2 out of 4 stars
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Belinae’s Prophecy by Charles Alexander McClish, is a fantasy novel set in an alternate world called Gwenith. It is the story of Trevor and Tristan, whose village had been mysteriously attacked and entirely wiped out, including their parents. Their sister was missing and therefore was probably alive. The duo set out to inform the King of the incident and to find their little sister.
In their quest, they learn of Belinae’s prophecy, predicting a repeat of a war that had taken place a hundred and fifty years ago between the kingdoms of Gwenith and the God of Sorrow and Death, Kendrin.
The story of Belinae’s prophecy had the traditional theme of good vs. evil. Gwenith also has a medieval Europe feel to it. In total, it has everything a fantasy lover could want; beautiful places, magic, a quest, conflicts, good villains, etc.
However, I still had a hard time reading this book, not because it was not well written. In fact, I could not find any obvious grammatical error and the language used fits quite well with the setting of the novel. However, the plot, albeit interesting, was way too rushed. The author gives a threadbare story that could definitely be fleshed out for a few more pages. Too many things happen at the same time leaving readers befuddled. More importantly, there is less time for a fantasy lover to just enjoy the beauty of the world before chaos strikes the land.
Another major problem that was even more of an issue than the rushed writing was plot inconsistencies. For example, without any warning, Tristan turns into a prophet of sorts in the middle of the book, whose dreams are filled with events from the future, which help Trevor in choosing his actions in the present.
There wasn’t much character development in the book either, except for one particular guy who turns from being a royal snob into a good man by the end of the book. Such a shame, as I was looking forward to reading how Trevor and Tristan are changed by everything that happened around them.
Now that the Cons are out of the way, I’ll get to the Pro’s of the book. Despite everything I mentioned above, I really did like the story. The book was entertaining and even had a few moments here I did laugh out loud. It was a good book, just wasn’t the best.
I’d rate this book 2 out of 4 stars.
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