Mischief and Mayhem

by S D Nicholson

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Mischief and Mayhem is the first book in a new YA fantasy series by S.D. Nicholson. Released 24th May 2019 by Koeler books, it's 238 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

This is a quest driven high fantasy with elves, humans, sprites, and the rest. I liked the world building (such as it was) and the story itself shows a lot of promise. My problem with the book comes with the actual narrative.

The prose is often, frankly, exceedingly purple. When reading, I felt as though the author were making a Herculean effort to remain in high fantasy voice the entire time which made the whole a chore to read. There are several places where the tense shifts, which is distracting. There are a number of places in the book where PoV shifts between characters without any clear delineation. All of the above problems could be solved with some ruthless editing. Despite being a debut effort from a new author, it does show a great deal of potential. I really enjoyed the story itself and the bones of a really good narrative are already in place. I sincerely hope the author can find a good editor, or possibly a group of hardcore beta readers who aren't afraid to give detailed feedback.

I think the 4 and 5 star ratings are premature, but not necessarily unwarranted because with a solid rewrite, this series could be something out of the ordinary. As it is in its present form, it's unfinished and difficult to read.

There is a fair bit of graphic violence (especially for a YA book) and some of it is potentially triggering (sexual violence and harm). It wasn't gratuitous in context, but it is brutal. The language is relatively curse free.

I'll be interested to see the development of this author in future.

Three stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.