Official Review: The First Pillar by Roy Huff

[Alexandra Bayer]

Owen Sage has just started his freshman year at Easton Falls University, and is looking forward to a relaxing year of college fun. Unfortunately, he doesn't get much time as a normal university student before some quite unusual events begin around him. Out of nowhere, he is magically transported to Everville, an incredible and beautiful other dimension. Everville is having difficulty, though, and the Fron and Keepers who live there require Owen's help to chase away the evil that has made its way into Everville and that is also slowly beginning to creep into Owen's normal world. Will Owen be able to fight the dangerous and reckless forced that are overpowering Everville? Or will he have to admit defeat, therefore forfeiting his nice, normal home and new college life as well? Things may get hard, but as Owen learns, that's no reason to give up.

Although I am grateful to Roy Huff for giving me this book, I can't honestly say it was my favourite. There were little technicalities with the writing that distracted me. For one, there didn't seem to be commas where there should have been, and the only commas that were there were in run-on sentences. I also found that I, as the reader, had no idea as the what Owen was thinking. It seemed more that I could glean that knowledge from his actions or friends' testimonies, as opposed to his inner thoughts.His thoughts had more to do with actions, as opposed to dreams, inhibitions and secret motives. I wish I'd been able to get more of a feel for Owen, as a person, to strengthen the storyline.

The story was actually split between two people - Owen and the Keeper of Everville. I was surprised by this, simply because it mentioned the Keeper all of once in the summary on the back of this book. The Keeper's story was told partially in modern time, but mainly in memories leading up to how he became to Keeper, starting off as a young Fron. Part of the reason I didn't like this story as much as I couldn've was because of this. I much prefer only one character's story being told per book, and also when the book is all in one person - first or third. I mainly prefer first, but not always. The Keeper's story was told in third person, and I found it to be dull and not nearly as exciting as it could have been. I never wanted to read during these sections. I'm not saying nobody would enjoy it, because that's untrue. I simply didn't like the storyline or the person it was written in, and the writing irritated me at times. That may seem like a lot, but that's just me. I'm a picky person.

One aspect of this book that can be good or bad, depending on the person, was that Owen seemed to be all-knowing. Although his point of view was written in first person, he would occasionally say what another person's motive was, talk about their home life like it was something he himself didn't know about. For example, Although I didn't know it, so-and-so had done this and so it resulted in... He would also talk about what other people such as his friends were thinking and feeling at that moment, as if it was their story, written in third person. As I said before, it depends on the reader's opinion as to whether this all-knowing aspect is a good or bad thing. Many readers may appreciate this. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them. I like surprises, and I like a first-person storyline to be realistic. I like to only know the main character's point of view, not anyone else's.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book. I found that it took me over a month to read, simply because I chose to read anything other than it. It's not a bad book, by any means. However, it's written for a certain type of reader that prefers that points I mentioned above, and that's not me. I would give this book a rating of two stars. Even though I didn't enjoy it, the storyline was quite creative and imaginative. I would suggest this book to a reader who prefers reading about memories, different worlds, and telling stories from different perspectives.