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The Ancient: A Novel
In an isolated land ravaged by vicious beasts, a warrior must unlock the secrets of his past, and search for allies among bitter enemies. Haunted by shame, a young king soon finds himself at the forefront of a desperate war for survival.
248 pages, Paperback
Published April 19, 2021
13 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 1, 2021
The world building in the book was really good and built a beautiful picture, the story just wasn't enough to keep me interested the entire time. I found myself speed reading just trying to get through it. It is definitely an epic journey story, with the action being almost being more political if that makes sense. It wasn't a bad book, just wasn't my favorite read.
February 5, 2023
Somehow there isn’t a single line spoken by a female character in 230+ pages. This book is frustrating because it has some cool concepts and ideas but it feels more like a rough draft than a fully realized novel. With some more time in the tank, this could’ve been a great book, but as it is, I would skip this one for a more polished, better written book.
November 10, 2021
Nicholas' style of writing allowed me to be totally absorbed into the magical landscape of Gehn's world. I enjoyed being transported to a time and place far beyond anything I've ever imagined, and want to read the book again to see what amazing details I might have missed!
November 16, 2021
The writing in this novel is beautifully descriptive. It felt like I witnessed the events unfold right before my eyes! I enjoyed the characters and artwork too.. very talented! This is a great read, highly recommend!
January 27, 2023
There's some intriguing worldbuilding and I can see the seeds of an interesting story, but nothing was developed to its full potential. I often felt like I was skimming the Cliffs Notes of a really good epic fantasy while I was reading The Ancient.
August 13, 2025
Pacing, Editing, Descriptions, all have lots of room for improvement. Random jumps, characters just appearing out if nowhere. Time jumps that feel completely dislocated. Feels like fan fiction. I gave up about four chapters in.
December 28, 2021
I enjoyed the read but it almost felt like cliff notes. There was a lot just skimmed over and I would have loved more character building and detail.
July 15, 2023
“The Ancient” by Nicholas Russ had some LOTR vibes with the giants and dwarves.
The main protagonist Ghen has very minimal character development and the main antagonist Eleazar basically has zero character development. In fact, the only character that showed any development was Sorrett the giant. Other than that all the character lacked true depth and at times the plot timeline was so chaotic that would lose track of the timeline
The main protagonist Ghen has very minimal character development and the main antagonist Eleazar basically has zero character development. In fact, the only character that showed any development was Sorrett the giant. Other than that all the character lacked true depth and at times the plot timeline was so chaotic that would lose track of the timeline
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews