Wednesday 22 August 2012

FANTASY HORROR REVIEW: The Heretic Land - Tim Lebbon

Release Date: 02/08/12

SYNOPSIS:

AN ISLAND PRISON. AN OCEAN FULL OF MONSTERS. NO CHANCE OF ESCAPE.

Arrested by the Ald, scholar Bon Ugane and merwoman Leki Borle awake on a prison ship bound for the island of Skythe - a barren land warped and ruined by ancient conflict. Survival is tough and the colony's original inhabitants are neither friendly nor entirely still human.

But something else waits on the island, a living weapon whose very existence is a heresy. Destroyed many years ago, it silently begins to clutch at life once more.


REVIEW:

I love a good fantasy tale so when you get one that blends elements that should make a cracking story, I’m a reader that tends to get annoyed if I feel unfilled. Whilst part of this book had feelings that were reminiscent of Steven Eriksons Chained God, others brought a feeling of Chateau D’If from the Count of Monte Cristo. Add to this some monsters and an enclosed population and all in it should have been something spectacular.

Sadly for me I felt it that the principle character wasn’t as defined as he could have been, he didn’t move me into really caring for his fate and when the other elements started to come together it left me thinking that it was a mishmash of things I’ve seen before. Don’t get me wrong, the concept was solid and of course the prose was decent but overall due to these failings, it isn’t a title that for me stood out against the masses out there.



No comments: