Official Review: Hidden, Tales of Ryca, Book 1

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Kendra M Parker
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Official Review: Hidden, Tales of Ryca, Book 1

Post by Kendra M Parker »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Hidden, Tales of Ryca, Book 1" by Shereen Vedam.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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Hidden: Tales of Ryca, Book 1 by Shereen Vedam is a fantasy story set in the world of Ryca. From the very beginning, readers learn that the land is ruled by a king that fears magic, or Light, as it is called in this tale. The king's prohibition against magic sent the heroine of the story, Gilly, 33 year old goat herder, into hiding more than twenty years prior to the start of the story. As a girl, Gilly had been forced to flee from the King's Horsemen, who hunt magic users, with her baby sister, eventually leaving her sister on a temple's steps to be adopted. Gilly then moves into the same town and becomes the town madwoman, living on the outskirts, so that she can secretly keep an eye on her sister, Anna, and eventually Anna's family.

When one of Anna's children becomes endangered, Gilly must to use her magic to save the child, which starts the entire adventure chronicled in the novel. Once again, Gilly must flee, this time with Anna's entire family and the town drunk, Tom. As they journey, secrets reveal themselves. Friendships are created, and love even blooms as they head toward the final destination to confront the evil that destroyed Gilly's family in the beginning.

I really enjoyed the adventure in this tale. It is not often that the heroine of a story is older, and Gilly certainly handles herself with the confidence that tends to come from knowing one's trade through experience. While she has very little experience with romantic entanglements, she seems to handle the love interest with maturity, quickly coming to terms with her own feelings and what she observes from her love interest. I liked that she acknowledged her feelings without all of the angst that often accompanies romance in many novels.

While Gilly felt well developed as a character, I found myself wishing the other characters in the book were better developed. Gilly's sister, Anna, had the most character development, and I felt like I knew and understood her by the end of the story, though not as well as I might have liked. Gilly's other friends and even her love interest seemed to be little more than sketches. Vedam definitely explained Gilly's thoughts about her love interest, but there seemed to be so few interactions between them that it was hard to really feel like I knew or cared about him or the relationship. In many ways, he was simply there to help with the final battle and to throw a dash of love into the mix for some extra spice.

From a technical standpoint, the book was well edited and cleanly written. I did not care for the line breaks between paragraphs. I generally prefer to avoid the blank space and have the paragraphs indented, but this is a minor point. There is very little that the average reader would find objectionable. Even the minimal violence in the book was handled delicately. While many books that refer to magic in terms of “Light” have a religious element to them, there is no such element in this book. Light in this case is simply the unifying force that can be used by those who have the ability to do so.

Overall, I would give Hidden: Tales of Ryca, Book 1 3 out of 4 stars. Vedam's world building and story telling were quite good and certainly kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed how she told the story from Gilly's perspective and how Gilly came to terms with who she was and allowing the truth to become free so that she could truly have relationships again. Had there been additional character development in the other characters, I would have easily given this novel 4 stars.

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Hidden, Tales of Ryca, Book 1
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Post by stacie k »

The character of Anna reminds me of Moses, being left with Pharoah's daughter to be adopted and raised while sister Miriam was nearby to watch after him. This story, of course, has the added element of magic. It sounds like an entertaining read! Thanks for your insights!
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Post by Libs_Books »

It's good to have a book centred on a strong female character, but I think you're right to say that it's a major flaw if other characters and relationships aren't also fairly well-developed .
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Post by Kendra M Parker »

stacie k wrote: 20 Apr 2018, 11:23 The character of Anna reminds me of Moses, being left with Pharoah's daughter to be adopted and raised while sister Miriam was nearby to watch after him. This story, of course, has the added element of magic. It sounds like an entertaining read! Thanks for your insights!
The Moses comparison is an interesting one, and one I hadn’t really considered. There is an element of that, but in this case our “Miriam” type is actually the important one, not the baby. Anna has her own importance to the story, but this one really centers on Gilly as the key to the whole thing.
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Post by Kendra M Parker »

Libs_Books wrote: 20 Apr 2018, 14:49 It's good to have a book centred on a strong female character, but I think you're right to say that it's a major flaw if other characters and relationships aren't also fairly well-developed .
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels that way. I know I’ve read other books where the POV stays with one character, but I still feel like I know and understand the others and the relationship more than I did in this one. I think this could have benefitted from more conversations between the other characters.
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Post by Stacy_Morgan »

Sounds interesting. Due to the Book one in the title it would seem that this sets up a series. Does anyone know how long said series would be?
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Post by Kendra M Parker »

Stacy_Morgan wrote: 21 Apr 2018, 13:40 Sounds interesting. Due to the Book one in the title it would seem that this sets up a series. Does anyone know how long said series would be?
Vedam doesn’t have anything I could quickly find on her website about how long she anticipates the series being, but she does already have Book 2 in the series available. The second book, Hushed, is about one of the characters that readers meet toward the end of the first book.
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Post by bnoy »

Great review. It's frustrating that not all the characters are explored in depth because the plot sounds relatively unique with an older, strong female lead. Hopefully with additional novels other characters may get highlighted in greater detail.
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Post by Kendra M Parker »

bnoy wrote: 23 Apr 2018, 22:47 Great review. It's frustrating that not all the characters are explored in depth because the plot sounds relatively unique with an older, strong female lead. Hopefully with additional novels other characters may get highlighted in greater detail.
I agree, it was disappointing that the secondary characters were not more fully developed. I did enjoy the maturity of the older female lead.

I’m curious how the second book will go since the premise will center on an older mind in a young girl's body.
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