I really, really enjoyed this book! The story opens with the MMC Liam living in this paradise world called Midworld, where there is peace from war and suffering. Liam is not originally from here, but from a world full of magic and chaos called Erentyr. He is one of the last survivors that entered into Midworld before all of the portals to Erentyr were sealed. The two main characters of this story are Liam and Mia. They met as children in an orphanage in Midworld and both struggle with how they ended up becoming orphans. The story really focuses in on Liam’s struggles with the traumatic memories of his last days in Erentyr, guilt from watching his family die, and terrifying dreams of the evils that he faced in that world. One day following the anniversary of his families’ deaths, he meets a man who reveals that Liam’s mother actually is still alive and needs for Liam to return to Erentyr to help her save the world from a curse that is slowly spreading across the land. This pushes Liam onto a journey to illegally return to Erentyr to find his mother. Throughout this journey both Liam and Mia have to face their own traumas and find a way to overcome them. I really felt like the story of Liam and Mia’s journey through Erentyr was really well written, and the magic system in this world was really cool! If you enjoy high fantasy with a fun magic system, you should definitely check out this book when it is released next year on April 1st!

The authors background in psychology really shone through in this novel. This was a really interesting fantasy world to have something like that be so prominent and it really added to the characters overall. The cover really sums up what we are getting into here a futuristic looking city with an open portal into someplace more medieval. Absolutely stunning.

Review: This starts with a lame-o whining red headed step-child wandering around, lamenting his past. Thankfully it picks up.

Where this story diverges from the masses is that character valuations are flexible. There is no determinate story line that excludes character development. Liam moves off his myopic pedestal when others are dependent upon his courage and clarity. Mia is a great character as she is fairly grounded and not deeply relegated to a vinegar princess whom wuvs her mwans. She flits around overt independence but is subtly influenced with a direct perspective. In short she compromises to great effect. She digs Liam but is reluctant to openly commit. No trope barf there.

I really loved the world building where we are thrust into Erentyr's bizarre-o land where giants, gnomes and other weird shjt coexist.

I had a good time reading this and you will too.

I received this ARC for an honest review.

4.6/5

I find the Erik D. Goodwyn wrote a really interesting story that me engross in the story from start to end. A part of me didn't want to put this book down. At the same time i wanted to dra this story out as i didn't want it to end. It is a solid start to a new fantasy series and i am looking forward to see where the characters go from here. I am loving the mixture between the modern hi-tech world to a classic medieval fantasy place mixed with faerie.

I found the pacing was great, and it was super easy to read. Sometimes i struggle however it was just hitting the right spot for me.

There were some strong elements to the world building and plot. The main character was nuanced and felt lived in. There was some issues with pacing and plotting but enjoyable nonetheless.

I have always been interested in the idea of what it would be like to visit a fantasy world, as an adult or child, and what effect that would have on you years later. Paul Kearney wrote some excellent books like this such as Riding the Unicorn, and A Different Kingdom, and Mathew Stover also wrote his Cain books around this premise but there are not too many of them out there. I was delighted to stumble upon this book and get swept up in the adventures and trials of the main character who once lived in such a magical world in his youth and still feels its call despite how it haunts him. One of the first scenes is him hacking into a martial arts training dummy to illegally make it more of a challenge and then walking out to be tempted by an advertisement to take a pill to help him forget past trauma.I found him fascinating and would like to read more.

I found the note from the publisher section for this really interesting and actually found that the authors background really came through in the writing. This was a great fantasy read!