Haunted by the death of her sister, Lyn, Haevynne of Velandt enrolls in West Camp to train, hoping to be accepted to the Academy in the holy Kingdom of Aleksaria’s capital city, Aleksanne, and eventually become a Royal Knight. There she meets friends who are also rivals; even as they comfort and help each other, they regularly spar and duel, eventually leading to a final round of eliminations where only some of them can emerge victorious.
Initially, Haevynne is on top of the rankings, besting everyone with her skill at both weaving “essence” into powerful magical attacks and her bow and arrow. But as the others gain insight into her fighting style and skills, she finds herself struggling and only makes it to the Academy with some unexpected assistance. In the capital city, Haevynne evolves rapidly, meets the royal princess Evalice and the dark knight Valryk (who she remembers was in Velandt when her sister died), and gets chosen to accompany them beyond the magical Wall of Aleksaria. As she begins to unravel the mysteries of her sister’s death, the terrorist group known as Obsidian Bloom, and the role of a mysterious magical flower called dusklight (along with the Black Essence it can produce), Haevynne sheds her false identity and takes back her real name: Osea of Meikka, a girl from the wilds of Finaen.
Osea’s friends from West Camp each travel their own paths—the Academy, Obsidian Bloom, even prison—and Osea becomes a double- and triple-agent ensnared in dark plots to assassinate the monarch and use Black Essence in dangerous ways. As she learns the truth behind the kingdom and what happened to her sister, Osea becomes the hero the realm needs.
S.E.T.’s OSEA: AN ISARINE STORY is written with passion, warmth, and obvious affection for its characters and the universe it’s set in. Haevynne/Osea’s arc from being on top of the rankings to struggling just to survive at West Camp to opening her eyes to the reality of her past and the kingdom’s present is interesting. It avoids cliche as it traces her evolution from desperately guilty girl to hero. The other characters are sketched well, too. Osea’s friend Pahli, for example, is always making up silly songs and cheering for her friends, and when she washes out of West Camp it’s not surprising; but when her story doesn’t end there, it is (a little) surprising and holds the reader’s interest.
The world-building is scattershot, however. There are multiple times in the story when events, places, or people are mentioned that are never explained or addressed in any way. The author states at the beginning of the book that supplementary material about the universe is available online, insisting this story is a “stand-alone experience.” Yet so many aspects of the world are introduced and never explored or explained: What are the “beasts” Osea encounters with Evalice beyond the wall? What, exactly, is a Transcendent, or a Divine? What does being a Chosen mean? What is a Glassjaw, and where (or what) is Heaven’s Grasp? These and other elements are dropped (often very late in the narrative) and treated as if the reader should recognize them and understand their significance.
Other aspects of the world are similarly vague. There are crystals in the towns and cities that supposedly protect the people—but how they work is never given even a glancing explanation. The weaving of essence is also never delved into. There are limitations and innovations to it that imply a magic system, but the reader never gets to understand how that system works. The result is a foggy universe, and the lack of definitive understanding of the fictional world undercuts some of the story’s plot beats and emotional moments.
The fight scenes are initially exuberant—many are formal duels that come with simple rules of engagement, including that every move must be declared. Having Haevynne/Osea bellow “SWORD!” before manifesting a magical sword and launching an attack is great fun, and the action is depicted with clarity and grace. But there are so many of these sequences in the story, all following the same basic structure, that it quickly becomes repetitive.
OSEA: AN ISARINE STORY is an easy read filled with action and adventure, and the interaction between the characters makes for a fun, warm reading experience. Unfortunately, a lack of clarity in the world-building and repetitive action undermine what works.
Warmly crafted and wearing its heart on its sleeve, S.E.T.’s OSEA: AN ISARINE STORY gestures at an epic tale but lacks firm world-building and gets mired in repetitive action sequences.
~Jeff Somers for IndieReader