🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
Casey seems, from a distance, to be your usual 17 year old girl. Pretty, slim and just on the right side of grouchy. Until you get a glimpse of her eyes. They’re bright, swirling and colourful – and not human at all – which she’s not. She’s Felsian – half human, half Fel – a species which is often targeted by the Traxens – the dominant species on the planet Alerean-6 in the twenty-fifth century.
After the death of her parents, Casey is taken in by the childless (and fully human) Elissa, and joins her in becoming a trader in the boring mining town of Fuldarnus. The weather is as spectacularly boring as the town; the most exciting thing that happens is Casey getting scammed by an unscrupulous customer. Until she happens across a group of Traxens beating a single Felsian. She jumps in with both feet in an attempt to save them – before waking up the next morning with a headache to rival the worst hangover of all time.
The thing with Angelfyre (Destiny) is that it was written in such a strange way. Almost conversational mixed in with an omnipresent narrative. At times, the narrator addresses the reader directly, discussing what the reader would be seeing if they were watching rather than reading – trying to tell them directly what they would smell. It kind of reminded me of Terry Pratchett’s style and at times I found myself waiting for a footnote or a mention of Rincewind. Frances is clearly inspired by the late, great creator of Discworld, but at times, the style just wasn’t quite right.
The chapters were long, with so much happening in the first that I began to immediately become confused as to what the story was and who it was about. Casey and Elissa go on a flight to another planet, find some diamonds from earth and drink – a lot. Casey is preoccupied with a necklace, and does some more drinking. And then there’s the fight. Not to mention trying to make sure you’re one hundred percent sure on the different species and their attributes. As well as the flip from the omnipresent narration to the narrator chatting about the weather to you.
In all, Angelfyre (Destiny) has potential – it just needs refining somewhat.
S. A.
This was originally reviewed on Reedsy Discovery. You can read it here.
AngleFyre (Destiny) is available to buy from Amazon on Kindle or Paperback.
.