First Impressions of Liefdom: A Tale from Perilisc

Liefdom is a competent piece of dark Fantasy.

The plot kicks off fast without any clumsy exposition slowing it down. If anything, the pace feels a little too fast at times, since a host of characters are introduced in rapid succession without much time to establish all their respective personalities. As a consequence, some chapters feel very rushed. For example, there is love at first sight, which would have benefited from a slower approach.

The style is concise and omits lengthy descriptions which would slow down the fast pace. A lot interesting ideas have been put into practice, particularly this book's version of hell applies some novel ideas to an otherwise familiar concept. The central premise of creating a fairy version of Wolverine and dropping him into Fairy Town is intriguing and imaginative.

The book contains descriptions of gore and sexual abuse, which you might expect of Dark Fantasy, but which might not cater to everyone's taste. If you enjoy books that put a darker spin onto established elements of Fantasy, you should try Liefdom.

Liefdom on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30237683-liefdom

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First Impressions of Talindor's Guest

The plot in Talindor's Guest is slow to take off, since neither Traveler nor the dragon are well-established characters before the storytelling begins. Traveler's conflict with the dragon serves as a framing device for several short stories. Not much is established about Traveler in the beginning, which makes it difficult to care about his fate.

The plots and characters of the stories told by Traveler are hit or miss. Some have engaging premises, but all suffer under the weight of exposition. They don't read like short stories or fairy tales, as one might expect based on the framing device, but like the beginning of (exposition-heavy) fantasy novels. Often there are too many characters, places, and events crammed into one story without a concise plot or defining traits to make them memorable.

The style is competent for the most part, though a lot of words and phrases are repeated too often. A lot of the dialogue serves purely as exposition and many descriptions are overburdened with adjectives. The reader is told a lot and shown little.

The book does deliver on the promise of dragons, though. If you have a craving for dragons, enjoy short fantasy stories, and flowery descriptions, you should give Talindor's Guest a try.

Talindor's Guest on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29519771-talindor-s-guest

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https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53682191-aldun