In A World Apart we meet Demetrius and his family and friends, from Doves Meadow. While his father is a gentle shepherd Demetrius has a famed soldier for a grandfather, and under Granicus' tutelage his future is shaped. The decisions Demetrius makes as a young man will have profound effects on more than just his immediate acquaintances.
This is part of an epic saga, with tales of magic, piracy and military life, and the book covers Demetrius' lifetime and beyond. As a result of the amount of detail I felt I really got to know Demetrius and those around him, and each time I picked the book up again was like returning to see what old friends were up to. I felt for Demetrius when faced with each of the major trials in his life, yet had moments of hope. I also found myself slightly torn as to whether I should be rooting for Demetrius, staunch defender of the ruling Order, or whether the pirates, seeking to liberate the world from Colonists, were in the right.
Brown has created an interesting world and characters to fill it. However, while I know it's perfectly acceptable for a book of this type to be considerably longer than say a crime thriller (more my normal fare) I felt that this long tale could have been edited more tightly and the length reduced a little. There were places where I felt the author should have given his abilities in drawing the reader to a conclusion, and the reader's ability to draw the right one, more credit. In a number of places rather than leaving the reader to make the jump to the conclusion they should be drawing it was then spelt out plain as day. There were also some recaps of the tale to date that I found unnecessary and diverted the flow of the story somewhat.
Overall I enjoyed my visit to Elenchera and definitely wouldn't be adverse to visiting again in the future.
Format: Kindle, review copy
My rating: 3*
3 comments:
Thank you so much for reading A World Apart and for your fantastic review as well.
The feedback provided is very useful and I will bear it in mind for future novels.
Thank you once again :)
I think length is usually good as long as it adds to the development of the story. If it is just extra, it bugs me a bit as well. Great review.
David, you are welcome!
Alexis, Thanks. I've had an interesting discussion with another author about the subject, when does world building become filler. It can be a very fine line.
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