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Book Review: Hearth: Exile

I’m very excited to post my very first book review on this blog! First up is Hearth: Exile:

Hearth: Exile by M. R. Jenks

This original fantasy story starts out a cold day in New York where we meet Brian(The closest he comes to remembering his real name), who are struggling to get by, in spite of having no memory of who he is or where he came from.

A series of mysterious events have him meeting Lauren, a woman who doesn’t remember anything either, but somehow they both know of the deep connection between them.

Driven by the need to know where they came from, they embark on a mission to discover what is hidden behind their lost memories.

Overall thoughts:

Hearth: Exile is a good story, but an excessive amount of description puts it at a dragging pace. M.R. Jenks have a nicely flowing writing, but is too fond of telling, not showing what is going on. I was intrigued by the mystery in the story, but was put off by having to read page after page describing how New York looks in the winter.

The story also took its time getting started, but it definitely improved towards the end! The first half of the book was hard to view as fantasy at all, and I think the author could have made a much more exciting book if he had cut down on a lot of scenes where little to nothing happened. The end definitely seemed like it contained some high end fantasy and mystery, but it took too long to get there. On the other hand, the book was cut off quite suddenly, so I’m sure the sequel will begin in the same good style that the first one ended in.

Though my review might sound less than enthusiastic, I still believe it’s a story with a lot of potential, and I would recommend it to people who don’t mind a slow moving plot, as long as it’s well thought-out. Though I wasn’t overly thrilled about this first book in the Hearth series, I actually have great hopes for the next book. In my mind(And I hope I’m right), the parts that made the book drag on ended in this first installment, and the next book will delve deeper into the fascinating world M.R. Jenks hinted at here, without all the foreshadowing.

If Hearth: Exile has caught your interest, you can buy it as an ebook on Amazon!

Learn more about the author on his website: http://mrjenks.wordpress.com/