Gemstone Reviews [Closed for Catch up]

Review #12-Severance

Title: Severance

Author: Solita Todesstern

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: PG-13

# of chapters: 5 (ongoing)

# of chapters I've read:  1 1/2

Summary/Blurb: 

In the world of Resliya, Tales are woven as Legends. The tragic Tale we shall speak of is known to fellow Taleweavers as, "The Tale of the Fallen Kingdom of Etrunia." It is a Tale of Severance from a fallen kingdom. A broken tie between a girl's dearest family and her subjects. It is the Tale of two girls destined to fight each other in the most unfortunate and tragic ending which devoured all hope of a restored kingdom and happiness.

Let us start with, "Once upon a time, there was a girl named Seraphine Celesté Rossesen, the princess and heir to the elven throne as well as the Wielder of the jewels of Purity and Avarice. Her Guardian and Warrior sworn to protect her was a girl named Edith Sinclair, a human survivor of a burnt village to inevitable ashes. By and by the days passed until the elven throne was near Seraphine's grasp.

Until that unfaithful day, it had all perished. Her kingdom? In ashes. Her people? Dead. Her parents? Brutally murdered. Her warriors? Sacrificed. Her jewels? Thrown into the crevices of the world.

And the Princess you ask?

Dead.

Or was she?"

Review:

Cover:

Another wonderful example of a cover done by a graphic designer, because it incorporates elements from the blurb and matches up with the title. Even though I had to look up its definition (severance means broken ties, for those who were as clueless as I am), it's a title that stands out and differs from the others in the genre.

The main character (Seraphine Celesté) is on the cover and I can see the "severance" through the swords behind her. I guess the golden clock signifies that time is running out, and she has to save her kingdom before all hell goes loose. It's mystifying, eye-catching, and that's all I'm going to say about it.

Overall—Good work! 

Blurb:

To be honest, I'm not a fan of this blurb. First of all, I don't understand why 'tale' is capitalized, it's a noun, not a name (as well as guardian/warrior, etc.). I also don't understand why people who tell these tales are called 'tale weavers', and not 'storytellers'. It sounds unnecessarily complicated, and it doesn't make a differentiation between fictional stories and real-life happenings.

Initially, I thought that the story would be about these 'taleweavers' but instead, it revolves around the characters in the story itself, which I'm not sure are fictional or not (of course this is a work of fiction, but is this meant to be realistic based in their world? I'm not sure). Actually, I'm not even sure who this story is about.

From what I understand, the blurb is a story told by the taleweaver. So there's an odd mixture of the first person perspective and third person perspective. What makes this confusing is the fact that you open with an impersonal tone. "In the world of Resliya, Tales are woven as Legends." By the next sentence, where the narrator refers to themselves as "we", I'm thinking, who is "we"? What does this have to do with the ensuing talks of Severance, broken kingdom, etc.?

Setting the blurb up as some kind of fairytale doesn't work. The story itself is supposed to sound badass and dramatic, but instead, it sounds like one of those stories you tell your children to put them to sleep.