Sacrifice

by Elias Chambers

There are more to dreams than simply dreaming

When danger lurks in plain sight, who do you ask to protect you? Lukas Song, a member of the government’s defending force, fights to keep everyone safe. However, fate has more than he could ever imagine in store; A burning house, a new family member, and secrets unravelled.

The debut novel of Elias Chambers, this novel has everything from LGBTQ romance to a plotline filled with heartwrenching turns.

156 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Rai · Rating 1 out of 5]

The majority of this book is people sitting around and eating meals, playing cards, and making small talk, with a little bit of plot tossed in here and there. This made the pacing very weird, as often dramatic scenes were abruptly ended for the sake of cooking yet another meal. The writing focused a lot on superfluous details that didn't serve the story.
The characterization was bland and inconsistent. I got the feeling that the characters exist in a broader context known only to the author, so perhaps that explains some inconsistencies. As a reader, it felt like watching a bunch of strangers have an awkwardly scripted dinner party.
The writing relies a lot on telling rather than showing to get information across, but often there was a dissonance between what we're told and what we're shown on the page. For example, we're told over and over that the main character lives in poverty and doesn't eat enough due to that. Yet in nearly every scene this character is eating meals from their fully stocked pantry, even something like chocolate covered strawberries! Likewise, we're told that he took the job with the defense forces--which he hates and is incredibly morally opposed to--because he needs the money. However, despite this job, he's still apparently impoverished, meanwhile the character who works as a florist has no problem affording anything he wants. So does the job pay well or not?
The world building didn't make a lot of sense and wasn't fully expanded on. Why are three 18-year-olds apparently the only authority figures in their entire town? If the island was created as a way for magic users to escape discrimination, then why is the only system they have for out of control magic, or magic they don't like, "kill the user on the spot" with no sort of trial or oversight at all? I would have liked to see these things explained so that the stakes felt a little more real.

Some words about the ending: This is what really didn't make sense to me. The only people who knew about Erik's magic ability were Lukas, Slate, Daemon, and Iona. They could easily have just not reported him as a dream walker in the first place. It seemed like Slate was kinda-sorta friends with Lukas, so he could easily have not done it. The characters act like because there's a law they're automatically beholden to it with no thought of resistance. Likewise, I was thinking that once this law targeted his brother, it would be a catalyst for Lukas to stand up against the job he was opposed to. Maybe try to escape or even try to change the laws, argue his case in a trial... SOMETHING. Instead, he and everyone else passively accepts the fate of his brother. The tonal dissonance was especially bad after this, to the point of ridiculousness. Slate and the others weren't even forced into killing him, they only had to wait for the OK to go ahead and then they did so without complaint. Everyone getting mad at "the government" in the final two chapters felt really ironic to me, considering we never see this government EVER in the whole book, so it really doesn't seem like anyone was "forced" into doing anything. It's not like they even resisted to begin with! In the end, Lukas still doesn't even care much to try and change the laws so it feels like there was no character growth from him whatsoever. He's only kinda sorta annoyed at Slate for getting his brother killed, but hey, he was "just following instructions". WHOSE instructions? We'll never know.
Additionally, Erik's focus on "remember the good times we had" doesn't make up for the bland boring scenes of the characters just hanging out throughout the book. We were never given a reason to care for the characters. The scenes felt like "the generic idea of what it looks like when friends hang out", so they didn't hold any emotional weight even after Erik's death.

I think this book could have used a lot of revision and polishing to various aspects of the writing before being published. There were some interesting things about the book, such as the secrets of the past slowly being revealed, that I think could have really shined if there hadn't been such huge pacing issues and focus on irrelevant things bloating up much of the story.