Book Review: The Call of Chaos by Sean R. Frazier

The Witcher meets The Hobbit in this wonderfully crafted and delightfully terrifying fantasy!

Cor’il Silvermoon has been exiled from his homelands – but he doesn’t know why. Forced to roam the world outside the safety of what he used to call home, he is destined to meet friends, make enemies, and face the terrors that are about to be unleashed on the world.

Frazier has crafted a delightful tale and put a unique spin on a fantasy story that might seem familiar to many. With characters roaming the world to find somewhere that will take them in, and others fleeing where they came from, I was immediately reminded of Sapkowski’s The Witcher series, and why I loved it. But there’s also a focus on the inevitable adventure in between, the things that happen between places, as characters get to know each other and build relations. This is the kind of storytelling that made me fall in love with The Hobbit, way back when.

The world-building in The Forgotten Years is excellent, balancing elegantly on the edge of not too much, yet incredibly immersive and detailed. It’s the kind of first book in a series that makes you want to pick up the other ones. And it’s an interesting world as well, one I’d love to delve further into. There are of course – as with any good fantasy – political conspiracies and intriguing mysteries set up to be investigated in the future.

Frazier’s writing is excellent, exactly to my taste – witty and fun when it’s called for, but serious and dark when it needs to be. What I enjoyed the most was the emerging of the evil that is crawling out of the shadows. Parts of it was surprisingly terrifying, and I love it when fantasy can take a dark turn. There’s also an excellent magic system in this novel, very interesting and very unique – a feat that can be difficult to accomplish in this day and age.

I enjoyed every minute of this book – and I don’t doubt any lover of fantasy would feel the same. Another indie gem, highly recommended. Good news is, there’s four books in the series already!