This is author Sam Middleton’s first novel. Eluthienn was published in February of this year. It is the 31st book I completed reading in 2024.

Due to scenes of violence, I categorize this novel as R.

The Fromryr, an alliance of humans, dwarves, elves, and gnomes, live in Formaria. It is a labyrinthine network of underground tunnels. They have been at war for ages. They use weapons of immense power, though their origin and understanding have long been forgotten.

Above the tunnels on the surface, exorcist Kalbrayeth Lyander makes an unexpected discovery. He finds a body imbued with unfamiliar magic. That leads him to knowledge he does not want. A secret that will disrupt the status quo, and plunge Formaria into a devastating war. Lyander now has proof that Vampires, which had only been a myth before, are real and pose a growing threat.

Below in the tunnels, gnome Brazier Veranquis, the first officer of the ice mining vessel Chalice of Amaranth, responds to a distress signal. What they find forces them to run or die, leaving behind another vessel with Brazier’s brother, with whom they soon lose contact.

The Prince of Ravinica has been exiled. His heritage portends that he and he alone will be able to kill the vampire king and end the threat. Kalbrayeth Lyander, Brazier Veranquis, and the crew of the Chalice of Amaranth go forth with the Prince on the perilous mission to find and kill the vampire king.

I enjoyed the 12+ hours I spent reading this 369-page fantasy. This fantasy world has a complicated system of magic. The story seems a bit confusing like I jumped into the middle. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 3.6 (rounded to 4) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

The best thing about Bookstagram for me is definitely the community, but having the opportunity to know about and read indie gems like Eluthienn: A Tale Of The Fromryr.

Eluthienn has it all: Elves and dwarves, vampires, witch hunters, exorcists, princes, complex politics, intrigue, magic, science, injustice and amazing world building just to name some. The plot is fast paced and it kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. This reads like the first book in a series as it sets the stage for a continuation. I love a good epic fantasy novel with a side of sci-fi.

We follow two different POVs from two different characters that start in different paths that eventually converge: Lyander, a fallen knight turned exorcist that makes a huge discovery, and Brazier, an ice miner son of a traitor that is running for his life after with what remains of his old crew after falling into a trap. These two characters eventually find each other and the different POVs converge in an incredible adventure. It’s hard to achieve the perfect mix of character development and action scenes, but Middleton does it wonderfully in this novel.

It is note worthy that the glossary is one of the most important parts of the novel, I had to read it and consult it multiple times. Which actually leads me to the only complaint I have about this book: With such a diversity of characters, races and magic, so it was sometimes hard to understand what some of the characters were until it is explained later. This is not a problem in itself, since eventually it becomes clear, but I would like to have a more in depth view in the differences in POV and world view because of the different races and not just background.

In summary, this was a book that kept me on the edge of my seat rooting for the main characters from beginning to end and I highly recommend it for fans of fast paced epic fantasy. I’m still in the edge of my seat now, waiting for the continuation and I can’t wait to get back to this amazing world.

Thank you so much to Sam Middleton, Darkenheit Publishing and NetGallery for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I thought the story was interesting, however, it didn't take keep my interest the entire way. The alternating pov was an interesting way to narrate the story and I liked how eventually the story merged into one once the characters came together. The world building was a bit hard for me to keep up with and imagine at the beginning of the book. It did get easier as the story continued. I liked the characters, however, I didn't love them or felt a connection to them which is usually what I look forward to when reading. I think I may have felt more connection to the smaller characters than the main ones. I really enjoyed Switch and Matthias character personalities. The ending was a bit flat for me. Nothing really spectacular in my opinion.

Overall, it was a good read but not really for me.

I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley.

This book had a lot of really cool content. It was an interesting blend of fantasy and sci-fi. Fantasy staples such as Vampires, Gnomes, Dwarves and magic, but then blended with more sci-fi technology such as flying ships and hexes. We largely follow an exorcist and a witch hunter throughout the novel too, though some chapters are told from the ship’s captains perspective and some are recounting a story being told. I really liked the idea of a demon and witch hunter partnership and would have loved more of this.

I enjoyed this overall. It’s quite cinematic and you could imagine this translating well to the screen. The pacing was just a little too fast for me for a novel (and I rarely say that as usually a fast paced book is a great thing for me). While the book is action packed, it never feels like it takes a breath which meant I didn’t fully feel I was digesting what I’d just read. I felt the book could have benefitted from being a little longer to allow more beats and time to absorb the content, and for a little more character development. The content is thrilling so I wanted more time to take it in. Even more chapter breaks could have helped with this.

I had a couple of minor things I found a bit jarring too. This launches straight into a lot of names and places and it needed to be spread out a little more to get a hook in the story. While I didn’t struggle to follow the book it just would have helped. Secondly, there was some over explanation where it wasn’t needed and not enough where it was. For example, there’s a scene with a council of about ten members and each one of them was given a detailed physical description one after the other in a list, including their eye colour! These aren’t characters who we see a lot of so it felt really odd.

This had so much stuff to love in it, it just needed a bit of refining to go from good to great. I would read more from this author.

I almost loved this book but it ended up falling short for me.

Eluthienn: A Tale Of The Fromryr by Sam Middleton is an ambitious epic fantasy with a rich and exciting world, but it struggles to find its footing amidst confusing terminology and lack of context.

Worldbuilding that is very specific to this new world the author created is thrown hazaphardly at the reader, leaving us very little to grab onto. Some of the concepts I only truly understood by the end of the book and I felt a bit lost most of the time.

Despite its fantastic worldbuilding and intriguing lore, the overuse of replace words and unexplained concepts made it difficult to fully immerse myself in the story.

While described as an epistolary narrative, most of the story simplfy sounds as third person omniscient. Though it is hinted during the few actually epistolary moments that the entire book is the retelling of someone, it seemed to me to lack that almost nostalgic, distant voice epistolary usually employs.

Middleton's attempt to emulate the greatness of other epics like Dune and The Expanse is evident, shining through a few elements and even some quotes as easter eggs, but it so accurate that it results in some unfortunate missteps, including the ridiculing portrayal of LGBTQ characters and the vilification of fatness.

With some pruning and clearer exposition, Eluthienn could have been a standout addition to the genre.

I am keen to read more of the author, as the book does make known a brilliant mind. I urge you to give it a shot.

Received arc from Darkenheit Publishing and Netgalley for honest read and review,this review is my own.
I am sorry to say that I could not get into this one, tried really hard, liked the two !son POV well enough, but then with vampires etc, I couldn't read any further. Just not for me.

Starting this book was a bit slow at first, took me a couple days to actually get into it, but as soon as I did, well, I was absolutely hooked. Finished it in a couple of days. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Intrigue, fighting, politics, monsters, what's not to like?? I was so deeply saddened by the ending, though. A favorite's death and a favorite's betrayal was hard to swallow. Had to take a few hours after reading to write the review so I wouldn't review while still in the throws of disappointment and a little anger. I received an advanced review copy for free, and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.

I chose this book based on the tagline I saw on NetGalley, something like 'Dune meets The Witcher'. Which is an ambitious claim but as it's two of my favourites, I thought I'd give it a go. Sadly, I got 25% through the book before giving up.

The book is split into two separate storylines that I assume with merge at some point but it was like reading two completely different books at the same time. I enjoyed Lyander's chapters more than Brazier's but getting through the book felt like work.

It felt over-complicated, like they were trying to combine everything from their favourite books into one story. Some of the descriptions of machinery flew right over my head - I think illustrations would help with this.

this was a strong start to the A Tale Of The Fromryr series, it had everything that I wanted from this type of book. It does a great job in world-building and glad the characters were everything that I wanted from this type of book. The characters were everything that I wanted and glad it was everything that I wanted. I'm excited to read more in this series.

The bloodless corpse of a child locked in a coffin buried deep in the woods; a military ship, empty, silent and filled with corpses … and one live prisoner. And that’s only the beginning! This book reads like a homebrew D&D novel with dwarves, gnomes, humans and elves … but all in an original and detailed world with underground cities, ships that fly through underground vaults powered by ice and magic, and a deposed prince trying to reclaim his throne.

While the characters are well done and entertaining enough to keep company with (cast-out Lyander who still tries to do what’s right caught up in the games of Prince Eluthienns, who is filled with a mix of bravado and confidence as he uses every trick in the book to get his throne back; Brazier the dwarf who has lost his brother and wants only to save what’s left of his brother’s crew, and a bit of revenge; Gabriel the Witch Hunter with his devotion to the church) and well written enough to keep them interesting, it’s the world building that is, in my opinion, the star of the book.

Most cities and kingdoms live safe in tunnels, well defended against trolls, goblins, and other eldritch and monstrous beings. There’s a complex, political alliance between kingdoms and races that keeps the peace that isn’t explained — or overly explained — through infodumps or characters reading off exposition from an encyclopedia. Instead it’s dolled out only as and when the characters need it, discover it, or explore it. There’s politics and violence and an interesting take on vampires and demons that I enjoyed reading, and the magic system, the mechanics behind the ships, weapons, and communication devices was shown off, but never overwhelmed the story.

However, there are a few typos, such as “birth” instead of berth, or “his voice wooded,” instead of wooden.

It’s well plotted, well written and well-paced. There are no lulls, no extraneous scenes. It’s tight, focused, and if you’re in the mood for a classic adventure novel of good versus evil with a dash of politics, consider giving this book a chance.

I was engaged throughout and am exciting to see where this goes. The plot, characters and setting are interesting and i'm eager to see what happens from here out.

I wish I could rate this book more than three stars, but since I did not finish it, it does not seem fair. The beginning of the book was right up my alley. I got to experience the caves, which was the part that drew me towards the book. I have never read about huge space-ship-like machines that float through caves left by lost civilizations before and I applaud the uniqueness.

But unfortunately, as the story continued, I found myself losing track of what was going on. I tried to push through in the hopes I would get a grasp of what was going on, but I kept getting confused and left wondering what was happening and why. It felt like waking up during a dnd session after being zoned out for a little too long.

So I would recommend this to a reader who is up to the challenge, but those like me, who prefer something a bit lighter, I unfortunately can't

Sadly, it appears to be an unwritten law that you can have airships in your book, or you can use vocabulary correctly, but it's either one or the other. This book conforms to that law, and is also frequently missing the past perfect tense; in fact, it has a fairly complete collection of common issues, including dangling modifiers, sentences that change grammatical direction partway through, and commas before the main verb. I'll note, as always, that I read a pre-release version via Netgalley and the published version may have fixed some of the issues, though there are enough of them that I'm confident a lot will remain. Some of the vocabulary errors were very basic, too, like taught/taut or even it's/its; another demonstration that having an English degree does not mean you've learned good mechanics.

The story was better than the execution, but more tragic and serious than I personally prefer; there's an occasional bit of humour, but it's usually coarse jokes by secondary characters. It wasn't so good that I was willing to keep slogging through the ropy mechanics to see how it ended, though. I did my usual test, when I'm finding a book heavy going, of going off and reading something else to see if I cared enough about the characters to come back to it, and discovered I didn't.

At the point I gave up on it, about halfway through, the two storylines and their two protagonists had not yet intersected. Other reviews indicate that once they do, things get more exciting, though the action scenes weren't really what I had a problem with. There was the occasional scene where the description of every step the character took through the (admittedly somewhat interesting) setting became a bit much, and I wanted more summary of things that didn't matter so we could get to the things that did; the author, I think, is proud of the setting, having done a lot of work on it, and wants to show it off, but overdoes it now and again.

I had some trouble believing in the idea of a vast underground realm where flying ships nearly 1km long and 400m wide (assuming a "league" has its usual meaning of three miles) have plenty of room to maneuver, and things being hexagonal or octagonal apparently because it was cool rather than for any practical reason didn't help, but at least it was fresh and original.

I'm following my usual practice of not giving a star rating on Goodreads to a book I haven't finished, but Netgalley will make me give a rating; it will be three stars, because honestly most authors have bad mechanics these days (though these are worse than average), and the story wasn't awful, just not much to my taste. Lots of people will enjoy this more than me.

After finishing this book I have to say I can't wait for more. I was captivated for start to finish, and loved the characters that we saw throughout the book.

The story and characters kept me hooked, and this has definitely taken its place as one of my favourite books of the year so far!