In Christopher Kolven's MAJESTY OF STONE (The Everlight: Book 1), a mysterious evil known as the Vynn threatened to destroy the world a long time ago. A divine being known as the Ever-Seer erected an immense wall around the four nations to stave off the Vynn, and handed down four decrees to guide life behind the wall. Any deviance from them was met with harsh punishment, including the decree that the four nations go to war with each other on a regular, ritualized schedule.
The Ever-Seer vanished two decades ago, and hasn’t been seen since. In the Ember Nation, which depends on the magical substance known as ember to function, two princesses near their coronations. Siphelle Amair of the upper area of the kingdom and Fiametta Decrow of the Depths hope they can finally reunite their split nation when they climb the Seer’s Tower together, but neither knows what awaits them. Meanwhile, in the Dyre Nation, a soldier named Colton Levoux investigates a mysterious weapons failure—leading him down a rabbit hole of secrets that could undermine everything he knows about his world.
These characters are well-drawn and compelling on the page. Siphelle and Fia struggle to reform a sisterly bond (after being apart for a very long time) and resist paranoia about each other’s motives as future queens. Colton’s quiet competence and resentment toward the unfairness of the world make his steady search for answers feel urgent.
Kolven crafts an intriguing fictional universe in MAJESTY OF STONE. The two main storylines are helmed by interesting, flawed characters who hold the audience's interest effectively. Those stories remain unsatisfyingly disconnected, however, and feel like they’re in different books despite the shared details. That issue is exacerbated by a frustrating lack of revelation; since this is the first book in a series, the author understandably wants to hold back mysteries for the future. But we leave the novel without much more information about the Ever-Seer, her disappearance, the world outside the wall, the nature of the Vynn, or why the nations vary so much in levels of science and magic.
Still, the reason this is frustrating in MAJESTY OF STONE is precisely because the fictional universe we do get to see is an interesting one, and the fate of its characters leaves us eager to find out what happens next.
An intriguing fictional universe and a compelling character dynamic are blunted by a narrative approach that holds too much back in Christopher Kolven's promising sci-fantasy MAJESTY OF STONE (The Everlight: Book 1).
~ Jeff Somers for IndieReader