The Red Fields

The Eastern Dwarfs #1

by Leo deSouza

A fully illustrated book for classic fantasy lovers. In this first part, a mysterious dark rider enters the eastern lands, he comes riding a horse and vanishes mounting a flying beast. Two dwarves from the northern stronghold of the RockFoot House witness the moment when this stranger casts witchcraft to bend the monster under his will and leaves towards unknown deeds. Now it is up to them, alongside other dwarf fellows to form the most unlikely of the parties and start a journey looking for answers about these strange events. Crossing the lands known as the Red Fields, the company will get into an adventure that will put them in the middle of a great event, something that will decide the fate of all the peoples of the East.

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2016

About the author

Fantasy and Sci-Fi lover, writing for people who enjoy alternative worlds and realities. Bringing the classic concepts allied to new, fresh and original content.

Reviews

[Ben Mariner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. It was reminiscent of LOTR, and I love me a good story about dwarves. The story was well told and written, but the pacing was a little off for me. It was just kind of slow in parts. I think a lot of fantasy books can be like that because it takes time to give history and build a world for the reader, and even when it's well done like this book, it's still pretty boring for me. Overall, it was a pretty fun read, but was hoping for a little bit of a faster pace.

[Bridgett Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free in exchange for a honest review.


I really enjoyed this book! It was a little bit Lord of the Rings, but in a good way. The story is different and the author did a great job getting me into the story. Plus I like this type of stories. I think you should give it a shot if you like fantasy, quest stories. That have Dragons, fairies, elves, and stuff like that! Great job Leo deSouza.

[Ezgi ☕️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this free copy directly from the writer in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion.

I have to admit: I picked up this eBook thinking it would be a graphic novel. I am not very good with long fantasy books (unless it is Game of Thrones). I abandoned lord of the rings series in the past for that reason. However, The Eastern Dwarfs turned into a pleasant surprise. It was very easy to read and characters were straight forward. I found their conversion honest, stripped from fancy words and shocking events. It really felt like four dwarfs traveling in middle earth through big animals and strange creatures. This unlikely group gets together after two of them witnessing a flying beast and a dark creature. Their bond deepens as their journey spreads over different landscapes.

There are some similarities between The Eastern Dwarfs and Lord of the Rings: There are dwarfs (of course), Nazgul-like flying creature, White-bearded wizard (?)... But this is a fantasy book. Those creatures are almost a requirement. At the end, I found this book different from the LOR series.

There are vast amount of grammar mistakes- but writer just released a second version that removed these errors. Also, since dwarfs talk in a weird format (ye instead of you, etc), these grammatical errors do not stand out (at least didn't for me).

At the end, I really wished there were more events or even more so, the last portion was longer (and maybe some of the event-less long walks were shorter). I thought it was a really interesting ending (also different from LOR), but cut short. I liked Jewelry the goat.

I will follow these series.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Red Fields: Eastern Dwarfs *1 by Leo deSouza is a fast paced yet complex read focusing on dwarfs. Dwarves are written about less frequently than many other fantasy species which makes this book a bit different. A simple breakdown of tropes and style harkens back to Tolkien without feeling like an attempt to cheaply reuse them. What I mean by this is that there is a journey across a realm to find answers about an evil presence. There are dwarfs, elves, and men along with other magical creatures. The dwarfs do seem to speak a type of Scottish English, which seems to be a popular way to portray dwarf speech. As I sated earlier while these are not particular new tropes and plot advances they do have enough new techniques and devices to make it fun and fresh. The characters main and otherwise brought a laugh and at times exasperation from me while reading as they were written to feel like believable characters and never did something outside of what would seem normal for themselves. This book will probably not change the world but it defiantly was a fun to read and I enjoyed it enough to buy the second one.

[Yane · Rating 4 out of 5]

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***Author Request***

I read this novel and it reminds me so much of Lord of the Rinds! Which is a good thing! I have been reading a lot of high fantasy type novels and this book is no different. It had all the typical fantasy elements found in high fantasy. Of course, is does a lot of world-building and mythical creatures and wizards. And I am the first person to b*tch because I hate very cliche things but it's high fantasy! I'm expecting it, and I want it, if not I feel cheated.

I love that it follows dwarfs, they are not written much about. I enjoyed their speech patterns as wells. I wish more action happened, though. There was good world-building but their walks were so long. And books don't have to be fast paced for me to be entertained, but I felt this one went just a tad slow. I feel more could have happened.Pushing that aside the story had it's fun twist and secrets.loved the illustrations.

The story sticks to many fantasy elements, so I can't say it's rad and totally original. Yet, if you are looking for an old school typical fantasy, I'd tell you to check it out.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of this book to preview and was pleased to have had the opportunity to read it. I wouldn’t normally choose fantasy fiction but thoroughly enjoyed this particular story. There is plenty of action and gentle humour throughout. I liked the way that much of the story is told via the conversations between the characters instead of relying on too much descriptive text from the narrator. I also found the interaction between the characters and their companion animals very engaging. The characters are interesting and involving so you do become concerned about how (or if) they will manage to survive some of the adventures they get into during their journey. A very enjoyable story on its own, which does also leave you eager to read part two to find out how the overall quest progresses.

[Cel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow this book took me back to Middle-Earth.

[J.L. Rallios · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish the story. It wasn't what I was hoping for. The characters didn't interest me, nor did the story grip me. The editing was poor. I think that it was written by someone whose second language is English. I don't mind that too much, but the descriptions were minimal and I never felt remotely transported to the setting of the story. I couldn't visualize the characters either. It might be a good story, but these things made it hard for me. I also hate profanity. There was very little in it, but it was just enough to be the proverbial "last straw."

[Denae Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much like LOTR
Some people will like that.

(review of earlier version)
Reader thoughts: How was it like Lord of the Rings? Long conversations about nothing. Meeting people once, learning all about their life history, and then never again, and they probably didn't have anything to do with the plot. There was also singing and illustrations, which were cool. Elfs, dwarfs, halflings, oliphants, and darkriders. If you enjoyed the quest structure of LOTR and like reading about mild characters with a mild plot and easy conclusion, this book is for you.
The dwarf questors were polite everywhere and willing to lend a helping hand while avoiding violence. Jewelry's story was funny. Nothing was laugh-out-loud funny, but there were a few times when I smirked.
There was fun banter between the dwarf friends while they walked. My favorite quote:
"But good singing is like good ideas, one can not ask for them, it just comes." Replied Ruror.
The end was terrible (I admit to some skimming here). It was a mix of Gandalf figure waving his arm and some deus ex machina thrown in and also some of the characters are knocked out and miss the battle. Seriously.

Writer thoughts: The dwarfs only used "ye" not "you," which gave them an accent in my head. I kept expecting them to say things like "ye ken" instead of "as ye know." Perhaps this is because I recently listened to The Wee Free Men.
The wording was awkward on every page. Here is an example:
"I didn't liked him, but I must confess that he did not woke any angry in me."
The punctuation was awkward, too. Every quotation ended with a period (or question mark), never a comma. Here's an example:
"Ye did not told us about ye." Said Torag.
Capitalization was inconsistent. It was painful to read the dialogue. I decided this writing was a stylistic choice to signify that a dwarf had written the story, maybe. If so, it was too heavy-handed.

[Matthew Burkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me very much of LOTR, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I enjoyed learning about the world, although if I am to be honest there wasn't a whole lot of uniqueness to it. I realize that's probably hard to do because after a while all fantasy eventually starts to sound the same. Especially when you are talking about dwarves, elves, etc. It would have been a little more interesting to me if there was a hook that made this fantasy world different from most of the other ones that we read about.

Even with that said, there were parts of the book that I enjoyed. Compared to other independent authors of fantasy I have read Leo deSouza at least has put in the effort to produce a professional product. I didn't find a mass of grammatical errors and his cover is well designed. Like I said, there was a lot that reminded me of the LOTR but not enough that it soured my opinion. I'll probably pick up the other books in the series just to see where it goes.

[Carrie Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first book in The Eastern Dwarfs series is a treat for all fantasy fans. It is full of adventure and action with lovable characters and loathing villains. There is enough suspense and mystery to keep you reading. The book had a Tolkien feel to it, but with its own plot twists and secrets. There is some profanity scattered throughout the book, but it is not overwhelming. I look forward to seeing what happens next on the quest.

[Chiomaah Ugo Nwachukwu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic! What fantasy should be. Read the rest of my review here: https://upcloseandliteral.blogspot.co...
Plus, I also got to interview the author, read it here: https://upcloseandliteral.blogspot.co...
I know, am a lucky girl.

[Jack Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written book that will keep the attention of fantasy readers. The journey of the dwarfs was engaging and kept me interested in the story throughout the book.