21 March, 2017

REVIEW: THE RAZVAK HUNTER by Arel B. Grant

Title: The Razvak Hunter
Author: Arel B. Grant
Series: Razvak Series #1
Genres: High Fantasy
Publisher: BZN Writing House
Release: February 29th, 2016
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 236

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BLURB:
Before…
Aelwyd has worked hard to become strong. As the Fairest One of Vallenthar, her power is formidable. Years of battle honed her into a fearsome warrior who never falters in front of an enemy.
However, there are shadows that when they come, they can swallow you whole.
After a hundred years of praying against it, the minute she walks into the chilling scene of death in front of her, she knows her personal nightmare is back.
He nearly destroyed her once, but she isn't a victim anymore. This time, she will stop him, or she will die trying.

Now...
Dalbran knows nothing of friends, joy, or mischief. The orphaned ward of a ruthless warrior woman, she’s never showed him love or affection. Instead she fills his days with learning the art of battle, savage teachings of how to survive in their harsh world. Days are filled with pain and exhaustion, but nighttime used to be his own. Even that is now lost, though, for something lurks in the shadows of sleep, clawing at him the moment his eyes close. He tells himself it’s okay, that he can handle it. However daunting the voices may be, however cold the hand that chokes him in the darkness, as long as it stays within the nightmare, everything will be all right.

As long as it stays within the nightmare…

EXPECTATIONS: This was a review request. I'm very sorry for the delay, masters kept me busy. Anyway I picked it up because it's high fantasy and I wanted to start reading more high fantasy.

THE WORLD: As always happens in high fantasy it is quite a complicated world... the book takes place in Vallenthar which is divided in Myrasia and Easia. In Myrasia live the "creatures of the light", the purest, and in Easia live the "creatures of the shadows", the chaotic ones. There is a high power that is above everyone else called The Rose of Vallenthar, she holds all the magic and she's the strongest creature that vows to no one. Oh yeah and The Rose is always female by the way.


CHARACTERS: There are two main characters since the book is divided in before and now. The main character from before is Aelwyd Dol Daranthon, she's The Rose of Vallenthar from that time. In her story we see she's trying to protect the land from the most terrible, darkest creature ever called razvak... you can die just from being too close to it because it's pure darkness. To do so she has the help of her Magic Technician, Schedar, and her paladin (individual bodyguard), Rodan.
And then we have the main character from now called Dalbran Darod Thord who's just an 18 year old boy living in inhuman conditions under tutelage of Harer.
Shout out to two extra characters: the horned cat that looks like a panther and the unicorn, Naviri.

ROMANCE: No romance. Well, there's a couple but their love is secret so we don't get much of it.

GOOD: I enjoyed the world very much, the countries and the creatures. I also liked the characters quite a lot. My favorite thing, however, was seeing how the two parts before and now intertwined and how they were connected. I had a prediction which was not exactly right but close enough. That was fun hehe

BAD: There was nothing that was actually bad. My minus is just that since the book is so short we don't get much depth in the characters. I feel like this was a short introduction to the world though and quite a few characters won't stick for long so maybe it's not something very relevant...

Also a lot of creatures are mentioned but we know nothing of their cultures, history, backgrounds, etc so if that's explored in the second book that'd be great!

OVERALL: 4 stars. It's such a short book for being high fantasy but I liked the world (I had to re-read it because it's difficult to keep everything in mind).



What do you think about THE RAZVAK HUNTER?