Book Review: The Tale of the Order of the Blue Maiden

Mamma Bear Book Review

*A bear trundles in with a book under one, fuzzy arm*

 

 

Epic fantasy with furry characters makes for a creative and entertaining story in Al Romero's The Tail of the Oder of the Blue Maiden. In it we meet Ayan and his family, bound servants to a sadistic noble and yet possessing an interesting and secretive history that tells you right from the get-go things are not what they seem.  Our hero is a tailless scamp who excels at getting himself into trouble.  Around him we find a charming cast of species from rodent to lizard to wolf, and a series of enchanting and highly original settings, mythos and conflicts. 

Ayan longs to be a knight, but a religious law strictly forbids anyone without a tail to carry a sword. Despite this, our hero manages to wiggle his way into the castle, meet the blue-haired maiden of his dreams, and launch himself and his friends on a quest to rescue the girl, save the world, and possibly change the future. 

 

There is a lot going on in this book. On one hand, that makes it incredibly charming, on the other, it makes the reading of Blue Maiden, a less than effortless task, a fact that is amplified by the length of the book.  Which is substantial. The plot is full of conflict, but there are also great tracts of ordinary life woven in between, in particular in the first half of the book. For me, that made for less of a page turner than I would have liked, and it took me a very long time to finish because after what felt like a large conflict, the tension would ebb long enough that I could walk away and pick it up again later. 

The world and characters are engaging enough, but the story is not so much an exciting sprint over a steep hill as a leisurely wander through a very charming garden. That being said, fans of big books, epic stories and medieval sensibilities will love the one, in particular if they don't require non-stop action and tension.

 

Despite taking me so long to finish, I enjoyed the ride quite a bit. The writing is solid and the book well edited with only a few very minor errors. Near the end, I did get the feeling that the author was throwing every interesting idea he had into a story whether they really fit or were necessary to serving the plot, and it got a little all over the place for me with both fantasy and science fiction, superhero style fighting and believe it or not, a bit of mech warfare tossed in. (the fantasy version of this at least)

As much as I liked it, I think it might have shone brighter with sharper focus, a little trimming, and a tighter structure. Even so, the charm is undeniable and I give it a solid four claws for being just delightful in enough ways to make up for my personal quibbles. If you love a good long epic, it will easily be a solid five star book for you. 

Character: 

The characters in Blue Maiden are diverse and fully fleshed out. Ayan himself is a superstar and one you immediately bond with and never stop rooting for. I loved and hated how flawed the Blue Maiden herself is, and the realism of that was wonderful. Everyone is very "human" and yet trying their best, and that will guarantee reader empathy right out of the gate.

World Building:

  The world is definitely fully fleshed out. In fact, I suspect there are things in the story that could have remained in the author's world building notes and not detracted from the reading. That being said, lovers of a deep, unique fantasy setting will adore this one. The only quibble I had with the world was that the characters are basically human in every way. Occasionally the description reminds us that they have fur and tails (for the most part) but they don't read as furry/animals very often. It is easy to forget the cast is Chirran and furry readers would appreciate a great deal more "furry-ness" than I felt coming through the text.

 

Pacing:  

I had trouble feeling the tension until the very last of the story. For one thing, it's long. Seriously long. I don't have anything against a big tome, but the pace felt slow for me and many of the conflicts felt like "the big one" and then the tension would let off and not rise again for quite some time. After the final conflict, there is a long resolution as well, which I liked but also felt like it dragged a bit. Maybe I just prefer a faster paced book, but I had trouble fixing my attention and getting through this one in a reasonable amount of time.

 Shiny:

Ayan himself is the real star here. I adore this little guy. He's the underdog and a total scamp. He disobeys, breaks the rules, makes terrible, rash decisions and is so lovable, so delightfully confident and devoted, that you are praying for him from the very first page. 

Don't let my whining about length put you off. If you're in for a marathon fantasy epic, then you won't be sorry for picking up The Tail of the Oder of the Blue Maiden.

~Mammabear