Heir to the Sundered Crown – The Sundered Crown Saga Book One by M.S. Olney
A review by INFAMOUS🦀
Book 1 of Heir to the Sundered Crown is a well-written, enthralling fantasy tale that I found quite enjoyable for different reasons. Let’s face it, it is very difficult nowadays to write fantasy that manages to capture our full attention. This is due to several reasons:
- The market is oversaturated with fantasy books and if the author is not well known, chances are they will fly under the radar of most readers.
- Most current fantasy stories today are a ‘reassembling of parts’ from Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, and Harry Potter. It’s the norm for modern fantasy writers to just copy and paste aspects of those fantasy cult classics without adding anything fresh or original to them.
- We have progressive modernists who want to use the genre with the application of ‘modern thinking’ so that the ‘fantasy’ element becomes just a veneer, with the essence of the stories becoming a sad reflection of the deranged post-modernist agenda.
HTSC manages to offer enough exciting content while avoiding to fall into the category of stereotypical fantasy/adventure novel.
PLOT:
The entire story centers around the assassination of the royal family of the kingdom of Delfinia. The assassins, however, fail to find and murder the young prince who, thanks to Davik and Elena, is taken to safety at an undisclosed location. This coup leads to civil unrest and skirmishes among local barons, all vying for power.
However, the mastermind behind this plot is a supernatural foe greater than any mortal being, and that is our mage apprentice, Luxon gets introduced to us.
Luxon is made aware that he comes from a lineage of powerful mages and, along with a team composed of knights, nightblades, and witch hunters, will play a key role in finding the young prince and rightful heir to the throne, which is key to avoid the legions of darkness to breach the Void and take over the world.
THE TOLKIEN EFFECT:
As I was reading this book, I couldn’t help but think of Lord of The Rings at some points.
For example the friendship between apprentice mage Luxon and his buddy Yepert (a rotund, jolly friend from the mage apprentice school) reminded me very much of the same relationship we see with Frodo and Sam. Yepert even finds courage and strength when it’s needed most just like Sam, while Luxon, just like Frodo, is the most reflective of the two.
Also lines like “Please don’t turn me in anything unnatural” too reminded me very much of what we read in Tolkien. Not a major issue but it speaks volume of the massive influence Tolkien still has on modern fantasy writing.
MODERN EUPHEMISMS:
If there is one area I think the author could improve is in the implementation of modern euphemisms.
Phrases like:
- All in all, I’d say that was a good day’s work
- And none of us died, which is always a bonus
- intelligence network
- until the cows come home
The above could easily be replaced with more evocative alternatives. That would help readers be drawn further into this fantasy world. Just because a term CAN be used doesn’t necessarily mean that it SHOULD be used, within the context of this genre.
CONCLUSIONS:
All in all, book 1 of HTSC delivers a fun, action-packed fantasy adventure for die-hard fans of the genre with heavy Tolkienian influence. I suggest you pick this book or maybe buy it as a gift and perhaps get your family and friends into discovering the magic and excitement that books like this one can offer.
Book 2 will probably get reviewed at a later date since I’m curious to know what could possibly happen in the plot after the seemingly decisive victory of good over evil we read in book 1!
🦀