Fourborn Wind & Fire by Megan Futcher; A Review

In a world where the four elements rule as gods, the Gaias of Wind, Fire, Water and Earth  determine the existence and fate of every man and woman. Threatening this seemingly perfect world this the Fourborn – a yet to be identified being born of all four races and the only one who has the power to set mankind free from it’s elemental shackles. Divinely chosen in the pending chaos is a guardian from each race. With the words of an ancient prophesy as their only guide, they must find and protect the Fourborn at all costs or risk losing everything they hold dear. Kofi, an inexperienced warrior finds himself in a war without end. Fleeing the devastation, bloodshed and terror, he leaves his beloved homeland behind as he sets out on a journey with the promise of finding a cause that is worth fighting for. Lela, a child of the Wind and the Fire is determined to escape the life she was born into. Faced with a war of her own, she must find an inner balance if she is to claim the life she so desires. The worlds of Wind and Fire collide when Kofi and Lela find themselves caught up in an adventure of enormous proportions. Setting out on a mission that spans three lands, they must defy not only their Gaias and the prophesy but themselves in order to find the Fourborn while the dangers of an all consuming darkness takes shape around them.

So it would seem I am in a bit of a Fantasy binge read at the moment, which is not normal for me when I get hooked on a genre that I like. I have been floating in and out of the fantasy genre for quite some time now, and finding little treasures along the way that keep me awake at all hours of the night. But the one thing I have learned about fantasy novels, they fall into two categories: they are either brilliantly written, or flops. It is not often that I find a fantasy that is just.. eh. When Megan Futcher approached me to review her book, Fourborn Wind & Find I thought, ‘ Cool another fantasy novel’, but when I got to the end of it.. I was feeling.. eh. The beginning at great promise with dual character narrations, who were from quarreling tribes/territories who would come together for a greater purpose. YES excitement happening! Then it dragged, and dragged, and dragged, and dragged until OH MY GOSH only 75 pages left of the novel must speed everything up! Must have some sort of conclusion otherwise the readers will think this was all for nothing, then leave you on a cliff hanger. *dead pan face emoji* I have to admit that yes I have never written a novel before but why do authors do this? Why do they fill a novel with useless backstory and relationship building then speed up the plot line so that the reader can stay with the novel? If Megan was planning on writing various novels for this series, there were plenty of other places I would have ended the book and began the next segment, but where she chose to end it was poor. There were plenty of other points on her novel that would have been a brilliant cliff hanger to leave a reader on and who would want to continue on with the next novel. Unfortunately,  I do not think I will be going further with this series.

Megan is a brilliant writer, and her book had the potential of being a great fantasy novel. But somewhere in the middle, something happened. The book went from an exciting journey, that dragged a little, to taking a batch of Ritalin and speed itself up. It went from a graceful, steady pace to allowing the reader become acquainted with the characters and the story, to this crazy moment where everything was happening at once. I am not sure if Megan was bored with her own novel or that she had a deadline to meet but the book just went from zero to 150 in 10 pages. I couldn’t keep up with what was going on, and all the events seemed too close together for comfort. So out of curiosity I stuck with the novel, then it speed up even more and more. Faster and faster blazing through too many events in a short amount of pages, and then the book is over. ‘ WHAT?! THAT’S IT?!’ was my initial reaction. I know I am going to be mean for a hot second but it was by far one of the worst endings I have ever read. It wasn’t even a good cliff hanger that it ended on, and execution of it was poorly played out. I am upset with how this book ended, and I almost regret reading it up to that point. But if you like books that suddenly change pace, in a rapid ” must finish the book by Friday” situation then I invite you to try out Forborne Wind & Fire. Maybe you won’t be as annoyed as I am, but this book tricked me. This book tricked me into thinking it was going to be good and well thought out but it wasn’t. So for the next book, I hope that Megan finds a pace she likes whether is it slow and gradual or fast and exciting and sticks with it.

I wish Megan all the best in her future novels, and I am positive she will finds fantasy fans who will love her books, but I am not one of them. I know I am new to the fantasy genre, but I have read enough of them to know what I like and what I do not like and unfortunately Forborne Wind & Fire is not one of them. I have mix feelings about this book, there parts of it that I liked, there were parts I obviously hated, but overall my feeling towards Forborne Wind & Fire is eh. It was okay. It wasn’t a consisting boring novel, nor was it a consisting exciting novel so it ended up somewhere in the middle with a resounding; it was alright. There isn’t anything that would keep me interested with this series and I do not have a desire to find out what would happen to the main characters.

However, if you want to give Fourborn Wind & Fire a try then I think you should. Everyone is entitled to like what books they like, and even though I am a little indifferent to this novel, doesn’t mean you should pass it up if you love fantasy novels. Give it a try and let me know  your thoughts.

Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: I was sent Fourborn Wind & Fire for free from Megan Futcher for an honest review. This review is of my own work, and I did not copy or refer to any other reviewers/writers/bloggers for this post. All content provided on “A Comfy Chair” is for informational purposes only. I make no representation as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. I will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. I will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

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