Review of “Elven Blood” by Mark Stanley

​Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)

Elven Blood is a spirited fantasy/adventure novel by Mark Stanley! It is full of magic and magical creatures. It also features some of the most ambitious world-building of the contest.

We have to admit that when we first read Elven Blood, we were a bit bored, confused, and disappointed. This book can be incredibly plodding and slow. That's what happens when your book is complex, dense, and features numerous main/major protagonists. We experienced a similar feeling with Codex Sohrakia by KM Taylor.

We kept finding ourselves wondering, So is the main conflict going to happen now? Are these two groups finally going to get it on and fight? When are these five major characters going to meet? In other words, we became a bit impatient. The book really got bogged down by the fantasy novel trap of being overly involved and having to explain an enormous, sprawling conflict and universe to an audience. The other fantasy novel trap that this book seems to fall into is that it just keeps developing from beginning to end, making it almost feel like it's stuck in one gear and can't move past that.

Exacerbating that problem is when the narrative decides that it needs to describe the entire complex magic system to us, seemingly multiple times.

Action-adventure books have conditioned us to want big, epic battles and ferocious duels immediately. They've conditioned us to crave fighting, violence, and war. Be honest.

Well, guess what? That's sorta the beauty of this book. It's ANTI-fighting, ANTI-violence, and ANTI-war. It's a book about diplomacy, setting aside differences, forming alliances, finding common ground, and finding peace.

When we eventually figured that out, we really started to appreciate this book.

Thematically and story-wise, it's actually a lot like The 5 Moons of Tiiana by P.T. Harry: different races coming together in the interest of peace. In P.T. Harry's book, it was a diverse collection of aliens. In Mark Stanley's book, it's a diverse collection of humans and magical creatures like Elves, Dwarves, and lizard people.

In Elven Blood a conflict is brewing in the world of Vellhor, particularly between the Dwarves, Elves, and the Drogo Mulik, the aforementioned race of lizard-like people. However, this book makes it clear that conflict is never so clear. You'd think that the cute Dwarves and Elves would be the protagonists and that the scary-looking Drogo Mulik, a warrior race, would be the antagonists. That's true, to an extent, but the Dwarves and Elves aren't exactly the most benevolent parties either. All of them have contributed to bringing the world to the precipice of war.

The Elves, in particular, are portrayed as being extremely proud, practically to the point of arrogance and hubris. In other words, they seem to think they're better than everyone else because of their powerful magic, their rich history, their beauty, and reputation. They're kinda like the Saiyans from Dragon Ball. Because of that, they also come across as somewhat bigoted or even racist, even segregating and excluding their own members. For example, Anwyn, is an outcast among them because of the way she was born. You get the sense that they don't just want to fight the Drogo Mulik out of a sense of honor, duty, safety, and security. It really seems like they want to fight the Drogo Mulik because they see themselves as better, smarter, more beautiful, and more civilized than them.

As alluded to before, Elven Blood follows an ensemble cast of characters of different races and backgrounds. Anwyn, who we mentioned as an elf outcast, lives with her parents in the forest. She is a skilled warrior and mage, trained by her parents, and is determined to prove her worth to the Elven society that shuns her. Then, there's Gunnar, a dwarf and heir to Clan Draegoor. Gunnar is a seasoned warrior known for his leadership and combat prowess. He is the leader of the elite unit known as the Snow Wolves and is tasked with protecting his clan from various threats.

There's Kemp, a human mage with rare elemental affinity. Kemp is a student at Lakeview Academy. His journey involves honing his magical abilities and navigating the expectations placed upon him by society. There's Ruiha, a former assassin from the Sand Dragons gang. Ruiha seeks redemption after defying her manipulative mentor, Faisal. She is skilled in combat and survival, constantly on the run from those who seek revenge for her previous victims. She kinda reminded us of Beatrix from Kill Bill. Ruiha and Anwyn are kinda the overpowered lady bosses of this book, taking down multiple full-grown men because... of course.

And then, interestingly enough, there's Dakarai, a Drogo Mulik miner. Dakarai and his wife, Melagai, are concerned about their son who is obsessed with becoming a Drogo Mulik warrior and joining the coming war. We really loved this because it shows that the Drogo Mulik are not just mindless, kill-crazy, warmongering monsters. They have feelings, emotions, hopes, dreams, relationship, and concerns just like humans, Elves, and Dwarves do. There are loving, hard-working civilians in their society who want peace. We thought that was really special.

Check it out on Amazon!