Review of A New War

[Ashley Thompson 27]

[Following is a volunteer review of "A New War" by Alexander Farah.]

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1 out of 5 stars

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I was very excited for the chance to read Alexander Farah's A New War. I am a sucker for a good epic fantasy, and the blurb promised both adventure and intrigue. Unfortunately, this book felt like a bait-and-switch. I really wanted to give the book a better rating as I have read worse book than this in the past, but between the passive writing style, multiple errors, and constant “if only they knew” comments, this book did not hit the mark, and I can only give it a rating of 1 out of 5 stars. 

The premise is there. There is growing unrest in a long-standing kingdom at the same time a foe born of folklore is rising to destroy civilization as everyone knows it, and it will be up to a veteran who ran away from court life, and his nephew to stop the oncoming doom. But this isn't the book that I read. 

The majority of this book felt like an info dump; pages and pages were dedicated to history that was ultimately irrelevant to the story that was only just starting to ramp up at the beginning of the book. There was only a brief mention of one of the main antagonists throughout the book, while the other was defeated in a landslide battle with little more than one injury to the protagonists. The characters are over-powered, as seen in every fight they participate in, and not developed, which is apparent by the stilted conversation and the ease with which everyone was convinced to abandon their opinions and principles throughout the story. 

While this book isn’t what it promised to be, I think this story could be a good one with some professional editing. It feels like the author just got bogged down in the world-building and had a very hard time finding his way out again. With someone to help keep him afloat, this could move along at a satisfying pace and be a good world for a reader to immerse themselves in. 

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A New War
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