Let's have a look at (from what I can tell is) an indie! This is the first book in the Nav'Aria series, The Marked Heir, by K.J. Backer!
A real
page-turner about a teen from Oregon who turns out to be the prince of the
magical realm known as Nav'Aria, which is being torn apart by war and an evil
king named Narco and his Rav'Arian forces.
Just a
really solid book along the lines of Narnia with our main
characters traveling from the "real" world to a fantastical realm
where they turn out to be royalty of prophecy. Nav'Aria definitely has the makings of a classic. It could use some finetuning at some
aspects, but most of it is really good.
The
worldbuilding of the fantastical world(s) is interesting. It's great to see all
of these mythical creatures co-exist in a human monarchy, albeit a broken one.
The unicorns in this also aren't just the majestic beasts you often see them
portrayed as: they're both that and awesome heroes of war who will do what is
necessary in order for the side of good to prevail.
The
characters are good, albeit a bit lacking. I do like them, do not get me wrong!
Especially Antonis, Triumph, Trinidad, Lyrianna and of course Darion were
really solid. I just think that they tended to fall into basic character
archetypes you see in this genre maybe a bit too much. I just thought that they
had potential to have a bit more to them than just what we got. But, hey, maybe
I'll be surprised in the second book of this series, you never know! This might
very well be the basic setup for more happenings and development for them in
the sequel! The villain from what we got of him was rather one-dimensional, but
he did do his job as "Ultimate Evil" well enough, and, again, I
definitely think we'll get to see much more of him in later installments.
The writing
was masterful and I instantly got lost in this world (or even just Oregon) from
the way the author described things. It read really easily and nicely and I
didn't have to take a moment to adjust to the author's writing style like I
have with some books I am new to getting into. I definitely loved the way
things were richly described. The perspective between characters changed a bit
often within one chapter if you ask me, but that might just be me not being
adjusted to shifting POV so much. I'm not counting it as a flaw, just something
to mention. I did spot a few errors in the grammar, formatting or writing,
however, so I will have to deduct some points for that.
This is
also definitely not a fantasy for younger readers. I really expected it to be
for teens, with it being just your average fantasy with some swears in it, but
it does actually delve into really dark subjects later on such as rape, hence why I'd say this belongs more in the young adult/adult section.
Again, not a criticism, but worth bringing up. I definitely didn't see it
coming and it really caught me off-guard, so I thought I'd give a heads up.
Overall,
I'd say this first book of Nav'Aria definitely deserves to
be checked out by older fans of the fantasy genre if they can handle the darker
subject matter. While there are some minor missteps and the characters aren't
too deep (yet), everything else it has going on definitely makes it worth
reading. I've already started reading the second book and am looking forward
towards finishing it, soon!
Rating: 4/5
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