I have an acquaintance I met on a writing site, Mara Amberly. She’s a fellow writer, and gave me a lot of good advice and time when I was first figuring out what the heck I was doing. While my book exploded, one of hers, Fire and Gold has been moseying along with less visibility, so I thought I’d take a bit to at least give her some visibility as thanks for what she helped me with.

Now, I want to make something clear. Mara has a very, very different style of writing than I have. Her books are slower and more precise. I reviewed Fire and Gold, and her book is nearly perfect from an editing and grammar perspective. My review is here, but I’m going into a touch more depth in this post.

The world is fleshed out and well-built, with magic having specific uses based on elemental themes, which I personally favor, and implied limits that I know Mara has worked out. The story is essentially the archetype of The Journey, so don’t expect it to be focused on other aspects.

The things that bugged me were mostly stylistic differences. First off, I couldn’t quite relate to her characters. I’m not sure if that was my own personality not meshing, or whether they were slightly distant. Similarly, some of the character decisions seemed poor to me, but I’m also a different style of writer, with different assumptions. Two of the characters in the book were obviously foreshadowing for subsequent books.

Fire and Gold isn’t the longest book, at about half the length of Ancient Ruins, but has a lovely glossary which I envy and keep being tempted to try to make for my own book. While it may not be my personal style, perhaps it will work for others. I’d recommend reading the sample, and if you like it, great!

I hope everyone has a great night/day wherever they are!