Novella in the Ephemera series
Genre: fantasy
Format: eBook short story
About The Voice:
An original novella from the New York Times bestselling author of Bridge of Dreams…Source: Info in the About The Voice was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13456428-the-voice on 19/02/2012.
In a small village outside the city of Vision, the people know no sorrow or grief. But this seemingly idyllic community is hiding a terrible secret. As a young child, Nalah did not know why she was told to bring a cake to the mute girl known as the Voice whenever she was upset, only that doing so made her feel better. Now grown, Nalah understands the dark truth, and yearns to escape from the oppressive village that has been her life-long home. But it is only after visiting the city of Vision and discovering the Temple of Sorrow that Nalah understands what she must do to be free…
“Bishop’s talents lie both in her ability to craft a story filled with intriguing characters and in her flair for smoldering sensuality.”—Library Journal
“[Bishop’s] worlds are so fully realized and three-dimensional, they jump right off the pages.”—Fresh Fiction
Includes a letter from the author and a special preview chapter from the latest novel set in the world of Ephemera, Bridge of Dreams (available March 2012).
Review:
I bought this ebook because it's an Ephemera novella. However this book reads more like The Black Jewels series than the Ephemera series. The tone is quite dark and disturbing.The very reason why I stopped reading the The Black Jewels series.
Anne Bishop has a very masterful author's voice which brings the story vividly to life.
The down side of that is, it also brings to the forefront of the reader's mind, the dark and disturbing aspect of humanity and the evil humans can do to each other that is depicted in the story in vivid details.
I read to escape, not to scare myself. So safe to say that this is not my kind of read.
Although this novella plays in the world of the Ephemera series, it does not read like one. And this short story carries a completely different set of characters as oppose to that of Sebastian and Belladonna (Books 1 and 2). It also does not mention any of the old beloved characters from previous books. I would not recommend this book to readers who does not like horror and torture kind of reads. If not for the masterful story telling quality, I would give this book a rating of 1, as it is I would give it a 3 out of 5.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 1.5
Ending = 2.5
World building = 4
Pace = 3
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries
Other Book(s) In The Ephemera Series:
This is an author and series I've not tried. Sorry you were disappointed with the novella. Hope the series keeps up for you though. :)
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