Cal McDonnell is a well-respected police officer in New York City, he’s got a wife, child and dog. Basically, he’s living a pretty good life. Despite that, surreal dreams that are more memory than dreams have been plaguing him and his life becomes strange when on what should be a routine criminal investigation, he sees a wolfish monster. Across Manhattan, Seth Raincrest, a lowly ‘artist’ who plies his trade photographing women in very little clothing has his life disrupted when his apartment building explodes, killing Seth’s roommate while he is taking his new beautiful and mysterious visitor across the street to a shop. As Men, Seth and Cal couldn’t be more different – Cal is an upstanding, selfless man whilst Seth (in the kindest terms) is a selfish, self-destructive jerk. Meanwhile, across the state, a young man named Daniel daydreams, draws on his desks and lives in a horrible situation with his present-in-body only mother and alcoholic, abusive stepfather. The prologue before these characters are introduced give a hint that somebody with considerable power, magical power at that, is searching for one or all of these three characters.
The prologue gives the novel a bit of a noir feel, then when Cal is introduced, there’s the feel of a crime story, until Lelani, the aforementioned mysterious beauty, arrives at Seth’s apartment which is when the true nature of the story is revealed. What we’ve got here is a crossover/portal fantasy, wherein characters from the “real world” in which we live interact with characters from a magical fantasy land. Typically, these stories involve the “real world” characters crossing over into the fantasy land, but here, the inverse is true. Sorcerers, monsters, and centaurs have come into our world, but are now seeking others like themselves and a return to their world, specifically the land of Aandor. So although the prologue may seem a bit of a swerve, it actually parallels the novel itself – familiar elements upon the start are soon thrust asunder by the introduction of something fantastical, beyond the world we know.
Although Awakenings is Edward Lazellari’s debut novel, he is far from a novice storyteller and it shows. As a graduate of the esteemed Joe Kubert Art School here in NJ, Ed worked in comic books as a penciller for a number of years. Even though the story here was conveyed through words, the story is packed with good visual cues allowing the reader to “see” what is going on in the story. Awakenings is a relatively short novel so it isn’t weighed down by too much backstory or world-building, lending the novel a nice, fast paced plot that kept the pages turning in a thriller-like pace. Smartly, the backstory of the “fantasy land” only come through when necessary, as it serves the plot. What Lazellari does well is give a very good feel for the characters, their motivations, these character’s potential and of most importance to the narrative, how much the Awakening affects their lives. There’s a great deal of weight given to the life Cal and Catherine have built up, and with Cal’s growing realization of his past life, his current life becomes more fragile and questionable. It was a well of emotion that can potentially spill over once the fantastical elements come more into their lives in the second novel, The Lost Prince.
Full disclosure: I know Ed. I’ve shared a few beers with him, and he happened to attend Rutgers University (my alma mater) and earned the same degree as me, so if anything, that gave me some trepidation about reading the book, which has been on Mount Toberead for quite a while now. My trepidation was unfounded because I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and really want to see what happens next. If I didn’t know Ed or wasn’t familiar with the series, I wouldn’t have known this was the first installment of an ongoing series. That’s no fault of Ed’s because superficially, the book looks like a stand-alone urban fantasy, especially with the evocative Chris McGrath cover and the fact that nowhere on the book itself does it indicate this is the first installment of The Guardians of Aandor series. To be fair and balanced on the quality of the novel itself, if I had to pick any nits on this one, and it is pedantically minor, I’d have to say that three characters whose name begin with “C” – Colby, Cal, Catherine, could be an issue, although this could also be a deliberate thing on the author’s part. That said, I’ve got the second book, The Lost Prince, on my to-read shelf staring at me as I type this review and I know Ed is working on the third novel. So far, this is a fun series that deserves a dedicated readership.
Recommended.
© 2016 Rob H. Bedford
Guardians of Aandor, Book 1, September 2012
Hardcover, 352 Pages | ISBN 978-0-765-36631-3
http://www.edwardlazellari.com
Review copy purchased
