Taerak's Void (Fantastica Book 1) (book) by M. R. Mathias on AuthorsDen

Reviewed on July 6, 2018

I read this book straight through and completely in about 5 or 6 hours.
The book was overall entertaining but the story sounded a lot like the Tolkien series and I was a bit disturbed by that. While the writing was good that originality factor hurt it.
The characters were well described and the interaction between male and female was handled well enough that I would not have an issue with rating it PG-13 audience.
I was impressed with the scope of thought the writer put into developing the realm in which the story takes place. It was fleshed out well but more importantly, I had no problem seeing it in my mind and even the sense of scale of the vast area was well considered and described.
The cities and communities for the most part, were adequately filled in although some were left thin and probably more importantly, they weren�t overly dwelled upon but developed enough to give me an understanding of the areas and events taking place. I was however, disappointed that there were some areas where key events of the story took place and yet they had no detail at all, i.e. a shipping port with only two people at the dock?
I personally thought the opening was too rushed. Things that needed to be accomplished in the natural progress of the opening action scenes were grossly omitted and the summation was sudden and in-explicably in favor of the protagonist. It left me feeling a bit confused.
While I�m not a �magic� fan, preferring factual and or theoretical physics to �it just happened that way�, I did like the way the magic was added in small portions, sometimes effective and sometimes not. The idea that all magic is effective, is tiring to me. Like a gun, misfires and or plain misses should be factored in and the events where magic was used here, reflected that.
Although I was disappointed in the way the protagonist healed afterwards, I was also impressed that the protagonist was not written in as indestructible and grossly omitted in the collateral damage areas. There were injuries he suffered in battle and the damage, effects and resulting suffering of the damage afterwards, made him more believable to me.
I thought the villain, introduced in the end of the book was also rushed and somewhat confusing. There was no real introduction or progression of development as to why and how he became the antagonist and explanations helping to flesh him out within the story, occurred only in the end of the book and were thin.

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Overall, I would award this story with a rating of 3 stars out of 5 because although I felt the writer�s style is deserving of a 4, the originality of the story draws it backward.
(IMO)

Reviewed by Simon Ball (Reader)

Reviewed on February 25, 2018

It was a cracking good read and I am now looking forward to the next book. The characters a well written and as a whole the story is as well.

Reviewed by Robert Rees

Reviewed on December 31, 2017

I enjoyed reading this book, though it took me a little time to get into it. The writing is straightforward, and, importantly for any fantasy, the elements of magic etc. seemed to fit in logically to the story. The main characters stand up to the story, and by the end i was quite engrossed in the plot. It did seem to me to end rather abruptly, but i guess that shows i was enjoying it!

Reviewed by bob adauto (Reader)

Reviewed on November 24, 2017

This book is perfect for the reader who wants a fun, exciting, escape! Easy read on a day when you feel like an adventure. Our hero, Braxton, is immediately likeable and you root for him from the very start. The following chapters are full of interesting characters and epic plots. I enjoyed the book and appreciate all the detail the author put into his work.