bitter air of dusk stung against his nose and jaw.'
(can something 'sting against'? Perhaps she means: 'The bitter air of dusk against his nose and jaw stung.')
'Their game was simple: remember where the card lay, then present its match whence found.' (‘whence’ means ‘from which or from where’, not ‘when’ or ‘where’)
'A simple game, truly, but so very, very frustrating.'
(doubling the weakness of an already weak adverb)
'If she were in his place, unable to best her own brother, she would order any and all taunts silent.' (taunts have agency? she means something like ‘tauntors’)
'... the stitching sewn together with ...'
(one sews material together, not stitching)
'Charles was extremely, terribly old.'
(not one, but two ‘ly’ modifiers)
'She stood up from her lounge chair - a gesture made more dramatic by the useless ruffles of her clothes.'
(‘standing’ is an action, not a gesture ‘Gesture’ means ‘movement of body part with meaning’. How do the useless ruffles dramatise that 'gesture'? 'Useless' diminishes whereas 'more dramatic' increases, so there is a conflict of intensity. 'Less dramatic by the useless folds' or 'More dramatic by the exagerated folds' would work, perhaps.)
'... the lace of the dress ... decided she should look otherwise.'
(lace has agency!)
'[he looked at her] likely noticing the incessant tugging she made at her chair.'
(if it was ‘incessant’, he would definitely notice)
'She grabbed at the amulet ... she touched the swirling jewel at its center.'
(the colours in the jewel might swirl, the jewel probably doesn’t)
'"Your presence would be most welcome, Your Highness," Charles said. Gwenivere scoffed at the feigned reply.'
(the reply wasn’t feigned, the sentiment may have been)
'Gwenivere knew she was likely mistaken, but she swore the tiniest drops of red were speckled against the portrait's face.'
(she would be unlikely to swear to it if she ‘knew she was likely mistaken’)
'He simply dragged his haggard feet along and left.'
(better bring those feet with you, they look tired)
'She tried to speak, then sealed her lips ...'
(with wax? 'My lips are sealed' is a metaphor; she is here literalising a metaphor)
'... the clothing he adorned never truly hiding his soldier's physique.'
(‘adorned' doesn’t mean ‘wore’)
'She shut the mouth she only just realized hung open...'
(which mouth exactly?)
'... the air in the room closed the window shut. She jumped at the sound and gasped as her father released a surprised, heavy breath.’
(does she gasp at her father’s heavy breath? More likely at the window, but we can't tell)
‘She looked back up, the fury of being forced to marry more refined then her blur of guilt.’
(Do what? Can ‘fury’ be more refined than a ‘blur’?)
‘His grin quickly deepened to a frown.’
(A frown isn't a ‘deep grin’?)
‘His lids were thin as he peered toward them…’
(which lids are we talking about? and why are they thinner than usual?)
‘… the jewel dancing from green to blue to violet.’
(surely means the colours of the jewel, not the jewel itself)
‘He [pulled out a blade], plunging it into the animal’s shoulder and ripping it apart.’
(Pronound confusion: ripping the knife apart?)
‘No matter how often they dispelled the lie, some still believed it fervently.’
(they obviously didn’t ‘dispell’ it then. Author means something like ‘denied’)
‘An air of anger emerged from the group.’
(Eww!)
‘Sweat dripped down his face and his chest, meshing perfectly with the clear waters…’
(can sweat ‘mesh’ with water? Perhaps at a molecular level??)
‘Her body moved gracefully as she lowered herself into the other end of the pool […] she tossed the dagger aside and backed away.’
(Backing away might be a problem as she hasn’t got out of the pool yet)
‘Blood quickly began oozing’
(‘oozing’ means to slowly trickle; so it quickly began to slowly trickle?)
‘Meagerly, the healer reached up and rubbed [his shoulder].’
(‘meagre’ doesn’t work as an adverb in this – or any other – instance.)
‘The dark skin around his lids was puffy.’
(she probably means ‘eyelids’, but we can’t be sure because the author hasn't mentioned eyes. This is the third instance so far of ‘lids’ as substitute for ‘eyelids’ withoug prior mention of eyes.)
‘[chairs] left him so terribly, terribly vulnerable.’
(redundancy. Another tic the author has demonstrated: doubling weak adverbs in the hope of strengthening them.)
‘[he] plopped down in his own seat.’
(anomalously juvenile verb use for an adult book)
‘cease your worries, both in your mind and your chair.’
(sounds like either BOTH his mind and the chair are capable of worrying, or that he is BOTH worried about his chair and worried about his mental health. Neither seems right. The word 'worries' refers here to two different things: ie. the actual worries/thoughts he has IN his mind; and the worries he has ABOUT the chair. Using one word 'worries' in a sentence to refer to two seperate concepts is a mistake and causes it to read as one concept only: either 'what he is worried about' or 'the worries themselves'.)
‘at last denying the comforts of his chair. He rose and walked to the window…’
(Well, is the chair comfortable or not, damn it! ‘denying’ is odd here; maybe ‘disdaining’? or ‘denying himself…’)
‘What common royal preferred sleeping in the crevices of his city’s roofs and the arms of a whore? Deitrich blinked. The latter of such dwellings was gone.’
(Can you 'dwell' in a whore?)
‘Quickly he noted the heaviness that resided below Abaddon’s eyes, the difficulty with which they fought to stay open.’
(eyes have agency, heaviness sets up home, and noticing a facial expression takes a certain amount of unspecified time.)
‘He waited … for him to try and dissuade his uncertainty.’
(uncertainty is here personified and given agency. Please, either ‘dissuade him’ or ‘alleviate his uncertainty’)
‘He swirled the liquid in his cup before raising it up and swallowing.’
(Pronoun confusion. Did he raise the liquid, or the cup? Again, this is subtle, but it sounds off because the pronoun of a sentence should refer back to the subject, and here it doesn't. What she means is: ‘he swirled his cup, before raising it…’)
‘When his father had left to pledge alliances to the West.’
('Pledge' means 'promise'. One pledges ALLEGIANCE when making an alliance. If you 'pledge' an ALLIANCE then you haven't actually made an alliance, merely promised to do so.)
‘Abaddon’s voice practically echoed against the walls.’
(well, did it or didn’t it? Do you mean that it was a loud voice? But even a quiet voice will echo in an echoey room.)
‘The Holy Book reveals of a time…’
(one can SPEAK OF a time, or REVEAL A time; but not: ‘reveal of a time’)
‘Their colorful streaks painfully agreed with Abaddon’s words.’
(The streaks have agency, the process of agreement somehow causes them pain.)
‘The princess looked up, catching the rare smile beaming across Garron’s face.’
(Sounds like something out of Star Trek. While someone can ‘beam’ at someone else, a smile doesn’t ‘beam’ across a face. ‘Beam’ in this context means ‘smile radiantly’ – a smile can’t ‘smile radiantly’ across anything.)
“You haven’t been around many men in your lifetime, but to remark on such things will occur often.”
(garbled/ confusion of subject. ‘But such remarks will often occur’ works. The 'to remark' phrase refers back to the subject 'you'; but the author didn't mean it to - she meant it to refer to the 'many men'.)
‘What a pleasantry that would be.’
(Here, the author means something like: ‘pleasant occurrence’. The word 'Pleasantry’ actually means ‘a witty remark’)
‘Gwenivere… released a quick bolt of lightning Garron’s way. It would hardly do anything, she knew, his elemental armor merely absorbing it, but the tingle it gave him was well worth her efforts. She laughed as she saw him squirm in his saddle.’
(Here she seems to be able to think several thoughts between releasing the lightning and watching the results. n.b: Lightning moves at the speed of light!)
‘The swift trots of horses behind them… came from Aden and Maximus, who gained ground toward where they rode.’
(There must be an easier, less confused way of writing this...?)
‘Aden raised his arm in excitement. In truth, it attempted to rise, but was cut short… by the bulk of his armor.’
(the arm has agency!)
‘…the might of the air’s gust propelling the branch forward and atop [Sir Charles’s] back.
(‘atop’ – a favorite word of the author – doesn't work here; ‘athwart’ might do it, or simply ‘into’. If you want 'atop' then: 'atop his shoulders' might work.)
‘“Not bad, Aden,” the Golden Knight said, returning their fun to learned boredom.’
(what does this mean?)
‘…her father’s empty hacks morphed into harsh, forceful barks.’
(‘morphed’ is a modern coinage, inappropriate in this setting. Moreover, it usually means shape change, rarther than quality change.)
‘She readied herself, told herself to defy him in that moment would be to exert sensibility, but such an opportunity wouldn’t come.’
(No idea what the author thinks ‘sensibility’ means here. It might make the sentence clearer if there was a set of quotes, italics or a colon after 'told herself'.)
‘…her father already straying from their standstill.’
(she means her father was leading his horse away, I guess)
'Gerard sighed, a frown visible beneath his beard.'
(That’s a big old beard! Frowns are usually seen in the eye and eyebrow/ forehead region.)
Lack of a proper line-editor.
This book had some promise, but the many confusions of word-meaning and the sometimes garbled grammatical elements diminished its worth and would cause any sensible reader to lose faith in the author's ability.
What it needed was professional editing. It didn't get it.
Here are some of the mistakes from the beginning of the book. Some of these are subtle: ‘why quibble’? ...
Make enough small mistakes over a short period and the reader becomes uneasy - sometimes without even knowing why.
I reached that critical mass early on in 'Peace and Turmoil'.
So:
'Her voice was rasped from having just awoken.'
(who rasped her voice? do you mean ‘raspy’; or do you mean, 'Her voice rasped... ?)
'He sat on his knees...'
(contortionist)
'The bitter air of dusk stung against his nose and jaw.'
(can something 'sting against'? Perhaps she means: 'The bitter air of dusk against his nose and jaw stung.')
'Their game was simple: remember where the card lay, then present its match whence found.' (‘whence’ means ‘from which or from where’, not ‘when’ or ‘where’)
'A simple game, truly, but so very, very frustrating.'
(doubling the weakness of an already weak adverb)
'If she were in his place, unable to best her own brother, she would order any and all taunts silent.' (taunts have agency? she means something like ‘tauntors’)
'... the stitching sewn together with ...'
(one sews material together, not stitching)
'Charles was extremely, terribly old.'
(not one, but two ‘ly’ modifiers)
'She stood up from her lounge chair - a gesture made more dramatic by the useless ruffles of her clothes.'
(‘standing’ is an action, not a gesture ‘Gesture’ means ‘movement of body part with meaning’. How do the useless ruffles dramatise that 'gesture'? 'Useless' diminishes whereas 'more dramatic' increases, so there is a conflict of intensity. 'Less dramatic by the useless folds' or 'More dramatic by the exagerated folds' would work, perhaps.)
'... the lace of the dress ... decided she should look otherwise.'
(lace has agency!)
'[he looked at her] likely noticing the incessant tugging she made at her chair.'
(if it was ‘incessant’, he would definitely notice)
'She grabbed at the amulet ... she touched the swirling jewel at its center.'
(the colours in the jewel might swirl, the jewel probably doesn’t)
'"Your presence would be most welcome, Your Highness," Charles said. Gwenivere scoffed at the feigned reply.'
(the reply wasn’t feigned, the sentiment may have been)
'Gwenivere knew she was likely mistaken, but she swore the tiniest drops of red were speckled against the portrait's face.'
(she would be unlikely to swear to it if she ‘knew she was likely mistaken’)
'He simply dragged his haggard feet along and left.'
(better bring those feet with you, they look tired)
'She tried to speak, then sealed her lips ...'
(with wax? 'My lips are sealed' is a metaphor; she is here literalising a metaphor)
'... the clothing he adorned never truly hiding his soldier's physique.'
(‘adorned' doesn’t mean ‘wore’)
'She shut the mouth she only just realized hung open...'
(which mouth exactly?)
'... the air in the room closed the window shut. She jumped at the sound and gasped as her father released a surprised, heavy breath.’
(does she gasp at her father’s heavy breath? More likely at the window, but we can't tell)
‘She looked back up, the fury of being forced to marry more refined then her blur of guilt.’
(Do what? Can ‘fury’ be more refined than a ‘blur’?)
‘His grin quickly deepened to a frown.’
(A frown isn't a ‘deep grin’?)
‘His lids were thin as he peered toward them…’
(which lids are we talking about? and why are they thinner than usual?)
‘… the jewel dancing from green to blue to violet.’
(surely means the colours of the jewel, not the jewel itself)
‘He [pulled out a blade], plunging it into the animal’s shoulder and ripping it apart.’
(Pronound confusion: ripping the knife apart?)
‘No matter how often they dispelled the lie, some still believed it fervently.’
(they obviously didn’t ‘dispell’ it then. Author means something like ‘denied’)
‘An air of anger emerged from the group.’
(Eww!)
‘Sweat dripped down his face and his chest, meshing perfectly with the clear waters…’
(can sweat ‘mesh’ with water? Perhaps at a molecular level??)
‘Her body moved gracefully as she lowered herself into the other end of the pool […] she tossed the dagger aside and backed away.’
(Backing away might be a problem as she hasn’t got out of the pool yet)
‘Blood quickly began oozing’
(‘oozing’ means to slowly trickle; so it quickly began to slowly trickle?)
‘Meagerly, the healer reached up and rubbed [his shoulder].’
(‘meagre’ doesn’t work as an adverb in this – or any other – instance.)
‘The dark skin around his lids was puffy.’
(she probably means ‘eyelids’, but we can’t be sure because the author hasn't mentioned eyes. This is the third instance so far of ‘lids’ as substitute for ‘eyelids’ withoug prior mention of eyes.)
‘[chairs] left him so terribly, terribly vulnerable.’
(redundancy. Another tic the author has demonstrated: doubling weak adverbs in the hope of strengthening them.)
‘[he] plopped down in his own seat.’
(anomalously juvenile verb use for an adult book)
‘cease your worries, both in your mind and your chair.’
(sounds like either BOTH his mind and the chair are capable of worrying, or that he is BOTH worried about his chair and worried about his mental health. Neither seems right. The word 'worries' refers here to two different things: ie. the actual worries/thoughts he has IN his mind; and the worries he has ABOUT the chair. Using one word 'worries' in a sentence to refer to two seperate concepts is a mistake and causes it to read as one concept only: either 'what he is worried about' or 'the worries themselves'.)
‘at last denying the comforts of his chair. He rose and walked to the window…’
(Well, is the chair comfortable or not, damn it! ‘denying’ is odd here; maybe ‘disdaining’? or ‘denying himself…’)
‘What common royal preferred sleeping in the crevices of his city’s roofs and the arms of a whore? Deitrich blinked. The latter of such dwellings was gone.’
(Can you 'dwell' in a whore?)
‘Quickly he noted the heaviness that resided below Abaddon’s eyes, the difficulty with which they fought to stay open.’
(eyes have agency, heaviness sets up home, and noticing a facial expression takes a certain amount of unspecified time.)
‘He waited … for him to try and dissuade his uncertainty.’
(uncertainty is here personified and given agency. Please, either ‘dissuade him’ or ‘alleviate his uncertainty’)
‘He swirled the liquid in his cup before raising it up and swallowing.’
(Pronoun confusion. Did he raise the liquid, or the cup? Again, this is subtle, but it sounds off because the pronoun of a sentence should refer back to the subject, and here it doesn't. What she means is: ‘he swirled his cup, before raising it…’)
‘When his father had left to pledge alliances to the West.’
('Pledge' means 'promise'. One pledges ALLEGIANCE when making an alliance. If you 'pledge' an ALLIANCE then you haven't actually made an alliance, merely promised to do so.)
‘Abaddon’s voice practically echoed against the walls.’
(well, did it or didn’t it? Do you mean that it was a loud voice? But even a quiet voice will echo in an echoey room.)
‘The Holy Book reveals of a time…’
(one can SPEAK OF a time, or REVEAL A time; but not: ‘reveal of a time’)
‘Their colorful streaks painfully agreed with Abaddon’s words.’
(The streaks have agency, the process of agreement somehow causes them pain.)
‘The princess looked up, catching the rare smile beaming across Garron’s face.’
(Sounds like something out of Star Trek. While someone can ‘beam’ at someone else, a smile doesn’t ‘beam’ across a face. ‘Beam’ in this context means ‘smile radiantly’ – a smile can’t ‘smile radiantly’ across anything.)
“You haven’t been around many men in your lifetime, but to remark on such things will occur often.”
(garbled/ confusion of subject. ‘But such remarks will often occur’ works. The 'to remark' phrase refers back to the subject 'you'; but the author didn't mean it to - she meant it to refer to the 'many men'.)
‘What a pleasantry that would be.’
(Here, the author means something like: ‘pleasant occurrence’. The word 'Pleasantry’ actually means ‘a witty remark’)
‘Gwenivere… released a quick bolt of lightning Garron’s way. It would hardly do anything, she knew, his elemental armor merely absorbing it, but the tingle it gave him was well worth her efforts. She laughed as she saw him squirm in his saddle.’
(Here she seems to be able to think several thoughts between releasing the lightning and watching the results. n.b: Lightning moves at the speed of light!)
‘The swift trots of horses behind them… came from Aden and Maximus, who gained ground toward where they rode.’
(There must be an easier, less confused way of writing this...?)
‘Aden raised his arm in excitement. In truth, it attempted to rise, but was cut short… by the bulk of his armor.’
(the arm has agency!)
‘…the might of the air’s gust propelling the branch forward and atop [Sir Charles’s] back.
(‘atop’ – a favorite word of the author – doesn't work here; ‘athwart’ might do it, or simply ‘into’. If you want 'atop' then: 'atop his shoulders' might work.)
‘“Not bad, Aden,” the Golden Knight said, returning their fun to learned boredom.’
(what does this mean?)
‘…her father’s empty hacks morphed into harsh, forceful barks.’
(‘morphed’ is a modern coinage, inappropriate in this setting. Moreover, it usually means shape change, rarther than quality change.)
‘She readied herself, told herself to defy him in that moment would be to exert sensibility, but such an opportunity wouldn’t come.’
(No idea what the author thinks ‘sensibility’ means here. It might make the sentence clearer if there was a set of quotes, italics or a colon after 'told herself'.)
‘…her father already straying from their standstill.’
(she means her father was leading his horse away, I guess)
'Gerard sighed, a frown visible beneath his beard.'
(That’s a big old beard! Frowns are usually seen in the eye and eyebrow/ forehead region.)
March 24, 2019
I really wanted to enjoy this book. Knowing it was Elliot's first book, I naturally went in with low expectations.
Let me talk about points that I did enjoy first. The magic system and fiends were interesting enough. The plot is acceptable, and the characters are decent though sometimes their motivations seem to flop around a bit, especially during the first part of the novel.
Now on what I didn't enjoy.
The names, characters names just do not fit together. An excellent example is the character Deitrich and his brother Abaddon. Or Gweinivere, Charles, Aden, and Maximus. Both sets of names are from different countries, but also just don't fit together. There were clearly no rules when it came to the language of the nation when the novel was written. Character names should feel cohesive. For me, it brought me right out of the emersion.
The overall use of language is also questionable. There are certain times where the wrong word is used, I know what the author is intending to say. But it is just the wrong choice in words. There is a part in the second chapter where we are being told about Rolands Called Bow. And she uses the word disjointed when she actually means disconnected. Or when she uses the word adorned instead of wore.
The very last point is that we are more often than not being told what happens. There is a distinct lack of emotional connection to the characters when we see them doing something, we are told what they are doing, but we are not told how they feel. When a character angers his father, we are told that his mouth gets dry, but we are not told how he feels, not told about his immediate regret or why he is afraid. In fact, his father doesn't seem to do anything to warrant the fear, and we are never told about any abuse or reason for his 'reaction'.
I like Elliot and her channel, I am a huge fan.
And I will still plan to read the second novel when it comes out. I think the issue might be that she let fans or friends do her beta reading, and they didn't give her the criticism she needed or deserved.
Let me talk about points that I did enjoy first. The magic system and fiends were interesting enough. The plot is acceptable, and the characters are decent though sometimes their motivations seem to flop around a bit, especially during the first part of the novel.
Now on what I didn't enjoy.
The names, characters names just do not fit together. An excellent example is the character Deitrich and his brother Abaddon. Or Gweinivere, Charles, Aden, and Maximus. Both sets of names are from different countries, but also just don't fit together. There were clearly no rules when it came to the language of the nation when the novel was written. Character names should feel cohesive. For me, it brought me right out of the emersion.
The overall use of language is also questionable. There are certain times where the wrong word is used, I know what the author is intending to say. But it is just the wrong choice in words. There is a part in the second chapter where we are being told about Rolands Called Bow. And she uses the word disjointed when she actually means disconnected. Or when she uses the word adorned instead of wore.
The very last point is that we are more often than not being told what happens. There is a distinct lack of emotional connection to the characters when we see them doing something, we are told what they are doing, but we are not told how they feel. When a character angers his father, we are told that his mouth gets dry, but we are not told how he feels, not told about his immediate regret or why he is afraid. In fact, his father doesn't seem to do anything to warrant the fear, and we are never told about any abuse or reason for his 'reaction'.
I like Elliot and her channel, I am a huge fan.
And I will still plan to read the second novel when it comes out. I think the issue might be that she let fans or friends do her beta reading, and they didn't give her the criticism she needed or deserved.
December 31, 2018
Do you know when you read a book and there’s something in it that’s right up your alley and it’s the best thing ever? Reading Elliot’s book was kind of like she just put together a lot of those things I love.
I was sent this book by Elliot herself for the second round of Beta Readers (thank you so much). It feels so special to be part of a book’s birth! Even though it’s Beta Reading, it’s already very close to what the book is going to be (Elliot’s words), so it was like reading an ARC.
PEACE AND TURMOIL starts with a prologue that hooks you right away (It was reading the prologue what made me request for beta reading in the first place), especially if you like seeing family dynamics - which I absolutely love.
I love seeing authors playing with family relationships, I love to see how they love and hurt for each other, it keeps me tethered like few things leave. I love my family so much and I always think of them and how I would feel if anything happened to them, I kind of transport those feelings for when I’m reading about family in books and that’s why it always hits close to home, it makes me love and hurt alongside.
From the vibe of the prologue, I liked Dietrich immediately.
The second character we meet is Gwenivere. For a 20 years old, she’s just waaaaay too obsessed with the things she wants and cannot have in a very childish way- this was my first impression of her. And what a wrong first impression!!!! She’s an absolutely fav of mine. So badass, brave and fierce.
This soon in the novel I could already tell I like Elliot’s writing style. I like how she walks you through a lot of things, the simpler being that card game between Aden and his knight (wasn’t that the cutest).
Then we get to meet Roland and oh man! In his first chapter we have a closer view of the magic system and seriously WHAAAAAAT IS THIS! I immediately thought “wooow who has ideas like this?”, which is my everyday thought when I’m reading a Sanderson book. Touched weapons, called weapons, auroras… I was all on board to learn more and more about it.
And from there we keep meeting more characters that keep adding to the world, the plot and your stunned feelings.
It’s so exciting how Elliot incorporated my favourite things to read about. There’s forbidden love (dying for it); a haunted by-his-rather-necessary-actions man, someone who just wants to be good; a never seen and mind-blowing magic system; and even the simple things like small banter between characters! Bear in mind that by this point I was only starting chapter 3 but it was that impressive and good.
I seriously have some many thoughts and things I want to say, but let me get you some highlights on things I absolutely was here for:
⦁ Elliot took POVs to another level. I love she gives us not only so many perspectives but also so much insight in how everyone is feeling throughout all the chaos that ensues. You get to see parents’ thoughts and feelings towards sons and daughters, and seeing parents’ vulnerability really gets to me (as previously mentioned xD).
⦁ GREY CHARACTERS. Most of the characters have grey morality, which means they are not good people. They do a lot of bad things in the name of the things they really believe are right. It’s mesmerizing to see the way they think, self apologizing their wrong deeds. Pretty sure one or two are complete sociopaths but, trust me, for the reader is such a delight to try to figure them out. (Abaddon is one of the most layered characters and it was amazing to read about him, so well written.)
⦁ Chapter’s headers. Every new chapter, apart from the name of the character to which it belongs, also has a mini map that lets you know where the character physically is. It’s such a small detail but it was mega helpful while reading. Apart from the headers, we also have beautiful artwork scattered throughout. It adds so much to the experience of reading this book. And it’s beautiful, I believe Elliot herself made all the characters’ portraits and they are amazing!!
⦁ DRAGONS. Not only I was not expecting to have dragons in here, but also they were introduced smoothly like it was totally expected. Once again Elliot keeps on putting together so many different things and everything works beautifully together.
⦁ There’s this really cool thing almost at the end of the book. Elliot interspersed several small chapters of different POVs reacting to a specific situation with the disclosure of a letter telling about that same situation. You might be like "what the hell is she talking about", but when you read it, you’ll know it. IT WAS AMAZING. It builds up so much tension and suspense for the consequences to come, it left me completely hanging at the edge of my sit and made me read compulsively until everything unfolded. It was “artsy” and so well executed.
⦁ Elliot’s writing is so impressive. I love her attention to small details that make the experience of getting to know all this world and characters so much more colourful. Things like “The Prince kept his grin withheld, at least on one side, his amusement emerging with a single curl of the lip.”, these small details help to build the character’s personality and mould the way I feel about them.
⦁ The plot keeps on getting thicker and thicker, characters take decisions that only make other characters’ lives harder and the loop keeps on going ‘till the very end. The entire book is so full of events it’s hard to point out a dead moment in it. There’s always something happening, keeping the plot thickening and moving forward.
⦁ Lastly, I would just like to say that I pictured Gwen as Merida and X’odia as Moana and I absolutely love that.
I was sent this book by Elliot herself for the second round of Beta Readers (thank you so much). It feels so special to be part of a book’s birth! Even though it’s Beta Reading, it’s already very close to what the book is going to be (Elliot’s words), so it was like reading an ARC.
PEACE AND TURMOIL starts with a prologue that hooks you right away (It was reading the prologue what made me request for beta reading in the first place), especially if you like seeing family dynamics - which I absolutely love.
I love seeing authors playing with family relationships, I love to see how they love and hurt for each other, it keeps me tethered like few things leave. I love my family so much and I always think of them and how I would feel if anything happened to them, I kind of transport those feelings for when I’m reading about family in books and that’s why it always hits close to home, it makes me love and hurt alongside.
From the vibe of the prologue, I liked Dietrich immediately.
The second character we meet is Gwenivere. For a 20 years old, she’s just waaaaay too obsessed with the things she wants and cannot have in a very childish way- this was my first impression of her. And what a wrong first impression!!!! She’s an absolutely fav of mine. So badass, brave and fierce.
This soon in the novel I could already tell I like Elliot’s writing style. I like how she walks you through a lot of things, the simpler being that card game between Aden and his knight (wasn’t that the cutest).
Then we get to meet Roland and oh man! In his first chapter we have a closer view of the magic system and seriously WHAAAAAAT IS THIS! I immediately thought “wooow who has ideas like this?”, which is my everyday thought when I’m reading a Sanderson book. Touched weapons, called weapons, auroras… I was all on board to learn more and more about it.
And from there we keep meeting more characters that keep adding to the world, the plot and your stunned feelings.
It’s so exciting how Elliot incorporated my favourite things to read about. There’s forbidden love (dying for it); a haunted by-his-rather-necessary-actions man, someone who just wants to be good; a never seen and mind-blowing magic system; and even the simple things like small banter between characters! Bear in mind that by this point I was only starting chapter 3 but it was that impressive and good.
I seriously have some many thoughts and things I want to say, but let me get you some highlights on things I absolutely was here for:
⦁ Elliot took POVs to another level. I love she gives us not only so many perspectives but also so much insight in how everyone is feeling throughout all the chaos that ensues. You get to see parents’ thoughts and feelings towards sons and daughters, and seeing parents’ vulnerability really gets to me (as previously mentioned xD).
⦁ GREY CHARACTERS. Most of the characters have grey morality, which means they are not good people. They do a lot of bad things in the name of the things they really believe are right. It’s mesmerizing to see the way they think, self apologizing their wrong deeds. Pretty sure one or two are complete sociopaths but, trust me, for the reader is such a delight to try to figure them out. (Abaddon is one of the most layered characters and it was amazing to read about him, so well written.)
⦁ Chapter’s headers. Every new chapter, apart from the name of the character to which it belongs, also has a mini map that lets you know where the character physically is. It’s such a small detail but it was mega helpful while reading. Apart from the headers, we also have beautiful artwork scattered throughout. It adds so much to the experience of reading this book. And it’s beautiful, I believe Elliot herself made all the characters’ portraits and they are amazing!!
⦁ DRAGONS. Not only I was not expecting to have dragons in here, but also they were introduced smoothly like it was totally expected. Once again Elliot keeps on putting together so many different things and everything works beautifully together.
⦁ There’s this really cool thing almost at the end of the book. Elliot interspersed several small chapters of different POVs reacting to a specific situation with the disclosure of a letter telling about that same situation. You might be like "what the hell is she talking about", but when you read it, you’ll know it. IT WAS AMAZING. It builds up so much tension and suspense for the consequences to come, it left me completely hanging at the edge of my sit and made me read compulsively until everything unfolded. It was “artsy” and so well executed.
⦁ Elliot’s writing is so impressive. I love her attention to small details that make the experience of getting to know all this world and characters so much more colourful. Things like “The Prince kept his grin withheld, at least on one side, his amusement emerging with a single curl of the lip.”, these small details help to build the character’s personality and mould the way I feel about them.
⦁ The plot keeps on getting thicker and thicker, characters take decisions that only make other characters’ lives harder and the loop keeps on going ‘till the very end. The entire book is so full of events it’s hard to point out a dead moment in it. There’s always something happening, keeping the plot thickening and moving forward.
⦁ Lastly, I would just like to say that I pictured Gwen as Merida and X’odia as Moana and I absolutely love that.
January 2, 2021
I received this book from Elliot Brooks to beta read and was absolutely blown away by it. This is a great fantasy book with a unique magic system and magical creatures called 'Fiends'. There are even illustrations throughout the book showcasing what some of these fiends look like. We also get sketches from the 'the sketchbook of Elizabeth'showing us what some of the main characters look like. We follow a vast cast of characters, including an assassin and a dragon, through a world of politics, high stakes and sabotage.
This book is a good transition for those seeking out an adult book after reading only YA. It can be quite politically heavy in some areas but that does not bog the reader down.
Don't get too attached to some of the characters though, Elliot does not pull any punched when it comes to the deaths in this book and if you're looking for romance you will find it but it's very subtle and some of the scenes I actually felt like I wanted the characters to kiss but at the same time I understood why they didn't.
Great book highly recommend.
This book is a good transition for those seeking out an adult book after reading only YA. It can be quite politically heavy in some areas but that does not bog the reader down.
Don't get too attached to some of the characters though, Elliot does not pull any punched when it comes to the deaths in this book and if you're looking for romance you will find it but it's very subtle and some of the scenes I actually felt like I wanted the characters to kiss but at the same time I understood why they didn't.
Great book highly recommend.
Read
May 3, 2022OH MY GOODNESS this book was so good! I've just finished beta reading it, and I can't wait for the next one! Peace and Turmoil has a lot to offer. The magic system is unique, and the world building is consistently developed throughout the story. The plot is incredible (so twisty-turny) and so obviously thought out. It's intricate and unpredictable. And then there are the characters. The characters you love. The characters you hate. The characters you love to hate - it's got it all! Plus, there are dragons involved, and in the words of JRR Tolkien, "It simply isn't an adventure worth telling if there aren't any dragons." Seriously, though, I can't speak highly enough of this book. I can't wait to snag my own copy when it releases! I'm excited to read it when it's completely finished! Plus, that cover is gorgeous😍 Let's be honest, who wouldn't want that to grace their bookshelves? I definitely recommend it.
~
P.S.- In case anybody was wondering about how mature the content is (something I always want to know before picking up a book), I wanted to talk a little on that. There are sexual themes and scenes throughout the book, but they are not explicit. The cussing is minimal, but "gateway" language is used throughout. There is a good deal of violence, and at times it can be detailed. However, I think the violence always advances the story and makes you feel for the characters. All in all, the book was a lot cleaner than most (even some YA books I've read) in the genre. Anyway, I thought this may be helpful for some readers. Happy reading!
~
P.S.- In case anybody was wondering about how mature the content is (something I always want to know before picking up a book), I wanted to talk a little on that. There are sexual themes and scenes throughout the book, but they are not explicit. The cussing is minimal, but "gateway" language is used throughout. There is a good deal of violence, and at times it can be detailed. However, I think the violence always advances the story and makes you feel for the characters. All in all, the book was a lot cleaner than most (even some YA books I've read) in the genre. Anyway, I thought this may be helpful for some readers. Happy reading!
December 31, 2024
On my second read my rating went up slightly to 4.5 ⭐️ rounded up. This time I read along with the audiobook and the narration was fantastic and really enhanced my reading experience. The narrator really helped breathe additional life into this phenomenal world. If you are at all a fan of political fantasy like a song of ice and fire then you should give this series a go. I will say there is a steep learning curve in the beginning as you get chucked into the deep end of this complex and interconnected world, but if you put in a little effort the payoff is so worth it.
4.25 ⭐️ rounded down. If you are a fan of multi-POV political fantasy with all the maneuvering and plots within plots mixed with some truly epic fights and a cool magic system including a snarky dragon companion…this book is FOR YOU.
Especially considering this is a debut self published novel the quality and scope of the story are truly remarkable. Not only is it an expensive EPIC political fantasy story, but there is character and creature art throughout, as well as chapter headers referencing the map to keep you grounded in which kingdom you’re in. I will say the book takes its time to introduce the world, the characters, and the political landscape so the first 30% ish is somewhat slow, once things get going good grief is it a fun ride. That being said, there are a few typos so if you are a self admitted grammar snob maybe be aware? They never took me out of the story because I was along for the ride.
If you want more thoughts I have a full spiller-free review coming to my channel on YouTube (https://www.YouTube.com/RodgersReads)
4.25 ⭐️ rounded down. If you are a fan of multi-POV political fantasy with all the maneuvering and plots within plots mixed with some truly epic fights and a cool magic system including a snarky dragon companion…this book is FOR YOU.
Especially considering this is a debut self published novel the quality and scope of the story are truly remarkable. Not only is it an expensive EPIC political fantasy story, but there is character and creature art throughout, as well as chapter headers referencing the map to keep you grounded in which kingdom you’re in. I will say the book takes its time to introduce the world, the characters, and the political landscape so the first 30% ish is somewhat slow, once things get going good grief is it a fun ride. That being said, there are a few typos so if you are a self admitted grammar snob maybe be aware? They never took me out of the story because I was along for the ride.
If you want more thoughts I have a full spiller-free review coming to my channel on YouTube (https://www.YouTube.com/RodgersReads)
June 11, 2020
I received an unfinished copy (beta read) of Elle's book in exchange to give constructive feedback and catch typos. Elle did an amazing job! This book offers many tropes that fantasy lovers will enjoy; kingdoms in a political war, love between heirs to the thrones, an assassin and his dragon. The magic system is great. Everyone has the ability to use their magic but it is learned and practiced. It is also elemental magic which makes for great scenes. The pace of the book was perfect and I did not want to put it down. The plot was not predictable, I always had a million questions running through my head because some characters just weren't trustworthy. Also, Elle didn't hold back on killing off the characters. I highly recommend Peace and Turmoil. There are changes to the book already being made from feedback given by us Beta readers. I'll be so excited to get my hands on a copy of the book when it is published and reread it.
July 22, 2018
I was lucky enough to be a beta reader for this book, therefore some things in the book might be changed by the time it comes out.
First of all can I just say this cover is STUNNING!
I honestly really really liked this book. I thought the characters were really cool, I didn’t see some twists coming, the world is super interesting and there’s political intrigue. From part 2 onwards I couldn’t stop reading as there was so many things happening, I just wanted to know what happens next!
Anyways, loved it, would definitely recommend, can’t wait for book 2 !
First of all can I just say this cover is STUNNING!
I honestly really really liked this book. I thought the characters were really cool, I didn’t see some twists coming, the world is super interesting and there’s political intrigue. From part 2 onwards I couldn’t stop reading as there was so many things happening, I just wanted to know what happens next!
Anyways, loved it, would definitely recommend, can’t wait for book 2 !
April 1, 2019
4.5 out of 5. I am so surprised by how much I liked this book. I’m honestly floored that this is Elliot’s first book. There’s some really great character development. The world building is fairly extensive. Although there’s quite a few characters and a lot of information I didn’t find myself confused. I loved the little journal entries and letters in between chapters and thought they brought the story together well. I loved how each chapter started with a slice of the map so you knew where you were at all times. The writing was very well done. While the magic wasn’t overly unique, I felt that it complemented the story well. My fav character is Dietrich ❤️... then probably X’odia. The ending was written so well! It went back and forth quickly and made it so engaging. There were quite a few plot twists at the end that made me literally shout out loud. I can’t wait for the next one!!
Want to read
July 22, 2018I can't wait!
October 4, 2018
Delicious story! Strong characters, lovely writing, brutal surprises, awesome world building, creepy creatures. Fantasy at its best! Just trying patiently to wait for book two!
January 12, 2019
I have been thinking very hard about how to express my feelings about this book. I should start by mentioning that I was lucky enough to be sent an ARC of this book by Elle for review and I feel so lucky to have been able to read this book ahead of its release date. In short, it is an incredible book but, if you want to know why I think so then, read on - this review will be spoiler free.
I expected to like this book, I mean, it is epic fantasy and that is kind of my thing! I just didn't expect it to be as amazed and impressed by it as I was. I mean no disrespect to Elle by that - in fact, quite the opposite. This book really just exceeded all of the expectations that I had for it, and those were pretty high to begin with.
First of all we have an intricate and large world that is introduced to us gradually through the eyes and experiences of our characters. Each of them places emphasis on different things and that gives us a really well rounded insight and perspective into the land of Abra'am. Also, because the world is introduced in this way it is never overwhelming but still gives us plenty of atmosphere, drawing us into the story and the, sometimes incredibly difficulty, situations the characters are placed in.
Although the world is vast, I found it really easy to put the scale of it into context because there were frequent references to the time that was elapsing during a scene and between one scene and the next. This subtle referencing to the passage of time really grounded me in the story and helped me to connect with the characters and the things that they were going through.
All of this combined to make the setting really realistic for and I didn't have to work hard - at all - to visualise the setting. It was also clear to me that, even with how intricate the world was, we had barely scratched the surface of Abra'am and that there is still plenty more world-building to come in the rest of this series.
The magic system is, fundamentally, an elemental based one and the people of Abra'am are able to access this elemental magic by calling on their auroras - red auroras for fire, blue auroras for water and so on. This magic system seems to have the potential to become incredibly complex and I am looking forward to learning more about it in the rest of the series but, in this book, it was never overwhelming or difficult to follow. What I found the most unique and refreshing though was the fact that it is not in any way selective. In a lot of fantasy series you will find that only a select group of individuals are able to access magic and that is, typically, based upon their background - who their parents were, etc. That is not the case in Abra'am. Here, everyone is able to access auroras and, therefore, magic.
The use of the elemental magic is, as a result, entirely dependant on a person's proficiency and, ultimately, the level of effort they have put in to learn their craft. This is great because it means that, not only is there no arbitrarily selective system which dictates whether or not a character has access to magic, but also because, as soon as you understand the magic system, you gain an excellent insight into the character that you are following by how much control they have of their magic. I think you can tell, I am pretty passionate about the magic system in this book and so that I don't bore you, I will move on, even though I could probably go on about how cool it is all day.
Another thing about the world of Abra'am that I really enjoyed - fiends. Particularly, dragons. I am not going to say anymore at this stage at the risk of spoilers but, needless to say, I loved it!
I now want to talk about the action scenes. Actions scenes in books, and particularly in fantasy books, are something that I can really struggle with. I am not a particularly visual person and this can make following an action scene difficult for me, especially because it is usually a very intense moment in a book and the pace is also normally faster - all this adds up to me reading at a slightly quicker speed than I usually would which only serves to make it more difficult for me to visualise what is going on in the scene.
This was not the case in this book. Don't get me wrong, the actions scenes were still intense, fast paced and gripping, it was just that they were written in a way that I found very easy to follow. I didn't find myself confused about what was going at any point and, unusually for me, I was able to visualise what was going on. In fact, one of my favourite scenes in the book was an action scene and that is not usually the case for me.
However, whilst there are a lot of action scenes in this book and, like I say - I really enjoyed them, there is an awful lot more political manoeuvring going on and I absolutely loved that! This element of the plot was intricate, well thought out, incredibly clever and edge-of-your-seat shocking but, again, also very easy to follow and keep track of. This is a multiple perspective story, and I will come back to the characters in a bit, but I never found myself getting confused about who was working towards which agenda - although there were some twists in there that I wasn't expecting and which I really enjoyed.
While there is a pretty big cast of characters in this book and, admittedly, some initial confusion for me with the various heads of state in particular, I was never confused by this at all because the motivations of each character were made so clear. Also, each character had their own very distinctive personality and voice and, given the size of the cast, I found that incredibly impressive - even 'side characters' were just so individual and real which is something I really appreciated because, often, 'side characters' are not as fleshed out as protagonists are. I am using inverted commas because I really didn't feel like any character was a 'side' character, everyone had a part to play and was absolutely vital to the plot.
Speaking of the plot, that was also incredibly intricate. I got the sense, while reading, that everything that was happening was interwoven and had a deeper meaning but I just couldn't figure out why. Basically, it just wasn't predictable at all and there were some pretty big twists in there that I just did not see coming - at all. Having said that though, none of the twists that did happen felt wrong or forced in any way, they were all entirely within character and, when they happened, they made complete sense and left me sat there thinking to myself 'how did I not see this coming?!'
Also, Elle is not afraid of consequences. Everything that happened in this book had a consequence and truly following the concept of every action having an equal and opposite reaction. Sometimes, those reactions echoed through the land of Abra'am and sometimes they were immediately explosive and were followed by a shocking stillness - emotionally I mean because there was no point during this story where the plot stood still, we were on the move constantly which was another thing I really loved.
I, personally, really appreciate when there are consequences in books and, while those consequences could be incredibly sad or aggravating, they were also completely necessary and added so much more gravity to the situations the characters were in.
This book is incredibly intricate, devastatingly emotional, intensely intelligent, brutal and poignant in equal measure. There were characters I loved who felt like old friends, characters I hated so completely that I honestly wanted to shove them out of a window and characters that I wanted to love but who I felt disappointed in because they didn't live up to my - perhaps unrealistic - expectations of them. Essentially, the characters were deep and realistic and I felt a connection with each of them.
The sometimes brutal nature of the story was something that completely gripped me and was balanced out with the poignant moments which allowed me to spend time with the characters I loved and get to know them, laugh with them, cry with them and feel annoyed, scared, angry and frustrated with them.
The book ended with a sense of satisfaction and a greater understanding of the world and the motivations of the people in it. However, there is plenty left to explore in the land of Abra'am and plenty of threads that frayed and just begging to be tied up. Frankly, this is an absolutely amazing novel, let alone debut novel and I cannot wait for the next instalment in the Dark Shores series.
Thank you Elle for writing this fantastic book, for letting me read it early and for the wild ride that was, Peace and Turmoil.
I expected to like this book, I mean, it is epic fantasy and that is kind of my thing! I just didn't expect it to be as amazed and impressed by it as I was. I mean no disrespect to Elle by that - in fact, quite the opposite. This book really just exceeded all of the expectations that I had for it, and those were pretty high to begin with.
First of all we have an intricate and large world that is introduced to us gradually through the eyes and experiences of our characters. Each of them places emphasis on different things and that gives us a really well rounded insight and perspective into the land of Abra'am. Also, because the world is introduced in this way it is never overwhelming but still gives us plenty of atmosphere, drawing us into the story and the, sometimes incredibly difficulty, situations the characters are placed in.
Although the world is vast, I found it really easy to put the scale of it into context because there were frequent references to the time that was elapsing during a scene and between one scene and the next. This subtle referencing to the passage of time really grounded me in the story and helped me to connect with the characters and the things that they were going through.
All of this combined to make the setting really realistic for and I didn't have to work hard - at all - to visualise the setting. It was also clear to me that, even with how intricate the world was, we had barely scratched the surface of Abra'am and that there is still plenty more world-building to come in the rest of this series.
The magic system is, fundamentally, an elemental based one and the people of Abra'am are able to access this elemental magic by calling on their auroras - red auroras for fire, blue auroras for water and so on. This magic system seems to have the potential to become incredibly complex and I am looking forward to learning more about it in the rest of the series but, in this book, it was never overwhelming or difficult to follow. What I found the most unique and refreshing though was the fact that it is not in any way selective. In a lot of fantasy series you will find that only a select group of individuals are able to access magic and that is, typically, based upon their background - who their parents were, etc. That is not the case in Abra'am. Here, everyone is able to access auroras and, therefore, magic.
The use of the elemental magic is, as a result, entirely dependant on a person's proficiency and, ultimately, the level of effort they have put in to learn their craft. This is great because it means that, not only is there no arbitrarily selective system which dictates whether or not a character has access to magic, but also because, as soon as you understand the magic system, you gain an excellent insight into the character that you are following by how much control they have of their magic. I think you can tell, I am pretty passionate about the magic system in this book and so that I don't bore you, I will move on, even though I could probably go on about how cool it is all day.
Another thing about the world of Abra'am that I really enjoyed - fiends. Particularly, dragons. I am not going to say anymore at this stage at the risk of spoilers but, needless to say, I loved it!
I now want to talk about the action scenes. Actions scenes in books, and particularly in fantasy books, are something that I can really struggle with. I am not a particularly visual person and this can make following an action scene difficult for me, especially because it is usually a very intense moment in a book and the pace is also normally faster - all this adds up to me reading at a slightly quicker speed than I usually would which only serves to make it more difficult for me to visualise what is going on in the scene.
This was not the case in this book. Don't get me wrong, the actions scenes were still intense, fast paced and gripping, it was just that they were written in a way that I found very easy to follow. I didn't find myself confused about what was going at any point and, unusually for me, I was able to visualise what was going on. In fact, one of my favourite scenes in the book was an action scene and that is not usually the case for me.
However, whilst there are a lot of action scenes in this book and, like I say - I really enjoyed them, there is an awful lot more political manoeuvring going on and I absolutely loved that! This element of the plot was intricate, well thought out, incredibly clever and edge-of-your-seat shocking but, again, also very easy to follow and keep track of. This is a multiple perspective story, and I will come back to the characters in a bit, but I never found myself getting confused about who was working towards which agenda - although there were some twists in there that I wasn't expecting and which I really enjoyed.
While there is a pretty big cast of characters in this book and, admittedly, some initial confusion for me with the various heads of state in particular, I was never confused by this at all because the motivations of each character were made so clear. Also, each character had their own very distinctive personality and voice and, given the size of the cast, I found that incredibly impressive - even 'side characters' were just so individual and real which is something I really appreciated because, often, 'side characters' are not as fleshed out as protagonists are. I am using inverted commas because I really didn't feel like any character was a 'side' character, everyone had a part to play and was absolutely vital to the plot.
Speaking of the plot, that was also incredibly intricate. I got the sense, while reading, that everything that was happening was interwoven and had a deeper meaning but I just couldn't figure out why. Basically, it just wasn't predictable at all and there were some pretty big twists in there that I just did not see coming - at all. Having said that though, none of the twists that did happen felt wrong or forced in any way, they were all entirely within character and, when they happened, they made complete sense and left me sat there thinking to myself 'how did I not see this coming?!'
Also, Elle is not afraid of consequences. Everything that happened in this book had a consequence and truly following the concept of every action having an equal and opposite reaction. Sometimes, those reactions echoed through the land of Abra'am and sometimes they were immediately explosive and were followed by a shocking stillness - emotionally I mean because there was no point during this story where the plot stood still, we were on the move constantly which was another thing I really loved.
I, personally, really appreciate when there are consequences in books and, while those consequences could be incredibly sad or aggravating, they were also completely necessary and added so much more gravity to the situations the characters were in.
This book is incredibly intricate, devastatingly emotional, intensely intelligent, brutal and poignant in equal measure. There were characters I loved who felt like old friends, characters I hated so completely that I honestly wanted to shove them out of a window and characters that I wanted to love but who I felt disappointed in because they didn't live up to my - perhaps unrealistic - expectations of them. Essentially, the characters were deep and realistic and I felt a connection with each of them.
The sometimes brutal nature of the story was something that completely gripped me and was balanced out with the poignant moments which allowed me to spend time with the characters I loved and get to know them, laugh with them, cry with them and feel annoyed, scared, angry and frustrated with them.
The book ended with a sense of satisfaction and a greater understanding of the world and the motivations of the people in it. However, there is plenty left to explore in the land of Abra'am and plenty of threads that frayed and just begging to be tied up. Frankly, this is an absolutely amazing novel, let alone debut novel and I cannot wait for the next instalment in the Dark Shores series.
Thank you Elle for writing this fantastic book, for letting me read it early and for the wild ride that was, Peace and Turmoil.
April 8, 2019
Forces are at work in the lands of Abra’am that will cause the end of peace and bring about turmoil that hasn’t been seen since the War of Fire. Peace and Turmoil is the first book of The Dark Shores series by first time author and BookTuber Elliot Brooks, which follows four young people who are suddenly thrust from their peaceful lies into political turmoil.
Gwenivere, heir to the throne of Xenith, is expected to choose a suitor from amongst guest at a Peace Gathering even though her preferred choice of Roland, heir to the throne is Mesidia, is off limits because each is a Guardian of one of the fabled Artifacts of Eve. Roland along with his father King Pierre is dealing with a long simmering succession feud with the rival Victorians. Across the Dividing Wall mountain range in the desert kingdom of Sadie, the assassin-prince Dietrich is convinced by his younger brother to go to the Xenith Peace Gathering and find a way to get Roland’s Dagger of Eve to not only save their mother but give the family immortality in the face of insurrectionists that Dietrich has been killing. In the southern continent of Eve, the long-lived X’odia sees a vision of Dietrich being stabbed by his younger brother with the Dagger which will lead to the destruction of her homeland, the High Council sends her to Abra’am to prevent this from happening. By the end of the book, Gwenivere is on the run under the false assumption that she killed her father while Roland is in exile after the death of his family but with X’odia looking to find Dietrich to get the Dagger back not knowing his brother has already killed him, maybe.
Brooks divided her book into multiple point-of-views, dominated by the previous mentioned four characters plus numerous secondary characters. Of the four main character arcs, X’odia is by far the best from start to finish followed by Dietrich, which was enhanced by his brother’s point-of-view chapters. Brooks decision to indicate the location of where a chapter was occurring, including a section of the “world map”, was a brilliant touch. The inclusion of little tidbits of letters, messages, diary entries, etc. by known and unknown characters in-between chapters were a nice touch to add context to the world as well as foreshadow without being heavy-handed about it. And the magic system is something new and intriguing, but not overwhelmingly powerful. With all these positives, why is the rating so low? Unfortunately, the political developments occurring in the third quarter of the book that made no sense as well as the total incompetence of Gwenivere’s father King Gerard and Roland’s father Pierre just totally ruined the last half of the book after an interesting first half. The primary issue is fallout from the Attack of Fiends and the desire of four nations to intervene in Mesidia’s succession issue—that has been going on for several generations but all of a sudden is a “problem”—resulting in Gerard kowtowing to their wishes and joining them to save as many lives as possible. However, Pierre has the rebel leader—the she isn’t the potential new queen—in chains as a result of the Attack and confessed to her role while her daughter and the bloodline heir to the rival claim has become a voluntarily become a citizen of Xenith; Pierre has every right to behead the traitor then declare the four nations who support his rivals had declared war on his nation, Xenith—who’s capital was attacked—and the peace nation of Riverdee that Mesidian soldiers defended. And why Gerard doesn’t do the same, or at least threaten, is beyond me as well. Things just fall apart and frankly it’s hard not to see Gerard as a usurper of his own daughter because he was originally a Mesidian himself and married Gwenivere’s mother, who was Guardian and thus heir or reigning Queen at the time of their marriage but five years deceased at the beginning of the book. While there were other little pet peeves, they were nothing compared to these political issues.
Peace and Turmoil is Elliot Brook’s first published novel and the first in The Dark Shores series, yet while there are many positives it is the nonsensical political developments in this fantasy political novel which undermine the overall narrative and thus the overall enjoyment of the book.
Gwenivere, heir to the throne of Xenith, is expected to choose a suitor from amongst guest at a Peace Gathering even though her preferred choice of Roland, heir to the throne is Mesidia, is off limits because each is a Guardian of one of the fabled Artifacts of Eve. Roland along with his father King Pierre is dealing with a long simmering succession feud with the rival Victorians. Across the Dividing Wall mountain range in the desert kingdom of Sadie, the assassin-prince Dietrich is convinced by his younger brother to go to the Xenith Peace Gathering and find a way to get Roland’s Dagger of Eve to not only save their mother but give the family immortality in the face of insurrectionists that Dietrich has been killing. In the southern continent of Eve, the long-lived X’odia sees a vision of Dietrich being stabbed by his younger brother with the Dagger which will lead to the destruction of her homeland, the High Council sends her to Abra’am to prevent this from happening. By the end of the book, Gwenivere is on the run under the false assumption that she killed her father while Roland is in exile after the death of his family but with X’odia looking to find Dietrich to get the Dagger back not knowing his brother has already killed him, maybe.
Brooks divided her book into multiple point-of-views, dominated by the previous mentioned four characters plus numerous secondary characters. Of the four main character arcs, X’odia is by far the best from start to finish followed by Dietrich, which was enhanced by his brother’s point-of-view chapters. Brooks decision to indicate the location of where a chapter was occurring, including a section of the “world map”, was a brilliant touch. The inclusion of little tidbits of letters, messages, diary entries, etc. by known and unknown characters in-between chapters were a nice touch to add context to the world as well as foreshadow without being heavy-handed about it. And the magic system is something new and intriguing, but not overwhelmingly powerful. With all these positives, why is the rating so low? Unfortunately, the political developments occurring in the third quarter of the book that made no sense as well as the total incompetence of Gwenivere’s father King Gerard and Roland’s father Pierre just totally ruined the last half of the book after an interesting first half. The primary issue is fallout from the Attack of Fiends and the desire of four nations to intervene in Mesidia’s succession issue—that has been going on for several generations but all of a sudden is a “problem”—resulting in Gerard kowtowing to their wishes and joining them to save as many lives as possible. However, Pierre has the rebel leader—the she isn’t the potential new queen—in chains as a result of the Attack and confessed to her role while her daughter and the bloodline heir to the rival claim has become a voluntarily become a citizen of Xenith; Pierre has every right to behead the traitor then declare the four nations who support his rivals had declared war on his nation, Xenith—who’s capital was attacked—and the peace nation of Riverdee that Mesidian soldiers defended. And why Gerard doesn’t do the same, or at least threaten, is beyond me as well. Things just fall apart and frankly it’s hard not to see Gerard as a usurper of his own daughter because he was originally a Mesidian himself and married Gwenivere’s mother, who was Guardian and thus heir or reigning Queen at the time of their marriage but five years deceased at the beginning of the book. While there were other little pet peeves, they were nothing compared to these political issues.
Peace and Turmoil is Elliot Brook’s first published novel and the first in The Dark Shores series, yet while there are many positives it is the nonsensical political developments in this fantasy political novel which undermine the overall narrative and thus the overall enjoyment of the book.
October 16, 2018
4.25 stars!
I received this book as a part of round two of beta reading from the author, Elliot.
This is very fun, dark, and well written political fantasy by an upcoming debut author and I cannot wait for it to be available to the public. Establishing itself as a multi perspective fantasy with a very original magic system and even the addition of magical creatures called ‘fiends’, Peace & Turmoil is a thrilling first book in an epic fantasy series. I would say anyone who enjoys fun magic systems, commentary on real world issues through the eyes of a fantastical world, elaborate political schemes, and of course dragons will enjoy this novel.
This story floats seamlessly between several perspectives; Dietrich an assassin prince, Gwenivere a princess with a fiery temper and an important amulet that is within in her care, Roland a guardian of a magical artifact, X’odia a girl with swirling eyes and a steadfast faith in her creator, as well a few other characters throughout the novel.
If you’ve been looking for a good book that has dragons, this is solid one. If you’ve been looking for a dark fantasy with endless political plots for the throne, this delivers. If you enjoy complex characters and unique magic systems, this will keep you enthralled as you learn more about both the kingdoms, the world, and the characters themselves.
I can’t wait to read more of this series and think it can only get better with each novel.
I received this book as a part of round two of beta reading from the author, Elliot.
This is very fun, dark, and well written political fantasy by an upcoming debut author and I cannot wait for it to be available to the public. Establishing itself as a multi perspective fantasy with a very original magic system and even the addition of magical creatures called ‘fiends’, Peace & Turmoil is a thrilling first book in an epic fantasy series. I would say anyone who enjoys fun magic systems, commentary on real world issues through the eyes of a fantastical world, elaborate political schemes, and of course dragons will enjoy this novel.
This story floats seamlessly between several perspectives; Dietrich an assassin prince, Gwenivere a princess with a fiery temper and an important amulet that is within in her care, Roland a guardian of a magical artifact, X’odia a girl with swirling eyes and a steadfast faith in her creator, as well a few other characters throughout the novel.
If you’ve been looking for a good book that has dragons, this is solid one. If you’ve been looking for a dark fantasy with endless political plots for the throne, this delivers. If you enjoy complex characters and unique magic systems, this will keep you enthralled as you learn more about both the kingdoms, the world, and the characters themselves.
I can’t wait to read more of this series and think it can only get better with each novel.
October 16, 2025
Actual rating 2.5, it picks up in the last third and nearly becomes a decent read, but oh boy does it need editing.
Multiple instances of words used incorrectly (why does she keep saying pleasantry when she means pleasure; adorn doesn't mean wear; eyes don't swirl, etc.), but what I mostly can't forgive is the its/it's, your/you're mix-ups, even the most basic line edit should have gotten rid of those. And at one point I completely lost it when someone was wondering "how did he fair".
In terms of story - characters are mostly meh, but I could bring myself to care about one or two on a good day. Regarding the plot, I was about 50% in before I started feeling slightly interested in what was happening, nearly dnf-ed it a few times but it's been on my TBR a long time and I really didn't want to abandon it without getting the full picture. There is a lot of text that brings nothing of substance to the plot, and could be cut without the story suffering any losses. I generally liked the politics and the magic, although I'd have liked some more information - where did these Artifacts come from, why were they created, etc.; I suppose more on this is planned for the sequel, but tbh I won't be picking it up unless I see some assurances that it's gone through a competent editor.
Multiple instances of words used incorrectly (why does she keep saying pleasantry when she means pleasure; adorn doesn't mean wear; eyes don't swirl, etc.), but what I mostly can't forgive is the its/it's, your/you're mix-ups, even the most basic line edit should have gotten rid of those. And at one point I completely lost it when someone was wondering "how did he fair".
In terms of story - characters are mostly meh, but I could bring myself to care about one or two on a good day. Regarding the plot, I was about 50% in before I started feeling slightly interested in what was happening, nearly dnf-ed it a few times but it's been on my TBR a long time and I really didn't want to abandon it without getting the full picture. There is a lot of text that brings nothing of substance to the plot, and could be cut without the story suffering any losses. I generally liked the politics and the magic, although I'd have liked some more information - where did these Artifacts come from, why were they created, etc.; I suppose more on this is planned for the sequel, but tbh I won't be picking it up unless I see some assurances that it's gone through a competent editor.
March 3, 2020
This was a solid political novel. It really hit me in a way books rarely do, with more scheming and fun than normal. This book had rock solid plot in the ending, but elsewhere it feels shakey and a little bit weak. Otherwise, the characters and really fun and some are quite strong. The issue I had were more technical, which are expected for a new author. Story is fine, but the writing lacks. The descriptions are weak, and the dialogue is ok, but but both could be improved. The descriptions were a big big issue. I don’t get how other people are saying this book is good at describing, the settings were barely talked about, i didn’t know how the environment looked.
A couple other things were issue, but you can see the them in my video Review. I want to end this by saying how strong the plot is at the end and how wonderfully things come together.
Long detailed video Review: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SUw6Jkh...
A couple other things were issue, but you can see the them in my video Review. I want to end this by saying how strong the plot is at the end and how wonderfully things come together.
Long detailed video Review: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SUw6Jkh...
October 3, 2018
Note: I'm part of the beta reading round two.
9/10
This book is awesome. I hope this gets the attention it deserves. After picking up five books and putting them down feeling book slumpish I started reading this one. And I never wanted to put it down.
The world it big and it feels big, like an epic fantasy is supposed to feel like. The world is constantly in motion and there's politics that come into play quite a bit.
The characters are easily distinguished and well fleshed out. It also feels like they are all at risk. Sometimes in books you know the authors are never going to kill off their characters, but not in this book. No one feels safe. There's a lot of attention to detail which makes the world come to life.
The world building is gradual and easy to understand and the magic system is really cool. It's such an easy read but it's rich at the same time
9/10
This book is awesome. I hope this gets the attention it deserves. After picking up five books and putting them down feeling book slumpish I started reading this one. And I never wanted to put it down.
The world it big and it feels big, like an epic fantasy is supposed to feel like. The world is constantly in motion and there's politics that come into play quite a bit.
The characters are easily distinguished and well fleshed out. It also feels like they are all at risk. Sometimes in books you know the authors are never going to kill off their characters, but not in this book. No one feels safe. There's a lot of attention to detail which makes the world come to life.
The world building is gradual and easy to understand and the magic system is really cool. It's such an easy read but it's rich at the same time
July 27, 2020
Other than the insane amount of grammatical errors, I really enjoyed this story and can't wait for the sequel.
October 14, 2018
First, I should note that I read this book as a beta reader, so all my thoughts and feelings are about the version of the book I got, not of the final product. That said, I was really impressed! It was a four star read for me, and I have faith that the final product will be even better.
Peace and turmoil is a story about the continent of Abra'am. There has been peace between the nations of Abra'am for thirty years, but the peace is fragile. We follow a wide roster of characters of different nationalities that navigate the politics, but we focus on four main characters.
First of all: worldbuilding. This was done really, really well. There is a lot of history that precedes this story. Bit by bit you learn more about the different nations and how they got where they are now. In this world, there is a magic system involving auras. People can call on these auras to summon fire, ice, weapons... These auras are mainly used to fight (by our characters at least). The combination of traditional fighting and magical fighting results in dynamic fight scenes that all feel distincly different. Not only people can call on auras, there are also these monsters called fiends that are depicted in the book by drawings the author made herself. These drawings were really beautiful and help to visualise all the different kinds of fiends.
Second: characters. Like I said, we follow a lot of characters and by that I mean a lot. Sometimes I thought there were maybe a little too much for real character development. Luckily, this is the first book in a series, so there is a lot of time for that. Weirdly for me, I liked some of the side characters a lot more than the main characters. The author managed to convey the complexity of characters like Natalia, Dorian and Abaddon with relatively little words each. For that I give her kudos. I also really liked that none of the characters are entirely good or bad. All have different motivations.
Third: writing style. I liked the author's writing style a lot. It is not as heavy as a lot of the other fantasy authors out there, but it is still distinctly different from our own contemporary speech patterns. The author shines with her graphic fight scenes. You can really visualise in your mind's eye everything that's happening, but it also stays emotionally laden.
And last: plot. This is where I had a few problems. Sometimes the characters acted a little out of character for me to further the plot. There were a few little moments, but nothing big. The big problem for me was an unhealthy relationship that wasn't just for me. I have seen this trope in a lot of books lately and I'm just not a fan of it. On a more positive note, I really liked the politics of this intricate world and the way things are set up for the next book.
In conclusion, I had a great time with this book and I am excited to say what will change in the final revision of the book. I will certainly be reading the next book when it comes out.
Peace and turmoil is a story about the continent of Abra'am. There has been peace between the nations of Abra'am for thirty years, but the peace is fragile. We follow a wide roster of characters of different nationalities that navigate the politics, but we focus on four main characters.
First of all: worldbuilding. This was done really, really well. There is a lot of history that precedes this story. Bit by bit you learn more about the different nations and how they got where they are now. In this world, there is a magic system involving auras. People can call on these auras to summon fire, ice, weapons... These auras are mainly used to fight (by our characters at least). The combination of traditional fighting and magical fighting results in dynamic fight scenes that all feel distincly different. Not only people can call on auras, there are also these monsters called fiends that are depicted in the book by drawings the author made herself. These drawings were really beautiful and help to visualise all the different kinds of fiends.
Second: characters. Like I said, we follow a lot of characters and by that I mean a lot. Sometimes I thought there were maybe a little too much for real character development. Luckily, this is the first book in a series, so there is a lot of time for that. Weirdly for me, I liked some of the side characters a lot more than the main characters. The author managed to convey the complexity of characters like Natalia, Dorian and Abaddon with relatively little words each. For that I give her kudos. I also really liked that none of the characters are entirely good or bad. All have different motivations.
Third: writing style. I liked the author's writing style a lot. It is not as heavy as a lot of the other fantasy authors out there, but it is still distinctly different from our own contemporary speech patterns. The author shines with her graphic fight scenes. You can really visualise in your mind's eye everything that's happening, but it also stays emotionally laden.
And last: plot. This is where I had a few problems. Sometimes the characters acted a little out of character for me to further the plot. There were a few little moments, but nothing big. The big problem for me was an unhealthy relationship that wasn't just for me. I have seen this trope in a lot of books lately and I'm just not a fan of it. On a more positive note, I really liked the politics of this intricate world and the way things are set up for the next book.
In conclusion, I had a great time with this book and I am excited to say what will change in the final revision of the book. I will certainly be reading the next book when it comes out.
June 14, 2019
Thank you to the author for providing me an arc in exchange for a review!
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Peace and Turmoil follows many perspectives in a world split into four main lands. The lands have been at peace for thirty years, but now something jeopardizes that peace (and that’s all I’m saying).
.
Elliot Brooks was initially just a booktuber I watched because I thought she had a great taste in genre and authors. Then, she announced she wrote a book and it was to be released in March of 2019. I was intrigued yet worried because Youtuber-written books can be very, very mediocre, but now that I’ve read it, all my hopes and expectations were met and highly exceeded.
First, the characters were complex and raw. I felt these perspectives we followed were so complicated, and Elliot has taken the time to develop and enrich these characters so we can easily step into their shoes. This is vital since the book flips perspective so often, but it was so easy to jump back and forth due to their layered personalities.
The plot, or in better terms, the politics, were so captivating. The kingdom and family dynamics were so fleshed out and gripping that I felt they never let up (that’s a good thing). There were so many stakes at hand that it was nail-biting, and I never knew or could predict the next plot twist Elliot would throw at me (my heart still hurts from a few).
Lastly, the action was incredible. The amount of detail Elliot put into the action sequences made me completely forget I was even reading a book. It took me into a total dream-like state, and that has been something only a few authors have been able to do for me.
So, in short, this book is by far one of my favorites I’ve read this year. It’s almost 800 pages long, but I flew through it due to its grip. So I guess my only question now is, when are we getting the sequel?
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Peace and Turmoil follows many perspectives in a world split into four main lands. The lands have been at peace for thirty years, but now something jeopardizes that peace (and that’s all I’m saying).
.
Elliot Brooks was initially just a booktuber I watched because I thought she had a great taste in genre and authors. Then, she announced she wrote a book and it was to be released in March of 2019. I was intrigued yet worried because Youtuber-written books can be very, very mediocre, but now that I’ve read it, all my hopes and expectations were met and highly exceeded.
First, the characters were complex and raw. I felt these perspectives we followed were so complicated, and Elliot has taken the time to develop and enrich these characters so we can easily step into their shoes. This is vital since the book flips perspective so often, but it was so easy to jump back and forth due to their layered personalities.
The plot, or in better terms, the politics, were so captivating. The kingdom and family dynamics were so fleshed out and gripping that I felt they never let up (that’s a good thing). There were so many stakes at hand that it was nail-biting, and I never knew or could predict the next plot twist Elliot would throw at me (my heart still hurts from a few).
Lastly, the action was incredible. The amount of detail Elliot put into the action sequences made me completely forget I was even reading a book. It took me into a total dream-like state, and that has been something only a few authors have been able to do for me.
So, in short, this book is by far one of my favorites I’ve read this year. It’s almost 800 pages long, but I flew through it due to its grip. So I guess my only question now is, when are we getting the sequel?
February 4, 2020
Since this was a DNF, I don’t want to put it in the read category.
I wished I’d read the more critical reviews before buying this book.
I’m currently writing a novel. This is important to know because I’m engaged in revising said novel and it is on its draft 1.5, i.e. the first draft is finished but I haven’t yet started rewriting it.
This novel reads like my first draft and that is cringe-worthy. I read through it and find incorrect words, incorrect punctuation, and excessive wordiness that I want to edit and fix. Except this isn’t my novel. And I can’t fully engage with the story because I keep wanting to fix it. Reading should allow you to slip into the book and forget the world around you. I can’t do that here.
You need someone who’s objective, not friends or family, to help you edit and revise when your novel reaches the point where it can be professionally looked over. This novel didn’t reach that point and yet, she published it anyway. *sigh*
The way the story unfolds is a mess too. I spent nearly fifty pages wondering why Roland and the girl couldn’t marry (I’ve forgotten her name already—was it Gweneverie? Something suitably King Arthur, where most of the names came from). Then the answer is in a throwaway line by Roland’s family’s supposed rival.
I don’t mind info dumps, as they happen a lot in fantasy novels. But the way this was constructed...leaves much to be desired. There might be the seed of a good novel here, but it needs work to reach that point. And frankly, it’s not there yet.
I wished I’d read the more critical reviews before buying this book.
I’m currently writing a novel. This is important to know because I’m engaged in revising said novel and it is on its draft 1.5, i.e. the first draft is finished but I haven’t yet started rewriting it.
This novel reads like my first draft and that is cringe-worthy. I read through it and find incorrect words, incorrect punctuation, and excessive wordiness that I want to edit and fix. Except this isn’t my novel. And I can’t fully engage with the story because I keep wanting to fix it. Reading should allow you to slip into the book and forget the world around you. I can’t do that here.
You need someone who’s objective, not friends or family, to help you edit and revise when your novel reaches the point where it can be professionally looked over. This novel didn’t reach that point and yet, she published it anyway. *sigh*
The way the story unfolds is a mess too. I spent nearly fifty pages wondering why Roland and the girl couldn’t marry (I’ve forgotten her name already—was it Gweneverie? Something suitably King Arthur, where most of the names came from). Then the answer is in a throwaway line by Roland’s family’s supposed rival.
I don’t mind info dumps, as they happen a lot in fantasy novels. But the way this was constructed...leaves much to be desired. There might be the seed of a good novel here, but it needs work to reach that point. And frankly, it’s not there yet.
September 29, 2018
This is my first book review, short like me. (Beta Reader)
The version I read was not the final product. Yet this book exceeded my expectations in all aspects.
Lively characters, each with their own uniqueness.
Several kingdoms, the first book only scratches some of.
magnificent creatures with different potentials and unique character.
A long book with plots that could have filled 2 books instead.
Plot twists that blow your mind.
I can't give this book enough justice, and I can't wait for the sequel!!
The version I read was not the final product. Yet this book exceeded my expectations in all aspects.
Lively characters, each with their own uniqueness.
Several kingdoms, the first book only scratches some of.
magnificent creatures with different potentials and unique character.
A long book with plots that could have filled 2 books instead.
Plot twists that blow your mind.
I can't give this book enough justice, and I can't wait for the sequel!!
February 16, 2020
I am so glad I was given the opportunity to beta read this book. It was a great fantasy read. There were lots of characters, all having their own personality and uniqueness. So many to love and to hate. Some that I loved and now hate. Lol. The book never had a dull moment. The pace of it was nice and kept me wanting to keep reading even after it was over. This book reminds me of A Song of Ice and Fire, as Elliot is not afraid to kill off characters, make daring but intriguing plot twists, and is full of so many great characters. Cant wait to see what she has in store for the next book.
August 14, 2018
Great book. Elliot Brooks is an excellent writer. I can’t wait to get the final copy of this book once it’s published.
I love the characters in this story. The magic system is awesome & it’s like nothing I have read before. There is lots of political intrigue & it is action packed. The plot was excellent & I didn’t guess the way most things turned out. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a great fantasy. I’m already excited to see where the story goes in the next book.
I love the characters in this story. The magic system is awesome & it’s like nothing I have read before. There is lots of political intrigue & it is action packed. The plot was excellent & I didn’t guess the way most things turned out. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a great fantasy. I’m already excited to see where the story goes in the next book.
February 27, 2019
No hype, I absolutely LOVED this book. I can't wait to read more!
The writing is so crisp and the story pulls you in chapter by chapter.
A lot of these characters grew on me and I find myself torn between loving two different lead characters.
I want so much for the sequel to be here already. This was hard to put down once I started.
If you like epic fantasy, rich plots, and well-developed characters then you will love this book!
The writing is so crisp and the story pulls you in chapter by chapter.
A lot of these characters grew on me and I find myself torn between loving two different lead characters.
I want so much for the sequel to be here already. This was hard to put down once I started.
If you like epic fantasy, rich plots, and well-developed characters then you will love this book!
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