Title: The Devenshire Chronicles: The Stones of Andarus
Author:Tom Sechrist
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 464 pages
I’ve been reading this book for some time now – The Devenshire Chronicles by Tom Sechrist. Book One: The Stones of Andarus to be precise. I’ve been reading it 5 pages at a time or so for weeks.
Pick it up here and pick my way through some bits of story, pick it up there and hide away in another world from my own life. My own life hasn’t been going exactly as planned and sometimes I need a break from watching plans go sideways.
Every time I bury my head in his fiction, I dive in knowing a review awaits me at the other end and I’ve been trying to decide what to say about it – how to say what I’m thinking.
I’m thinking it would make the most fascinating meta-fiction television mini-series. One in which we are introduced to our characters and the story by Tom Sechrist himself. And during that introduction we flash back and forth between the story Sechrist is telling and the story he is living. Remember The Princess Bride?
Yes, like that, except Sechrist isn’t that kind of funny.
Instead, Sechrist writes a rich high fantasy tale somewhere between Tolkien and Rothfuss. He’s old timey language and lengthy descriptions. He’s lords and ladies, warriors and… vampires.
And in it all, there’s a note from the author at the end about important dates in his life. This note reminds you of what you already know when you’re reading about Daimion Devenshire’s adventures: The Devenshire Chronicles are Sechrist’s magnum opus. He has poured his heart and soul into every word… and just as every quest has many footsteps, the telling has as many words.
