Wednesday 13 February 2013

#bookreview: Prossia by Raphyel M Jordan

ProssiaProssia by Raphyel M. Jordan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Alytchai (Aly) is seventeen and has been drafted to fight a war on a planet she has never been to amongst a people she has never seen against an enemy who would wipe out their entire civilisation. Dealing with teenage hormones whilst trying to focus on the war and their mission, Aly has a harder time at it than her fellow Goolians who can make fireballs of hot plasma out of their hands. On the way she learns to mix with other races - the cheeky Ufrian called Gruago, the imposing Hethroycken, Lord Gurythrus, Lord Juazi of Argutain their team leader and even a Cyogen half-breed, Cyleroa whom she cannot decide if she should trust. And yet, although she doesn’t know it, the biggest danger to them all is herself, for the strength and power that she doesn’t know she has or how to control.

Whilst I was interested enough to finish reading the story, Prossia could have been much better if it had been properly edited to make the scenes and writing tighter and less rambly. As it was, the story meandered its way through from when Aly and her best friend Cattalice (Cat) were first drafted and takes a terribly long time through training and strange mishaps until it reaches the final battle, which wasn’t quite a battle. The book also contained numerous errors, which rather detracted from what would have been a pretty much enjoyable read. Several phrases were also overused, especially “ticking time bomb” (to describe Aly) to the point that it got a little bit annoying.

Another annoying thing was that after all the gradual revelation of who (or what) Aly really was, it was never clearly defined what exactly was wrong with being a Sungstra. Yes, they lacked control of their being, but what was it that so clearly marked them apart? Or, more interestingly, what marked them to be hated or compared with the Cyogens? Was it because the Cyogens too were Sungstren and that somehow made them alike? (It didn’t seem that way).

Also you don’t discover what Prossia actually is until something like the last chapter of the book.
All that said… it was an okay read. The story itself is strong enough on its own to attract you, if only the other things didn’t really detract as much.

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3 comments:

  1. Sorry you didn't enjoy Prossia as much as you could have :( Thanks for reading and reviewing it, and for your participation in the tour!

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    1. Hi Diantha!
      Thanks for inviting me to join the tour... I wouldn't have found out about Raphyel any other way.
      I will be looking out for more of his work ;)

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