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4 out of 4 stars
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We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies by Matthew Tysz is a science fiction novel. It is the first book of the “We are Voulhire” series. Galen Bray leaves the Lands of the Princes to Magnum Caelum, one of the towns in the prosperous and peaceful Voulhirian Kingdom. He expects to reconstruct his war-torn life by managing a forge business left for him by his late uncle, Galen Onita, who once lived in the city. By chance, in the process of working in the forge, Galen discovers lactis. This rare and mysterious white steel was believed to have come from Caromentis, the magic world.
Meanwhile, Wilhelm Arcolo, the king of Voulhire, appoints Eldus Wilberman as the new mayor of Hillport, a coastal city near Magnum Caelum. The former judge at a court in Soulhire, Voulhire's capital, was entrusted with tapping the area's resources and renovating the shanty town to match other towns in Voulhire. Besides, Lord Eldus Wilberman was tasked with ending the people's hysteria which was caused by Lord Orlin and Lord Meldorath, former mayors of Hillport. This, however, was not to be, following the emergence of malicious biomages and violent insurgents who called themselves the Riva Rohavi.
Spanning for only 137 pages, this book is not only a quick-read but has also been given a strong foundation for the next books in the series. I realized that the characters were well-developed making them both interesting and relatable. This novel also uses the first and the third person narrative style. In particular, I liked the first person narrative style since it enabled me to know the viewpoint of the characters involved in the narration. Besides, the author’s use of mysteries to create suspense kept my eyes glued in this page-turner, further heightening my curiosity to find out more about the series. I'm, therefore, looking forward to reading the next sequel.
I also liked the author's inclusion of Voulhire’s map at the beginning of the book. This imprinted, in my brain, locations of different places in the kingdom, starting me off with the adventurous journey in the fantasy world. However, there is a place in the map that has been named as ‘Virco’ but has, throughout its usage in the book, been spelled as ‘Virko’. This shows inconsistency, and can be a bit confusing to the readers.
What I liked the most was the author's portrayal of the Voulhire Kingdom. The inhabitants highly valued working hard and their efforts were adequately appreciated. For this purpose, on the calendar of Soulhire, the Feast of Human Hands was written more boldly than anniversaries and birthdays. That was the time when the citizens celebrated the year's prosperities and pray for the prosperous future. King Wilhelm Arcolo valued the people's work and evidently regarded everybody with respect.
All in all, there is nothing I disliked about this book. It was well-edited only for some minor errors. Most of the mistakes I identified were instances of improper capitalization. However, the errors did not detract my overall enjoyment of the book. I'm, therefore, glad to rate We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies by Matthew Tysz 4 out of 4 stars. Imagination and high level of creativity ooze from every page of this book. I recommend it to readers who like science fiction adventures.
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We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
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