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A Game of Survival (Prologue - Chapter 5) - @tellsbooks

A Game of Survival (Prologue - 5) by tellsbooks

Reviewed by AmyMarieZ

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Overview: After a dark prophecy, King Georgian IV determines that magic users known as Magi, are a dangerous threat. Women have a fifty percent chance of having children with the Magi gene, so the king decides that the women must be taken from their homes to remove the danger.

A Game of Survival is a fantasy story following Thea, a young girl whose life is torn apart by the injustices in her world. When guards come to remove her, her older sister protects her by disguising her as a boy. After Thea's sister is taken, she is left alone and vulnerable. The story follows her life as strange and dark forces fight to control her, and she struggles to survive and seek justice.

Structure: The story is written in the third person omniscient past tense and shows the perspective of multiple characters including the king, Thea, Thea's sister Dominya, the demon Hel, and briefly the guards that have taken Dominya. Although the narration is omniscient, Thea is by far the main character. The perspective of the story switches frequently in the beginning, but by chapter three it almost exclusively follows Thea, with the only exception being when the thoughts of Hel, the dark magical being that possesses Thea, are shown.

The narrative style works quite well, particularly when Hel takes control of Thea. A combination of second and third person narration is used to show the possession, and it is chilling.

Grammar: The grammar in A Game of Survival is very well done. It is clear that the story has been edited for grammar fairly extensively. I noticed a few minor typos throughout the story which I have pointed out inline, but they are all simple fixes. I did not notice any persistent grammatical errors.

Pace: I thought the pace of the story was particularly well done. The level of description, dialog, and action in individual scenes made them easy to visualize as though they were happening in real time. The plot moves along quickly with new developments coming in each chapter, so it never lost my interest.

Something I really loved about the pacing of the story was the fact that the prologue, although it focuses on a different character, was immediately relevant to the plot of the story. Often times, I read a prologue and then am unable to draw a connection between it and the rest of the story at the beginning, so I begin to forget it. However, in A Game of Survival, the first event of the first chapter directly relates to the events of the prologue. In the prologue, the king realizes that women are a danger to him because of the possibility of their children being Magi. The first scene of the first chapter opens with Dominya trying to protect her sister from being taken. Without it ever having to be stated, I was able to draw the connection with what was going on. The women are being rounded up because of this prophecy.

Another thing I liked about the pacing was the balance between showing and telling. While the majority of the story was shown vividly, when not much detail was required, the scenes were not stretched out for the purpose of "showing" it to the reader. For example, the scene where the guards decide to terrorize the village was quite brief. Rather than showing exactly what each guard did, the scene was accomplished by generalizing their thought processes and actions. I thought this was highly effective because it smoothly got across a lot of information. Had the scene been drawn out, I think it might have lost a bit of interest for me. However, by keeping the pace quick, it kept me pulled into the story and eager to find out more!