annieb123's Review of Worldshaper (Worldshapers, #1)

by Edward Willett

From an Aurora Award-winning author comes the first book in a new portal fantasy series in which one woman's powers open the way to a labyrinth of new dimensions.

For Shawna Keys, the world is almost perfect. She's just opened a pottery studio in a beautiful city. She's in love with a wonderful man. She has good friends.

But one shattering moment of violence changes everything. Mysterious attackers kill her best friend. They're about to kill Shawna. She can't believe it's happening--and just like that, it isn't. It hasn't. No one else remembers the attack, or her friend. To everyone else, Shawna's friend never existed...

Everyone, that is, except the mysterious stranger who shows up in Shawna's shop. He claims her world has been perfect because she Shaped it to be perfect; that it is only one of uncounted Shaped worlds in a great Labyrinth; and that all those worlds are under threat from the Adversary who has now invaded hers. She cannot save her world, he says, but she might be able to save others--if she will follow him from world to world, learning their secrets and carrying them to Ygrair, the mysterious Lady at the Labyrinth's heart.

Frightened and hounded, Shawna sets off on a desperate journey, uncertain whom she can trust, how to use her newfound power, and what awaits her in the myriad worlds beyond her own.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Worldshaper is the first book in a new YA/NA crossworld fantasy series by Edward Willett. Released 18th Sept 2018 on Penguin's DAW imprint, it's 368 pages and available in paperback, audio and ebook formats.

This book brings an interesting world-building and fantasy imprint to the table. The lead character Shawna is a potter (I like that!) and 'shaper'. She's unaware of her special status as the shaper of the world she lives in (a central plot point which will apparently be revisited in future books). There are hundreds of other shaped worlds which lie tenuously connected contiguously to one another. Her guide Karl (a sort of Harry Dresden pastiche, complete with duster and hat) is an extraterrestrial on a mission to save First World (Earth prime) and the Labyrinth (the collection of multiverses). There's a fair smattering of Judeo-Christian concepts and vocabulary (The 'Adversary', hokhmah - Hebrew for 'wisdom') side by side with classic SF/fantasy elements (nanites, AI, gates, crossworlds etc).

There's some rough language (multiple uses of the f-bomb, and lighter cursing). There's some light implied (off narrative) sexual entendre between the lead character and her boyfriend early on in the book, but nothing explicit.

There's a lot of potential here and although I found this first book to be disappointingly reactive instead of plot led, I feel that the author could well find his feet and take this series in a good direction.

I'll be interested to see where the author goes from here. This was an interesting read and has a lot of potential. It was long, for a YA/NA novel in my estimation. A sample of the first chapter/intro is available on Amazon.

Three stars.

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

Worldshaper (Worldshapers, #1)

by Edward Willett

Reviewed by annieb123 on Jan 7, 2019

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