Slackers and Stackers, they said it couldn’t be done. They lied. I am caught up on my substack inbox. This means, you should send me your books — at the Literature Reviews comment section, or ya know I guess wherever.
This entry is a sprawling fantasy novel written by Rowan Macfie. The Meijadin Revelations is a fun and interesting ride filled with alliterative romps and vivid descriptions. It had good character interaction, intriguing magic systems, solid action, and a rich prose to tell it all with. There is a big world behind this book, waiting to be explored. It reminded me at first of Don Quixote; a long journey of different small adventures, like a videogame where you’re heading along the main objective but get distracted by sidequests (an apt analogy considering later revelations — stay tuned). The last third of the book felt like add on content that would’ve worked better as a novella between main books. The driving plot was finished satisfactorily and I was imagining the book would wrap up and close, but things kept going. The ‘final boss’ and big reveal at the end of the book felt like a tonal shift I wasn’t quite ready for. I think they would be better suited to a sequel. I want to stress that it wasn’t bad or poorly written, just might’ve worked better in another book since the main plot of this one ends about ⅔ of the way through. Now, for a little more detail,
Beware, here there be Spoilers.
At the end, there is a big reveal and setup for the future of the series. It is intriguing and I would read more. However, it changes the stakes drastically, from high-stakes adventure, to almost no-stakes videogame. The concept is cool, with ‘respawns’ and ‘ability upgrades’ to purchase, but I think it would work better if elements were present throughout the book, something like scrolls or charms and amulets that enhance or fasttrack abilities, or shrines that give immediate benefits. This would tease the nature of abilities being streamlined or learned quickly I think. I would say, sticking with the video game theme, it might work better to have the zeal currency earned by the MC’s through very specific actions, which could raise the stakes a little, and have it be hard to acquire.
All in all, this is a very well written book with fun concepts and a memorable story. I’ll be keeping my eye open for the next entry. Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention, Rowan. I hope you continue the series and find value in my unofficial thoughts.
Read original Note here.
