Review by Arina Siaban -- Korian by Giorgio Garofalo

Arina Siaban · Post by **Arina Siaban** » 24 Dec 2019, 10:21

[Following is a volunteer review of "Korian" by Giorgio Garofalo.]

2 out of 4 stars

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From author Giorgio Garofalo comes a mythical coming-of-age adventure to charm lovers of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Korian – The Manian’s Spear by Giorgio Garofalo transports readers to the magical world of Endura, where an ancient dark power resurges, and in order to defeat it one boy must rise to his destiny by finding a long-lost relic. Two main races inhabit Endura, the humans and the firstlings, who are alike one another. We begin to follow the journey of three characters, Will, Doric and Korian, three firstling boys each with their own role to play in this story.

Despite being a coming-of-age story, readers should beware of graphic scenes, such as rape, torture and gore. It's also not a female-inclusive story. Twice, the main female characters suffer beyond measure to serve as plot points for the hero's path. Nevertheless, Korian is an intriguing story about the convergence of journeys towards a unique shared purpose: the end of the world.

To tell it, Garofalo employs a third-person omniscient point of view. This is a powerful weapon in fantasy stories, which allows the audience to experience a layered world of distinct places and lore while inciting a feeling of shared secrecy between themselves and the narrator. Yet the all-knowing perspective of the narrator sometimes slips to the characters. Their knowledge of details (such as another character’s name or a conclusion) seems to come from nowhere.

Therefore, this narrative proves itself inconsistent.

The narrative also suffers from a few illogical moments which are underexplained and climactic moments are told extensively via the characters’ dialogue rather than experienced along with the reader. This prevents the audience from forming connections, as major parts of the characters’ journeys are textbook descriptive.

To add to that, much of the worldbuilding is written in the prologue as if in a rush of revelation, there are many sudden shifts between verb tenses and page break symbols repeatedly separate pages unnecessarily. Society itself equally lacks a more thorough explanation. For example, there is a scene where a character reveals his lineage to the people around him and it apparently makes an impact on them, yet we as readers remain unaffected by the revelation, as we are clueless to its implications.

Although these incongruences stick, the author does manage to build the basis of an enticing fantasy world and a compelling story. Even when bearing a marking resemblance to Lord of the Rings when it comes to both storyworld and plot, the book has enough individuality to stand on its own.

We are introduced to new concepts such as madrascythe (a dusty substance which emits light), skine (a terrifying winged animal), Samjees (a father god). We travel through magical sounding places like Natraas Pass and Nahire. The story presents enough questions and nuances to compel the reader to move further. We discover a new world and wander through its mystery. And ultimately, I did manage to form a connection with one of the primary characters.

For those reasons, I have decided to rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. Although it is brimming with potential, it didn’t completely deliver for me. Even so, I believe there is a spark here that can ignite many readers’ hearts.

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Korian
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