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The Hidden Ones
It isn't illegal to be a Sympath, but it might as well be.
Sera is a Sympath, but the stories say people like her are to be despised and feared, exiled or executed. They whisper things that you can only feel until you'll kill for them. You'll even die for them.
Her twin brother, Gault, isn’t cut out for village life. Intelligent and ambitious, he looks forward to their coming-of-age when he can finally go to the city to make a name for himself. To protect her secret, Sera cannot risk leaving their secluded village. For the first time in their lives, they will be apart.
During their final days together, the arrival of mysterious beings from beyond the sea throws the world into upheaval when the newcomers prove to be hostile, immensely powerful, and, Sera is horrified to discover, just like her.
Sera is a Sympath, but the stories say people like her are to be despised and feared, exiled or executed. They whisper things that you can only feel until you'll kill for them. You'll even die for them.
Her twin brother, Gault, isn’t cut out for village life. Intelligent and ambitious, he looks forward to their coming-of-age when he can finally go to the city to make a name for himself. To protect her secret, Sera cannot risk leaving their secluded village. For the first time in their lives, they will be apart.
During their final days together, the arrival of mysterious beings from beyond the sea throws the world into upheaval when the newcomers prove to be hostile, immensely powerful, and, Sera is horrified to discover, just like her.
- GenresFantasy
ebook
Published May 11, 2018
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October 29, 2018I was supposed to have read and reviewed this a while ago, but I kept putting it off because it was 763 pages, and honestly that’s really intimidating and takes a lot of time to read. I finished up a few other books so I could focus just on this because I assumed it would be an epic tale. This is also an SPFBO submission in the Alliterates grouping.
I was surprised by how close-quarters small scale it was through much of it. Most of this story takes place in one small village off in the middle of nowhere, a place where everyone knows everyone else. Two kids, a twin brother, and sister are out later than they should be, watching the sunset on the cliffside overlooking the ocean. They see a few green lights appear on the horizon and get bigger and bigger. Realizing that the lights are headed their way, they stand transfixed watching as they come closer and closer, and eventually land on the beach. Sera is a Sympath, meaning she can sense other peoples emotions and push her own feelings onto others. It’s a restricted ability and something she has to keep secret. What bothers her is that she can’t sense what’s behind these lights, it’s clear there’s a sentience to them, but they have no detectable life force.
The kids run for it, and it was a wise decision because several people end up dead or missing as the spirits run their course through the village. No one knows what they are, why they came, or what to do next. The spirits have surrounded the city and won’t let anyone leave or perform any kind of magic. They react badly to those who use any kind of ability in their presence and the spirits can cause the villagers intense pain as well as implant horrific visions and images in people’s minds. Both of the siblings had intense waking nightmares about Deep Wolves or Forest Hags etc.
Since no one in the village knows what these creatures are, they’re just referred to as “spirits”. They’re incredibly strong and almost impossible to fight, the only option is to request help from Enforcers in the city, those trained to deal with magic-wielding criminals. The village’s Sender, Patryck, attempts to contact other Senders in the city and request aid, except the spirits decided to attack almost as soon as he started using his ability, he gets badly hurt and falls unconscious. The villagers don’t know if help is coming or not.
Help is coming, but not for the reasons the villagers may think. After linking with Patryck all of the Senders in the city suddenly fall unconscious and are non-responsive. The only clue they have to go on is that it happened shortly after their communication with Patryck, so they send enforcers out to go seek him out – not knowing the situation they were sending the Enforcers into.
Jaer and 4 squads of Enforcers head out from the city towards the last known location of Patryck, but are attacked along the way and only two Enforcers survive and make it to the village. As Enforcers, it’s their job to hunt down Sympaths since they’re viewed as criminals and threats to society – this could mean big trouble for Sera and Gault if they find out what Sera has been hiding all these years.
Winter is moving in, and as people start to get sick in the village, each time someone is about to die the spirits surround the person, perform some kind of ritual and then quickly leave. Things in the village are getting dire as the supplies dwindle, there’s not enough food, water, and medicine to go around and without being able to leave the village they’re running out of options.
Gault accidentally finds out that he can do something called “Masking” making his presence undetectable to the spirits. There’s a chance that if he practices hard enough he will be able to finally break out of the village and bring back help and supplies. It takes a lot of practice and determination, but eventually, Gault is able to get past the spirits and enter a neighboring village. What he finds is that half the villagers are dead, the farmers are dead, the crops have been rotting, and there isn’t much hope. On his way back to report his findings, he stumbles across another Masker, and she tells him that the whole world is like this and that in the end, it may just be The Hidden Ones (Maskers) who survive this onslaught.
The pacing in this was slower for me, especially in the beginning, part of that is due to world building and character development build up – but there’s also a bit of repetition at the beginning that could have been edited down. There’s also the fact that new POV’s were being introduced later on in the book, Jaer and crew didn’t show up until 150+ pages into it, and their chapters were set in a different location with different side characters so it was almost like starting over again. The writing itself was good though, the prose flowed nicely and I saw very few grammar or spelling errors.
I liked the characters and they definitely were given depth, there was a lot of time placed on character development over fast-paced plot points. I’m not sure what it was, but I never really warmed up to Jaer, I think my favorite character was probably Gault, he showed a lot of bravery and loyalty to his friends and family.
Overall this was a good book if a little long, it’ll appeal to people who like slow burn books with the world and characters revealing themselves over time.
Audience:
spooky atmosphere
mysterious tone
multi pov
sibling pov
mysterious magic with guidelines
longer stories
Ratings:
Plot: 11/15
Characters: 12.5/15
World Building: 12/15
Writing: 11.5/15
Pacing: 9/15
Originality: 11/15
Personal Enjoyment: 7.5/10
Final Score: 74.5/100 = 3.72/5 on GR – recommended
I was surprised by how close-quarters small scale it was through much of it. Most of this story takes place in one small village off in the middle of nowhere, a place where everyone knows everyone else. Two kids, a twin brother, and sister are out later than they should be, watching the sunset on the cliffside overlooking the ocean. They see a few green lights appear on the horizon and get bigger and bigger. Realizing that the lights are headed their way, they stand transfixed watching as they come closer and closer, and eventually land on the beach. Sera is a Sympath, meaning she can sense other peoples emotions and push her own feelings onto others. It’s a restricted ability and something she has to keep secret. What bothers her is that she can’t sense what’s behind these lights, it’s clear there’s a sentience to them, but they have no detectable life force.
The kids run for it, and it was a wise decision because several people end up dead or missing as the spirits run their course through the village. No one knows what they are, why they came, or what to do next. The spirits have surrounded the city and won’t let anyone leave or perform any kind of magic. They react badly to those who use any kind of ability in their presence and the spirits can cause the villagers intense pain as well as implant horrific visions and images in people’s minds. Both of the siblings had intense waking nightmares about Deep Wolves or Forest Hags etc.
Since no one in the village knows what these creatures are, they’re just referred to as “spirits”. They’re incredibly strong and almost impossible to fight, the only option is to request help from Enforcers in the city, those trained to deal with magic-wielding criminals. The village’s Sender, Patryck, attempts to contact other Senders in the city and request aid, except the spirits decided to attack almost as soon as he started using his ability, he gets badly hurt and falls unconscious. The villagers don’t know if help is coming or not.
Help is coming, but not for the reasons the villagers may think. After linking with Patryck all of the Senders in the city suddenly fall unconscious and are non-responsive. The only clue they have to go on is that it happened shortly after their communication with Patryck, so they send enforcers out to go seek him out – not knowing the situation they were sending the Enforcers into.
Jaer and 4 squads of Enforcers head out from the city towards the last known location of Patryck, but are attacked along the way and only two Enforcers survive and make it to the village. As Enforcers, it’s their job to hunt down Sympaths since they’re viewed as criminals and threats to society – this could mean big trouble for Sera and Gault if they find out what Sera has been hiding all these years.
Winter is moving in, and as people start to get sick in the village, each time someone is about to die the spirits surround the person, perform some kind of ritual and then quickly leave. Things in the village are getting dire as the supplies dwindle, there’s not enough food, water, and medicine to go around and without being able to leave the village they’re running out of options.
Gault accidentally finds out that he can do something called “Masking” making his presence undetectable to the spirits. There’s a chance that if he practices hard enough he will be able to finally break out of the village and bring back help and supplies. It takes a lot of practice and determination, but eventually, Gault is able to get past the spirits and enter a neighboring village. What he finds is that half the villagers are dead, the farmers are dead, the crops have been rotting, and there isn’t much hope. On his way back to report his findings, he stumbles across another Masker, and she tells him that the whole world is like this and that in the end, it may just be The Hidden Ones (Maskers) who survive this onslaught.
The pacing in this was slower for me, especially in the beginning, part of that is due to world building and character development build up – but there’s also a bit of repetition at the beginning that could have been edited down. There’s also the fact that new POV’s were being introduced later on in the book, Jaer and crew didn’t show up until 150+ pages into it, and their chapters were set in a different location with different side characters so it was almost like starting over again. The writing itself was good though, the prose flowed nicely and I saw very few grammar or spelling errors.
I liked the characters and they definitely were given depth, there was a lot of time placed on character development over fast-paced plot points. I’m not sure what it was, but I never really warmed up to Jaer, I think my favorite character was probably Gault, he showed a lot of bravery and loyalty to his friends and family.
Overall this was a good book if a little long, it’ll appeal to people who like slow burn books with the world and characters revealing themselves over time.
Audience:
spooky atmosphere
mysterious tone
multi pov
sibling pov
mysterious magic with guidelines
longer stories
Ratings:
Plot: 11/15
Characters: 12.5/15
World Building: 12/15
Writing: 11.5/15
Pacing: 9/15
Originality: 11/15
Personal Enjoyment: 7.5/10
Final Score: 74.5/100 = 3.72/5 on GR – recommended
July 10, 2018
In a world where everyone can sense others and some have stronger and more purposeful mental abilities, Sera, whose mental gifts make it unsafe for her to allow others (besides her family) to know who and what she is, wonders what her future holds. When she and her twin brother, Gault, see strange lights out in the ocean, then coming to shore, they feel a disquieting sense that the lights, held by no hands, are a threat. This turns out to be true as more and more of these lights, whom the villagers think might be the spirits of their ancestors punishing them for some reason, surround the village and lay siege, the villagers forced to near starvation. The "spirits" loom over the villagers, planting despair in their minds. Eventually the villagers are herded from the village by the spirits, forced starving and exhausted to travel a treacherous road to an unknown destination.
This is a very interesting story, unlike any plot I've read. Good writing. It gets tense, heartbreaking in parts, and the end made me slap my chest... "What!" But I don't think it's the end. Surely there's a sequel coming and I can't wait. Quite impressive for an author's first novel.
This is a very interesting story, unlike any plot I've read. Good writing. It gets tense, heartbreaking in parts, and the end made me slap my chest... "What!" But I don't think it's the end. Surely there's a sequel coming and I can't wait. Quite impressive for an author's first novel.
August 13, 2018
Disclaimer: I received a free copy for a fair and honest review.
The cover is cool and really helps set the stage -- this is not quite horror, but it isn't typical fantasy either. It has an interesting start, with these lighted beings suddenly invading the village and trapping everyone inside, and we learn how everyone has some sort of empathic connection that can yield specific talents to be used. The village felt a little cliched and folksy to me, and the book felt a little 'flat' for the first bit. However, by 20% in, it had picked up and I was much more engaged and by the time it hit 60% on my kindle, I was reading quicker to see what was going to happen. The ending fell a little short for me, but it's still worth the read.
The cover is cool and really helps set the stage -- this is not quite horror, but it isn't typical fantasy either. It has an interesting start, with these lighted beings suddenly invading the village and trapping everyone inside, and we learn how everyone has some sort of empathic connection that can yield specific talents to be used. The village felt a little cliched and folksy to me, and the book felt a little 'flat' for the first bit. However, by 20% in, it had picked up and I was much more engaged and by the time it hit 60% on my kindle, I was reading quicker to see what was going to happen. The ending fell a little short for me, but it's still worth the read.
June 27, 2018
I know you will think I am biased, because Russ is my son, but, really at times as I was reading I had to remind myself that this wasn't written by some other author, but it was written by my son! Dark, but exciting story, with hints of a sequel at the end. Nothing objectionable, just a really tremendously good story!
July 28, 2023
Love this book.
Wow, this book is really intense, but I loved it! I can’t wait for the next book!! Very well done!!
Wow, this book is really intense, but I loved it! I can’t wait for the next book!! Very well done!!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews