Deep Sounding

by Brandon Carbaugh, Jordan Erb (Illustrator)

The surface of the world is a mountainous waste. Extreme weather and seasons of total darkness have destroyed most life above ground. But beneath the earth, one people The dwarfs, who live inside the mountains, have mastered the task of carving out life in a world which does its best to destroy them. Every dwarf has work, all work is critical, and it is only by working together that each mountain--and the greater Ranges they support--can continue to exist. Those who violate this understanding are removed from the they are exiled aboveground, to earn their survival alone. The more heinous the crime, the longer the sentence. Even worse, exiles are only readmitted while the bells of a yearly celebration, the Deepsound, are still ringing. Miss your bells, and your sentence repeats. It's a punishment so severe that its chief purpose is prevention, for no dwarf can survive it very long. No dwarf, that is, except Bardan. Cast out of the borough of Whitemount for a crime since forgotten, Bardan faced a sentence so lengthy that most declared him dead before the door had closed behind him. But they were wrong. For like dwarfdom itself, the old General was built to adapt -- and for over forty years, Bardan has carved himself a life above the ground. But his body is failing. His mind is going gray. The ghosts of old evils are finally closing in. Bardan's time is up . . . and his bells are running out.

Genres: Fantasy

175 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 25, 2012

Reviews

[Daniel Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because of the world-building. It almost seems like the author has lived there along the dwarves. It took me too long to finish, though. I guess you could say that's a bad sign. I wasn't into the story, and I was kinda in the mood for a popcorn-novel page-turner. Bardan's return from exile and Silva's lesson about life and the meaning of work are two good and interesting short stories. The back story behind the main character's exile was never told (only hints) and I think that would have made for a more satisfying ending.
BTW rating: PG-13 for mild language throughout and one very innuendoed (and thus not graphic) sex scene

[Jim Liston · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author, Brandon Carbaugh, has developed a strange, remote world. Above ground is a bleak, isolated environment, where every moment of your existence is spent struggling to survive. Below ground is a rich, rewarding life, where everyone has a purpose and works for the betterment of society.

Barden is above ground, sentenced for his crimes to spend fifty years of his life banished from society. No one can survive above ground for any length of time, so he's sent to die. But, he survives, working hard, living one day at a time. Silva Ruck lives below ground with her father and siblings. She's unhappy with her life because she hates working in the mines, in fact she hates working at all. She can't imagine trudging through life, spending her time working every day.

There are some really insightful scenes in this book, including an encounter between Silva and her boss. When Silva tries to get her job back, her boss tells her, "Give me 5 minutes of good work." Hours later, Silva learns an important lesson; "Doing it right once is easy, doing it right a thousand times in a row, that's a hell of a trick!" Silva's outlook is completely changed. She learns that no matter what you do, no matter how trivial it seems, to do your very best and take pride in your work.

Why was Barden sent above ground to die, and how did Silva's mother die? Carbaugh did a great job tying the story together very nicely at the end. This is a well-written, exciting story, with interesting characters and a plot that kept me engaged.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

through some unexpected means, i ended up with a copy of this book via NoiseTrade and read it over the last few days. let me tell you it's a very welcome, i guess i would say unexpected treat of a book. Brandon's style of writing is very, very smooth. in other authors hands, some scenes that have less action would fall flat, but with his sense of humor, attention to detail and variety of sentence structures, the story flows very well. in its own way, it has a sense of feeling that you could be sitting at a campfire with a handful of dwarves as they read the tale from a book. the book's two parts merge together well in the end. i don't believe you need to enjoy fantasy or similar related genre books to enjoy this read. it's very light and you can put away chunks of pages in single sittings. i would recommend this to anyone looking for a light, but highly enjoyable read. looking forward to his next book.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review here.

Don't be put off because it's self-published -- on a prose level, this is a well-written book. Overall construction is slightly iffy -- it's broken up into two mostly unrelated stories with a fairly clunky attempt to tie them together with a weighty conclusion at the end that doesn't really work -- but even that doesn't really ruin the experience.

The main draw is the setting -- it's dwarves living inside mountains, but there are enough interesting twists on that to keep things fresh, and the examination of both those inside and outside of the dwarves' communistic society is thorough and thought-provoking.

[Jared Wasdin · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a fan of fantasy it was fun to enter a uniquely Dwarven world with some very humorous laugh out loud moments. I had hoped the writer would have intertwined the two story lines together in a deeper way though, as it seemed like he wrote two different stories in the same universe, and hurriedly tied them together at the end. Perhaps he is saving this for a follow up story? Amusing and enjoyable and I look forward to the follow up.