Review of Within the Crystal Mountain

[Anne Murray]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Within the Crystal Mountain" by J. L. Putney.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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A tale of adventure featuring perspectives from different worlds is exactly what you’ll find in Within the Crystal Mountain. Written by J. L. Putney, this book attempts to engage the reader in several parallel tales of fantasy adventure.

The story begins with a “Genish” man (a type of dwarf) named Dimplin whose family becomes mysteriously trapped inside a giant crystal dome. He embarks on a journey to try and find help. Along his path he runs into a girl named Elisse who takes him in and, after hearing his story, commits to helping him free his family.

On other parallels an evil “wizard”, a soldier, and Dimplin’s son all cross paths at some point and become entangled by what’s inside the mountain. The power of the mountain is utilized by some and suffered by others while all being surrounded by a certain amount of mystery.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. My rating is based on the lack of consistency in character development and the book’s overall inability to engage and entertain the reader. The first few chapters the author does a great job of creating a sense of connection, but it soon starts to devolve into an overly simplistic story with way too many parallels, and no real investment in any given part of the story. My attention waned and it was brutally difficult to finish the second half of the book because you start to not care anymore about what happens to characters you barely know.

The thing I liked about the book was the way it started. I became invested in Dimplin and the history of the Genish people based on his story telling talents and his interactions with the sisters.

What I didn’t like was the poor execution on developing the other characters and keeping the story interesting. After the introduction of the sisters there isn’t a lot of background given for the others.

The writing is very reminiscent of a book written for grade or middle schoolers. It is well edited and I did not find any errors, but the style of writing was too basic for me. Scenes were not vividly explained and everything came across as directional and factual instead of being full of imagination. I wish the author had been more descriptive, and even for a young audience it could have been more elaborate and complex. I expected to be transported more on Gimplin’s quest and the way it intersected with other characters along the way.

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Within the Crystal Mountain
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