Far World: Water Keep by J. Scott Savage
Review by Cindy Bohn of Digging up Bohns
This is another of the great fantasy books written by a local author. For some reason, it seems like a bunch of the local LDS writers are getting known for their children's fantasy series. No, I'm not including Stephenie Meyer in that. She is LDS, but she's not a local. I mean like Brandon Mull of the Fablehaven series, Brandon Sanderson (OK, he also writes adult fantasy), Shannon Hale, Brett Helquist, Obert Skye, and now J. Scott Savage.
The basic idea is that Earth and Far World are like mirror worlds. Earth has no magic, Far World has no machines, but they are very closely linked. Now two children are the key to saving both worlds, but they can only do it by enlisting the help of the elementals to fight the Dark Circle.
The opening chapters were really solid. Marcus was up against some truly nasty folks on Earth. And I liked Kyra. But for a book called Water Keep, we didn't spend much time in the world of water. I was disappointed by that. The cover makes it look like the main characters will be spending lots of time in the water.
Still, it was a good start to the series, and I will give it another chance, mostly because I liked the two main characters.
So I need to move wherever you are to get a book deal? Utah, I'm guessing? Perhaps I should finish my MS first:) I love your book picks on the right there- esp "A Frog in a Bog". My kids loved it too.
ReplyDeleteYou seemed a teensy disappointed w/ this book-was it just the mismatch between cover and content? -Kelly
Hi Kelly, I'll forward your question about Far World to Cindy, who wrote this review.
ReplyDeleteI read Far World and have to agree with the assessment. The book fell a little flat for me, but the idea and characters were strong. We'll have to see how the next one is.
Yes, Kelly, I think that was the main issue for me. It wasn't a bad book or anything. But it took a long time to get into any action relating to the description of the book and then ended too soon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your review. But didn't you just love the way he describes Water Keep. That was very creative. I'm game for the next in the series.
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