4 out of 4 stars
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Identity by Samuel Alexander is the second in a sci-fi / fantasy series. The first book, “Revelations”, ends with the two main characters having to set out on a quest. At the start of this book, no mention is made to anything that happened in the first book. Instead, the book starts by introducing the main characters of the new story.
After the introductions, there is a meeting of all the main characters with the seer. As part of the meeting Tilal, an eleven year old student, uses her power of dream weaving for the first time. She interprets the dreams of some of the others and then tells the seer what she has learned. The seer combines this knowledge with her gift and gives instructions to the whole group on what they should do next.
The group consists of Shilani (a teacher from the school), Cherann (a travelling magician), Dent (Cheranns sister) and three school children, Tilal, Janon and Drak. This group has to go on a journey. The end of which will lead to the death of the rulers of the land, and a coup to take over the alliance. They journey to visit the parents of the school children, to tell them what is going on. Along the way, Dent and the three children are instructed by Shilani and Cherann on how to use their own powers. After informing the parents of the situation, they are recruited to help with the upcoming rebellion. The group then travels to the Elvish kingdom where they remain until it’s time.
The author has a flowing style of writing which is easy to follow, even when the plot and subplots become complicated. He has an unusual way of naming chapters; each one is the name of the character most prominent in that chapter, along with a number to differentiate between them. My one complaint about the book, is in places he skips ahead in time, without giving any warning! In one particular chapter he skipped ahead nine years. I was thinking “what is going on here”, as all the kids were now involved in having sex. It was several pages into this new time before has casually mentions the time difference. This is very confusing, but if you keep reading long enough, it does make sense again.
The action scenes are very vivid, and I had to duck several times as a blow came the way of the main character. The characters are all well portrayed and easily identified with. Though I do think they are all far to stoic to be true. They can all endure injuries without complaint, which would leave me screaming for morphine. One or two people I wouldn’t have said anything, but all of them seems too unreal.
The book appears to have been fairly well edited, though there is the same kind of errors that appeared in the first book of the series. A few words are in the wrong tense, and sometimes the wrong word is used. There are not many of these, and the flow of the story is not unduly affected. I rate this book as 4 out of 4 stars. As this book contains only one character that appears in the first book, it could be read without reading the first book. However, the description of the peoples of the land was mostly in the first book so I would recommend reading it first. This book will appeal to anybody that likes either fantasy books, or books that contain a lot of magic. I can’t wait to read the next in the series.
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Identity
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