L.K. Evans Blog

I’m really not sure what to think of this book. It was short. Probably too short. I wish it would have been longer. I wish the plot and characters were expanded upon. That says a lot right there. I wanted more.

All of my next complaints could have been easily solved with simply a longer book. I cannot stress enough how much potential this had to be crazy interesting for me. But everything just whizzed by and the setups were predictable.

I found the world interesting. I wanted the opportunity to learn more of the Balauri race and get entrenched in the world. We were only in a small portion of it, and in that portion I unfortunately felt at a distance from it all—it moved too quickly. Weylin was an interesting character. We learned a bit about his past, but I would have liked more. I guess I never felt grounded in the story.

There’s a prologue that I don’t understand in the least. As far as I could see, it had absolutely no bearing on the plot. Sure, it was quick, but so far removed from everything else that it just didn’t tie in to anything.

Here's an example where events were kind of predictable (given a scene where someone talked about the potential of something and then it happens in the next scene—too close together):

SMALL SPOILER:

Weylin’s group docks at a town, they're in a tavern, and a group comes in carrying a dying man. They tell all that there’s a Krake (huge, evil beast) out in the ocean. Nothing was mention of it before. Suddenly, Weylin’s group leaves and guess what they encounter out at sea? If the book had been longer, the Krake could have been mentioned earlier, in passing or folklore, and when it appeared, it wouldn’t have felt so forced. That's just one example. A couple scenes had the same feel.

END SPOILER

There were some hints about certain characters that were never really answered clearly. I saw that this is labeled “The Adventures of Weylin, Book 1,” so I'm sure the second book will give us some answers. It has me a bit curious, because the passing of years would make my suspicions false, but I'm not sure what other explanation could be provided based on the dropped hints we received.

Sometimes the scenes felt a bit jerky and rushed through. Especially a few action moments. Again, lengthening them out a bit would have helped.

I don’t really have much else to say. I’m not ready to write it off entirely. I’ll keep an eye out for the second book because I’d be curious to read more of the world. However, if it doesn’t slow down a bit and take some time with each scene, I’m not sure I’d continue with the third.

So in conclusion, it was an easy read, quick and entertaining. It didn’t get much else out of me, but had the potential to do so much more.