Does the idea of a multiverse with strange and fantastical people and creatures living lives in parallel to our own excite you? Do you really want giant, ancient, flame spouting and wind riding dragons to be real. Would you jump at the chance to pass through a portal to another world filled with creatures straight out of J.R.R. Tolkien ‘The Hobbit‘? If so, ‘Whispers of Time (Chronicles of Asaetara Book 1)’ by Gwendolyn Ilimaris should be right up your mysterious mountain path.

Tolkienesque high fantasy worlds full of epic battles and magical beings are an irreplaceable part of modern fantasy literature. Offering the purest form of escapism, they haul the reader out of their mundane existence and transport them to lands far, far away. This is their greatest strength.

It is also their greatest weakness. Stuck on a packed commuter train to work or school on a damp and grey Monday morning, these same distant realms can feel irrelevant. How can the reader be invested in the action and characters when they share so little with the reader’s own everyday life?

In this book, the author presents a simple premise that snaps the importance of fantastical worlds into sharp focus. They are all linked to our own mundane existence by portals that are capable of transporting not only us, but every other kind of being and creature back and forth. Suddenly, the reader has a vested interest in whether dragons breath fire or ice and where exactly demons come from, because these, and many other beings, might appear amongst us at any moment, spreading any manner of destruction and chaos.

Blending together elements of Tolkien, C.S.Lewis, Norse Mythology, Japanese history and western demonology, this book partners a contemporary real world setting filled with everyday people and problems with a dark and brooding magical realm filled with unimaginable threat.

After a short primer chapter that introduces both the fantastical world of Asaetera and the principle of portals, the action shifts to modern day Japan and follows the trials and tribulations of a young woman caught between the conflicting cultural values of her irish father and japanese mother. Trying to reconcile her days as a music student in the metropolis with her role as a dancing temple maiden at night, she is both surrounded by friends and family whilst also terribly alone and adrift.

As if this wasn’t reason enough for tension, her small world suddenly clashes with a mysterious magical realm that launches her on a colourful helter skelter adventure across both planet Earth and also the lands of Asaetera. Along the way she meets magic wielding elves, shape shifting dragons, bigoted military leaders, family feuds and much much more. All told, it’s a story that belongs on the same book shelf as the likes of ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’.

That’s not to say it’s perfect. Firstly, the author chose to package this adventure in quite simplistic language with a limited repetitive vocabulary and a rather ‘on the nose’ descriptive style. Though this certainly suits the mid-grade pitching of this book, there is no explicit physical intimacy beyond cuddles and kisses and no vulgarity, I found it a bit of a chore to read. It didn’t really fire my imagination and most of the time I was just ‘looking in’ rather than getting submerged. The, at times, peculiar punctuation and grammar only heightened this problem.

However, for me, by far the greatest weakness stems directly from the nature of the lead protagonist. Sara, the Japanese / Irish girl is presented as being very shy and withdrawn. Though this is perfectly plausible, it doesn’t encourage much dynamism. Indeed, she is just about the most passive character in the whole story and is simply dragged along by those around her. Though her origin story alone offers so many opportunities for character tension and growth (I am sure there are authors that could make a great story just from her school days in Japan) and despite all the crazy things that eventually happen to her, cover to cover, she remains the same blushing cardboard cut-out we first meet. This was not only a big disappointment for me in itself, it also lead to the narrative style being quite skittish as the Point of View continuously jumped around in an attempt to compensate for the protagonist’s inaction by showing the reader what everyone else was thinking. In places, there were whole pages of dialogue and thought where, even after a second reading, I’m not sure who was saying what to whom with which emotional motivation.

Having said all this, I’m probably not the target audience for this book. A middle grader won’t be so jaded about common tropes and will certainly be less sensitive to grammar. In this frame, this book represents a fairly harmless romp with plenty of adventure and heart break. Anyone who doesn’t demand high levels of literary finess in their fantasy setting should probably try it out.
If you do, please leaving a short comment to let me know what you think about my review.

Even better, if you have already read it, let me know if you agree with my assessment or if you think I have misrepresented something, but do remember NO SPOILERS! We don’t want to ruin it for others.

Find out more about Gwendolyn Ilimaris and her books at:

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