2 out of 4 stars
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Pirates and magic mix in this alternative history tale. The slave trade and the discovery of America is weaved into a tale of magical cannons, sea serpents, mermaids and derring-do. The main characters are all good in a fight and stubborn, with a clear idea of what they want, and humans are not the only supernatural creatures on this planet. We also have cults of vampires, werewolves and mythical flying creatures summoned or tied to magic-wielding individuals. In addition, there are a number of magical objects. Some are linked to demons, and some have power over death itself.
Many species appear able to use magic to some degree, so it is not the elitist skill most magical fantasy stories pose it as, and it usually comes from a source, such as a Ruby stone, or Jade. There is no ‘chosen one’, only a group of friends trying to survive, or in one case beat death, and carve a life for themselves out of a soup of greed in which many villains lust after world power. Fantasy/adventure is likely the best sub-genre for Lore: The Old World, written by Chad T Douglas.
This is the third book in a fantasy series and I do not recommend readers start in the middle. Unlike some fantasy series, the earlier books are not summarised and the blanks are not filled in at the start of the book. Instead, I was left reeling and trying to piece together who was who from the very beginning. This meant many of the opening plots were a little nonsensical. However, as it is meant to be read in series, I cannot hold this against the book.
What I could hold against the book was its poor level of editing. The novel is in dire need of a strong editor to fix rampant repetition, bad grammar, over-description and the occasional cliché. I will list some examples:
‘there lived a man named’
‘One day during a peaceful year’
Both of these examples take me back to childhood story books, aimed at a much younger audience.
‘Shadows and voices, things affixed to his soul, spoke to him, and he attempted to ignore them’
You cannot attempt to ignore something – you try or you don’t and you succeed or fail.
‘stupid crocodile grin on his face as he looked down at Paolo excitedly’
The adverb ‘excitedly’ is redundant. The crocodile grin shows us much more strongly how excited the man is and the sentence is heavy and clumsy with both descriptions included.
‘the girl dropped the heavy pouch, which exploded on the ground and sent coins skipping’
The pouch would not have exploded unless it were full of explosives. ‘Spilled out’ or ‘smashed to’ or ‘hit the’ would be more accurate.
‘"[…] will submit to the authority of the Crown." the authoritarian voice spoke again.’
Authority and authoritarian are not both needed here. If this man speaks for the Crown, it is clear he has authority. The reader does not need to be told and the close repetition of two forms of the same word is jarring.
‘none of those scenarios was true’
There are multiple scenarios so this should be ‘were true’.
‘if she had a soul, it had just fractured like an icicle touched by hot breath’
While this paints a great image, icicles do not fracture under the miniscule heat of hot breath. They would begin to melt, if anything.
These sorts of mistakes were distracting to read around and dulled my excitement for the story because they interrupted the reading experience. I also felt many of the descriptions could be cut down to increase the pace of the story, which in many places was lacking and a detriment to the urgency of the plot.
However, these issues improved slightly as the book wore on, and I began to get into the twists of the story. By the end I wanted to know who would survive and was rooting for certain characters to get together, for their romance to blossom and a big surprise to make a happy ending for one man.
The plot itself had few major problems, besides being of a vast scale, which can put some people off. There are many main characters and they travel a large portion of the earth, sticking their oars into many smaller conflicts before grouping up again. This is not a story of one or two characters, but a fantasy society warring against each other on the page.
The only part of the plot I disliked was near the end, with one of the vampires. I recognised why they detached from the group of friends and how this could set the series up for another book, but I also felt they should have waited until after one of the large fights, that they should have had more loyalty towards their friends. Perhaps this reaction is something that is explained in earlier books, but it felt out of place with the staunch loyalty of the group so far that someone would leave before such a dramatic event.
In short, Lore: The Old World is a book which explores life and death behind the foil of fantasy creatures and society. It has entertaining characters who are real individuals and has a unique, mythical take on ‘the divide’, a kind of limbo between death and life. The book has some marvellous descriptions, such as ‘light trickled down onto the lake’s surface through uncertain clouds like milk through cheesecloth’ and ‘grass passed right through him like the fingers of ghosts’, but these are let down by poor editing. This story has the potential to be a solid 3 stars, a book somewhat like the alternative magical history that Naomi Novik writes with her Temeraire series. As it is, I would give the book 2.5 stars, but settle for the rating of ‘fair’ that 2 out of 4 stars represents, as I am not allowed halves.
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Lore: The Old World
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