Review / Reseña: The First Pillar, Roy Huff

Hello guys! Alan again!
¡Hola muchachos! Alan de nuevo!
I read some time ago this book I liked a lot, The first Pillar, by Roy Huff, and I just realized I still haven't done any review of it!

Leí hace tiempo este libro que me gustó mucho, The First Pillar, por Roy Huff, ¡y me he dado cuenta de que todavía no he hecho ninguna reseña de él!

I published it first in Spanish and it took a little more time than I expected to translate it, but here it is!

Lo publiqué por primera vez en español y que llevó un poco más de tiempo del que esperaba para traducirlo, ¡pero aquí está!

You can ead the orginal review here.

Puedes leer la reseña original aquí.

There are few fantasy stories that are worthwhile, they all seem to have the same idea, same approach and same set of already well-known clichés. Tired a little to see that authors of the genre have so little creativity, you typecast in the same thing over and over again, but occasionally someone comes out to make the difference, giving a facelift to their own world.

This is the case of Roy Huff, an author who is currently working on his first story, a saga of low fantasy full of magic now in its fourth book and has garnered good reviews on sales portals where available.

The story itself is full of fantasy, it seems the teen or new adult version of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, but much more balanced between adventure and earthly life, although this is directly related to Everville.

Owen Sage is a character a bit strange, not the typical college kid. His mind works in a mechanical way, let’s say, and I imagine him with a syndrome from the autistic spectrum (although I would never dare to say Down or Asperger).

He wins and gets the reader little by little, not in the first time we meet him and after a couple of chapters. Owen takes time to be enjoyable, although at times seems like a machine and to accept everything that happens to good first.

It is not very expressive, and therefore it takes time to understand him, but once you do things become more enjoyable. Since he’s the narrator of everything that happens, the story is technical, boring at some points, but it gives an original touch to the whole book. Looking back now that I have finished, I think it's a good plus point.

The characters are very different, and although Owen resemble in many respects, there are also scenes where you see how different they are. His friends are the most obvious case, providing a good dose of humor to the whole plot while they are present in this.

I have to say that although this personally doesn’t convince me, adds realism to the plot because there are stories where nothing and nobody seems alike, they are all very tangled and unreal, every character is an alien world that has no relation to the other, making you question why are they friends.

Here is the reason after knowing them better: all these guys are similar, have similar ways of thinking, is that the bond between them is genuine, that friendship is real, as is the support they given each other.

The narrative unfolds slowly, a very leisurely pace, without many jumps or surprises, but when you get to the final chapters, is a surprise after the other, tension, emotion.

All that was absent for most of the book comes in one fell swoop, shakes you, pulls you down and leaves you in a completely different place to the one you were before and makes you wonder: What is this!? Honestly, I loved that point.

I like a lot Roy’s way to explain Owen’s travels to Everville’s world. It's simple, not very far-fetched, and proves that you can do great things from something common knowing how to put the ideas correctly.

Coming with the pillars, I cannot help remembering Code Lyoko whenever they are mentioned. I don’t know if there's been intentional or a direct inspiration, but I really liked the similarity, an echo of the childhood of many who I believe will appeal to those who saw the series.

The only cons I get are the so technical style that Roy has at the time of writing, almost academic and making it a heavy book by times, along with several repeated words I saw throughout the reading.

It's a bit annoying because it spoils the rhythm we achieve after many pages, then scenes with excessive descriptions come up and take the reader out from the story, you get back to reality very sharply, but remember it is the first book of fiction author, written several years ago and there could be a greater maturity in the following.

I'll keep reading and with pleasure!

4 of 5 stars.

Have any of you read the book? Would you give it a chance? I'm currently reading the third and it keeps getting better!
¿Alguno de ustedes leyó el libro? ¿Le darían una oportunidad? ¡Actualmente estoy leyendo el tercero y la cosa sigue mejorando!

Greetings and hugs!

¡Un saludo y un abrazo!