The Isle of a Thousand Worlds

Now, let's get this party off the ground!

I liked this book and it was unlike anything that I have read before!

I think before we start the review, we need to talk about the fact that this book has a good dose of rumpy pumpy in it. And I have to admit, in general, I am not one for books with a bit of a saucy romantic edge to them. Yep, I can cope with a bit of the Luvvy Dubby stuff, but on the whole, my ethos tends to revolve around the ‘quick, shut your eyes! They're doing it!' kind of philosophy. Yeah, I know, sex is a pretty necessary part of life, and it should be easy to read about, coz we are all grown ups here!
However, I have to say that I didn't mind the fact that there was sex in the book and it added to the story and felt like a natural part of the two main characters relationship.

The story centres around the two main characters of the book, Patia and Gilea.

Patia, if you recall had her laboratory destroyed in The Living Waters when the roughabout with Leo et al went to visit her, and The Living Waters did a daylight smash and grab number on her quiksilver and ran off with it.

This left her in a bit of a pickle. However, one day, she hears that one of her former colleagues/professors have found a way to make something called a Universal tincture which lets you enter this thing called The Caravan and talk brain to brain with other people in The Caravan.

The caravan is a pretty cool thingymajig, and we tend to see this through the other main character of the story, Gilea (if you have read earlier reviews, or you have read the earlier book,you will recognise the name from The Living Waters).

In response to the fact that Patia's business has now pretty much sunk due to the fact that she has lost all her collateral that lets her make her meditation tinctures, she decides to set off for pastures new and investigate this Universal Tincture malarky, and get in on the act.

In the process of searching for the truth of the Universal Tincture, she sets up shop with another alchemist, Gero, which evolves into a relationship.

Meanwhile, Gilea is getting deep into this Caravan thingymajig, setting up a deal with the Maer for their stock of Sunstone (which happens to be an energy source for the Caravan) and discovers that there is a nefarious plot abroad, whilst trying to manage her relationship with Temi.

I enjoyed The Isle of a Thousand Worlds a lot. It was a bit of a breath of fresh air in all honesty, and a welcome reprieve from the frenetic pace of my normal reads. And I think this is one of the strong points of the book, in that the pacing is quite sedate and moves along at a pretty evenly, which makes everything in it to be very organic in its development.

For instance, the relationship between Patia and Gero doesn't get straight into it, it evolves naturally into where it is going. Similarly with Gilea's storyline, and it evolves layer on layer.

Another reason that I enjoyed this book immensely was the fact that the main protagonists are not young whippersnappers chasing about the land carrying out quests, coming of age and all the rest of the stuff that happens in fantasy. Now I don't have a problem with this normally, but I have to say it wasn't until I was presented with a book that had older protagonists in it that I realised how much I enjoyed this differing view. Yes there are plenty of books with older protagonists, but quite rare that they are in their sixties and nearly seventies. And I cannot say how much I enjoyed this aspect of the story.

Dan Fitzgerald writes wonderful characters and I was enthralled with them all. Patia, as an older woman is aware of her needs and wants, and her life experience makes her such a wonderfully rounded character. Whilst Gero is an older gentleman, there is a childlike quality to him that is quite sweet. We get to see more of Gilea and Temi's relationship, which at times can be bittersweet as they have to navigate their involvement as two very different people with different goals and aspirations.

I have to admit there were a couple of times that I did wonder how the two story lines would impact an each other and how they would intersect, as they seem to be two completely separate stories. However, I needn't have worried because Dan Fitzgerald nicely ties the two stories together.

Now, I know that The Isle of a Thousand Worlds will not be for everyone, but me personally, I really enjoyed it. Yes it is different! Yes it has some steaminess to it and romance, but I enjoyed all these aspects, and found the book to be a breath of fresh air.

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