And… at long last, here is my review of the book, as promised. In keeping with feedback that authors should get feedback, if anyone notes spelling or grammar goofs in this let me know so when I post it to Amazon I don’t look like a complete idiot.
Disclaimer: Mr. Crawford did provide me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
This book is, at heart, a satire of the massive epic fantasy and the fandom around such epics but it’s a satire written by someone who clearly loves the genre. This is not the same sort of book as Crawford’s first, so those familiar with Sailor of the Skysea should not expect similar. This is, in fact, a high fantasy novel with swords and sorcery…well, half of it is. Other reviewers have mentioned the core aspect of people from our world traveling to a fantasy world so I won’t rehash that here.
Although it satirizes lengthy epic fantasy it is emphatically not one itself. The use of wiki-entries to reference the epic fantasy the action centers on allows us to get information on the tangled plot of the “fictional” universe, and I found it comparable to the use of letters between characters seen in some types of older novels but updated for current times. If you like massive epics with highly involved plots you should know this is emphatically not such a story, the main plot is much more straightforward, while there is character development it’s not massive in nature, and it’s a much lighter read than Game of Thrones which is clearly referred to, albeit indirectly. If you prefer the massive epics this may not be for you. If you prefer a lighter read you might well enjoy this novel more than a lengthy series.
One of the running themes are the difference between reading about exciting adventures and actually experiencing them – what makes a novel interesting and exciting is often the sort of event you would probably want to avoid directly experiencing yourself. Another theme is the responsibility of the author towards his creation as well as the people paying him to write it. A third theme is the conflict between authors and publishers which deals with some of the realities fans usually don’t think about or even know about, such as rights, contracts, creative control, and ghostwriters.
There are some weaknesses in the novel, which I must mention to make this an honest review. The first chapter or two aren’t a good representative of the rest of the story, which means if you’re browsing them as a free sample to determine if you like the book or not you may be disappointed by the rest of it… or maybe pleasantly surprised as I think Mr. Crawford hits his best stride several chapters in. Some of the characterizations and descriptions are a bit superficial even in the context of a light read. The magical system in the fantasy universe isn’t very well defined, which may or may not be a weakness depending on how you feel about such things. Sed (the main character and your point of view) knows pretty much nothing about magic other than how to manipulate an item after instruction, so it’s the viewpoint of an outsider to the system. Structurally, the first couple chapters and the wiki entries are awkward at points, although that did not spoil my overall enjoyment of the story it might be an obstacle to some readers.
