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World of Melarandra #1
Children of the Sun and Moon
Nearly 500 years ago, the Wizards War almost destroyed the world of Melarandra. The Order of Maget was created to ensure this never occurred again. For five centuries, they have destroyed any creature, or human, who possessed magical abilities. Even as this went on, a prophecy had foretold magic's return.Royal twins Koral and Eric Traven have known since they were children the prophecy pertained to them. The prophecy told both were needed to complete the task of returning magic, but Eric has other ideas. Always wanting to go down in history as a great hero, Eric plans to do it alone. Now, as their sixteenth birthday approaches, the betrayal which the prophecy had foretold has occurred, setting everything into motion. Eric has gone off on his own, leaving Koral to scramble to find him. If they do not achieve the task set before them together, magic would return chaotic, and destroy the world as they know it.Now, with the help of Gillock, a wizard from the old days, and beings which are no longer supposed to exist, Koral sets out into the Central Lands. Time is already against her and she wonders if she will find her brother in time, and more importantly, before the Order does.
395 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 2015
About the author
PD Stewart
9 books18 followersPurveyor of the imaginary and strange.
Creator of the World of Melarandra series, and plan to exist here for quite some time.
I live in Thunder Bay, ON Canada. It is the heart of the world, in my eyes. Lake to one side, little mountain range on another, Canadian Shield all around, and forest as far as the eye can see.
Married with children.
I love sitting around a fire with friends.
Most of my inspirations come from the world around me.
Currently working on the Order of Maget trilogy, book 2. This is becoming an experience!
Creator of the World of Melarandra series, and plan to exist here for quite some time.
I live in Thunder Bay, ON Canada. It is the heart of the world, in my eyes. Lake to one side, little mountain range on another, Canadian Shield all around, and forest as far as the eye can see.
Married with children.
I love sitting around a fire with friends.
Most of my inspirations come from the world around me.
Currently working on the Order of Maget trilogy, book 2. This is becoming an experience!
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 10, 2019
Due to some sort of error no doubt on Kindle's end, downloading a sample of this book turned out to mean downloading 98% of the story (according to my Kindle app, anyway).
On the plus side, this means I actually read nearly all of the story, and thus my opinion is fairly informed.
So, to get into the nitty gritty of why I've given this such a low rating:
From the very beginning, the story-telling was clunky. Between technical skills--such as the proper use of punctuation--and the completely lacking worldbuilding, I couldn't get a proper sense of anything. Not the characters, not the magic, not the world they inhabit--nada. Conversely, the first few paragraphs had nothing but info-dumps pertaining to Olrond's character; information that could have been added throughout the story organically, but wasn't. For whatever reason, the author decided to sum up Olrond's life story then and there and afterward? I was left wondering a great many things about everyone and everything else.
That's really the whole of it, to be honest: not a lick of worldbuilding. Just the reader being thrown from scene to scene (none of which was done smoothly, by the way), with no real concept of where the characters are, what they're doing beyond the most basic of information (like being dumped into the middle of the twins being born. When I say basic, I mean basic; you're just told their mother is giving birth and have a ton of dialogue tags floating in the middle of no-man's land without a sense of the environment. This goes on for the whole of this incredibly short story, maybe novella?)
Speaking of dialogue--I didn't find any of it particularly natural. All of it came across like actors pantomiming for the benefit of the reader. Dialogue is meant to give the reader a sense of who the characters are, what their relationships to each other are like, and so on. The dialogue in this book did none of those things, nor any of the myriad of other things you'd hope in a book.
Because of lacking dialogue and a lacking world, I couldn't care less about the characters, which is unfortunate. The complete lack of detail might have been forgiven, had I had complex, interesting characters with which to follow. Alas, this wasn't the case.
If you're looking for a quick read that forces you to fill in 75% of the story yourself, look no further. If you're looking for high-fantasy, however? Or, y'know, any fantasy, really? Look elsewhere--because this isn't it.
On the plus side, this means I actually read nearly all of the story, and thus my opinion is fairly informed.
So, to get into the nitty gritty of why I've given this such a low rating:
From the very beginning, the story-telling was clunky. Between technical skills--such as the proper use of punctuation--and the completely lacking worldbuilding, I couldn't get a proper sense of anything. Not the characters, not the magic, not the world they inhabit--nada. Conversely, the first few paragraphs had nothing but info-dumps pertaining to Olrond's character; information that could have been added throughout the story organically, but wasn't. For whatever reason, the author decided to sum up Olrond's life story then and there and afterward? I was left wondering a great many things about everyone and everything else.
That's really the whole of it, to be honest: not a lick of worldbuilding. Just the reader being thrown from scene to scene (none of which was done smoothly, by the way), with no real concept of where the characters are, what they're doing beyond the most basic of information (like being dumped into the middle of the twins being born. When I say basic, I mean basic; you're just told their mother is giving birth and have a ton of dialogue tags floating in the middle of no-man's land without a sense of the environment. This goes on for the whole of this incredibly short story, maybe novella?)
Speaking of dialogue--I didn't find any of it particularly natural. All of it came across like actors pantomiming for the benefit of the reader. Dialogue is meant to give the reader a sense of who the characters are, what their relationships to each other are like, and so on. The dialogue in this book did none of those things, nor any of the myriad of other things you'd hope in a book.
Because of lacking dialogue and a lacking world, I couldn't care less about the characters, which is unfortunate. The complete lack of detail might have been forgiven, had I had complex, interesting characters with which to follow. Alas, this wasn't the case.
If you're looking for a quick read that forces you to fill in 75% of the story yourself, look no further. If you're looking for high-fantasy, however? Or, y'know, any fantasy, really? Look elsewhere--because this isn't it.
September 18, 2019
I'm actually really sad to do this, but this book just wasn't for me.
It wasn't outright terrible or anything. Honestly it showed great promise.
That said? It wasn't great, either.
Aside from being overfed information in the first scene, there's little else to set the scene. Where are the details? Where is all of this taking place? Where are the characters' individual personalities?
The plot was interesting, don't get me wrong, but an interesting plot alone isn't enough. I never got a good sense of the world, the magic, or the characters. Everything felt rushed and there were just too many errors for me to fully appreciate the story in its entirety.
That said, I'm not against giving the sequel a chance. I'm sure the author did the best she could at the time. Perhaps things improve from here.
It wasn't outright terrible or anything. Honestly it showed great promise.
That said? It wasn't great, either.
Aside from being overfed information in the first scene, there's little else to set the scene. Where are the details? Where is all of this taking place? Where are the characters' individual personalities?
The plot was interesting, don't get me wrong, but an interesting plot alone isn't enough. I never got a good sense of the world, the magic, or the characters. Everything felt rushed and there were just too many errors for me to fully appreciate the story in its entirety.
That said, I'm not against giving the sequel a chance. I'm sure the author did the best she could at the time. Perhaps things improve from here.
April 9, 2022
What a wonderful first book. The story of the twins destined to free magic was an adventure from start to finish.
Eric is hot-headed and quick to jump into things without a lot of thought, while Koral is the patient one willing to learn before trying out her magic. Both are needed to complete the prophecy and with their strange mix of companions they set out.
Meanwhile, there is talk of war and enemies that come out of places they never thought to look.
Exciting beginning to the series
Eric is hot-headed and quick to jump into things without a lot of thought, while Koral is the patient one willing to learn before trying out her magic. Both are needed to complete the prophecy and with their strange mix of companions they set out.
Meanwhile, there is talk of war and enemies that come out of places they never thought to look.
Exciting beginning to the series
January 27, 2020
It is clear this is the authors first time writing. The author herself states their are errors needing to be fixed. That being said, it did not detract from the story. I was drawn into Melarandra.
I look forward to seeing what happens with Koral, and how the characters develop in the rest of the series.
I look forward to seeing what happens with Koral, and how the characters develop in the rest of the series.
April 28, 2015
Great book for existing fantasy lovers and newcomers to the genre alike. Wonderful characters you want to root for. A cliffhanger of an ending makes you look forward to the next one. A wonderful start to a promising story with a well developed world and reality.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews