Amber Isle by Ashley Capes
SFINCS Review
Why isn’t this a charming read?
Follow a swashbuckler Never(This is a reocurring joke in the book) who apparently wants to escape or get rid of a curse by going to the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle with lots of animals and creatures not unlike the monsters in Silent Place. Only, this is one horror where you want to make lots of noise or else they’ll find you and eat the organs nested comfortably inside your chest. This is a good horror novella and by far probably one of the longer ones I’ve read this year and certainly for this contest but I’ve been assured this is less than 40,000 words.
Never is cursed and needs an antitode so he goes to the island. Unless I’m forgetting something I don’t think I was properly prepared for it, so I ended up reading it as a D&D adventure where, Oh shiny new place, let’s go! Either way it didn’t detract from the reading experience but I did find myself constantly asking, “Why is Never even here?”
Character work: the most fleshed out character by far is, no surprise, Never. He is witty like a swashbuckler ought to be and quick on his feet. There are reasons and solutions he pulls, while getting suspicion, it somehow works because he’s a swashbuckler and references an adventure unrelated to why he’s here where he accomplished a similar thing. His voice is uniquely his own and carries the book. This isn’t to say the other characters aren’t fleshed out, but he overshadows the book which makes the other characters seem two dimensional.
The premise is your typical horror movie mixed in with National Treasure with a heist not entirely unlike the movie. It wasn’t, in my opinion ground breakingly unique, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable. I had a fun time reading this tale, but if you’re looking for something that’s off the beaten path there are other books out there.
World building was minimal but this was fine considering what it was. When you’re in a character’s POV, and they’re well traveled it doesn’t make sense for them to dwell on the intricacies of the world because they’ve already seen everything. So this wasn’t anything that bothers me and it shouldn’t bother anyone who reads it. It’s one of those, it makes less sense with more world building.
If I had any harsh criticism about this book, it was that he seemed to have forgotten another character tucked away in a boat in the beginning of the book and we never revisited it. We just left.
Side Character: hey we’ve got a boat.
Never: thank God. I don’t have one.
I’m exaggerating a bit but there was a boat which Never used to get to the island which he “borrowed” in exchange to looking for a fisher’s son, which was also something that was ignored.
But all in all it was a good book. I recommend it!