Title: Fire and Lies (ARC Review =Release Date is July 1, 2016)

Author: Angela B. Chysler

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

Blood waters the fields of Alfheim. War rips across the land of elves and usurped kings. The Fae gods draw near, and Queen Kallan’s strength is tested as she follows King Rune into Alfheim. But the Shadow Beast caged within Rune’s body writhes in hunger, and Kallan’s newest companion, Bergen the legendary Berserk, is determined to end the conflict with her life.

As the witch, the king, and the berserk come together, the truth buried within the past resurfaces. Now, Kallan must master a dormant power or watch her kingdom fall to the Fae who will stop at nothing to keep their lies.

Fire and Lies (Tales of the Drui Book #2) picks up right where Dolor and Shadow left off, concluding one chapter of Kallan’s life as the next chapter begins.

Review:

If Angela B. Chrysler can be described as anything, she can be described as an author with a fantastical imagination.  The world she has created in her writing is complex and profound; however, when reading her work I felt that she was always keeping information over the reader’s head and I felt, at times, as though I had been left out of some big secret.

Fire and Lies is the second novel in the series, “Tales of the Drui”, with Dolor and Shadow being the first book.  Both are written in the traditional epic fantasy style, which is a nice treat when compared to the more contemporary fantasy style that seems to relate more to real life than it whisks you away into a mystical world.  However, Chrysler’s series is packed with mythology and medieval elements that become too complicated when intertwined, and while I enjoyed her setting the confusion I encountered when faced with this packed storyline put a damper on the joy that I received from my reading experience.

In fantasy novels such as this one, it is important to have a full cast of characters set in a broad setting, and while Chrysler did have both I found that she put more effort into her setting and background than she did in character development.  This, in turn, hindered any attachments that I could have formed with her characters.  Her writing and story do have massive potential, but all in all I found that she rushed the process of character and plot development in order to get straight to building up her background and setting.  If this novel, and series, were to be reworked and constructed in a different manner I am sure that it would excel.  Chrysler has massive potential, but she needs to work on understanding how to better connect with her audience and escape the world that she has created within her own mind in order to let others in.  Based on the way this novel is now, I feel like an outsider looking in; but if the writing were tweaked a bit to expand on the characters and allow the reader to understand more of the story, I think that this series would end up being more of a four dimensional experience than one dimensional.  It needs that all encompassing factor that is crucial in epic fantasy novels, and then it will soar with flying colors.
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