A review from Kate Forsyth


The Isles of Glory: “Sharp intelligent fantasy for those who like ideas mixed in with their action.”

Kate Forsyth is an Australian YA and children’s author of considerable experience and talent, so I am delighted to see that she enjoyed The Isles of Glory Trilogy.

You see, writers are really, really picky readers. We see through everything. The plot devices, the flaws, the weaknesses, we tend to see them all. We think uncharitably, “Hmph, I wouldn’t have done it that way!” As we read, we note the structure and do an inward criticism of how the book was put together. In fact, my criteria for knowing whether a book is really good is this: I am so drawn into the tale that I read without giving a thought to how it was written.

So when a writer likes my work, especially one I’ve never met, I heave a huge sigh of relief.

Here are some of the things Kate has to say:

“Larke obviously relishes world building, and the cultures she creates are so original, in comparison to many fantasy worlds, that the whole series has a very fresh feel to it …”
“…It is very interesting to see a little more of the different cultures as our heroes move from island to island. I really enjoyed these aspects of The Isles of Glory.”

“The second book, Gilfeather has one of the best opening lines in recent fantasy fiction. I first met Blaze and Flame the day before I murdered my wife….”
“I was genuinely surprised by the ending of Book Two as well, another experience I always enjoy…”

The Tainted...brings to the fore a narrative thread which has been a clever and sometimes amusing framing device in the earlier books…”

The writing style is “always very smooth and readable, and punctuated with a dry wit that helps lighten much of the darkness of the story. This is sharp intelligent fantasy for those who like ideas mixed in with their action.”

Wow, thank you, Kate Forsyth. I hope I get to meet you at the coming Natcon in Melbourne so I can say thanks in person…

Kate’s review is in the latest Aurealis Magazine which can be bought through this site.

Now back to my copy edit.


Comments

A review from Kate Forsyth — 7 Comments

  1. Yay! A good review from a fellow author – and a well deserved one too (Karen beat me to it, but I was going to say it anyway).

    I hope Kate Forsyth mentioned that you do write cracking good action sequences in their own right, real turn-the-page stuff. :o)

  2. Forgot to mention (in my haste). I think the action in Isles of Glory really would translate well on to movie screen – and then to video-games as well. Blaze on Xbox, now how cool would that be? :o)

  3. Rest assure, glenda, I was thinking just as much about all those lovely rights and royalties cheques winging your way as I was about the movie-goers and gamers enjoying themselves. :o)

  4. I could think of nothing better than an Isles of Glory trilogy on the big screen. Although, you’d want to have a lot of input on what they’d do, wouldnt you Glenda? Who knows what the director would change. Plus, being a complete video game geek, I’d -love- to play Blaze. So long as the developer did it right. It’s hard to find a decent game spin off from a movie. And because I work at a videogame store, I’d be pushing the game onto anyone who walked in the store!

    But really, the review is excellent and as Karen and Hruugar said, completely deserved.

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