by Boomert - The Awakening by Bevan McGuiness 09 Jan 2010

The Awakening is the first in a series from new author Bevan McGuiness. I could start this review with a description of the setting and characters, but empires, warriors and magic are the things that make fantasy what it is. It is what McGuiness does with these ideas that is so interesting. His characters are refreshingly introspective and he uses them to challenge many of the classic fantasy tropes. The ‘child of prophecy’ is often used in fantasy and McGuiness tries to approach the concept in a new way. Who really wants super-powered individuals wandering around the world? What do you do with them? What do you do if you are one of them? The characters are dynamic and engage with the story rather than being carried from one plot device to another. They regularly examine and question the situations they find themselves in. It is McGuiness’ refusal to take the easy way out that makes The Awakening so appealing. This is a good recommendation to fans of Martin, Hobb and Fallon, and if this is what the rest of the series is going to be like, I suspect the phrase ‘will appeal to fans of McGuiness’ will soon be entering booksellers’ vocabulary.

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker