The Puppeteer: The Seal of Solomon – Book 1 by Shannon Reber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Puppeteer is about Enya, a young princess whose father has been possessed by a demon seeking to take over the lands. What Enya doesn’t know is that she is a Fire wielder and is only just starting to realise she has magical powers. Can she learn to control her powers and defeat the evil trying to take over the land?
The Cover: I don’t mind the cover to this title, but it feels more like a mystery/horror/thriller cover to me. The colours work together and the fonts are clear, but I would not have picked it for a Dark Fantasy title. I think the author could benefit from aligning the cover more closely to the genre.
The Good Stuff: There is a good storyline in this title with some good ideas and some interesting characters. The Gatekeeper is my favourite and I would have liked to have known more about him and his story.
The Bad Stuff: I say this frequently and I recognize that it is a personal preference, but I really do not like 1st person unless it is done very well. It wasn’t done badly, but it wasn’t done well enough for me to overlook and this took away from my enjoyment of the book. Another thing I didn’t like which I can also attribute to personal taste, is the Chapter titles. The chapter naming convention is to use the name of the character whose point of view (POV) the chapter is written in. This confused at first, once I realized the convention, it disappointed me. Eventually, it helped me, as some chapters were not immediately clear who’s POV we were in and a quick glance at the chapter name solved this. The story is also very dark in places, and while this demonstrated the character traits through their actions, I didn’t feel like the same tone/mood was set through the description and word use in these parts of the story.
Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I could have taken or left it. It did not draw me in enough to push me through with a want to read, so much as I continued because I had committed to reading the book. Considering my personal dislike for 1st person I’m going to lean on the generous side and give this one a smouldering 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks.
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Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here.
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