Sometimes it just takes three ingredients to get my attention. Yes, I admit, sometimes it’s easy as that (although, it’s not a set-in-stone statement). With Erik Julkin’s book The Witch & The Wolf it did work, though.
What were those three ingredients? Well, it’s an author from my native Slovakia. Being that I’ve relocated to my home by the end of the last year, I’m slowly, but surely, taking notice (and interest) in the literature originating in my neck of the woods. So, that’s the first ingredient.
The second one? It’s a fantasy genre. Slovak (but also Czech, unfortunately) fantasy literature has eluded me for a long time, one of the reasons was me living abroad and some other stuff was more affordable. Yes, it’s a poor and sad excuse, but that’s really it. Not to mention the price of books back home. Fuck, are they expensive. Even in the e-book format (which still, I just can’t understand, no printing, nothing to ship and they are almost the same price…but, well, we know who’s to blame here, and one thing is for sure, it’s not the publisher’s or the author’s fault).
Therefore, and it goes without saying, I’ve been more than pleased to get this present volume (in an e-format) for a review.
Oh, yeah, and before I forget…the third important ingredient was ….surprise, surprise…. The book is in the English language. It’s hard to say whether the author is aiming at the English-speaking (and reading) audience as his primary target just because, or he’s aware of the limited market for such genre in Slovakia (it really is), but yes, the book is in English language and therefore of interest not only to those visiting my Slovak-language site Bandurki Na Gauču, where one can read about things of interest in their native Slovak language, but also to my readers around the world. And that’s neat, what do you say?
So. That’s the secret for getting noticed, haha, and now, let’s have a look at the actual story.
First thing first, I like those black and white illustrations accompanying the text. They are not very frequent, which is nice, as they don’t distract from the text itself (it’s not the comics, right), but they are very nicely drawn.
Second, the English text is of high grammatical quality and I’ve only managed to find one typo (missing “t” in the word “Jalu’s” which should read “Jalut’s”), so, the editorial work is done here, and many other authors should take note of this. Nothing can kill the reading experience as the typos in the text and fortunately, this is not the case here.
Third and the reason why we read such books. The story. This is not a kiddie book, rather a Young Adult novel with a few racy scenes described, but luckily, nothing to make it slide to the porn-like descriptions some other authors believe readers want to read. And I like it that way. If I want to read the long descriptions of the acts of love, I’ll pick up some Harlequin book or similar stuff, not a fantasy book.
Anyway, the story is about…well, it’s more like an opening to the Omniworld, the author’s created “landscape” for stories, so it’s indeed like an introduction to what I believe will become a series of books. On the one side it’s a clever decision, building the reader base for future stories, on the other hand, it can be quite ricky.
Luckily for Erik Julkin, the author, the story in the book is interesting enough to keep engaged. Surely, the plot might not be original, the duo (or, better to say, the trio) of protagonists smells of the Sapkowski inspiration (once you include a bard in the group, you will inevitably rise that one) – and the journey of our trio of likeable and interesting heroes is a bit similar to Tolkien -, and of the encounters along the way, we’ve seen (read about) them aplenty before. And you know, you either love this stuff or hate it.
All this doesn’t matter. Julkin comes up with – at least, for me – some original solutions for difficult situations and I’ve found myself quite engaged as the book’s story progressed.
The fights, the magic, a likeable (and less likeable) characters and a gripping story, that’s what I want to read, and The Witch & The Wolf provides this abundantly.
Probably the one thing I was surprised by was the description – and I hope I remember it correctly – of the main female protagonist being naked under her cape. Well, in comics and fantasy books it might work (and more so in comics, right?), but can you really imagine sleeping in the woods like that?
But I admit, that’s probably the only thing I was a bit startled by, however, that’s just me thinking too much about what I’m reading.
Be it as it is, The Witch & The Wolf is a very solid fantasy book and a welcome addition to the canon of fantasy literature coming from Slovakia. Taking into the consideration the rising level of knowledge of English among our younger population here, it’s not something to frown upon and it’s definitely a welcome step to bring the attention to our authors from fantasy lovers from around the world.
And to that, I’ll toast, while waiting for another tale from Omniworld.
Follow the author here: Instagram
https://www.bux.sk/Oh, and just check the Amazon, Apple Books, Bux.sk and very soon the print copies in Martinus.sk and Panta Rhei
