Untold Deception by William StaikosMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A well-crafted sci-fi fantasy...
Author William Staikos weaves an exceptional Coming of Age Fantasy that will captivate the reader’s attention from the beginning. The author paints a compelling and intriguing story involving pain, isolation and death in a very vivid and convincing way. In addition, the characters are drawn with great credibility and conviction. It’s a relatively fast paced novel that will keep you engaged from the first page to the last
The book description gives a sneak preview: ‘People are like coal the pressure of pain, isolation, and death can crush them into dust or can form them into diamonds. This is the pressure that sixteen-year-old Salan must face. Salan is a mixed-race child, half-cat and half-human, and as such his society regards him as a dangerous Abomination. But it’s the execution of his own mother in the town square that forces Salan to run from the law. As it turns out, rather than being the lowest of the low, Salan is worth more to his country than he know.’
Now, if that’s not enough to grab your attention, I don’t know what will. But if you want to find out what happens, you’ll just have to turn the pages for yourself! However, I will say it was well worth the read. It’s my first time reading this author and I must say I was very impressed.
The contrast between tone and content is a characteristic talent of only a few authors. Staikos pays as much attention to his sentences as he does to his plots, shifting or consolidating meaning with the use of a single word. His writing is impeccably honed, full of juxtapositions and qualifications that helps to create an atmosphere that will leave you wanting more.
I enjoyed the story, character development, and dialogue. There were plenty of plot twists that I didn’t see coming and that added to the book’s mystique. When I stopped reading to work, I found myself wondering what happened in the book, and replaying parts of the novel in my head to see if I could figure more out. It has been a while since I enjoyed a book this much. It’s a first-class sci-fi fantasy with perfect pacing.
Untold Deception had every element a good story should have. An interesting plot, attention to detail, but best of all fleshed out, well-written and well-rounded character development. There’s an abundance of well-illustrated scenes that make you feel like you are right there in the story, and that’s something I really look for in a good book. It’s one of those stories that come along once in a while that makes you want to read it non-stop until you get to the end. I’m giving nothing further away here. And this, I hope, will only add to the mystery and enjoyment for the reader.
I’ll be looking forward to reading more from William Staikos in the future. I would highly recommend this book. A well-deserved five stars from me.
View all my reviews