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Sector #1
The Dry Lands: TikTok Made Me Buy It! The epic slow-burn enemies to lovers fantasy adventure
'Lord of the Rings' meets 'The Golden Compass' in this brand new Fantasy Adventure. For fans of 'The Shannara Chronicles,' 'Eragon' and 'Shadow and Bone', The Dry Lands is a must-read.
In the world of Sorn, regions are partitioned into ‘Sectors’.From the Great Divide that separates the dark forces of the Shadows, to the reigning gods above in the Sky Lanes.
Each sector has but one to never cross into another.
Keylin is a young elf trying to get by in life. Looked down upon because of his looks, he is known as ‘snake’ for his striking green eyes in a land sheltered by a society known as the High Peaks.
Everything is perfect, with Keylin being their flaw.
When Keylin is suddenly kidnapped in the middle of the night against his will by a Dry Lander named Raen, He is brought to the Dry Lands, a sector known for their brutality.
Keylin discovers himself in more ways than one. Everything that he has been told and knows all of his life will come crashing down as he discovers the truth.
The truth of who he is and what he stands for...
‘The Dry Lands’ is a gripping high-stakes adventure fantasy with popular tropes like ‘enemies to lovers’, ‘found family', and a slow-burn ‘love triangle’ that will have readers jumping between love interests.
In the world of Sorn, regions are partitioned into ‘Sectors’.From the Great Divide that separates the dark forces of the Shadows, to the reigning gods above in the Sky Lanes.
Each sector has but one to never cross into another.
Keylin is a young elf trying to get by in life. Looked down upon because of his looks, he is known as ‘snake’ for his striking green eyes in a land sheltered by a society known as the High Peaks.
Everything is perfect, with Keylin being their flaw.
When Keylin is suddenly kidnapped in the middle of the night against his will by a Dry Lander named Raen, He is brought to the Dry Lands, a sector known for their brutality.
Keylin discovers himself in more ways than one. Everything that he has been told and knows all of his life will come crashing down as he discovers the truth.
The truth of who he is and what he stands for...
‘The Dry Lands’ is a gripping high-stakes adventure fantasy with popular tropes like ‘enemies to lovers’, ‘found family', and a slow-burn ‘love triangle’ that will have readers jumping between love interests.
531 pages, Paperback
Published August 28, 2024
6 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Emma Howl
1 book5 followersEmma Howl is a fantasy author and content creator residing in Ireland with her two cats. Her first book 'The Dry Lands' was a self-published queer fantasy book. She is currently working on editing the sequel, 'The Great Divide' and book 2 in 'The Sector Series.' When she is not working her 9-5, she is dreaming and plotting her next breakout book that delves into the struggles that come with mental health and giving depth to her characters. She hopes that her work provides something her readers can find escape in and relate to.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 11, 2024
I was not surprised to find out that this was a story originally posted on Wattpad. The basic idea of the story is not bad, but the execution was not the best. The writing is not fleshed out and the story does feel like something a 14 year old have written and then somebody has done some editing to it afterwards.
There is however no real depth to the story nor the characters. The main character just feels childish when he is supposed to be 18ish years old (sure, 18 years old is not mature). He is being carried around by the others like he is a 6-year old and almost constantly weeps. He is half-elf and for some reason the author chose to have the ears be a prominent feature. And like the ears of an animal, they twitch. This was constantly brought up and halfway through the book I did not want to know about his ears twitching anymore. And apparently he can feel his dimples... I have dimples and I have neve in my life "felt" them when I smiled unless I have been touching my face at the same time.
For a really long time, nothing really happens. The mc is kidnapped from his home, but already on the journey to his kidnappers village he starts to befriend and like them. When he arrives, lo and behold, he finds out the leader of the village is his father and all of a sudden he makes this place his home. Yes, there is some "they kidnapped me and they are mean ruffians" but overall our mc is fine being in this new place. Then NOTHING happens for the longest time. All of a sudden he is souldbound to an animal. Which just feels strange and is not really well done. Then his elf brethren (that despised him when he was in elf lands because of his features) try to rescue him, his kidnappers now act like barbarians, our mc has a premonition of a witch and has to go on a grand adventure to find himself.
The TikTok promotion of this book promised a lot. However, the book itself did not deliver this. I do however believe that the book could be good with some heavy editing and having parts of it rewritten. The only reason I finished this book is because it was a quick read despite its length.
There is however no real depth to the story nor the characters. The main character just feels childish when he is supposed to be 18ish years old (sure, 18 years old is not mature). He is being carried around by the others like he is a 6-year old and almost constantly weeps. He is half-elf and for some reason the author chose to have the ears be a prominent feature. And like the ears of an animal, they twitch. This was constantly brought up and halfway through the book I did not want to know about his ears twitching anymore. And apparently he can feel his dimples... I have dimples and I have neve in my life "felt" them when I smiled unless I have been touching my face at the same time.
For a really long time, nothing really happens. The mc is kidnapped from his home, but already on the journey to his kidnappers village he starts to befriend and like them. When he arrives, lo and behold, he finds out the leader of the village is his father and all of a sudden he makes this place his home. Yes, there is some "they kidnapped me and they are mean ruffians" but overall our mc is fine being in this new place. Then NOTHING happens for the longest time. All of a sudden he is souldbound to an animal. Which just feels strange and is not really well done. Then his elf brethren (that despised him when he was in elf lands because of his features) try to rescue him, his kidnappers now act like barbarians, our mc has a premonition of a witch and has to go on a grand adventure to find himself.
The TikTok promotion of this book promised a lot. However, the book itself did not deliver this. I do however believe that the book could be good with some heavy editing and having parts of it rewritten. The only reason I finished this book is because it was a quick read despite its length.
September 14, 2024
Loved the book and how creative it is! I haven't read anything like it before. I enjoyed the relationships and how they developed throughout the story and the dedication to the time spent connecting and exploring Keylin's new friends and powers. Especially loved Corrin - definitely my favourite 😍 A super interesting and unique book for a debut author. Absolute five stars, would recommend!!!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews