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Quespin
Life can be lonely, especially when you are cut off from the rest of the world. Quespin had to learn this lesson better than most. Raised practically as a leper to his dwarven community sealed away from the upper world he would someday come to know. But getting there will take every inheritance he and his friends possess as treachery and betrayal overtake his people.
' Quespin's story must be heard by all of Averrin so that they may know better the man who strikes in shadows and hides in dreams.'
' Quespin's story must be heard by all of Averrin so that they may know better the man who strikes in shadows and hides in dreams.'
268 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2014
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January 10, 2015
Quespin is the debut novel for author J C Anderson, and it felt nice getting in on the ground floor of a new series. The book follows our title character as he grows up in a dwarven city sealed off under a mountain. The great war of years ago forced the mages of the city to seal the whole mountain trapping whoever was in the city at the time. The politics that led to and are a result of that decision are a source of most of the conflict in the book.
The limited environment to explore leads to a surprising number of rich characters. The story is all told from Quespin’s perspective, but many times it feels as if other characters are really the focus. That blends nicely with the fact that Quespin certainly feels that he is out of his element for much of the book. Either way it is good to see side characters get more than a trope or two for a personality and motivation.
The pacing of the book is extremely quick which both helps and hinders the experience. On one hand you won’t get bored while reading it, but there are moments that plot points are introduced far too rapidly. There were conversations I lost track of who exactly was saying what and there were pages I had to go back and reread because I wasn’t certain how a specific conclusion was reached.
The hints at a larger world are nicely fit in with the classic method of quotes from other books from the universe starting off each chapter. This is supposed to be the first in a trilogy so I’ll be interested to see if the author will continue to balance character growth and world building as well as was accomplished in this one or if it will fall victim to the genre trap of becoming too enamored with the world at the expense of the plot.
The limited environment to explore leads to a surprising number of rich characters. The story is all told from Quespin’s perspective, but many times it feels as if other characters are really the focus. That blends nicely with the fact that Quespin certainly feels that he is out of his element for much of the book. Either way it is good to see side characters get more than a trope or two for a personality and motivation.
The pacing of the book is extremely quick which both helps and hinders the experience. On one hand you won’t get bored while reading it, but there are moments that plot points are introduced far too rapidly. There were conversations I lost track of who exactly was saying what and there were pages I had to go back and reread because I wasn’t certain how a specific conclusion was reached.
The hints at a larger world are nicely fit in with the classic method of quotes from other books from the universe starting off each chapter. This is supposed to be the first in a trilogy so I’ll be interested to see if the author will continue to balance character growth and world building as well as was accomplished in this one or if it will fall victim to the genre trap of becoming too enamored with the world at the expense of the plot.
Displaying 1 of 1 review