Endless Seas: Never Meet Your Idols
The following review will contain spoilers!
Endless Seas: Never Meet Your Idols by John Champaign — 4/5 Stars
Again, this will have some spoilers, so you’ve been warned!
This novel was sent to me by John to review, and I was highly intrigued after reading the blurb. Sailing ships through portals to other worlds, other civilizations and cultures? I was hooked from the start. I expected a pirate - type novel, and that was what was delivered.
Before the actual review, here are some keypoints I thoroughly enjoyed, or found extremely fascinating in the world John created.
Elementalists who can control the different elements (Earth, Fire, Water, Air, etc). Very cool magic system.
Ships can be submerged using air bubbles created by the ship’s Elementalist.
Various Gods are “grown” and rule over certain countries in the world. Each God is different, and emits a different aura to their people.
Detailed fight scenes, but not over the top. Well executed!
The author throws you right into the action of the ship named Phoenix and her crew, led by Captain Baxter. The first chapter is quite confusing, but as the book goes on, it becomes much easier to understand everything that is happening. Scenes are -very- quick, which was a first for me in a novel. I thought I would dislike that, but it ended up enhancing each chapter and allowing you to see more of what was happening onboard the Phoenix, and also allowed you to learn more about many of the crew members. (Third Captain Albert Reeves was my favorite of the three captains!).
I don’t have much to say about the structure of the novel itself. I thoroughly enjoyed each chapter I read. The writing itself was good and never a distraction. The characters fleshed into their own as the story progressed. Each chapter was a new adventure of the crew of the Phoenix, keeping you on your toes and keeping you wanting to read more to see what was happening with the crew.
The only reason I did not give this novel a 5 was because there never seemed to be an overarching storyline to the novel. Like I said earlier, each chapter was a new adventure (which is NOT a bad thing, I enjoyed each one!), however I never saw a point to the novel as a whole. I do have to admit, however, that I have never read a book like this, so I may not be the best to judge. I can only give my opinion.
And that’s the end of the review! I would recommend this novel to anyone who wants a Stargate-Meets-Fantasy novel. Very fun, enjoyable read.
If you’d like your novel reviews, tag me on Twitter at S_D_Donovan and I will get to it, eventually. My list of TBR keeps growing! Also open to receiving ARC copies of novels, which will have priority to be read since you are sending me a physical book <3
