Firefly Island, epic fantasy novel - Page 4

DArenson · 03-11-2011, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhempel24

And the song was fantastic too!

I think so too.

caleb72 · 03-18-2011, 10:23 PM

OK - finished this one. What to say....

Things I liked:
I liked the concept of the fireflies and firechildren. I thought it was completely charming and suitably magical. In fact, the notion of the story was great for me. I thought the dark aspects of the story were welcome. This wasn't a pretty fairy tale and that kept me interested even when the situations were depressingly grim.

Thinks I liked - not so much:
The plot became decidedly jerky as it progressed. I felt that if the book was double the size maybe the transitions could be smoother. At the start we had all the detail we could want with Aeolia's story in particular - but then it became one of those "and then this happened" kind of stories. Groups of people suddenly appear here...or there. Armies on one side of the island on one page appear on the other the next. So as I progressed in my reading I actually started to become disengaged from the story.

My next issue was the characters themselves. They were not logically or consistently portrayed. At stages a character is forlorn, brave, strangely adept with weapons, weak, childish, wise. Lale is a good example of what I would call a non-sequitur character. He starts as a rather frightening and intent would-be killer who seems almost like the Terminator, but then we get rather bizarre displays of cowardly fear in the forest, followed by an unexplained and unlikely sexual side completed by a strange and unbelievable sigh of regret at the end. With the characters in this book it's a constant case of pieces that don't seem to fit.

I still gave this a 3-star rating as I thought the overall charm of the story ideas and the satisfying darkness combine to make this a good read. I am also interested to pick up another novel and see if the character/plot development is smoother in later books as this was a first novel.

Regards
Caleb

Barcey · 03-31-2011, 06:19 PM

I just finished Firefly Island and really enjoyed it. It was an entertaining quick read and liked that it wasn't the typical formula fantasy. The flashback to Lale's past was effective to make the character much more believable.

I bought your other three books so just thought I'd let you know that your self promotion efforts are working (at least in my case). Keep up the good work!

DArenson · 04-09-2011, 09:09 PM

Thanks for your comments, guys.

This month is a year since Firefly Island became an ebook. Time flies....

DArenson · 04-13-2011, 08:32 PM

If you don't mind me sharing/bragging a bit....

I previously talked about how a reader composed music for Firefly Island. She emailed me a video she made for it. Please take a look:

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03-18-2011, 10:23 PM	#47
caleb72 Indie Advocate Posts: 2,863 Karma: 18794463 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kindle	OK - finished this one. What to say.... Things I liked: I liked the concept of the fireflies and firechildren. I thought it was completely charming and suitably magical. In fact, the notion of the story was great for me. I thought the dark aspects of the story were welcome. This wasn't a pretty fairy tale and that kept me interested even when the situations were depressingly grim. Thinks I liked - not so much: The plot became decidedly jerky as it progressed. I felt that if the book was double the size maybe the transitions could be smoother. At the start we had all the detail we could want with Aeolia's story in particular - but then it became one of those "and then this happened" kind of stories. Groups of people suddenly appear here...or there. Armies on one side of the island on one page appear on the other the next. So as I progressed in my reading I actually started to become disengaged from the story. My next issue was the characters themselves. They were not logically or consistently portrayed. At stages a character is forlorn, brave, strangely adept with weapons, weak, childish, wise. Lale is a good example of what I would call a non-sequitur character. He starts as a rather frightening and intent would-be killer who seems almost like the Terminator, but then we get rather bizarre displays of cowardly fear in the forest, followed by an unexplained and unlikely sexual side completed by a strange and unbelievable sigh of regret at the end. With the characters in this book it's a constant case of pieces that don't seem to fit. I still gave this a 3-star rating as I thought the overall charm of the story ideas and the satisfying darkness combine to make this a good read. I am also interested to pick up another novel and see if the character/plot development is smoother in later books as this was a first novel. Regards Caleb

03-31-2011, 06:19 PM	#48
Barcey Wizard Posts: 1,531 Karma: 8059866 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3	I just finished Firefly Island and really enjoyed it. It was an entertaining quick read and liked that it wasn't the typical formula fantasy. The flashback to Lale's past was effective to make the character much more believable. I bought your other three books so just thought I'd let you know that your self promotion efforts are working (at least in my case). Keep up the good work!

04-09-2011, 09:09 PM	#49
DArenson ebookworm Posts: 268 Karma: 100026 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Canada Device: Kobo, Kindle	Thanks for your comments, guys. This month is a year since Firefly Island became an ebook. Time flies....

04-13-2011, 08:32 PM	#50
DArenson ebookworm Posts: 268 Karma: 100026 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Canada Device: Kobo, Kindle	If you don't mind me sharing/bragging a bit.... I previously talked about how a reader composed music for Firefly Island. She emailed me a video she made for it. Please take a look: