Review of Civil War

[Erin Dydek]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Civil War" by TC Marti.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Peacekeepers, Guards, Prisoners, Spurs, Elementals, and the Bastille Empire are a few of the many players in the unrest and uncertain times that hover over the World of Rondure. After helping an Elemental escape through an archway leading to another world, Mina Hirai, a Master of the Smoke Element, finds herself rotting in prison. As her trial date draws near, she learns she will spend the rest of her life enslaved in a prison colony where tortuous horrors await. But an unexpected ally from a resistance force called the Insurrexxion offers her another option. The resistance can help her escape, but she'll have to help them rescue a powerful Elemental who's spent her entire life confined in the colony. If Mina can succeed in this mission, not only will she serve the cause by fighting against the lies spewed by the Bastille Empire, she might even become the catalyst that starts the inevitable civil war that could change everything across the Five Worlds.

Follow Mina's harrowing adventure in Civil War by TC Marti. While this book was the first in the Chronicles of Rondure, this novel is part of several other stories that compose the larger universe created by the author. I loved how Marti used Mina's first-person perspective to explain vital information about the politics, Elemental abilities, and other worldbuilding aspects during the mission's execution. I found her character to be a helpful mentor in learning about the types of attacks used by the Elementals and how to power them to higher levels. Some of the information was complex, but Mina related the information in a down-to-earth manner that was easy to understand.

I appreciated how this novel explained the historical details of this expansive universe. The author introduced the concepts hidden in the sacred texts and explained the objective of starting the civil war. I was excited to learn that Mina's story is only beginning and that the author connected her journey to the characters introduced in previous novels he's written.

I enjoyed the book overall, but I wasn't particularly fond of the grittier details. The book contained the use of dark magic, necromancy, and human torture, so there were various descriptions of blood and gore. While not overly graphic, this was one of my least favorite aspects of the novel. The main thing that disappointed me, however, was the anticlimactic ending. I felt that the author spent a significant amount of time building up the final battle to come, but that scene seemed abrupt. It was a relatively short and seemingly rushed ending that didn't have the hard-fought triumph I was anticipating.

I did not reduce the rating for the dark content because this personal preference will not affect every reader's perception of the book. In addition to the anticlimactic ending, I found at least ten errors. These errors did not significantly detract from the book's readability, but I noted them as required in the reviewer guidelines. For these reasons, I give Civil War three out of four stars. I'd recommend this young adult novel to readers who enjoy dystopian urban fantasy adventures. The story involves a prison escape, strategic planning, politics, magic battles, and romance. There was no swearing, but mild violence, human torture, and allusions to sexual abuse were present.

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Civil War
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[Amy Luman]

Science fiction is one of my favorite genres and this sounds like a good one.I think I can get past all of the dark parts. I hope everything turns out well for Mina.

[RHD]

The title got me thinking it was more of an historical fiction book. Fantasy is not really my thing. Nice job on the review though.

[Katherine Rivas 1]

Your review completely sold me on this book. I love fantasy, and even though it is dark I think I will enjoy this a lot.The dystopian hero is one of my favorite things to read about, and a female protagonist makes it even better in my opinion. Great review!

[Azubike Richard]

War is very bad because people are killed during the period of this war. I love how the author discussed about the civil war in this book.

[Osasere Justus]

Your review was fantastic the author talked about the civil war and a female protagonist that makes it even more better.thanks for the review

[Azubike Richard]

I am a lover of historical fiction books so this is a must read for me. Congratulations on your wonderful review, I love how you wrote it in simple words.

[Ndagire Hassifah1]

I'm not a fan of science fiction. But after reading your review, I would like to read this book. Great review.

[NetMassimo]

I might be old for this novel but this seems like an engaging story between the fantasy and science fiction genres, so I hope the author does another round of proofreading to prevent distractions. Thank you for your great review!

[Retrogate]

I love history, I love to read about war problem I hate war because many precious things perish. I would like to read this book.