First Impressions of 'Royal Deception'

'Royal Deception' is a decent Fantasy novel.

The reader is hooked into the plot fast enough and presented with a conflict to maintain interest. However, a lot of momentum is lost after the first chapter. There is a shift in POV and it's quite unclear for a while what the plot is going to be after this point.

The style is competent and doesn't get in the way. Sadly, a lot of the exposition is rather forward and could have been executed better. None of these issues are glaring enough to ruin the experience, though. The ideas worked into this book are relatively novel and make for an intriguing premise.

If you are looking for a Fantasy story about shapeshifting and social conflict you should check out 'Royal Deception'.

Royal Deception on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25751553-royal-deception

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First Impressions of 'The Spectra Unearthed'

'The Spectra Unearthed' attempts a lot of great things but struggles with the execution.

The plot starts off fast and with a chase scene. What is attempted here is to draw the reader into the action. However, the chase is over so fast and the reader is shown so little of the threat that no real tension builds. Instead of being shown why the enemy is dangerous, we are merely presented with an antagonist and told about how he represents a danger.

A lot of the exposition takes the form of as-you-know dialogue. Particularly the main antagonist seems to enjoy explaining the workings of this world to his enemy. The attempts at worldbuilding are hobbled by this rather unfortunate execution. A lot of the exposition feels rushed as if it was of dire importance to get all of the information on this world's magic and political system across in the first few chapters. I feel that the story as a whole would have benefited a lot from focusing more on the chase and doing all the worldbuilding in the process of that.

After reading for an hour I'm not yet able to assign any personality traits to the two female lead characters.

If you are looking for Fantasy that features female protagonists and can tolerate a few misses in the execution you should check out 'The Spectra Unearthed'.

This review is a first impression based on the first hour of reading. For other first impressions of indie and self-published Fantasy check out: http://firsthourfantasy.blogspot.de/

Check out 'Spectra Unearthed' on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26223317-the-spectra-unearthed?from_search=true&search_version=service

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