2 out of 4 stars
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The science fiction book, Realm of Wolves: Child of Prophecy I by Chris Parrott, takes the reader on a fantastical journey into the struggle of kings and generals striving to literally take control worlds through both conquest and subterfuge. Actually, much of the machinations that occur throughout the book kind of remind me of old time tragedies with plots of murder, the lust for power and fanaticism of kings, unknown heirs and alliances and more. It really makes the reader wonder what twist will pop up next throughout the book.
The overall scope of the story is quite huge in the number of participants that are seen throughout its telling. There are masses of men who are thrown at each other in the various conflicts that occur in the book. The intrigue is also at a high level as one does not know who is on what side and who can truly be trusted in the struggle for who will be the ultimate ruler of each of the planets that find themselves involved in this fantastical war. Ships are used to battle in space while men fight on the surface of the planets on foot and horseback, both needing the best in strategy to overcome their enemies. Will benevolence rule the day in the end, or will haughtiness and tyranny win out?
I applaud Mr. Parrott on coming up with such a grand idea for a story and for taking on the challenge of transferring that into the story that makes up this book. The sheer size of the conflicts that take place are quite overwhelming at times. If not explained well, this could cause the reader some confusion as to what exactly is going on in the story. I think that the author did a pretty decent job of trying to keep this confusion from occurring in those scenes.
A problem that I had really throughout the whole book was that the majority of the characters just came across at entirely two-dimensional where I could not find any real depth to them. I never was really able to become wholly invested in any of them because of this and it really detracted from the quality of the book. There also were various editing problems through much of the story that caught my attention which would slow down the pacing of the book for me.
Overall, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. Though I think that there is a lot of potential here with the story Mr. Parrott came up with, I just think that the weaving of it needs to be tighter for me to heartily recommend it to other readers. If you like science fiction with a lot of intrigue mixed into the plot, then this might be a book you would enjoy.
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Realm of Wolves
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