Review: A Poem for Britain (Bards of Fantasia #1) by S.W. Wilcox

A Poem for Britain

(Bards of Fantasia #1)

by 

S.W. Wilcox

First the world was nuked, then mythic monsters invaded. What a life, and I, Dormira, am only 16--but going on 30. Good thing my boyfriend Skall is a genius. I'm a co-minstrel, linguist--and his bodyguard too, as we face Magic schools...Stolen youth...and Love-obsessed gods. Now the ancient Fire & Ice giants want the world to end. But they're opposed by elements of water, air, and earth, the shock-troops of friendlier gods and wizards. And bards from our techie future are a new piece on the chessboard. It figures the gods, ghosts & ghouls we're pitted against don't like our meddling. That's their shapeshifting sport. Skall urges we race mythic British landmarks within 48 hours of Halloween, performing key songs as hero-minstrels, solving ancient riddles and tragedies. Things move fast when deaths need avenging and you're time-skipping and running for your own life as well! Can our music save the world from chaos?

My Take:

Dor and Skall are witnesses to a great destruction at the end of time, driven by an ancient red-hooded sorceress intent on the destruction of man. With their electric guitars, songwriting and ninja skills they jump through a portal back in time to attempt to change the past which will change the future which will make the trip to the past unnecessary, er, and I rub my templs and quip with Captain Janeway, that time travel makes the head hurt.

The Norse and British demi-gods vie for mastery and love while Dor and Skall try to stay alive long enough to make friends and influence the movers and shakers of the skies. But will their time-changing machinations and their songwriting skills save them from the master of the underworld and a fate worse than, but including, death?

Content:

Drug Content:

PG-13 - There are several drunken parties while cavorting through the past, but overall not a lot..

Violence:

PG - There are several scenes involving war and a few brawls that take place.

Language:

G - Relatively clean.

Adult Content:

PG - There's a scene where Skall is enthralled by a goddess and heads off to her bedchamber. There's a scene where the Norns discuss mating.

Christian content:

Nada. There's a scene where Christian warriors are battling the pagan forces. For the most part the only gods depicted in this novella are the Norse ones of Fire, Ice, Death, and the Sea. Frost-Hel, Etain, Gyn, Deirdru, Angus, Mannanan, Dovnu, the Norns, and the World-Tree people the past and fight each other for mastery of the all-important World-Tree and its many dimensions.

Final analysis:

Each chapter in this book began with sketches of the action inside, and it reads like a screenplay, which it devolved from. The action is quick and gripping, and the many worlds visited are panoramic in view. The World-building is immersive, and the humor and interplay outstanding. But the characters in the story were a bit wooden to me and could have used better dimension, the gods and supporting cast were almost one-dimensional. The stakes were high, of course, the fate of all the dimensions, but the action was a bit jerky for my taste. Focus went from one gripping scene to a quick flight or rescue, to another crisis without any real transition.

I found the world-building stellar, the plot outstanding, but the character development and pacing unfortunately in need of fleshing out. This could have found a home as a trilogy, with the amount of action it contained, but in its brief form it was a bit like a sped up movie, panoramic and epic and all-too-soon over. Four Stars.