Review: Refugees

Refugees by R.A. Denny
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I agreed to review this book because the author said, "Since you enjoyed "Cast of Stones" perhaps you'll enjoy my book "Refugees." I adored "Cast of Stones." But this book is nothing like that. Disclaimer: Received this book from the authors in exchange for my honest opinion.

Creating you own world for fantasy or sci-fi is really hard work. I appreciate more than you know how hard. Denny did a great job creating the world and each of the regions each of the characters resided. I enjoyed that very much.

Denny started this series very well, tremendous suspense and heartless cruelty. It set the stage for a good story... except the follow through was too plodding to really care about the characters. As an editor, it is much better to start the story with one or two characters and add other characters as the first character meets them on his/her journey to save the world. Denny didn't do that. Each character is a main character and had his/her own introduction so the reader could understand the region and customs of each wildly different main character. This plot tactic was jolting, had no transitions, kept me from caring about them as a reader should who needs to be involved in the story.

The writing is good. Descriptions are very good. World building is good. Premise is good. Character building could use some work. Story flow and editing need more work.

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