Now here is something different. Every book reviewed
up until now in this blog has been a traditionally published work. Books that
were submitted by the author to a publishing house, got accepted, and were published.
Herstory, the first novel in the
promised Archives of Fabella series,
is a self-published book.
So
far, it seems like Dillon Foley has done a good job in getting his book known.
He has published his book in both digital and physical format through Amazon,
and he even has a website to promote his upcoming series (http://www.archivesoffabella.com/about-the-author/).
He’s also actively looking for reviewers. Myself included.
As
far as the book goes, it’s marketed as a fantasy novel. It certainly does have
many of the tropes common to the fantasy genre, such as magic and mythological
creatures. However, it also adds sci-fi elements. In fact, the story itself is
predominantly about time travel and parallel universes. Just to warn readers, much
of the plot involves these two elements, so you must have a solid understanding
about how stories of this kind work, otherwise you might be confused.
The
novel is told in first person by the main character, Stephanie. She’s an
average teenager living a pretty normal teenage life until one day, her best
friend is captured by Tefnut, a creature from Egyptian mythology. It’s up to her
to travel to the magical world of Fabella and find her friend. It may sound
like a pretty cliché story, but Dillon Foley adds many twists and turns to keep
everything fresh and new. And while some of the plot twists do fall a bit flat,
especially one concerning the villain, many of them take the story to
completely unexpected places. It almost seems like a bunch of different stories
put together into one package. And, for the most part, it works.
On
the downside, the land of Fabella is probably one of the book’s biggest
weaknesses. Sure, it does look like the author has ingrained it with a few
details here and there as well as some brand new, original creatures. There are
also many creatures from pretty much every mythology the reader can think of.
However, there isn’t any place or setting that really sticks out, such as the
Shire or Gondor from Middle-Earth, or Emerald City from the Land of Oz. You
could say that’s due to the premise of Fabella being a universe parallel to Earth.
The places the characters go through just seem too familiar.
However,
perhaps the biggest problem with the book is the writing. Now, to be clear, it’s
pretty well written, especially considering that it was self-published. As said
before, it’s told in a first-person perspective, and the narration really does
go quite well with the main character’s personality. Plus, the dialogue is pretty
solid throughout, but the dialogue is also the problem. Most of the story is
told through dialogue. There’s not enough description to shine a light upon the
world we’re exploring, or to give the scenes the emotional weight they require.
There’s a really emotional scene towards the end of the book, and while such a bittersweet
ending is very welcome in a work like this, the writing just needed to be a
little more in-depth to give it the weight it needed.
In
conclusion, Herstory is a solid
self-published work. Despite some shortcomings, the story has enough
originality to keep readers invested. And besides, it’s always nice to read a
self-published work with this much ambition.
Rating: 3.5
out of 5 Stars
