Overall, I'm kinda disappointed with this story. When you start, it definitely feels like the author is going for epic fantasy, which is further emphasized by the heavy influence of Tolkien's orcs (and the fact that they were once elves who were desecrated by the god of darkness), but the epicness is only in the trappings.

The story itself is a rather fluffy romance, one that felt more like a summary with dialogue than a fully-fledged story. The length, unfortunately, just didn't work with the overarching plot. It wasn't bad - I actually really liked the world and the characters - it just wasn't what it could have been.

Book – A Question of Honor
Author – Matthew Angelo
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 108
Cover – Great!
POV – 3rd person, dual character
Would I read it again – Maybe
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Romance


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **


I really enjoyed this one. It was a super cute, fantasy novel with a LOTR essence that felt comfortable in pace and style.

I won't lie, there were some issues. I had an uncorrected proof, however, so I didn't let these issues lean too heavily upon my rating. There were some editing issues, with spelling mistakes or missing words here and there, as well as some confusion about the POV (sometimes starting off as one character and then becoming another) with a few mistakenly labelled characters, to boot (such as labelling a speech as being by Ash when it was really Havyn who said it) Thankfully, most of the time it was easy to work out what was meant, so it wasn't too big of a problem and I don't doubt that these issues will have been corrected in the final copy.

I have to applaud the world building. There were so many new terms, so much complexity and thought in the world building, that I was staggered. Yet it never felt too overwhelming or overdone.

I loved that we started the story with a Prologue that gave Arcanus, the God of Magic and All Knowledge, his own POV. Then, we finished with that again, in the Epilogue. That was brilliant and also let us see something of the people who were pulling the strings of humans/Elves etc like Ash and Havyn.

There was a whole lot of diversity here, too, from elves, mages and orcs to gay, straight and gender-neutral characters. There were also a whole lot of creatures, mostly familiar to readers already, in the form of elemental spirits, golems, dragons, necromancers and dwarves. I loved how they were all interwoven together in this fantasy world, linked in ways that were both familiar in some ways and original in others.

I actually really liked the POV format, where the characters had one scene each, trading off between Ash and Havyn for every other scene, so that we could see what was happening in chronological order, while not missing out on the finer details. Yes, the Prologue set up the point of the book and the basic plot, but I loved seeing it all come together as Ash and Havyn experienced the summons, then the fight and the victory. I also loved that they both had one person in their lives who knew their secret, before they ventured off to war, and how it made them reflect on their relationship.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and, although it needed some work when it comes to editing, I think the final product would have been just as equally justified of the 4 star review. With great world building, good, strong characters and an intriguing plot that was original and interesting to follow, I really enjoyed it and would love to read more from this 'world'.

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Favourite Quote

“Even though he wanted to talk and help Ash, he knew he could not force him to do anything. Instead, he laid his hand on Ash's arm for encouragement and smiled. He hoped submitting to his leadership may help. If not, a fireball later might.”