Ainavel: Episode 1 - The Curse of Two Houses

by Adam Wodyk

Somewhere in the peaceful corner of the Urianellian Sea, a young sailor, Ainavel, learns seamanship under the eye of his father, captain Lanrad, who works as the Guardian of the Silk Route.

The sudden appearance of the nameless curse keeper destroys their idyllic life. Having barely escaped death, Ainavel decides to embark on a dangerous journey to find him, and soon after, he gets himself into the perilous games of the wealthy lords of the Two Houses and even more dangerous figures—the keepers of the ancient curse.

Genres: Fantasy

82 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2021

About the author

A huge fan of the fantasy genre.
Loves sci-fi, dystopian and post-apocalyptic survival stories.

Website: https://adamwodyk.com/

Reviews

[Paula lily]

Thanks Netgalley for the eArc of this book in exchange for a honest review.

The story is quite interesting but I think it would be better if it was a full length book, with action and more dialogue.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wodyk’s first installment of Ainavel includes all of the necessary elements of fantasy—a curse, forbidden lands, cool names, and deep world building. Ainavel, the main character, finds himself caught up in an old prophecy. Murder, intrigue, and pirates follow. Wodyk clearly has a wonderful grasp on Ainavel’s world; however, the execution needed to be cleaner. The beginning was overwhelming with the amount of information thrown on the reader and I never felt much depth to the characters, even though it is clear that Wodyk has a master plan for them. This novella needed more meat, if that makes sense, more depth and less info dump. The dialogue felt immature—is this a YA novel? I agree with the other reviewers that a map would be helpful! This story has potential and could be a fantastic series with the right editing and support.

Thank you to NetGalley and Adam Wodyk for providing me with an ARC.

[Drew Austen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am very intrigued by the premise; however, the execution was not particularly well done. The plot was all over the place throughout the episode, and all in all, there was a ton of info dump. I also wish there was a map- the narrative often referenced many areas in the realm but I had no idea where or how far the characters were traveling. The idea was good, but there needed to be more world-building and character development. Although it is one episode in a series, I still feel a lot of this could have been done. Lastly, the blurb on Netgalley and Goodreads did not really encapsulate what happened in the first episode, which was a bit disappointing.