Sunday, February 1, 2015

Lyche by E.A. Rappaport

Lyche
Author:  E.A. Rappaport
Publisher:  Owl King Publishing
Pages: 312
Release Date: February 13th, 2014
Source: Received from author in exchange for an honest review
An evil spirit, trapped within a volcano for ages, escapes its fiery prison with a vow to destroy all life. Only a young Arboreal wizard and his companions dare to oppose the powerful creature. After a massive earthquake shakes the land, Jarlen, an inexperienced Arboreal wizard, and Tyraz, a Ferfolk warrior, travel from a cursed island in the north to the barren wastelands of the west, tracking an ancient spirit that is capable of combining living creatures with the dead. With little help from their respective communities, the two must discover the lyche's foul plans before there is nothing left to save.

Lyche is in the middle of a unique series, a set of 3 trilogies that interlock, while still leaving the story solid enough to standalone. While I always hesitate to pick up a book without reading previous novels, I did find the story line easy enough to settle into. The characters are fairly likable, and the species in the story have their own original feel to them. I felt like this series had a lot of potential, especially for readers that like fantasy.

That being said, I'm not sure it was personally my cup of tea. While E.A. Rappaport does have some solid writing ability, I found a lot of the scenes jump forward far too quickly for me to ever fully engage with the story. I didn't feel like events transitioned well from one place to another, so it made it difficult to ever read more than one chapter at a time. But that is more of a stylistic preference I think than a full mark against the author's work. 

I did like the species the story had. The tree like Arboreals were a nice change in a genre dominated by the typical dwarves and elves. Jarlen and Tyraz were likeable enough, and I felt other characters felt dynamic. I just wish it had been a bit easier for me to really immerse myself in the author's world. It really felt like it could have been an enjoyable book in the right hands. Bummed it wasn't the book for me though. 


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