4 out of 4 stars
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We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies by Matthew Tysz follows the lives of a few men, good and bad. This book is just the beginning of a great tale of cities that prosper and fall in the wake of magic and many years of cultivated revenge. While war ravages the Lands of the Princes, Voulhire seems to be doing very well under the rule of King Wilhelm.
The story of how the humble and ever polite, Galen Bray escaped the terrible war-torn Lands of the Princes by ship to find himself under the beautiful pink and purple skies of Voulhire’s small city of Magnum Caelum is enchanting. Young Galen finds himself growing fond of the executor of his estranged uncle’s estate, Rowan. The friendship between Galen and Rowan grow with every small introduction of this strange new life Galen is trying to get used to. Rowan being a comical, yet straightforward character is a stark contrast to the well-mannered and childlike innocent personality of Galen.
Meanwhile, Hillport welcomes the new Lord Eldus Alderman and his family following as a replacement for of their previously perverse Lord Orlin and the powerful mage Meldorath. Eldus tries to reassure the townsfolk that he is there to help them prosper and visits the affected children with the care only someone trained in psychology could do.
The many character introductions in this book serves the purpose of the series well and Tysz builds the characters with care and emotion. Each chapter has a heading letting you know on which character the chapter is focussing. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style and managed to find very few noticeable errors. There is nothing I disliked about this book; even the occasional use of profanity was fitting in the particular scenes. The author also does not dwell on the wicked acts of certain characters with too much detail, but leaves it more up to your imagination to fill in the gaps.
This book contains references of a sexual nature, extreme violence and strong language and I would not recommend it to anyone offended by these or to a younger audience. However, if you enjoy the likes of books such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy this series of books. The author does a fantastic job of creating scenes of extraordinary beauty and then breaks it down with dark magic and displays of fevered war.
I found myself completely in awe of the author’s imagination and how he managed to stir up my imagination as well. I would be remiss if I gave this book a rating of anything less than 4 out of 4 stars. I am happily ready to read the second entry in this series, titled The Fires of Virko.
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We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
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