Sunday, September 8, 2013

"Wings of Tavea" by Devri Walls

(sorry, this was the best image I could find!)

I told you this was coming!  Back in February I wrote about Walls' first novel, "Wings of Arian." Last night I finished the second book in the Solus series, "Wings of Tavea."  "Tavea" picks up right where "Arian" left off, with Kiora (the Solus), Emane (the Protector), and Drustan (a shape-shifter) leaving Meros after an enchantment was dropped, which had kept the kingdom safe from evil for a thousand years.  They are not only looking for Dralazar, but are also in search of something else they need to defeat evil:  the Lights.  They meet new magical creatures and discover new enemies.  And a love triangle develops (I feel like I'm 14 again when I read about a good love triangle!).

Walls' scope of imagination blows me away.  I've read my fair share of fantasy books, but she brings new elements to the genre with one-of-a-kind beings, powers, and places.  I feel her story line and characters are positively unique.  I remember reading Mortal Instruments the first time and I thought it was like Harry Potter had a love child with Twilight.  Almost none of that in the Solus series.  And I'm greatly impressed with the development of Walls' writing skills between her first and second book.

Downsides to "Tavea:" the first negative aspect in the book was also found in "Arian."  I don't know if it's in the editing or transferring the ebook into paperback, but there are weird mistakes like paragraphs starting in the middle of a sentence, misplaced quotation marks, etc.  These errors were really distracting at times.  You know in "The Princess Bride" when Vizinni keeps shouting, "Inconceivable!" and Inigo finally says, "I do not think it means what you think it means."  Punctuation and grammar have rules and consistency for a purpose, and when those rules aren't followed for one reason or another, it really takes away from the essence of the story.  At least that's how I felt.  So I hope in future editions of the book those mistakes are taken care of.  Because Devri deserves better than that!  Second downside: I read "Arian" back in February, so remember the basics of the story, but some details escaped me.  I felt "Tavea" didn't have enough story overlap to help the reader remember certain details from the first book.  There's a fine line between under-explaining and over-explaining, and I felt "Tavea" was a little lacking and didn't quite cover all the bases to help the reader know what was going on all the time.

I highly recommend that you all explore Walls' story, and I'm more than anxious to get started on the third book, "Wings of Nestor."

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