Review: The Brotherhood of Piaxia, by Michael Drakich

Author: Michael Drakich

Title: The Brotherhood of Piaxia

ISBN: 9780987770608

Publisher: Drakich (March 15^th 2012)

Disclaimer: Copy received for review purposes.

Buy your copy: Kindle

My rating: 2 of  5

“Years have passed since the overthrow of the monarchy by the Brotherhood of Warlocks and they rule Piaxia in peaceful accord. But now forces are at work to disrupt this rule from outside the Brotherhood as well as within! Follow Tarlok, Savan and Tessia as their paths intertwine, with the Brotherhood in pursuit and the powerful merchant’s guild manipulating the populace for their own end.” GoodReads’ blurb

This was a pleasant foray back into fantasy lands for me. It had been a while, and even longer since I read a book fitting the characteristics of The Brotherhood of Piaxia.

If I had to define the book in one line, I’d say that it’s the kind of read that will get you hooked to the genre for the first time and will make you roll your eyes when  you get back to it, years later. This is by no means “bad”: I’d put a lot of novels in that category, starting with the famous and beloved Drizzt series by Salvatore, so please don’t understand that to mean that there’s not potential, because the makings are there.

The story is epic. There’s a very defined evil, the very expression of “power corrupts”. There’s good people who pay for their kindness and trust. There’re heroes, risen from nearly nothingness and moderately talented into one-man-armies, even if it’s just long enough to bring the war to a halt. There are rebels, lost princesses, and a love story defying class and property. There are characters you will like, and those you’ll hate, and a secondary cast that will fill its role more than adequately.  So, you see, it has the potential to be one of those books that get you started in a whole genre.

So, why the rating? Why does Drizzt get a higher recommendation? Well... I think a little bit of extra editing would have meant the world for this novel.

The pace felt a little slow for me; personally, I think this novel would have been perfect if it had been a little shorter, specially taking into account the target readers and style, but in any case that’s more personal. My issue was with proofreading and keeping consistency. There were several sentences that could have used some fixing, which brought my reading to a “uh?” moment here and there, yes, but most importantly, the characters’ speech changed. The style moved from a more relaxed pace to a semi-archaist speech. And while I was sure that I was reading the first installment in a series (from worldbuilding and pacing and structure) it turned to be a stand-alone... which felt a bit rushed and left me feeling confused.

All in all, as I said, there’s a very good idea here, and the author definitely shows promise, but the book came out a little too fast: it’d have needed a bit more work, and then it’d have been highly recommendable.