The Written is the first book in the Emaneska series. All of Emaneska books were self-published by their author Ben Galley. The Written opens with a mysterious mage murdering some librarians to steal a book for some nefarious purpose. From their readers are introduced to Farden a sword wield, fire-flinging gauntlet wearing mage known for his temper and the fact that his father’s mind buckled under the power of his magics. Farden, we quickly learn is tasked (by his vampire mentor) with tracking down the mysterious book thief and murderer. Of course it isn’t quite as simple as tracking down the thief thanks to the fact that the book was a powerful grimoire once held by the mages of Arfell’s ancient enemy: the Sirens. Farden’s quest leads him down dark paths full of conspiracy, adventure, and magic.The Written is a solid debut book. This is by no means a perfect novel and it doesn’t necessarily do a lot of new things but it a solid swords and sorcery adventure. Farden is an interesting lead equal parts confident and flawed; capable of both deep insight and disastrous oversight. The world of Emeaneska is interesting though at least on the surface a fairly generic fantasy landscape. Over the course of the novel Galley focuses his attention on two main cultures: the mages of Arfell and their once enemies the Sirens. Galley’s narrow focus on both cultures and their differences are where the novel is at its strongest and it becomes easy to see how the radical differences in each of these two cultures has lead to conflict and misunderstanding. I do think that Galley is a bit less than even-handed in his presentation of both Arfell and the Sirens. The Sirens, who were the ones defeated in their war with the mages of Arfell, are definitely painted in a more forgiving light that paint’s the mages’ claims of Siren aggression in a very different light.Galley plays fast and loose with the magic of The Written, there are no big Sanderson-esque magic systems here and the limitations of the Farden’s abilites are not made explicit. The magic of The Written involves writing, particularly in the form of tattoos born by mages like Farden, and that the process of tattooing is dangerous bordering on deadly. What we never find out is precisely what that magic can and cannot do. For the most part Galley offers just enough detail to keep the sorcerous action interesting without being confusing. Galley also show a deft hand at action scenes and crafts several exciting set pieces that unfold in epic situations. The plot is quick and constantly moving forward with at least one major twist that even experienced readers will not see coming.The Written is currently available for free in Kindle form so there really isn’t any excuse not check it out now. I’ll definitely be giving the rest of Galley’s Emaneska series a shot in the future. I had been reading this on my lunch breaks for the past several weeks. Why was I taking so long? Mostly because only sheer stubbornness was making me continue along with the hope that it had to get better.I got a bit more than half way through and now I'm throwing in the towel. I don't want to read it anymore. I don't care if the characters live or die. My favorite characters were the ship's cat and the big dragon Farfallen and they just weren't there enough to hold my interest. Farden was bland. He seemed like a bunch of traits mashed together to provide the safest protagonist possible. He had so few personal motivations and the ones he had regarding his forbidden love girlfriend (and it was always going to be a woman, since another man wouldn't have been generic enough) were so buried and irrelevant at the time I stopped reading. I would think that there was some foreshadowing involved with the romance angle but the dream scenes leading into the shipwreck in dragon lands was so clunky that I'm pretty sure she is there as a nominal reward/ possible hostage.Then there was the plot. It would sometimes wander off like a puppy after a butterfly and suddenly realize "Oh crap! I am a plot, I need to do something!" Then it would throw a random twist together and hope that it was enough.If you want a bit of generic fantasy that isn't taking any risks I suppose this would be the book to read.
What do You think about The Written (2011)?
DNF - I don't think I'm in the right mood for it right now. Will probably come back to it!
—SaE
Well written. Plenty of twists and turns, but it all made sense. Looking for book 2 now.
—Trish
Good, long, and a tad too predictable. That being said, I enjoyed the book
—edu16
Very good for a first book. I am now a massive fan
—Harrison
