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mickeymickey's review against another edition
2.0
2/5
It feels like there are good ideas in this story but not so great execution of them. There is far too much world building thrown in too short of a time, and new locations and peoples names mentioned offhandedly as if the reader was already familiar with them. There were oddly paced sections where long distances would be traversed within a single sentence which made little sense as the character was completely unfamiliar with them.
Which brings be to the characters who do not feel very well developed. Their interactions are a bit stilted and awkward and the decisions made by then make little sense sometimes. The pieces that I did enjoy were the magic and fight scenes which flowed much better than the rest of the story. Overall this book felt like it was underbaked and needed more time to develop as well as be better edited.
It feels like there are good ideas in this story but not so great execution of them. There is far too much world building thrown in too short of a time, and new locations and peoples names mentioned offhandedly as if the reader was already familiar with them. There were oddly paced sections where long distances would be traversed within a single sentence which made little sense as the character was completely unfamiliar with them.
Which brings be to the characters who do not feel very well developed. Their interactions are a bit stilted and awkward and the decisions made by then make little sense sometimes. The pieces that I did enjoy were the magic and fight scenes which flowed much better than the rest of the story. Overall this book felt like it was underbaked and needed more time to develop as well as be better edited.
tales_from_absurdia's review against another edition
3.0
Full review published at: https://talesfromabsurdia.com/book-reviews/the-living-sword-review/
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The Living Sword is a curious book.
It has a well-realised world with a good supporting cast, but the quality of writing is very inconsistent.
It's a mostly an enjoyable tale and whilst Janes's novella tends to be a bit tropey (chosen one / absent parents / Eurik doing lots of things ‘grimly’), it's very much the book equivalent of a popcorn ‘flick.
The Living Sword is fun, a little wacky at times, and worth the price of admission.
However, it needs much better editing – the writing is clumsy throughout.
It's also quite jarring thematically. It's a fantasy world, but immersion is broken every now and then with contemporary references.
Other times, characters will 'charge up' their attacks as if it's a videogame or anime. It's clear where the author's influences come from, but they don't translate well to prose.
In fantasy fiction, immersion is so important, and little things like this can fracture a reader’s belief in the fictional world.
And that’s a shame, because there is some semi-decent world-building here.
Nonetheless, it's an enjoyable read and an earnest effort for a debut piece of writing.
______________
The Living Sword is a curious book.
It has a well-realised world with a good supporting cast, but the quality of writing is very inconsistent.
It's a mostly an enjoyable tale and whilst Janes's novella tends to be a bit tropey (chosen one / absent parents / Eurik doing lots of things ‘grimly’), it's very much the book equivalent of a popcorn ‘flick.
The Living Sword is fun, a little wacky at times, and worth the price of admission.
However, it needs much better editing – the writing is clumsy throughout.
It's also quite jarring thematically. It's a fantasy world, but immersion is broken every now and then with contemporary references.
Other times, characters will 'charge up' their attacks as if it's a videogame or anime. It's clear where the author's influences come from, but they don't translate well to prose.
In fantasy fiction, immersion is so important, and little things like this can fracture a reader’s belief in the fictional world.
And that’s a shame, because there is some semi-decent world-building here.
Nonetheless, it's an enjoyable read and an earnest effort for a debut piece of writing.
the_book_suite's review against another edition
3.0
To start with, I absolutely adored the world-building in this book. That was without a doubt my favorite part. Not only did I find the fictional world extremely interesting, but I also liked how Janes handled describing it. Everything felt incredibly realistic, and I felt immersed in the setting. He gave us a lot of detail about this fictional universe, though there’s definitely more he could have explained. But there are more books in the series, so I suppose they will be fleshed out.
Moving on from the world-building, though, I also really liked the characters. Eurik’s perspective was so interesting; his characterization was definitely my favorite, and I enjoyed seeing how his upbringing influenced the way he saw the world. Of course, I also loved Leraine, and she definitely has a lot of potential. This was a short book, so there wasn’t too much room for in-depth character arcs, but I definitely enjoyed the parts of her story and her character that were shown.
As for the plot, it wasn’t quite as complex as some other books in this genre. But, like I said, The Living Sword wasn’t extremely length, and I still enjoyed this story. It was fast-paced and kept me interested, so I don’t really have any complaints.
In the end, I think that’s the crux of the matter when it comes to this book. All the little “flaws” were just due to the shorter length of the book. Obviously, when you have fewer pages, that means you have less room to explore and expand upon things. So, I don’t even really think “flaws” is the best word, but I’ll use it for simplicity’s sake.
All things considered, I enjoyed reading this book. The story kept me hooked the entire time, the characters were interesting, and I loved the setting. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you choose to read this. And personally, I’m looking forward to hopefully buying and reading the other books in the series in the future!
Moving on from the world-building, though, I also really liked the characters. Eurik’s perspective was so interesting; his characterization was definitely my favorite, and I enjoyed seeing how his upbringing influenced the way he saw the world. Of course, I also loved Leraine, and she definitely has a lot of potential. This was a short book, so there wasn’t too much room for in-depth character arcs, but I definitely enjoyed the parts of her story and her character that were shown.
As for the plot, it wasn’t quite as complex as some other books in this genre. But, like I said, The Living Sword wasn’t extremely length, and I still enjoyed this story. It was fast-paced and kept me interested, so I don’t really have any complaints.
In the end, I think that’s the crux of the matter when it comes to this book. All the little “flaws” were just due to the shorter length of the book. Obviously, when you have fewer pages, that means you have less room to explore and expand upon things. So, I don’t even really think “flaws” is the best word, but I’ll use it for simplicity’s sake.
All things considered, I enjoyed reading this book. The story kept me hooked the entire time, the characters were interesting, and I loved the setting. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you choose to read this. And personally, I’m looking forward to hopefully buying and reading the other books in the series in the future!
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