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The Delacourt Short Stories #1
The Voice Of The Voiceless
None of this should be happening! How could I have messed up this badly?!
Elisabeth Delroy, Headmistress of the prestigious Delacourt Academy, has spent her entire existence desperately trying to fix the world, doing everything in her power to replace the actions of he who had been taken from it.
But it just isn’t enough, and she knows she is failing.
Until one night, when a beautiful creature, the Voice of the Voiceless, gives her one final to save a child - yet to be born - and protect him until he comes of age.
The one that has the power to bring him back, before the world falls apart.
The one that would be called... the Dreamwalker.
Featuring Elisabeth Delroy in a Delacourt Short Story.
Elisabeth Delroy, Headmistress of the prestigious Delacourt Academy, has spent her entire existence desperately trying to fix the world, doing everything in her power to replace the actions of he who had been taken from it.
But it just isn’t enough, and she knows she is failing.
Until one night, when a beautiful creature, the Voice of the Voiceless, gives her one final to save a child - yet to be born - and protect him until he comes of age.
The one that has the power to bring him back, before the world falls apart.
The one that would be called... the Dreamwalker.
Featuring Elisabeth Delroy in a Delacourt Short Story.
78 pages, ebook
Published August 21, 2018
3 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 13, 2019
You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com
Elisabeth Delroy has spent her entire existence attempting to fix the world. However, she realises that it's not going the way she had hoped it would. One night, her life is given new purpose when she is visited by the voice of the voiceless one, who gives her a mission. Protect a child that is yet to be born, he has immense power, and the ability to bring back someone who was lost to Elisabeth many moons ago. He will be The Dreamwalker.
I found the premise of this story to be super intriguing, and can we please just take a second to bask in the gloriousness that is that cover?! How freaking beautiful is it!!! I must admit, the cover is what made me click on the book in the first place, without that, I may have completely moved past this book without downloading it from the email I received.
While the premise was super interesting and had me needing to know more, I felt that the execution of the story itself was lacking a little. We're constantly bombarded by talk of 'him' and no, I don't mean (at least I don't think so) God or one of the many versions of Gods. We are just treated to Elisabeth missing 'him' and thinking about all the things 'he' did and could have done had he not....died? Disappeared? Been kidnapped? I'm honestly not sure...I'm assuming he was wiped from existence somehow, but to be honest, I don't even know who 'he' is. It's never explained...I'm not sure if this is something that is explained in the series? I'm assuming it would have to be, it seems like a pretty large cornerstone of the whole story. Was I meant to read the series before this book so I had a better idea of what was going on? I'm honestly not sure. I was actually incredibly confused for a good portion of the book. All these things are happening, and Elisabeth is talking about and doing all these things, yet I had absolutely no freaking clue what was going on, until maybe 2/3rds of the way through. And this being a short story, that was pretty close to the end.
I was a bit confused as it's mentioned that Elisabeth likes to have a little bit of blood mixed in with her beverage, so at first I was like "Is she a vampire?" but no, she's not. I'd definitely place this in the Urban Fantasy category as it's based in the real world, though I'm not a hundred percent sure where the Delacourt Academy is based. I'm not sure if it's in like a pocket of another universe, or is it's actually based in the real world and cloaked. It's not really explained. I know that storms apparently don't happen there and she wants to turn it into an art school, but that's about it. And Elisabeth often makes mention of having failed to 'save' characters...though they're still walking around conversing with her, and I'm pretty sure they're not spirits. So, yeah, as I said, this was a giant ball of confusion that I still have so many questions about. I do understand the whole Physical/Psychic war that's happening, to some extent. I'm assuming the physicals are some form of shifter? As it's not really explained. and the Psychics have mental abilities from what I could work out.
The writing itself was absolutely beautiful, and the world and characters are incredibly intriguing. I especially enjoyed the characters of Victoria, Elisabeth and the butler..(I wanna say Alfred, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong). I'm intrigued to see where the story goes, and I'm really eager to get some freaking answers to my myriad of questions after finishing this. So I will continue with the series and see how we go from there.
Elisabeth Delroy has spent her entire existence attempting to fix the world. However, she realises that it's not going the way she had hoped it would. One night, her life is given new purpose when she is visited by the voice of the voiceless one, who gives her a mission. Protect a child that is yet to be born, he has immense power, and the ability to bring back someone who was lost to Elisabeth many moons ago. He will be The Dreamwalker.
I found the premise of this story to be super intriguing, and can we please just take a second to bask in the gloriousness that is that cover?! How freaking beautiful is it!!! I must admit, the cover is what made me click on the book in the first place, without that, I may have completely moved past this book without downloading it from the email I received.
While the premise was super interesting and had me needing to know more, I felt that the execution of the story itself was lacking a little. We're constantly bombarded by talk of 'him' and no, I don't mean (at least I don't think so) God or one of the many versions of Gods. We are just treated to Elisabeth missing 'him' and thinking about all the things 'he' did and could have done had he not....died? Disappeared? Been kidnapped? I'm honestly not sure...I'm assuming he was wiped from existence somehow, but to be honest, I don't even know who 'he' is. It's never explained...I'm not sure if this is something that is explained in the series? I'm assuming it would have to be, it seems like a pretty large cornerstone of the whole story. Was I meant to read the series before this book so I had a better idea of what was going on? I'm honestly not sure. I was actually incredibly confused for a good portion of the book. All these things are happening, and Elisabeth is talking about and doing all these things, yet I had absolutely no freaking clue what was going on, until maybe 2/3rds of the way through. And this being a short story, that was pretty close to the end.
I was a bit confused as it's mentioned that Elisabeth likes to have a little bit of blood mixed in with her beverage, so at first I was like "Is she a vampire?" but no, she's not. I'd definitely place this in the Urban Fantasy category as it's based in the real world, though I'm not a hundred percent sure where the Delacourt Academy is based. I'm not sure if it's in like a pocket of another universe, or is it's actually based in the real world and cloaked. It's not really explained. I know that storms apparently don't happen there and she wants to turn it into an art school, but that's about it. And Elisabeth often makes mention of having failed to 'save' characters...though they're still walking around conversing with her, and I'm pretty sure they're not spirits. So, yeah, as I said, this was a giant ball of confusion that I still have so many questions about. I do understand the whole Physical/Psychic war that's happening, to some extent. I'm assuming the physicals are some form of shifter? As it's not really explained. and the Psychics have mental abilities from what I could work out.
The writing itself was absolutely beautiful, and the world and characters are incredibly intriguing. I especially enjoyed the characters of Victoria, Elisabeth and the butler..(I wanna say Alfred, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong). I'm intrigued to see where the story goes, and I'm really eager to get some freaking answers to my myriad of questions after finishing this. So I will continue with the series and see how we go from there.
May 12, 2019
Intrigued...I feel like this story was a tease. The reader is constantly getting hints at deeper meanings & background stories w/out actually giving too much away. What are Physicals? Who is HE? You want the answers. I do wish Physicals & whatever species these beings are were explained. You end up inferring things but...??? Anyway, I'm intrigued enough to give the 1st novel a read. If the writer doesn't explain more about the world, the creatures & beings, & the War...then I'm done. It has great potential.
February 12, 2019
Such a struggle to rate this one because it's beautifully written but... makes for a confusing read. It's better than "ok", but as a pre-series prequel it's not quite the most enjoyable thing.
There's a lady, a headmistress of an English school, named Elisabeth. She's suffering from memories of events that seem to have not happened, or at least not in her current reality, and cravings for bloody meat. One night she is visited by... a talking elk. It tells her she must find and protect a child who is yet to be born somewhere in France. By her lack of reaction, this appears to be fairly normal for her. Why? Something about Immortals and Mortals, Physicals and Psychics... Whatever. She's got a mission, and her Resistance allies are going to make it happen... Somehow.
So maybe you see my problem with this. Off the bat, there's a talking elk. Who/what the "Voice of the Voiceless" is remains a mystery to the end of the book. Who/what Elisabeth and her cohorts are remains a mystery until roughly 50-60% of the way through, and even then it's just a few world-specific terms (Physicals, Immortals etc). What that actually means I'm still not sure. There are those not-memories and references to "one taken from the world" that are just as confusing. There's also something to do with a Purge and the Black Rose organisation, lots of different supernatural types and their tangled affairs, lovers and traitors, magic, darkness, death... And of course, the child who will be born to greatness.
I loved the tone, the polished writing (seriously, amazingly polished), the action, the oddball characters with their prickly relationships... But that inability to explain the background of what was going on and why was a bit of a deal-breaker. I felt frustrated that even by the end I was no closer to getting what all these supernatural world people and organisations were. It seems like a case of the reader's ignorance of the story world being forgotten. Maybe this would work as a prequel to be read after further full Delacourt stories have been released, when the world setup has been laid out.
One day I hope to understand the significance of the talking elk, because there's a lot of love and craft gone into writing this short story. It's just missing the information that would make it all make sense to a Delacourt newbie like me.
There's a lady, a headmistress of an English school, named Elisabeth. She's suffering from memories of events that seem to have not happened, or at least not in her current reality, and cravings for bloody meat. One night she is visited by... a talking elk. It tells her she must find and protect a child who is yet to be born somewhere in France. By her lack of reaction, this appears to be fairly normal for her. Why? Something about Immortals and Mortals, Physicals and Psychics... Whatever. She's got a mission, and her Resistance allies are going to make it happen... Somehow.
So maybe you see my problem with this. Off the bat, there's a talking elk. Who/what the "Voice of the Voiceless" is remains a mystery to the end of the book. Who/what Elisabeth and her cohorts are remains a mystery until roughly 50-60% of the way through, and even then it's just a few world-specific terms (Physicals, Immortals etc). What that actually means I'm still not sure. There are those not-memories and references to "one taken from the world" that are just as confusing. There's also something to do with a Purge and the Black Rose organisation, lots of different supernatural types and their tangled affairs, lovers and traitors, magic, darkness, death... And of course, the child who will be born to greatness.
I loved the tone, the polished writing (seriously, amazingly polished), the action, the oddball characters with their prickly relationships... But that inability to explain the background of what was going on and why was a bit of a deal-breaker. I felt frustrated that even by the end I was no closer to getting what all these supernatural world people and organisations were. It seems like a case of the reader's ignorance of the story world being forgotten. Maybe this would work as a prequel to be read after further full Delacourt stories have been released, when the world setup has been laid out.
One day I hope to understand the significance of the talking elk, because there's a lot of love and craft gone into writing this short story. It's just missing the information that would make it all make sense to a Delacourt newbie like me.
April 8, 2019
I really enjoyed this short story. The characters and world are well-described and there are many elements of surprise. I definitely want more! I highly recommend this short fantasy and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this ebook from the author and this is my honest and freely given opinion.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this ebook from the author and this is my honest and freely given opinion.
September 27, 2025
Short and Sweet. Just enough to get you interested enough to want to read the rest of the series.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews