If you are a fan of urban fantasy written cinematically with a very human and real main protagonist, Chosen may be the right read for you. The story follows Alex as he starts on a journey which turns out to be a bit more than he bargained for. Reminiscent of Thomas the Covenant's adventures by Stephen Donaldson Chosen dips from Theland to our own reality.
Chosen is a debut novel (self published) and it has a few niggles which I did not like - Theland relies on a proven Medieval world recipe and I felt that the author could have given the world a definite new slant. Having said that there are some wonderfully illustrated characters, my favourite being Avery Tavistock whose character is delicately drawn and is one of the strongest in the novel, almost stealing the story.
The author has worked very hard and there are some amazingly well written passages which just ask for being read out loud. It is a very good first novel, but there is room for improvement - mainly I would say that the author should be able to toss out his nervousness when it comes to Theland and literally kick back and have some fun with the fantasy elements of his story. I am looking forward to seeing what else is up Mr. Ibbotson's sleeve because he has great talent and with practice he will become a force in genre fiction to be reckoned with.
The last time I checked Amazon had two copies of Chosen in stock - so, if you are interested in reading a well written and imaginative first novel, pop by and check it out or it can be bought from Jerry's site directly .
Editor's Note: The book is now available in Borders branches in the UK, no word on a US release.
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