We Are Voulhire A new Arrival under Great Skies is an e-book assumed published, copyright and written by Matthew Tysz.
This is the first of two books that follow the fortunes of Galen, a young man who has escaped from a war torn society/country through help provided by a solicitor who was paid handsomely by his dying grandfather to accomplish this rather dangerous feat. He is totally naïve in the sophisticated ways of this new environment and gradually begins to learn in this first instalment. The country itself is wealthy but lacking in any cohesive identity. It embraces various levels of culture and a wide range of technologies but also various levels and types of magical performance that seem pervasive and often dominant as well. Numerous powerful individuals, several of whom are viciously destructive, appear to be rising into the more powerful positions as this episode ends and the reader must wait to discover whether the seemingly portended hope for the future the young Galen represents actually evolves.
Discussion/Conclusion: The author has set forth a fantasy containing all of the elements that should appeal to younger readers. It is a well-conceived fantasy set in ancient times of the restricted world knowledge of the day. It has a nicely conceived plot with thought-provoking philosophical features, nicely done descriptions and characters with whom some degree of empathy may be developed. Unfortunately however, from this reader’s perspective, there may be a few problems most of us reviewers overlook. We all are somewhat beyond an age group for which we are attempting to provide a meaningful review and we often forget to really observe the developing members of society for whom we cavalierly express our views of what they will or will not enjoy. This story opens slowly, even a little confusingly with new characters being rapidly introduced and the basic theme of good vs. evil actually does not become evident until pretty well into the book. It must be remembered that younger people are more inclined toward a faster mode of life with regrettably most often lesser involved in philosophical thoughts. One simply must observe their choices with respect to music, movies, games, conversation and their activities in general. An amusing aside perhaps is the fact that recent studies have shown that the average attention span level now resides at a mere eight seconds. Thus, long passages of description, even well-done avenues of thought, may present some cause for hesitation. The evolving generations also seem less likely to enjoy reading something for which the final note is designed to arrive sometime in the future. Most appear to prefer the ‘now’. In summation, this is a well-conceived fantasy that provides the usual philosophical thoughts so prevalent in stories in this genre and can appeal to the usual reviewer. However, one must occasionally indulge seriously in a little introspective activity to ascertain whether we are actually reviewing a book from our perspective rather than that of a member of today’s seemingly somewhat differently developing type of individual.
3* 4* Interesting well-written Fantasy; 3(?)* Apropos discussion.