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Curse of the Spider King:The Berinfell Chronicles Book 1
About the Book:
The Seven succeeding Elven Lords of Allyra were dead, lost in the Siege of Berinfell as babes. At least that’s what everyone thought until tremors from a distant world known as Earth, revealed strange signs that Elven blood lived among its peoples. With a glimmer of hope in their hearts, sentinels are sent to see if the signs are true. But theirs is not a lone errand. The ruling warlord of Allyra, the Spider King, has sent his own scouts to hunt down the Seven and finish the job they failed to complete many ages ago.
Now 13-year-olds on the brink of the Age of Reckoning when their Elven gifts will be manifest, discover the unthinkable truth that their adoptive families are not their only kin. With mysterious Sentinels revealing breathtaking secrets of the past, and dark strangers haunting their every move, will the young Elf Lords find the way back to the home of their birth? Worlds and races collide as the forces of good and evil battle. Will anyone escape the Curse of the Spider King?
Personal Note:Glancing through my archive of past reviews, I've noticed my extended absence from the blog sphere. I attribute that to an increased workload at college, work upon my novel, attempts at reading four or five books simultaneously, and the job at the library. The latter really causes no disruption in my schedule except it does exert my energy before day's end.
Review:
Co-authorship typically lends to helping an inept writer write adeptly with the aid of an author who possesses more skill . Wayne Batson and Christopher Hopper are both great writers though and have no need to use one another as a crutch to provide a good story. So based on that tidbit of information, gathered from reading both their series; I had very high expectations for this series. Overall, those high expectations were met and exceeded. While there were some slight faults that caused me to wonder if my high expectations were too "high." I was very expectant of a few faults, seeing as no writer has completely perfected their craft.
"Curse of the Spider King" begins with a plethora of different perspectives, each one provides a new angle and in this case, new beginning for this planned trilogy. Right from the start, I pinpointed the characters whom I thought were crafted by either Wayne Batson and Christopher Hopper. One of my favorite characters happens to have a personality, similar to Antionette's. Though her disorder is one distinct difference from the character equivalent from the Door Within Trilogy. Luckily, some of the other characters prove to be different than the characters of either author's former series. Most would not recognize this because they are either unfamiliar with their other series or are not burdened (or gifted)with scrupulosity.
Similar to Door Within, an archaic text presents character or characters with a universe that has a slew of problems. These individuals, once unknown to this destiny, now found themselves thrown within this universe and discover they must aid in vanquishing the malevolent forces that the forces of good are grappling with.The factor that helps this series separate itself from the Door Within are the various chapters written from the perspectives of the various protagonists represented within the novel. Unlike the Door Within or even Christopher Hopper's series, the reader's granted the opportunity of seeing a story through the lenses of five different individuals which gives the reader a sense of realism. Additionally, it helps us to understand the motives of different characters and understand their reasoning for making certain choices. From a first person perspective or third person omniscient perspective, we are limited to one character's thoughts and we become biased due to the character's offer of opinions about a particular character's choices or attributes.
Admittedly, some of the perspectives were weaker than others and sometimes I found myself wishing to finish that character's perspective in order to resume reading another character's perspective. This fault might be due to my personal preference for a certain character and may not be due to the writing which throughout was concise and greatly detailed. Besides weaker perspectives, I found myself skimming through some of the earlier fight scenes in the novel due to their predictability. For some reason, I felt I had foreknowledge of what would inevitably occur which caused me to feel slightly bored with these scenes. Wayne Batson and Christopher Hopper later remedy this problem with their expertly written fighting scenes with the principal cast of characters and luckily both suspense and thrills are injected into these scenes. Again, those fighting scenes may have been tiresome to me since I have read a multitude of different fantasy novels and am very knowledgeable of the progression of events within these types of passages within fantasy series.
Even with the previous paragraph of negativity, I found this novel to be enthralling and well written. While I was reading this novel, it was easy to note certain sections that really showed how meticulous both these writers were with writing this novel. Nothing within the pages of this book felt unnecessary and every page of this book bolstered the story and helped me to form friendships with the characters. Hopefully, the next installment in this series is released within a year's time as both authors have helped in creating a highly addicting fantasy trilogy.
Thank you Wayne Batson and Christopher Hopper for diverting my attention from my college work and causing me to nearly miss my train stop last month!
Related Song:
Due to the popularity of posting related songs with my books reviews; I've decided to incorporate a song within this review. From reading some of my past reviews, some of you are aware of my obsession with the Dutch band, Within Temptation. If you haven't listened to any of their songs, here's your opportunity. The below video is their performance of "Our Solemn Hour," a song whose lyrics greatly reflects the battle chronicled within the archaic text the heroes of this story are presented with.
If you're interested in learning more information about this wildly creative, bombastic band, check out either their site or my self penned article (printed in my college's newspaper).
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4 comments:
Justin, thanks for the cool review. And attaching Within Temptation? Good call! LOVE that band. Stand My Ground is one of my all time top tunes.
Never alone
Quite a detailed review, Justin. Which of the seven characters did you find the most sympathetic?
I think I might have known Tommy best, but I really liked Kiri Lee because she tackled a bad situation on her own. Made her seem so courageous.
Becky
I think I liked Autumn and Johnny the best.
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