A review by jeanmercini
Endless: Crescent: Book One by Matt Bone
4.0
So, first of all, I should make it clear that I received an ebook copy of this from the publishers.
Anyway, to the book itself:
Endless starts from the perspective of John, an Englishman who wakes up one afternoon and finds out everybody is dead…on the whole planet. Things get weirder when he starts to feel like he is being hunted . At the same time, we also get to know Ceria, who lives in Crescent (another planet). She is a member of the Resistance against the villain and an escapee from the brutal persecution he promotes against the Primitives (which are basically magic-like people). In this other planet, we get to know Manvedian as well, who is supposedly also a member of the Resistance (but right in his first chapter shows his allegiances are rather shaky) and who is trying to find Ceria while she's on the run.
Though Bone’s writing is not especially remarkable, it is quite good when compared to most of the fantasy books written these days. Characterization is also a good point in this work: except for the villain (“the half-man”), all characters seem to have their own personalities and (confused) motivations, being grayer than usual (Manvedian is especially a well developed character). As for creativity, it is the interplay of long-used and some new, original ideas from both SF and Fantasy. The book did keep me interested, and despite the sometimes long chapters, it was a nice read. Plus, though it is a series, it did not end in a cliffhanger :) For all that, I gave it 3.5 stars.
Note: One thing kept bothering my annoying self: the eyes of the people from Crescent. They’re just like Earth-human eyes; and yet their sun is younger and brighter than ours, and the environment’s got different shades for rocks, etc. That kept me wondering…
Anyway, to the book itself:
Endless starts from the perspective of John, an Englishman who wakes up one afternoon and finds out everybody is dead…on the whole planet. Things get weirder when he starts to feel like he is being hunted
Spoiler
and when he eventually faces a being of light and ends up in another planetThough Bone’s writing is not especially remarkable, it is quite good when compared to most of the fantasy books written these days. Characterization is also a good point in this work: except for the villain (“the half-man”), all characters seem to have their own personalities and (confused) motivations, being grayer than usual (Manvedian is especially a well developed character). As for creativity, it is the interplay of long-used and some new, original ideas from both SF and Fantasy. The book did keep me interested, and despite the sometimes long chapters, it was a nice read. Plus, though it is a series, it did not end in a cliffhanger :) For all that, I gave it 3.5 stars.
Note: One thing kept bothering my annoying self: the eyes of the people from Crescent. They’re just like Earth-human eyes; and yet their sun is younger and brighter than ours, and the environment’s got different shades for rocks, etc. That kept me wondering…