Forthright and Clement

The Un-Named Chronicles #1

by Peter M. Emmerson, Ellen Mae Franklin

The Un-Named, magic users are loathed and reviled, living in fear for being different as wild magic seeps into the world. Forced to seek out the source two extraordinary companions begin a journey that will decide the fate of the world, enlisting help along the way to save what cannot be lost. But ... the use of Magic is Forbidden ...

Genres: Fantasy, Magic

424 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2013

Reviews

[Sarah-Jayne Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

Ideally, I would have given this book 3.5 stars, but since I can't give half stars, I'll leave it at 3 stars.

I really did like the idea behind this book - and there were quite a lot of things I did like about it. Unfortunately, though, I kept getting confused because of how many characters there were and how quickly the book changed between those characters.

The whole Un-Named thing was pretty interesting, but I wasn't entirely sure what the rules were behind the magic. I originally thought that people just had one ability - but by the end of the book, it seemed that characters developed more abilities.

I was a bit unsure about Clement's whole relationship with the water sprites, although I did like the whole concept. I felt for the sprites and was glad that Clement took them with him when he became the Caretaker.

I really hated Boel, I have to say. I was also confused - I thought there was only one wolf-woman in the book, but it seems there were two. Either that or the werewolf didn't actually feel emotions - which would have made things quite difficult with Krad.

I found it really difficult to relate to the twins for a while. I still don't really like Krad that much - but I did really empathise with Thgil after what happened to her.

I did struggle a bit to read the writing, since there were quite a lot of errors - mostly grammatical and punctuation errors, as well as sentence fragments. The plot did keep me reading, though.

I think I would have found the book easier to read if there had been fewer POV characters. But, on the whole, I did like the book - and I'd probably eventually be interested in reading more books in this series.

[Ellen Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in a new epic fantasy series - The Un-named Chronicles titled Forthright & Clement.

It is a collaboration of two passionate writers and lovers of fantasy between Ellen Mae Franklin from Australia and Peter Emmerson from the United Kingdom.

I found this story to contain all the exciting elements of a good fantasy read. Its many characters bought to light the foundations of a complex and intriguing tale. The story itself is woven from many different threads and it carried me along through this world of magic, leaving me frustrated on the turn of the last page, finding that it had come to a close.
I am excited to know that the next book of this series is in progress and can't wait to see what happens to those that survive the ordeals in this book 'Forthright & Clement.'

[Sally Hitchin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in the Goodreads Giveaway. This was an fantastic read, full of intriguing mystery's. The story is well written and the characters interesting and believable. Sometimes i had to go back and reread a few pages because there is so many characters that it made me a bit confused from time to time, but it did not make the story less enjoyable, so there for i still give it 5/5. I am truly looking forward to Book 2. Highly recommended.

[Julie Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book and found it to be a well written fantasy filled with an adventurous fight between good and evil.

I liked the unusual names of the characters which fit well into plot and enjoyed the created world and the interaction between each.

A very good read for lovers of fantasy, and a great start to the series.