Familiar Origins (The Draca Wards Saga, Book 1) Reviewed By Namta Gupta of Bookpleasures.com
- By Namta Gupta
- Published August 21, 2013
- Fantasy
Namta Gupta
Reviewer Namta Gupta:
Namta is a senior journalist based in New Delhi, India and has been
covering news in all its form for past 5 years. An MA in English and
Human Rights she is an avid reader and loves every piece of fiction
and non-fiction that she can lay her hands on.
Author: B. Pine
Publisher: Silver Leaf Books, LLCISBN: Print: 978-1-60975-031-2; eBook: 978-1-60975-032-9
After Falestia this is
another fantasy fare offering by Silver Leaf Books. This series is
written by B. Pine and speaks of a world that has once gotten
destroyed and Human life is slowly clawing back to normalcy. But the
world has become a difficult place because superior specie, Dragon,
has an eye on some children that have the potential to destroy Dragon
world. So, they go around slaying, traumatizing and threatening these
special children just to make sure that they either remain under
their claw or simply do not develop enough potential that would
threaten their existence. But the issue is not that of Human versus
Dragon.
There is politics at play here too; Dragons are divided into
two groups and their rivalry is both bloody and treacherous. Humans
are either pawn in the larger game or they are used or abused by
these powerful species for their ulterior motives. Then, there is
politics and rivalry between Humans as well. One young lad is singled
out for the color of his eyes while a young girl is shunned by her
mother for her skills. In short, this has several disturbing issues
that probably a child below thirteen would either find difficult to
comprehend or would find it too disturbing to read. Gore in fiction,
especially involving children is a major concern and it doesn’t
help that the details have been given out effusively.
A slight restraint could have really helped this series to reach out to larger segments. It could have been better if children characters weren’t given such young age groups. A seven year old slaying heartlessly or watching her mother’s violent death evokes pity as well as revulsion. This is adult reading material and certainly not for kids but would adults bother reading about lives of kids is something that requires serious probing.
It could have helped if
the volume of the book was reduced as well because at times too much
frolicking of children also makes it a tedious read. May be the idea
was to balance the gore, but seeing children suffer in a children
centric book is never a pleasant read. In fact considering the
creative power of the writer, it would have been better if there was
one major show down probably at the end to justify the three books.
There are fights, plenty and gory, but a major show down is what a
reader expects and that kind of climax just does not build.
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