The good thing about fantasy books is that everything can be up to the imagination. You can find everything in this book, I mean, everything: orcs, gargoyles, vampires, demons, elves, wizards, zombies, ghosts, modern life, other realms, too many to mention. While I applaud the author’s creativity, it also feels a bit overwhelmed and, at times, thrown together in a lump. Yes, it’s a fantasy, but it’s also a good way not to have explanations for many things. Maybe I shouldn’t wonder if a ghost is fighting with the zombie of himself.
There are also tropes and predictable plotlines common for young readers and this genre. Still, this is the first book that opens up opportunities for many other, hopefully more unique storylines. Having said that, this book has its own distinctiveness and is very well written. Many of the characters are distinguishable and well-developed, even with a lot of names; most of the time, I can follow who and who. The descriptions and feels of the settings are powerful; it’s easy to visualize them, and it helps to immerse me into the stories.
While there are some dragged-out scenes, I enjoy reading this book. It would be both tedious and great to turn this into something visual like an illustration book or a movie. While this book builds up the world, the subsequent ones will reap what it sows. Based on this book, some side characters like Sintian and Lok will most likely have bigger roles, and it would be interesting to see both main characters return to Earth and face whatever is coming for them.
4 out of 5 stars
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