An intricate, character-driven story

There is no doubt that “Exile” is a well thought-out, intricate, character-driven story of high calibre. I wanted – really wanted – to give it 5 stars, but a couple of things stopped me from being able to do so. Martin Owton has carved an intriguing fantasy filled with a plethora of characters; his story-telling skills, author voice and command of prose are unquestionably high. And yet… somehow I found it difficult to feel fully immersed as the conversations flowed and the plot developed. I WANTED to the whole way through – I was even rooting for it to happen. I think the problem may lie in a certain lack of compatibility between me and Martin’s style; Exile has a feel of being peppered with ‘court intrigue’ (not really an element I enjoy much of) and most of the lady characters seem to fawn over the main character, adding a heavier dose of ‘romance’ to the story than I want/need when reading a fantasy novel. Another problem may have been that the audio version, while superbly narrated by John Pirhalla, didn’t really ‘individualise’ various major players of the story; there are a fair few lady characters, as I mentioned, and they all seemed to have the same soft, well-spoken vocal delivery, plus more than several of the male characters similarly suffer from having a shrewd, untrustworthy, commoner style – not subtle, but quite distinct – that made it feel like I was listening to the same character but with different names. This, I suspect, is what led to the detachment, but I do have to stress that the narration was otherwise expertly done. I would imagine that anyone reading the book rather than listening to it will not have this problem. I further suspect that had I read the book rather than listened to the audio, I may have been fully immersed and could have given it 5 stars, despite it containing elements that aren’t to my tastes. While I wish that I’d felt more investment in the characters and the plot progression while listening to the audio version, I’m not beyond recognising a praise-worthy novel when I read (or listen to) one. I refer you back to my opening statement that Exile is a well thought-out, intricate, character-driven story of high calibre, and, as such, I can certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys their fantasies laced with romance and court intrigue.

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