Fifteen-year-old Nara has never liked secrets. Yet it seems that her life has been filled with them, from the ugly scar on her back to the strange powers she possesses. Her mysterious father refuses to say anything about her origins, and soon, she and her best friend must attend the announcement ceremony, in which youths are tested for a magical gift. A gifted youth has not been announced in the poor village of Dimmitt for decades. When Nara uncovers the reason, she uses her own powers to make things right. The decision sets her on a path of danger, discovery, and a search for the divine. In the process, she learns the truth about herself and uncovers the biggest secret of all: the power of broken people.
| Amazon |
Looking for Dei
David A Wilson
Looking for Dei has a lot of great world building. Not only do we get some beautiful descriptions of the places we visit, there’s an emphasis on history, religion and a strong magic system thats easy to understand. We also don’t have the typical blind faith in religion that fantasy books often portray, there’s doubt from some characters. Plus, some characters out right deny their faith in the god they are ‘supposed’ to worship. The same goes for the magic system, which is used very differently between characters. Even those with similar intentions seem to have their own nuances when using their powers.
The problem with all this world building was that sometimes Wilson was overly descriptive. There were a few times where information was just dumped into a few paragraphs, and I wish this could have been more integrated within the story. There was also a lot of talking between characters to explain things, which is fine when done in small amounts. But sometimes it was too much in one time from one character.
The different POV’s did help bring other views to the book, outside of Nara’s. This was good for a few reasons. I personally didn’t like Nara, and didn’t find her to be a strong character. She spent most of her time being babied and protected by male characters. When she does eventually get strong enough to protect herself and loved ones, I could argue that she was then overpowered. Which may be problematic for the next book in the series.
The POV of Vorrick was great as we got to see what the antagonist was planning to do. But he was made into a character that we are meant to feel sympathetic towards. This was difficult as later on he seems to just be an ‘evil’ person who only cares for power. His backstory is sad but his actions make him into the bad guy very clearly. He’s not exactly a morally grey person. I did enjoy that he had insecurities and fears as the bad guy and we got to see this as a reader.
I also found that the ended dragged on and on a bit. It was an ending, and then another ending, and then a little epilogue kind of finish. I get that it was made to wrap up some finishing plot points and to lead on to the next book, but at that point I was completely ready for the book to end.
Overall, I think the book is a fun read, but it does have quite a few issues that you would expect from a debut. I would recommend to any fantasy fans as it’s a great world, but it’s a short book and couldn’t be classed as a high or epic fantasy read.
POSITIVES
+ Different POV’s including antagonists
+ World building and magic system
NEGATIVES
– Ending dragged
– Poor character building
I received Looking for Dei by David A Wilson from the publisher via Netgalley. This is an unbiased and honest review
