The Upstream Writer: Reader's Review: "Do You Trust Me?" by Kelly Blanchard

Monday, February 5, 2018

Reader's Review: "Do You Trust Me?" by Kelly Blanchard

Synopsis from Amazon:

Caught between saving the woman you love and saving your realm, which would you choose?

A mysterious woman plagues Lorrek's dreams - a woman whose existence has been wiped from his mind. Who is she and why has his memory been erased?

Lorrek enters the magic realm to examine events of his own past and discovers the unthinkable. His first true love was involved in an assassination plot—the result of which had a disturbing ripple effect on his own life. She remains alive but stuck in the magic realm, hounded by a virus which has the potential to destroy all magic.

To save her, he must travel further into the past and unlock secrets of the magic realm. What if killing her is the only way to destroy the virus?

>>>>>

My Review:

Prequels are difficult things. Trying to pull off a prequel in the midst of a series runs the risk of bringing all prior momentum to a grinding halt, and it would be difficult to then jump back into the present, right back into the action of the main series timeline.

And yet, the same could be said with combining cyberpunk tech and high-fantasy magic—but Kelly Blanchard has proved herself absolutely competent of pulling that off, so we should expect nothing less from her decision to jump back in time.

She does so in the best way possible: in the present, Radella and Lorrek are together after the shocking events of “I’m Still Alive”, and the past is revealed as Lorrek finds it necessary to revisit his recently-restored memories for information to help them in the present conflict with the thymords. What he does find has incredible implications for every experience he has been through since the beginning of the series.

This is what it means to have a prequel done well: the constant referral to other events already mentioned. It’s “retrograde continuity” that supplements rather than interferes with the established timeline. Setting up the framework of Lorrek and Radella in the present keeps that part from stagnating, while each new revelation fits neatly into the existing continuity. Blanchard uses the flashbacks to enrich the story, while using the “third-person omniscience” afforded to Lorrek viewing the past from the magic realm to craft storylines from the past in themselves.

One thing I can say about this book is that it takes the breadth and richness of the world and the universe to a whole new level. New devices, new nemeses, new players on this cosmic chessboard that exists nowhere else except in this series. And the ending sets the trajectory on the next book very nicely, so we haven’t abandoned the main thread of the series at all!

DO YOU TRUST ME? is yet another fantastic installment in The Chronicles of Lorrek, and the track record still holds as this book earns a *****5 STAR**** rating and the Upstream Writer Certified ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED endorsement. The Chronicles of Lorrek is absolutely the perfect series for a reader seeking a universe to wander, and a story to draw you in with countless fantastic concepts and vivid characters. Start the series today!

Further Reading: (Amazing sci-fantasy/Awesome World-Building)