Floresha

Metamorphosis #1

by L.C. Perry

[Alternate cover edition for ASIN: B01FY1LAKI]

Seventeen year old Ringzette Almer is a Torosapien that lives in a world that is just as gripping as it is beautiful. The world, Floresha, has taken the place of Earth which was destroyed centuries ago by an unknown power. There are four main tribes that live as a part of its inhabitants: The Chayas, the Marconnis, the Wielders and the Juugulars. Ringzette, a Chaya, is plunged deeper into her world when she comes across a mysterious man who implants a gem on her stomach. As if things couldn’t get any stranger, she is told that her claimed to be dead brother may not be dead after all and a father she never knew has left her with an unfeasible mission that he himself was unable to complete. Now with her whole world on her shoulders, Ringzette must break the forbidden rule of travelling to the other tribes and find the six guardians that are born to protect this planet. She not only has to race against time, but also the enemies destined to destroy the very same people she must find and protect. To make matters worse, she will have to accomplish all this while managing to survive the treacherous lands of the tribes she's only heard of from her textbooks. As a lazy teenager born from a tribe of peacekeepers, what are her chances of making it through this alive?

357 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 19, 2016

About the author

L.C. Perry is a young Black bi aromantic/grey-ace author who’s both socially awkward and distractingly imaginative. She has a BA in Creative Writing from Emory University and is a proud binge-watcher of anime and horror movies. She also knows too many Spongebob quotes, can’t dance to save her life, and has an unhealthy obsession when it comes to vanilla almond milk and caramel cake. Her goal as a writer is to continue writing YA while elevating underrepresented voices. Her areas of expertise are the Fantasy, Dystopian and Contemporary genres for the YA audience.
When she isn’t writing, reading, or binge-watching, she’s visualizing original stories inside her head—with the help of music, of course.

Feel free to follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/L.C.Perry3350/

Reviews

[L.C. Perry]

Update: So, I started this book when I was sixteen years old and it was the very first fantasy story I ever wrote. Since then, I have progressed tremendously as a writer, so much so that I can very clearly see the issues I personally have with this series. Although each book in the trilogy does get better, I will be changing my ratings for Cryptic and Oxcidius as well because I also believe they are not my best works. The Metamorphosis trilogy was not my first series, but it is my first High Fantasy series and it was the first series I’ve ever published. I was still learning the ropes about publishing so to combine that with my attempt at a high fantasy story, it was all a bit much.

I can say without a doubt that I don’t regret writing this series, it’s because of the Metamorphosis trilogy and my unpublished works that I have gotten to where I am today. I’ve taken certain attributes and have made them even better in my more recent works like the Bronze Rebellion series. The only thing I wish I could have done differently is how I handled Floresha. I wish I could have known back then what I know now so that I could have worked out all of the iffy parts. I do not believe that it is a bad series, but it very much reads as a debut novel. Though the themes within the series are mature, the writing is juvenile and I don’t know if I had a clear idea of what audience I was reaching towards.

In spite of this, it is still a series I’m proud to have put out there. I’m super grateful to those who read it and I’m even more grateful to have grown as a writer. Writing the Metamorphosis series was important to me because it gave me the confidence I needed to continue writing. I knew I was capable of writing a series, writing complicated characters, and carrying out a storyline. This series has shown that I’m capable, and I was able to improve these skills by the time I wrote Gold Shadow. This trilogy was my beginning and I’m grateful for it. I’m grateful for the feedback. These books have been an adventure for me and I hope to keep that journey going as a growing author :)

[L.C. Perry]

I've seen other authors do this so I figured, why not? ;)

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of all the books I've read in the past few months (close to 30, I think), I've not been more torn on a review. I wanted to love the story, the characters, and the world of Floresha. The description of the book was engaging and exciting and I truly did enjoy many parts of the story (my cat's name is Nami, so I had a lot of fun picturing her as a talking cute grey kitten, for what that's worth)!

However, as a few other reviewers mentioned, the pace of the story was a bit off for me. Some scenes felts rushed while others dragged and the word creation was confusing more often than not- the words themselves were not confusing, but the reasoning for the changes being so minute. I'm all for go big or go home.

Overall, I'd 100% recommend this book to my teenage self. I do love YA novels (I've written some myself) so it's nothing against the genre or the author. It was a lovely one-time read, and I'm glad I read it! On a non-content level, the cover of the book is GORGEOUS. Very impressed by it.

[I was gifted a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. Thank you for sharing your work with me, L. C. Perry! I have the utmost respect for self-published authors.]

[K.G. Reuss · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me a bit of Hunger Games at first, what with the dystopia -esque setting. Not that the world was a totalitarian world, rather it was a world that had been set in ruin only to be reborn into something else. However, a splash of Lord of the Rings was added (at least that's what it reminded me of) what with a (spoiler) friend joining the main character on her journey. Parts of the book were lighthearted with easy dialogue, while other parts were serious and left you feeling what the characters were feeling. Overall, I'd give this book a solid 4 out of 5. I'd be interested in reading the next book in the series.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the world built was interesting, and the descriptions were visceral, the ending of the book seem to pose a question reasonable for the characters age. The start of the exploration of the new cultural world was in depth and being inside the main character's head was quite daunting at times. But all in all a decent attempt to expose the reader to an alternate world.

[Maggie H-G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I get too deep into my comments about this book, I want to start off with some general observations about Young Adult Fiction in order to set the baseline for this review. In my experience as a reader and lover of books, YA books can fall under two categories for me:

1. Awesome literature written for tweens and up that involve adolescents going on adventures and doing cool things that also appeal to older adults because of their great storylines, interesting characters, and challenging writing that can keep a person of any age's attention. A great example would be The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling.

2. Literature written for young adults that is paced specifically for young readers in mind with a simpler form of vocabulary and mild adventures. An example of this would be A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle .

This book falls into the second category - slower paced, less challenging vocabulary, and less complex characters. As I am a 30-something-year-old, I struggled a lot with continuing to read the story, but I had to keep in mind that I'm not the target audience. Case in point: I read A Wrinkle In Time last year for the first time (a book I had somehow missed in my childhood), and found it slow and quite boring. But again, I wasn't the target audience, and saying I didn't enjoy a treasured book of kids approaching double digits or heading into their tweens is more of an issue of me missing out on the experience when I was kid, rather than the author neglecting its readers. I would like to make one distinction: though the writing of this book is geared towards young readers, it still has an older audience in mind with its use of strong language (something I’m not opposed to, but need mention for younger readers considering this book), and also instances of sexual predators that may not be suitable for young readers.

I will pull out the classic school-aged phrase to say, This Book Had a Lot of Potential. The world of Floresha sounded very interesting - the different ethnicities, the glowing plants and forestry, and the wildly colored people - but it could have gone much, much deeper in its development. The author attempted to form a cultural base of this new planet, Floresha, and yet they ended up with a poorly translated version of Earth instead of a vibrant new world that had long ago replaced Earth as we know it. Taking common nouns from Earthen days and translating them into new spellings does not put much trust into the reader's creative mind. To fully succeed in creating new people, landscapes, and cultural diversity in one's writing, you must abandon the thought that your readers are Earthlings, merely handing them pieces of your world one bite at a time. Instead, take ownership of your creative new planet and act like the reader is right there with you. You can describe the new world in new terms and new visuals. Saying a "bus" is now a "bushier" simply adds a new name to something the reader already knows exists, and also makes the reader hesitate in their reading of the book; they must pause and think, What is a "bushier"? A brush? Or bushes? Oh wait, it's a bus! And then they have lost the flow of the story all to try to remember what is meant when a character needs to find a bushier. Also, visuals are so important when creating new worlds. If you want large vehicles that ride around the city carrying passengers, feel free to call it a “bushier”, but have a visual to back-up what this new term is, instead of relying on the reader’s current knowledge.

I enjoyed the ragtag pack of travelers that band together in hopes of saving Floresha, and the author does challenge the reader to consider how leaning entirely on stereotypes and cultural assumptions won’t get you far in life. This concept, and embracing one’s individuality while finding the good in others, is something we all could hear more often.

I shall return to my original point as I close out this review: I am not the intended audience. Had I been a thirteen year old reading adventures about a young girl traveling unknown territories with her best friend and sidekick animal, I would probably find it entertaining and love every page. But for this 30-something-year-old who loves challenging vocabulary and immersing herself in fully developed worlds and great adventure, this book did not meet the mark for me.

Please note: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. A big thanks to the author for sharing their work!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

All Ringzette wants is another hour of sleep. But that's not going to happen, with the fate of the entire planet on her shoulders. A mysterious wizard hands her a huge gem that embeds itself into her stomach, a gem that will help her detect the Six Foreigners, whose reincarnated destiny is to save the world from an impending entity bent on its destruction.

The six Foreigners are in the forbidden lands of the other Torsapien species, lands not only off-limits to the Chayas, but deadly as well. To make matters worse, the Foreigners have six counterparts, the Terrestrials, whose only goal is to slay the Foreigners before they can be awakened to their powers and destiny. Without any authority, without any abilities, without any plan other than to get moving, Ringzette must somehow save the world. But hey, that's what heroes do.


Content:
Drug Content:
G – There is very little alcohol in this novel, and no substance abuse.

Violence:
PG-13 – There's a lot of violence, a lot of blood, and characters nearly burned to death. A healer really has her work cut out for her here.

Language:
R – The F-bomb is dropped almost 50 times here, with a lot of other coarse language spewed out, mainly from one race of creatures in this party. I get it, it's a plot device, to show the differences between the prim Chayas and the down and dirty Juugulars. But it's a bit to wade through.

Adult Content:
PG – The Juugulars are a violent race, and there are several attacks leading towards rape of one of the characters. Nothing occurs specifically onscreen, but there's a lot of adult language and innuendo scattered around..

Christian content:
Not a bit. This isn't a hymnal, and it's not the book of common prayer. It's a hard and fast adventure story, and none of the characters in the novel seemed to show much faith other than in one another or themselves. That having been said, I did discover that some characters that seem irredeemable turn a corner, and several are willing to die for one another, or at least get in harm's way to protect each other. So there's that.

Final Analysis:
The Good Parts first: Floresha was a good start to what looks like an excellent epic fantasy, with stunningly detailed worldbuilding, a nicely defined main character arc, reasonable side character development, and acceptable banter. Hints of romantic interest added just a touch of spice. Floresha contained plenty of action, lots of complex battle scenes involving multiple supernatural powers. There were places where I found the book difficult to put down. But unfortunately those times weren't the majority. The fight scenes were frenetic and a little confusing, and moved so fast I had to reread a few passages to figure out who nearly killed who. There was plenty of action, which kept coming over and over again. The bad guys (and girls) were sufficiently bad, but their taunts and actions seemed a bit one-dimensional. The language was a bit much also, and kept kicking me out of the story. I read and review a wide range, and am ok with language in a book (though I'll report what I find here of course, it's what I do). But this seemed a little gratuitous.

All in all, the best things about this book were the worldbuilding, the plot, and the stakes, which couldn't have been higher. I'm a fan of epic fantasy, and this book did deliver the goods, but the dialog and pacing just didn't send me. Four Stars!

[251 Things To Do · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very unique sc-fi that at first I was hesitant, and then grew to love. Reading the beginning of this hit a strong note. I believe that humans are not more advanced in society, and that the world will be ultimately destroyed by pure ignorance with no one taking the blame. That all living things are equal, and we are stuck in our present situation of trashing our own planet because that respect has been lost since the cultural genocide of many indigenous people who have lived sustainably on this beautiful planet for thousands upon thousands of years, they realized the connection we have to everything around us and respected everything no matter if it is a mouse, an ant, or human because it is all perception.

The novel made a strong come back directly following the opening phrases, describing the new tribes that replaced homosapiens on the planet and their diversity to one another. I liked how the author added a prologue describing these new tribes, which strongly setup the story. I loved the portrayal of the protagonist, Ringzette, which was quite humorous and accurately reflected her age.

Focusing mostly on the social interactions between all characters of the different tribes, I felt like it became more of a young adult soap opera casted with Avatar-esk characters, filled with lots of pun and wit. Much more humanlike by nature than Avatar.

I recommend this book if you are into the sci-fi futuristic YA novels. If you love Avatar, then you will definitely enjoy this as well.

[Gary Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an ambitious book, creating an intriguing world with inhabitants and cultures that leave the reader wanting to know more. As the first book in a trilogy there is an understandable amount of scene-setting, and for that reason the opening of the book - although interesting - contains a lot of detail as the reader learns about the new world and its various factions. However, once the quest portion of the novel starts and Ringzette sets out on her mission to find the six Terrestrials needed to save her planet, the pace of the novel steps up and moves at a breathless pace thereafter.
A particularly effective element of this story was the characterisation of the individuals that Ringzette meets on her travels, and those that join her on her journey. The interaction between these characters is well captured, and there is a real sense of the relationships between them changing as their journey continues.
The climax of the novel leaves the heroes in an interesting predicament, and I am looking forward to book 2 to see how their journey progresses.

[Toni Owen-Blue · Rating 1 out of 5]

You know the father of fantasy? Tolkien? You know how he created a rich world with several unique complex and beautiful languages? Yeah, that was great… Now, do you remember how Tolkien forced you to learn Sindarin before you could read the Fellowship of the Ring? No, I don’t remember that bit either because it would have been really boring.

Apparently, L.C. Perry did not get the memo. Not that there’s a new language or in fact any new ideas here, just words for things we already have like grass, buses, metal, animals etc. have been swapped out with nonsense words like ‘busshier’ and ‘lemurla’, all introduced by the author using the nonsense word and then putting the real one in brackets next to it – cause world building. Conversely, words that do exist for us, like Foreigner, mean something completely different. So, unless you’re willing to do your twaddle homework, good luck understanding what the heck is going on.

This is not helped by the fact the writing that is about as concise and eloquent as Grandpa Simpson, full of grammatical errors, tense jumps and just going in and around on itself to the point where conversations get repeated multiple times and many don’t seem to have a point at all. The only bit that is really clear is the first five pages, which are not story but simply the author telling you the set up of the world – cause world building.

To cap it all off there are several bad (yet admittedly hilarious) incidents where the author has fallen into the thesaurus trap. Similar to the Friends episode, if you remember it, where Joey writes a letter and, to make himself sound smarter, uses a thesaurus on every word, turning the sentence ‘they are warm, nice people with big hearts’ into ‘they are humid, prepossessing homo sapiens with full sized aortic pumps’. It’s like that, to name a few; log does not equal twig, ensue does not equal continue and peaceful passion does not exist.

Sorry, I don’t mean to rag on the writing so much, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read something so technically inept. I’ll move onto the content.

Regular readers of my reviews will know I try to find good in everything and this is where I found it, while the characters themselves are badly written there was a lot of time given to the main character and her friend, attempting to develop their relationship and define them as two separate people. The quality of writing severely hinders the execution, but I can see it being attempted and I appreciate the friend character is distinct and, at least, not being relegated to the cheering section like so many best friends.

That’s where my praise ends.

As mentioned above the characters are nothing you don’t want to move on from as fast as possible. The plot as absolute bat crap on a sandwich, with a lot of the reasons for things being ‘because the author says so’, apparently the world’s in danger (from the vaguest threat in all of literature)and this random useless teenager has to fix it for a reason… her Dad was doing it you see, apparently, heroism is hereditary.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the world ending though; from what I can gather (as I’ve mentioned the writing is so rambling it’s very difficult to understand) the bad guys are the most inept bunch of idiots ever. They manage to track down the main characters eldest brother (because her brothers have some other vague power, don’t ask) yet, despite eldest brother living in the same house as the other two brothers, they somehow didn’t track down the younger two.

Yeah, I don’t think the world needs saving, if I’m honest, bad guys this useless will probably end up killing themselves by accident.

You can also expect to get a lecture from Floresha, about the dangers of destroying the world and the vulgarity of eating animals. Although I would be interested to hear how the world still has buses, metal walls and schnitzel without destroying anything or any meat based products. Just another nail in the coffin that is the messy world of this book.

And if that wasn’t enough for you the book is full of pigeon holing racists, main character included, with the rivalry between the tribes being Gryffindor/Slytherin levels of inexplicable dislike. Yeah, the author’s given the tribes different fancy names so it’s not violent culture vs. vegan culture, but that doesn’t make it not racism. Maybe in their world, it’s called ‘Laysism’ though, so what do I know?

Honestly, this book reads like an unedited attempt at NaNoWrMo (National Novel Writing Month), just an amateur work written at speed and then thrown onto amazon without a second glance; there are grammar mistakes everywhere, multiple large continuity errors and just a general directionlessness to so much of it I do not believe for one second the author thought it was necessary to edit her work.

You couldn’t pay me to finish this book, I’d burn it if it wasn’t on my kindle.