The Octunnumi Fosbit Files Prologue - aka - Book 1.

The Octunnumi Fosbit Files #1

by Trevor Alan Foris

TO DISCOVER MORE ON THE OCTUNNUMI ADVENTURE HEAD TO,

the-octunnumi.com


Things you should know before embarking on The Octunnumi Journey;

The Octunnumi does not exist.

Fosbit and any files relating to a Fosbit do not exist.

The Tarelen peoples that protect and provide sanctuary for the Avitens of Fethrist are not real.

The abilities of the Tarelen peoples with their heightened skills, living in their Utopian world are myth, their purpose here mere tales; rumours of their reincarnations enabling them to live many lives… ridiculous!

And there is definitely no magic.

None at all.

No, really, there isn’t.

Magic is not a thing.

There are also no hidden worlds or mythical beings coexisting just out of sight.

Equally, there are no secret access points to these hidden worlds that don’t exist, and there is no, 'unfinished business from the past' that is set to destroy, well, anything.

There is no disaster looming.

Anyway, regardless of any potential threat that may or may not be present, this publication, The Octunnumi and any reference to any other beings is a work of fiction.

And for the record, Scariodintts, should they exist, are perfectly lovely beings whose purpose in life is grossly misunderstood.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Adventure, New Adult, Adult

Unknown Binding

First published March 1, 2020

About the author

Only available to purchase from our website;

www.the-octunnumi.com

The Octunnumi, a just out of sight, doesn’t really exist world of mythical creatures and magic.

Of course the mythical creatures take great issue with this title as they are of course not mythical at all, being the native inhabitants of the planet Earth way before – well a long time ago; and as for magic, there is no such thing.

Like the aforementioned non-mythical creatures, the abilities of the Tarelen peoples are in no way magical.

After all, mind control, telepathic communication, telekinetic control over objects is no different to any one of us breathing and is that considered magic? No, of course not, although a rock might disagree.

Keep tuned for more information on publication dates

Reviews

[EmmaSkies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Edit 10/7/22:While I actually rated this book 2 stars, I'm dropping this to a 1 star on principle because the official account for this book is in my comments any time I post anything about not liking it (which I think I've done maybe 3 times in almost 2 years). Everyone has a different perspective on where the line is for whether reviews are or are not for authors, but I'd like to think we can all agree that spamming my comments online is over that line. You don't need to respond to every comment on my videos that mentions your book tagging other reviews and larger creators who did like it.

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This book was 2 1/2 stars for me right up until the ending. 2 stars.

The overwhelming feeling I get from this book is that the author had a really cool idea for a universe and was way more interested in creating the world than putting together a cohesive plot within it. I’ve never thought a book had *too much* world building, but this book could really do with a little less of that in favor of...a plot.
This book is extremely confusing most of the time, and not in the fun way. It’s chock full of made up words with horrid pronunciations my brain was constantly tripping over (which made for a very stuttery reading experience) that are more often than not ether not explained at all or only vaguely explained. I kid you not, there is some absolutely fundamental explanations for the way the book’s universe works and the entire operation of the characters’ lives...over 200 pages in. Things that should be explained aren’t, things that really don’t matter are explained in too much detail, and the big plot really doesn’t seem to start until about 300 pages in to a 460 page book. And then 160 pages later the book ends in the middle of a scene. Seriously, smack in the middle of a conversation when it FINALLY feels like things were moving.

((edit: I removed a bit here where I talked about not liking the choice to use apostrophes instead of quotation marks through the entire book. I'm not a fan of this but it seems to be a British stylistic thing, so not something to hold against the book)) The two main characters end up feeling like the only ones that are really fleshed out and everyone else is just kind of...there.

Overall, not a book I enjoyed and not something that made me want to pursue the rest of the series as it releases. More often than not I was just confused and felt like I was running on a treadmill: expending the energy but getting nowhere for it.

[litandcoffee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Octunnumi Fosbit Files Prologue by Trevor Alan Foris is not your usual sci-fi/fantasy. The plot is one of a kind and implementation of the theme is equally unique: so much so that reading it makes you feel as if it’s written by someone from some another planet. Yes, literally!

The Octunnumi is an alliance of different innesomids, its main purpose is to keep all the innesomids safe. The inhabitants of Octunnumi have special abilities and are able to visit any myth, fantasy, and make believe. The brothers, Reig and Trad with their special abilities and heightened skills travel between different innesomids by opening various access points to perform certain assignments: mainly to fix things. Nate Fosbit, a voluntary exiled member of Octunnumi, who had chosen to live in Fethrist in the past suddenly reappears with destruction at his hands and revenge on his mind. The various innesomids are at risk of being completely destroyed and it’s up to two brothers, with the help of their mother Meiegryn, the Commanding Officer of Octunnumi, Edgar Fosbit, Nate’s estranged father, and other officials of Octunnumi to get to Nate before it gets too late.

The story is quite complicated and needs a thorough reading to get it completely. It is full of adventure: imagine having an ability to visit any fairy tale or to go back to any time period you find amusing. That’s what inhabitants of the Octunnumi are able to do. The brothers take readers on a journey filled with various adventures. Trevor, the inner voice of Reig is enthralling and makes for fascinating conversations between the brothers. Reig is practical whereas Trad is sweet though grumpy at times; not that you can blame him much considering Reig’s panache for keeping things a secret. There are too many characters: the other beings, some half living-half machines, ordinary inhabitants and bewitchers, but if you’ve patience you will get to know them in time. And the book, as the title states, is just a prologue (the whole book, yes!) so, the things should be more focused and clearer in the next in series: the actual story.

There is one thing I would like to say: the initial journey of brothers which takes readers on various adventures is, no doubt, quite exploratory, gets tedious at times. The entry of villain though happens quite early in the story, it takes almost three quarter of book to get to start of actual destructive events. A tight editing would have made things more focused and sharper.

Usually I’m a person who is not for movie version of books, but this book would make for a great sci-fi movie I feel; as in case of ‘The Lord of Rings’, the reading gets too tedious at times but watching the movies is solely entertaining.

I’m tempted to say this book is not for everyone. Only if you are a hard-core sci-fi fan, you would like and appreciate the beauty of The Octunnumi Fosbit Files Prologue.

[Derryn Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t even tell you what happened in this book but at least I’m not the only one because neither could the author.

When I first saw the octunnimi i was so interested. I’d seen people talking about the concept of this book being a big mystery and I was desperate to read it. I hadn’t seen anyone talk about the storyline. Turns out, that’s because there wasn’t one. At first I was very confused about everything that was talked about but that’s typical for these types of books. I was grateful for the pronunciations and definitions at the back of the book. However, I soon came to realise these definitions were too vague to be of much use and it was tedious having to constantly refer to them. By halfway through the book I still didn’t really know what was happening. With less than 100 pages till the end it just started to read as poor quality fanfiction.

The world that was being created throughout was so huge and complex that it was not created clearly and it was hard to understand most of what was happening. I took to just blindly accepting things despite not being able to visualise any of it. This was definitely due to the fact that certain things were described in so much detail and other important aspects were merely hinted at. There would be paragraphs describing the interior design of one room but the concept of “higher abilities” was simply mentioned. I still have no idea what constitute as higher abilities, what the limits are, who have them, etc etc. Don’t even get me started on “Innesomids” and the “layers” that barely got a half-decent explanation even though it was a huge factor in the world created.

In addition to this, key parts of the supposed “plot” were only hinted at. There was barely any information given about important things that would move the story along and it was almost as if the reader was expected to already know all these facts despite never being mentioned before and never being properly explained. There comes a time in books like this when the author really needs to clearly spell out what is happening. Unfortunately, this never happened. To make things worse, the characters would go on huge tangents about irrelevant creatures and stories that I’m guessing was supposed to be an attempt at humour but was really just irritating and did nothing to progress the story.

On the topic of failed humour, the dialogue seemed to be aiming for witty banter but did not hit home in the slightest. It just came across as cringe and awkward. There is not a single person who speaks like the way these characters spoke? The dialogue looked like sentences used in a formal essay rather than actual speech.

On top of all of this, the grammar was dreadful. It was as if the author didn’t know how to use commas so opted to barely use them at all. This made for sentences that were really hard to read and the whole experience became so much more frustrating.

I am genuinely shocked at the amount of positive reviews surrounding this book. I feel as if I must have read a different version because there is no way anyway could have read this and understood any of it (let alone enjoyed it) enough to rate it 5 stars when the plot was non-existent. I feel like I have wasted 10 days of my life reading this book.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book; I think the concept for the book and the fantasy world were interesting, but the poor writing kept pulling me out of the story so I was never fully immersed. Maybe I’m being a bit too high-brow, but I made a list of things that bugged me with the writing—

The dialogue is unbelievable, and almost remarkably so
An example of an actual conversation from the book—

"Sorry about that, old chap”
“You could have killed us”
“Nonsense, old chap”
“You blew up the house”
“Necessary, old chap, necessary”

Beyond being annoying, the dialogue was also frustratingly unbelievable in that one character would explain everything. EVERYTHING. And solely for the reader’s benefit; other characters in the scenes were already aware of these things, but this character would go on a 3-page, multi-paragraph, uninterrupted explanation of some of the most basic elements of this world. It reminds me of when my English teachers used to hound me to “show, not tell.” This is not showing; this is telling. People don't talk like that, and what a boring way to learn about a fantasy world.

Lack of dynamic female characters, and gross descriptions of women
I’ll let this one speak for itself—

He’s not sure if she is wearing a short skirt or a wide belt, but he is quite sure her top was meant for a child. One with a flat chest; a chest that did not bounce with each step.

The author then described this character walking as —

Jiggling her way around the room.

🤢🤢🤢

General inconsistencies in writing style
This bugged me a bunch; the most frustrating example was when a character who had only been called by his first name was suddenly being referred to by his last name... 300 pages into the book. And not in dialogue or anything, in the actual text. This wouldn't have been so much of an issue if this particular character didn’t share a last name with multiple other characters in the scene...

Wayy too much reliance on the “definitionarys," and even then the "definitionarys" is unbelievably obscure
I initially loved that my copy of this book came with a little bookmark-sized dictionary, but quickly grew to despise the thing because of how much the author relied on it to build his world and tell the story. The first few pages of The Octunnumi are nearly impossible to get through without needing to look up words in the dictionary for almost every sentence-- sometimes multiple words within a sentence. Does this add to the plot or the world-building? In my opinion, no. Not at all.

And as if looking back and forth didn't pull me out of the story enough, the dictionary itself is incredibly obscure. Almost every term that is defined has multiple vague and wordy definitions; sometimes including other terms that need to be looked up, with their own vague and wordy definitions. Not to mention that multiple of the terms have the SAME vague and wordy definition, and it isn't clear WHY until your neck is cramping from going back and forth between the book and the dictionary so frequently.

Anyways, /end rant.

If you’re able to ignore these things while you’re reading, you might really like this book. But if things like this will frustrate you and pull you out of the flow of the story, I’d recommend skipping it.

[Switched On · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story begins innocuously enough with teenage brothers and their banter and play fighting. The main premise is soon revealed to be that a group of children is missing, so bring on suspicions of who is responsible and speculation on motives, and questions like do they even want to be found? That’s when it’s hard to tear yourself away from the immersive story Trevor Alan Foris has created.

There’s a part of the story where characters literally walk into and become part of a painting and that’s very much like my experience of reading this surreal tale, set in such rich landscapes. It’s like Foris has curated a whole bunch of his weirdest dreams and put them together in an exhibition that you can climb right into. By the end I’m not sure I wanted to climb out again...

[Mundy Reimer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm...honestly, this is one of those books that are rather difficult to review. If you were going to read this without any foreknowledge, you'll definitely be in for a delightful treat. The author not only throws you into a story composed of equal parts fantasy and science fiction, but for those that have a strong literary diet and crave novelty then you'll also be in for a pleasant morsel of tasty metafiction.

The setting takes place in a universe composed of many side-by-side Innesomids, which are basically parallel worlds that are unique in their people and construction and can be traveled between. In this universe there are worlds similar to our own featuring really cool steampunk-like mechanical tech, worlds that shape themselves to our very own desires, worlds that permit the creation of things from thought alone, and even wacky worlds such as those that live entirely within a Turner painting!

World-building is definitely one of, if not the most strongest feature of this novel. You'll get a delightful serving of fantastical creatures and endearing minor characters such as found in some cutesy Disney Pixar movie. This is also where the aforementioned metafictional element plays heavily. Not only are you caught off guard pretty early on with an interactive narrator with charmingly impeccable manners, but since fictional worlds being created from thought alone drives much of the magic in this universe, we as readers also get to witness this story itself being subject to that same vein of meta-breaking-the-fourth-wall-ness. Adding further magic to this piece is the amusing spin on our language and terminology. In fact, included with the physical copy of this book is an artsy bookmark that also functions as a dictiona…*ahem*...I mean definitionary and simultaneous pronouncery. Yes, I know, somewhat cheesy, but I kinda like it and you'll get used to more of this as you progress further into the book.

Some of the magic / sci-fi elements are really cool in this story too. I really enjoyed some of the ways characters are able to manipulate reality in this novel, such as taking one's hand and plucking one's surroundings out of the air and replacing it with another, or splaying out one's memory as if it was a digital carousel on one's computer screen, and expanding or contracting memory images like one would Minority Report style that is now so ubiquitous in use on our digital devices. The imagery the author paints is quite vivid and imaginative too, bringing me back to my childhood days reading something like Harry Potter.

Character-wise we mainly follow these two twins that remind me of the Winchester brothers in the American TV series, Supernatural, except for the fact that they bicker way much more all throughout the book! They seem to act as agents off on this mission for a secret organization they work for (yes, very U.K./espionage-esque of them, haha), and we get to witness their adventures as they gallop from one magical world to the next trying to solve this mystery of these missing children. And gosh, indeed do they and everybody else seem to always think of the children! Not only is the plot of this story centered around them, but every character's relationships with each other happen to stem from some kind of theme of abandoning or abandonment that has occurred.

Okay…*sigh*...now for the hard part...the criticism. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm going to try my best to articulate it. And I'm really really hoping 🤞 I don't come across as too harsh as it seems this author and team behind the book are good people (every sale of this book gets directly donated to the Goodheart Animal Sanctuaries for example). The author/team also seem to go out of their way to interact personally with their readers with gratitude (both on Twitter and Instagram for example), which is something I find endearing and has definitely earned a place in my heart. However, if I am to uphold my dearest principles of honesty and truth, then I'll have to also explain what didn't exactly sit well with me.

Okie dokes, so the best way I can sum this up is that there was something off about this book's pacing and cadence, so much so that I found it quite off-putting in how it affected the core structure of this book. It started off with the incessant teeter-tottering between comedic-relief and seriousness with the main characters. I understand that this was the type of entertainment that the author wanted to depict in this relationship dynamic, but it seemed to have been milked too much to the point of being rather unrealistic. It calls to mind something similar to a Terry Prachett novel, but for some reason it didn't fit with what I thought the author was going for (and certainly was nothing too philosophical. Some basic ethical stances are injected, most likely stemming from the author's personal views, but nothing too deep or nuanced here).

This unsettling cadence of the novel was further potentiated with the author's almost amphetamine-induced manic writing style, with meandering plotlines flitting from scene to scene, reminiscent of oneiric/dream logic where continuity of thought plays second fiddle to wildly imaginative descriptions of scenery or brief snippets of cheeky dialogue. It's almost as if scenes are sketched out and then yanked right out from under you just so that the author can fulfill their love for inserting sassy back-and-forth banter between certain characters. And let it be noted that I'm definitely okay with tracking my line of thought through this mayhem (I mean, it definitely can't get worse than certain German philosophers that I've read), but the part that I found troubling was that this upset my flow of emotional investment into the particular scene and had a staccato-like interruption effect on my suspension of disbelief needed to completely immerse myself. And this kept happening over and over again. I know some authors can get carried away with their love for this type of writing, but editors, you gotta rein this in!

In fact, this novel was incredible in its world-building, but because of the above the novel came across as world-building for world-building's sake. To make matters worse, many of the characters are rather one/two-off and are introduced and then never really play any further part in driving the plot forward. Take for instance Ectrovea's awesome kick-butt little Tuilieg girls which start out the novel and then we rarely even hear about them until briefly at the very end such that it is so inconsequential as to not matter much at all. The same can be said for Mikey and the briefcase scene, Grace and her role as daughter to Nate, Mansfield and the mechanical horses, Cettreis and her relationship, Prince Regent Eblon...and the list goes on! This extraneous worldbuilding builds up so much so that we never really even experience the real meat of the story until roughly 3/4's of our way into the novel! Again, this might just be nitpicking the author's natural writing style, but I would have really preferred a more causally interwoven novel with less extraneous flights of fancy. It makes the novel come across as a Marvel superhero-type movie--incredibly enjoyable in short manic bursts with delightfully entertaining character quips, but proves to be rather empty calorie-wise when mulled over in its entirety. One never-ending Scariodintt if you will ;)

And I guess if I'm being honest, that's where most of my beef lies. Am I alone in thinking this and just totally uncalibrated in my expectations? 😱 I searched the web and also read many of the reviews here on Goodreads about this book. For some reason, nobody seems to go into too deep or thorough of a review and they all pretty much parrot each other with no original thought or nuanced critique. Are they stuck in a hive-mind induced Hitherentt? Did they even read the whole book before hyping everything up through some sort of recursive group virtue-signaling? Okay okay, I'll stop here and I apologize if this is a bit mean to be assuming bad motives on the part of others. I mean, this also can be partially explained by not many people having access to or knowing about this book to give it a decent enough review. From here on out I'll try to adopt a charitable belief, but I just wanted to sincerely express some of my thoughts in candor.

Anyways, with my probably too-harsh criticism aside, did I mention this first book was only the Prologue? Yup, that might explain some of the author's emphasis on world-building at the expense of pacing. Regardless, it implies that there might potentially be other books coming out, and it seems like the right thing to do is to give this author another chance and grant some of my time to read and digest that novel too once it comes out (and if need be, update my review accordingly). Here's me sincerely wishing the best for the next book to be brilliant 😊

And on a last note, this book came with a neat Augmented Reality component that functions through an app you can download on your device. The latter's GUI seems to be developed with phones in mind, rather than tablets (it has certain sizing issues), so just keep that in mind. The physical book itself came in luxuriously beautiful packaging and the book is one of the prettiest things on my shelf right now. Kudos to the aesthetic team members behind this! Oh, and again, thank you for being really awesome beings and caring about animals ❤️

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Mr Tradien, I am not telling you, I am narrating: that’s my job.’

According to the little we know about him/her, author Trevor Alan Foris is ‘currently halfway through the second of many, many books that are The Octunnumi, a just out of sight, doesn’t really exist world of mythical creatures and magic. Of course the mythical creatures take great issue with this title as they are of course not mythical at all, being the native inhabitants of the planet Earth way before – well a long time ago; and as for magic, there is no such thing. Like the aforementioned non-mythical creatures, the abilities of the Tarelen peoples are in no way magical. After all, mind control, telepathic communication, telekinetic control over objects is no different to any one of us breathing and is that considered magic? No, of course not, although a rock might disagree.’

A richly colorful – both verbally and visually- epic novel seems daunting at first, but the author seems to be giving us permission to lose time and place and sense and reason and juts string along with the wild meanderings this story presents.

Perhaps the best introduction to the lyrical writing by Trevor is to offer the opening lines of the book for an appreciation of the style and color in store: ‘Are you insane?’ Octunnumi Alliance Operatives, Reigous Sedwint Eniexous and Tradien Everwick Thivimus, currently enjoying their most recent regeneration as eighteen year-olds for the umpteenth time, crouch, their backs against one of the many concrete pillars that support the crumbling roof of the abandoned warehouse. Through the gloom, overturned boxes, crates, tables and chairs that lie scattered about the vast space are highlighted by the purple moonlight filtering through the begrimed windows high above them. ‘We don’t have time for this, Trad,’ Reig continues in a hissed whisper to his twin. ‘If she finds out—’ ‘Relax,’ Trad replies, flicking his hand in the direction of a stack of large crates opposite them. When they collapse and reveal nothing, he grumbles, ‘Dammit, I could have sworn…’ ‘Relax!’ Reig exclaims. ‘You’ve brought us to an Innesomid we are not supposed to be in, slap in the middle of a... a…’ streaks of white light zap around them, dislodging Reig’s hat and sending it spinning on its side across the floor. Rolling his eyes, he continues, ‘… a war zone, when we should in fact be heading to Fethrist, also an Innesomid not on our to do list, I might add, but given where we actually are, that would be preferable.’’

Too ominous to summarize, the following hints at the flow of the book’s content – The Octunnumi is an alliance of individuals who have unique powers, that are used to protect the Innesomids, which are territories that share the same time and space. 18-year-old brothers Rieg and Trad are agents of the Octunnumi, and although they leap between the Innesomids to tackle pretty minor problems, they suddenly find themselves tasked with preventing a former member from destroying everything in a heinous revenge plot. Will they succeed? Or will life be over as they know it. This is an unforgettable journey through many magnificent worlds, heading toward the ultimate confrontation with a villain set on destroying it all.

There is a passage from Shakespeare’s Tempest that shares a similar atmosphere – ‘And like the baseless fabric of this vision, “The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself— Yea, all which it inherit—shall dissolve, And like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.’ Be patient on this journey to enter another world.

[Jon Mackley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is likely to be an unpopular opinion, but I didn't get on with this book. I really tried.

To start with, the book is very well packaged, boxed, wrapped, it makes you feel that you're getting something special. And the black edges makes it more forbidding.

I have nit-picks with the page design. I found the marginalia distracting. And, you know how Microsoft automatically puts an additional space between the lines of paragraphs. Yeah, that. Some of the punctuation (especially around speech is missing), and there are places where the left hand side is indented, and sometimes it's not, and that’s nothing to do with the text curling around the marginalia.

As for the book itself. It's amusing in places, but in others, the (over) writing is horribly self-indulgent, and at times it's infantile (and offensive). Haven't we moved on from the male gaze and describing women? The banter between the two main characters is annoying, likewise the meta-narrative with “Trevor” and while some of the chapters I read were amusing, I felt they didn’t move the story along.

Mostly, however, having read more than half the book, I was feeling like I didn't care what was happening. Didn't care about the characters of the situations they were in. Didn't care for the stereotypes. And, with around 200 pages left, the only thing I cared about was that there were better things I could be doing with my time.

From the reviews here on Goodreads, I can see that loads of people are enjoying it and good luck to you all. It just didn't work for me.

[The Book F G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a real surprise for me. A positive one!
Whilst I have previously read futuristic dystopian novels, vampire and werewolf books, and some science fiction, I have always shied away from anything involving dragons, "faes" and "fairies" as being to "out there" for me. I therefore consider this my first proper "fantasy" novel.
Actually, from page one and the first mention of fairies, faes, weapons I did not understand and people with odd names, I thought I would not like this book and should just stop reading now, and yet, somehow, I could not make myself stop and kept turning the pages and was completely involved with the characters and storyline before I even knew it.
Loved it! The way the worlds, storyline and characters are built is brilliant, very complex and engaging.

[Pantoffel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book, I really did and I tried very hard.

It came in this beautiful, very thoughtful wrapping, with a handy bookmark-sized dictionary. The cover felt great, very velvety (that is now full of smudges and fingerprints...). I especially liked the little "Welcome Home" sign on the inside of the wrapping!

I didn't read any reviews or spoilers, I just had the "summary" and hype to go by. So the start was a bit bumpy, I didn't enjoy the dictionary as much as I thought I would, because I had to look up a word almost every other sentences. The definitions were very vague, some even using other words I had to look up. What might have been fun pulled me out of the story again and again - the words not easy to remember and plentiful. But I kept going because I thought I was just rusty with reading fantasy books. But it didn't stop at that.

I love the idea and the world that was created within the book, I really do, it had so much potential and such interesting constellations, but I did not enjoy the read and here is why:

I always felt like I was one step behind the characters trying to understand what they were doing and why. As a reader we are following two brothers and they are just randomly jumping from one scene to a completely different scene without even a hint of reason. Important scenes that might have connected them were happening in the Off. As well as a lot of action, which ended in a lot of Tell and little Show. Scenes were cut off when something happened only to be TALKED ABOUT in the next scene. That put me off a lot of times and it made me really sad because the few scenes that were different immediately grabbed my attention and brought my pulse up.. Only to run into the same wall of "let's talk about it instead" shortly after.

While I tried to love the characters, we just didn't click. It took me at least half the book to even be able to distinguish between the brothers. I didn't much care for any of the myriad of other characters that were introduced, because they just didn't connect with me or the main characters either.

At no point in the story did I feel that anything was at stake, that there was urgency or a problem to be solved. Things just fell into place, one scene after another and the characters were not worried, not really frightened, not desperate... They just did their thing, following their plan that the reader - although following them the whole time - wasn't privy to and immediately solving it (whatever it was). I think that was the biggest turn off for me. They didn't seem to care, why should I?

And even though there was a loooottt of talk, nothing was ever really said. I could have filled a bingo with "no time, I'll explain later". Later never came.

I understand it's a 460 pages long "prologue". Things need to be set up and stay unclear - but not everything. Insight into the characters would have been nice.

I'm sorry this isn't a good review. I was excited to read the book, I loved the wrapping and the premise. I loved the design and I hopefully made it through the whole book waiting to be wooed.

I wasn't and not even the cliffhanger makes me care.

[Under The · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot of books; I read every night before I go to sleep.
This is my new favorite world. I forgot a lot of the time that it was a debut novel. It moves quickly enough to keep you hooked, but gives you enough to get invested in the characters. It really is a roller coaster of emotions, characters having to face difficult choices, some of which become clearer later on. I really can not wait for the next book from Trevor Alan Foris, I read it far too quickly, it was over far too soon, so I will probably read it again to spot all the bits I missed!

[Brittany (whatbritreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for review!*

I’ve never quite read a book like this. It was so unique and carefully crafted that I have to give it credit for that. You can tell how much work has gone into the characters, the world, the magic system and the lore. It even has an APP where you can scan pages of the book and have an AR experience, I mean, come on?! There’s also really good social commentary throughout on a lot of political and social issues, such as how colonisers have exploited several communities and how we as a race are destroying the planet.

While I can appreciate all of that for what it is, I will say I found myself really overwhelmed and confused by this book. As soon as I thought I knew what was going on, by the next chapter I got confused again. The pacing is very fast yet I still found myself taking forever to get through it. I think this comes down to the sheer amount going on constantly. There’s an entire new vocabulary to become comfortable with, a lot of information presented in quick succession, and so so many characters. I would’ve liked a slower build up and more gentle introduction to all of this, but then again fantasy isn’t always my strongest genre and I do get confused easily. I feel like the majority of this book went over my head because I was just very confused.

It was very light-hearted and the content wasn’t too dark, which I enjoyed. The writing was in a similar style, and I found the jokes and sarcasm well done. I especially loved the relationships between Trad and Reig, the constant banter was amusing. Other than these two characters, though, I had no real connection to anyone else. Because there are so many personalities in one book it was difficult to get to know everyone. Having said this – this book is described as a ‘Prologue’ and so I’m hoping in future instalments they’ll be a clearer and slower development of both plot and character arcs.

Overall, if the premise of this book intrigues you I’d say go for it and make your own mind up. It’s certainly a weird read to say the least, but beautifully crafted both external and internally.

[Bita Mancera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to apologize to every other fantasy world because nothing will ever be as good as The Octunnumi.

This being said here are the things I loved:
The world building
The introduction to the characters
The development of the villain
The world/magic system

What I didn’t love:
This book very clearly states that it is a prequel, so they introduce us to the characters, the world, the politics, the villain, and the problem, but since its a PREQUEL, nothing gets solved.
I also wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, I feel like the last 20 pages diverted from the plot and gave us a random scenario that would be okay for the middle of the book, not for the ending.
This being said the book does give you a clear clue of where we the next books are going and I cannot wait to read them.

In conclusion this book lives up to the hype, and I beg you to go into the book without looking for reviews or trying to figure out what its about, it gives the fantasy experience an amazing twist that I wish more books had.

[Sarah Swann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will probably be one of the hardest books for me to review. I felt a bit confused throughout the book, but it was so descriptive and written so well that I didn’t mind being confused? It took me about halfway to really cling on to the story and understand what was happening. I loved the brothers and their banter. Trevor and Veebee were fantastic characters throughout the story and kept me smiling. The fantasy worlds and timelines were so magical I could clearly see them in front of me as I was reading. I ended up very much enjoying this and will be looking forward to the next book when it makes an appearance. I’m happy I purchased and read this book!

[Mel | Hot Plots and One Shots · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars because I DNF’d after 200 pages. Hear me out. I LOVE Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Those genres are my jam! I wanted to love this book so much! I was “little school kid” excited when this came in the mail. I think this book, for me, was the equivalent of the Barnes and Noble trips when I was a kid where I would buy a book from the “young readers” section just because the cover of the book showed a gemstone or costume jewelry necklace inside. “The Octunnumi does not exist” is a cool concept for a book and makes it really intriguing—especially with the kick ass cover and pages—but it was just...eh.
This was a beautiful book with an okay AR app experience, however, I couldn’t get past the world building. I feel as if the prologue should have made the story more clear. Now, I get that an epic fantasy world takes A WHILE to build.....but 250pages?! Come on! I might try this again after I’ve put it back on the shelf to stew for a bit. I don’t know. I just wasn’t excited to read this...it felt like a chore.

[Lila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic is not real.

The Octunnumi Fosbit Files Prologue is a unique sci-fi/fantasy book concept. If I were to describe it to someone, I would say it is a blend of Star Wars and Dr. Who universes. That should give you an idea what it is like.

I was blown away by this, and I haven't had a book that I loved so much in a while. I predict it will soon be one of those books all of us booklovers reference. One thing I cannot wait is for the cosplayers to arrive. I want to see people dressed up as part of the Alliance.

The Octunnumi does not exist.

One thing I was disappointed with was that my phone couldn't download the AR app. It is barely a year old and should be more than new to support it.... (I keep forgetting to email them to ask about it).

[Max C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the beginning of a series that I assume is going to be long, because the whole book is the prologue. I was shocked when I realized it wasn’t just the title, not to mention intrigued. I've been ignoring traditional novels for web novels recently because of their longevity, so I'm looking forward to the next installments in this series.
The book itself is pretty long, it took me a couple days to go through it and I’m usually a fast reader, but the story is interesting and I couldn’t wait to make it to the end.
In the story, we immediately start off with some action and we’re introduced to the brothers Trad and Reig who are Octunnumi operatives. From the first page you know this story is going to involve multiple worlds and settings, and starts with the brothers in a recent regeneration as eighteen year olds—this has happened plenty before, and will keep happening, I’m assuming well into the next installments in the series.
It opens with action so you’re drawn in right away, and more and more details paint the story for you as you keep on reading. The one thing I particularly love about the narrative, is that the Octunnumi go across worlds based on myths, legends and tales, and different time periods, and I’ve always had an interest in this area.

[Kiona · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the idea of this book and some of the banter between the two brothers even made me smile a time or two, but I had to stop reading this about halfway through.

I was confused the majority of the time, couldn’t understand the plot..was there a plot? I felt that the conversations between the twins were completely overplayed and took away from my experience reading it. I enjoyed the world building, but felt that the writing was extremely choppy, going from one topic to the next in such a quick transition leaving me extremely confused again.

I feel like the author had a brilliant idea in creating this new world (and other universes) but it was all executed rather poorly.

[Cool Your Boots · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across this E-book when someone I know was reading it and they loved how much the story had gripped them. The story telling and plot depth that Trevor Alan Foris has created with his extremely descriptive writing style. Not only was I wondering, constantly, what was going to happen next but I was so invested in the characters that I could not wait to read on to find out. If I can inspire one other person to read this then I am paying back for the review that I read, inspiring me to give it a go.

[Lia (Taylor's Version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

just trying to balance this idiots 1 star rating

[Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trying to figure out if this book would be worth the purchase was rather challenging. Very little information about it is given and the reviews on here were either very good (by readers who do their best to keep the mystery alive) or very bad.

Allow me to address these bad reviews: common claim #1 is that the story is ‘too complicated’. Honestly, it’s not. It’s no children’s book, so you are expected to focus and turn your brain on whilst reading, but looking at it and seeing it has words instead of pictures should be your first clue for that.
What is difficult to understand is how people too unfocused and quite frankly dumb to comprehend this story are able to write a review. Credit where credit’s due: well done Word Spelling check. Must have been a hell of a job correcting those texts.
Another complaint of these one or two star-givers who feel the need to write a review in which to display their own stupidity (not all bad reviews obviously: some people genuinely don’t connect to the story) is that the book contains too many characters (it’s mainly about 2 boys and the people they interact with. You should learn 2 names. Easy names, shortened for your convenience. If you feel like it, you may remember other characters’ names, but it is not a necessity) and the author had the audacity to create a new language (you read about 1 new word every 5 pages or so, which is then explained in the text but if necessary easy to look up in the included bookmark-dictionary and very easy to remember. If however you find this challenging, Qapla’ with the rest of your life. Valar Morghulis).
And then there are those who don’t get that a prologue is a set up to a story. It’s not the story itself. It is an explanation to help you understand what will follow in the story. This will be book 2. Not this one. Don’t complain about it. Just put the book down. You’re clearly not capable of reading the next 520 pages if you’ve already missed this one word IN THE TITLE. The rest of the story will be too complicated for you and you will feel the need to write a review which barely makes sense and has me scratching my head about how this whole Covid-pandemic could continue with such intelligent creatures in the world (this is sarcasm, if you weren’t catching on).

So when should you consider buying this book? I wanted to make a flowchart for this, but then I couldn’t be bothered. It’s easier to break it down into the following questions:
1) Do you enjoy supporting a good cause?
2) Do you understand what the word ‘prologue’ means?
3) Were you House Lannister, Stark or Targaryen?
4) ThlIngan Hol?
5) If you were a paladin, would you have a spoon for a weapon?
6) Do you own at least one set of dice (and do you know I’m not just talking about d6s)?
7) After The Something That Happened do you hope to be a Purple?
8) Do you know which river runs through Ankh-Morpork?
9) Have you ever Googled ‘Planet Nowhere’ and were you slightly disappointed to find out it didn’t actually exist? (If this is a Yes, than this book is great news for you!)

If you answered yes (or HISlaH) or understood the references to at least 2 of these questions, you should definitely buy this book.

[Woolfy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well the blurb promised me 'next level fantasy' and it definitely delivered. For the first 100 pages, I had no idea what I was reading, but I didn't care 'The Octunummi Fosbit Files' by Trevor Alan Foris completely draws you in and confuses and intrigues you, and makes you read the next page, in th hope that you will finally get you head wrapped around the plot and concepts. Stick with it and you will get there, and be gifted with an amazing journey through time and space, whilst not actually leaving one particular spot in time and space. It's quite the head scratcher, but it is so fun, so original, and so exciting. The protagonists, Trad and Reig are brothers who can jump from world to world, which are exist in the same time and space. But, they are so relatable they help to anchor the story down and give a touch of normality to a plot that is out of this world (even though they are reincarnates).

I would say that for a novel that seems to be aimed at the Young Adult market that it may be a little complicated for pre-teens, but other than that, this wonderful novel will surely appeal to all fans of fantasy or Sci-Fi fiction. If you are wondering if this book is the one for you, visit the official website and have a read of the large sample that is available.

[Audrey Lewis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard Pass!
I get it this book is beautiful, the marketing was incredible, but the book is not worth your time. It is confusing from start to finish. The plot and characters are poorly thought out. This book could have seriously used an editor. I was so disappointed because the concept is very cool, but the author fails to execute on it. The names and language is really hard to read, almost all the made up words are anagrams. The other frustrating part was the portrayal of all the female characters. It is chock full of the male gaze. Between the confusing and vague plot and the fact that this is supposed to be the first of 11, save your energy and read something else. It is at best a poor fanfiction of Dr. Who, at worst it reads like a high school creative writing assignment.

[Amy Imogene Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 where-was-the-plot stars

This pretty, gorgeous, absolutely irresistible package of a book is so much fun to hold and to have on your shelves. I bought it for the hype and I am 100% satisfied with my purchase. As a book collector, this will live on my shelf forever and look beautiful.

But did I love it??

...No. Sadly. I tried so, so hard to love this novel—but at the end of the day, when you strip the marketing, the blacked out pages, and the mysteriousness of the blurb from consideration... the story itself didn't do much for me.

I've been sitting on this all day, what to say for this review. Because after reading so many other reviews on Goodreads, Instagram, TikTok, you name it.. it seems like it's just me in this corner of hey, it was cool, but it wasn't amazing? I was bored, frankly. And I thought the plot struggled to make itself known between the choppy descriptions of really cool things and the goobledygook name pronunciations.

Not much... happens. I mean, in a very literal sense, the characters move from space to space quite frequently and talk, a LOT, to a lot of people in various settings. But my overall feeling for 80% of this 500 page "prologue" was one of looking at the metaphorical clock, going hey... I'd love for the story to start soon, thanks, and then... at the very, very last page, it felt like we were finally getting somewhere. (I hold a large candle of hope that due to the ending's takeoff, this "prologue" was meant to feel this way and the next volume will not have this issue.)

Reig and Trad are two twins who live in a different realm/reality within an organization known as the Octunnumi. Like a fantastical version of the Men in Black concept ( I am really, REALLY reducing the complexity of this book's premise with this comparison, and I know that, but this is a good likeness if you strip away the excess), the Octunnumi exists but the world of Earth doesn't know they exist. They pop in and out of these portal doors and affect/change/manipulate things in our world and we never, ever know they're there. They interface with magical beings and influence humans' opinions on art, culture, design, and technology.. all from behind the unseen curtain.

In the realm of the Octunnumi, Reig and Trad travel from fantastical section of the realm to fantastical section of the realm like an interdimensional train station/antique store/urban market hybrid that would make an AMAZING visual cornucopia of a movie. The descriptions are lush and the areas of the realm sound awesome. A playground for the imagination in every sense of the word.

But what are Reig and Trad doing, exactly, and what happens in this prologue?

Well, while still avoiding spoilers, let me just say... not much.

There's a plot thread of children, presumed dead from a failed rescue operation ages past, who have been identified as alive. This is the "core" plot of sorts, as Reig and Trad were on the rescue team and never got over this loss - so to find out these children are alive, yet still missing, has spurred the two boys into action to relocate them. The core plot, as much as it can be called such, is the twins moving around the realm talking to people and gathering people/ideas/things together loosely to work toward finding these missing children.

There's also a plot thread of Reig and Trad's old friend, Nicolas, who was forcefully ejected from the Octunnumi around the time of the failed rescue operation and condemned to a life on Earth due to his forbidden love with a girl outside his race. This comes back to bite the Octunnumi organization in the butt when Nicolas arrives on their doorstep many regenerations later (oh, did I mention all of these operatives endlessly regenerate/reincarnate instead of die? Yes, they do. It is unnecessarily confusing) with a mystery of his own and ulterior motives.

And, of course, there are Reig and Trad themselves. They were the most interesting to me at the start, as there was a fair amount of foreshadowing involved regarding a meta Narrator who interacts with the boys directly (the author of this book, self-inserted as their Narrator), some allusions to the some Things that will Happen Soon and other such nuggets. I was intrigued at their history and their future. However, like many other things about this novel, my fascination soon turned to boredom and eventually shifted into flat out exasperation as hundreds of pages flew by and Reig and Trad remained exactly the same. No character development or growth, no insights into their motivations and/or feelings of attachment, and ultimately no sense of what they cared about and/or wanted to happen. Unlike most novels, the main characters you get on page one are the exact same as the ones on the last page.

As you can see from my extremely scattered thoughts and reactions, this was an ultimately polarizing read. I liked elements, I disliked other elements, and ultimately I didn't love it. But am I intrigued enough to see if my dislikes are solved in volume two? Heck yes.

We'll see what happens next.

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[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really REALY wanted to love this book. I fell into the tik tok pull of unboxing magic and immediately ordered my copy. The cover art and marketing for this is incredible. The story and characters fell flat for me. 90% of this book is just dialogue, no character development and very little plot development. I feel like a lot of scenes were rushed and super confusing. When you open the book it says "welcome home" and I was so excited to be pulled into a world that I would not want to leave, but the constant bickering of characters and lack of scene development left me wanting more. I like the concept of the book, a new take on regeneration society, and hope for more world building in future books, with hopefully way less dialogue and more insight behind the motivations and development of characters.

[Black Swan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really unique experience to read a book directly off a website but after I got past the initial strangeness of it I found the book to be really deep and rewarding. I'm not sure I'd always like to read them in this way but the quality of writing made me overlook that aspect and I thought it was great.

[Cracked Spine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book by Foris. I wouldn't say I absolutely loved it, but as new authors go this was a pretty solid entry into a difficult science fiction field. There was a lot to wrap my head around as the book really got underway, but I wouldn't say it was complicated just for the sake of it. Everything had it's place and I think it all gelled pretty well overall.

[Cup and Saucer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book is like being transported into a different universe with an ever expanding cast of characters to meet along the ride.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

80% of this book is dialogue. Of that dialogue, probably half of it is completely unnecessary tangents or repetition. I can't say that I read the entire book because I ended up skimming so much of it. None of the characters are likeable or have any real depth. It could have been a great story if there had been any real action rather than just people talking to each other in order to explain the events.

[Lilly Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Octunnumi" is the debut and prologue of the upcoming series by Trevor Alan Foris. We follow the story of 18-year-old twin brothers called Regious Sedwint Eniexous (Reig) and Tradien. Everwick Thivimus (Trad) who are "Tarelens". These are beings who can regenerate. Also, their consciousness is passed on from regeneration. "Talents" have created "The Octunnumi", an organisation that monitors and protects the gateways between the different universes called "Innesomids". In this book, you will read about many other species and magic living in each other's universes.

This novel was my first high-fantasy book, and I have to say sometimes it was pretty confusing. The main characters interact with different species and visit other worlds throughout the book. This novel also connects this magical world to our human one. Furthermore, we learn a lot o about new characters and different species, which can lead to brain error. Thankfully, the little booklet, which has all the pronunciations of the names of the places/species, helped me a lot. Still, it would have been better, in my opinion, to integrate these definitions more into the story itself.

The book is pretty funny at times, but I disked how Trad stated that "knitting is only for girls" since it is for "weak beings". Throughout the whole novel Trad who openly misogynistic and was not exactly my favourite character, to be honest. However, I did like his twin brother much better. The humourous side was portrait perfectly and was witty and sarcastic, which can be hard to write. These humourous scenes were mainly between the well-developed relationship between Trad and Reig.

"The Octunnumi" was highly fast-paced, which also sometimes led to confusion since you were sometimes thrown into a scene/chapter. The novel is quite complex with all the incredible world-building and its various characters, and sometimes it felt a bit too much. I would have liked it more if we had learned slower about this world and different characters' powers. It felt a bit rushed at times and as if the author wanted to give us as much information and storylines as possible.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Do not get me wrong, three stars is a rating for a solid book, and I believe it; it was not so confusing and all over. At the time, I would have rated it four stars out of 5 stars. The book was funny, and the writing was relatively accessible, although I sometimes struggled with various characters and worlds. I would recommend this book for all my high-fantasy lovers out there, and I am sure that this book will be a start to something fantastic. I am already excited about the following books! Additionally, Can we appreciate the appearance of the book for a second?! It's amazing!

TW: Death, Murder, Hospitalisation, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence