Review: The Wraith Returns by Paul G. Zareith

Blurb:

Rana has given up all hope when he realises that his decade long quest to exact revenge on a corrupt aristocracy and a totalitarian religious order has been exploited by an otherworldly malicious organisation determined to destabilise the very foundation of the known civilization.

Against all odds though, he finds himself free of his shackles in a world that he barely recognizes. With his army long vanquished and his allies dead, does he have a chance to stand up against the evil gods who are stripping the entire planet of the mineral that serves as the fundamental prerequisite of all runecraft - Ildaria's ultimate defence?

Join Rana and his companions on their epic quest to save their world in this grimdark fantasy saga.

When you draw your blade against the Gods, every action threatens reality and blood flows at every turn.

Review:

Earlier this week (or a few weeks ago, depending on when this review goes live), I was talking with people over Discord when I noticed I had a message over in the DM tag. Looking at it, I saw that Paul G. Zareith was asking me to read his debut novel and he said that it was also on Kindle Unlimited. So, I replied that I’d read it once I was done reading the book I was currently in. Finished that book, moseyed on over to Kindle Unlimited, borrowed “The Wraith Returns” and sat down to read. And honestly, despite a few hiccups here or there that could be resolved with an edit, it was quite a fun read and it had an interesting premise with time travel, all sorts of sorcery including blood magic, and an interesting shift between first and third person perspectives throughout the book for a variety of different people.

What did I like about the book?

First of all, the perspectives. Out of all the books I’ve read, I think this is one of just a few that I’ve read  that has a first person perspective and several third person ones. Not only that, but it’s clearly understood where the perspectives change, for the most part. The end chapters of this book clearly made sure you knew when the first and third person view points jumped in, however within those third person chapters the various perspectives of a lot of characters got confusing at times. Besides that though, I had a lot of fun experiencing the world from Rana’s and other’s eyes. 

Then, the world building. You’d think that with 196 pages, you couldn’t create much of a world. Turns out, it’s quite doable, if not a bit entertaining to see it done within that short of a page count. Influenced by Hindu mythology, this book has all the checkmarks of a world with lots to offer. Magic metal, a variety of magic options, time travel. What more is there to want? Time paradoxes? This book has those. Magical enemies that seem to be powerful beyond measure? There’s a few. Ents? Yup. Besides those building blocks, “The Wraith Returns” also has a few other things sprinkled in that makes it feel more alive. Wish I had more lore to go off of, but the way it incorporates the idea of creatures made specifically to stabilise unstable fabrics of reality, or the way that time travel has a direct effect on the things going on in the present was done well enough.

After that, we have the cast of the story. The people who drive it all along and make it enjoyable for the readers. Rana was, for all intents and purposes, a likeable main character with a reason to be the way he is, and not once did I think that he wasn’t fully fleshed out. The rest of the cast existed, with them serving their purpose to drive it all along. Some were more convincing than others when it came to feeling more than one dimensional, yet all of them, even the ones who felt a bit one dimensional, had at least one thing motivating them throughout the book, which meant all of them interacted with the world in their own unique way. Since this is apparently the first book from a series that is still being written, I can’t wait to see how he furthers this cast of characters along.

Lastly, the information that I did get about this world's history, the lore, if you will, was interesting enough that I want to know more. Cannot wait to get even more in the later books

However, despite the idea that the plot has and the ending being suburb in building up suspension, there were a small bit of things that irked me about the book. Like some paragraphs consistently using the same words to start sentences or the confusing PoV changes within the final chapter. Yet, even with those small grievances, considering that this is Zareith’s first novel and he went through the editing process himself, it’s not that big of a deal and I was surprised at how little the story was interrupted by the paragraphs beginning with the same words or the confusing PoV changes. 

All in all, if you enjoy a story that definitely has more in store for you once later books come out and want to read a Grimdark fantasy with some unique aspects, I’d recommend this to you.

As always, if you’ve made it to this part of the review, thank you for reading it, and I hope I’ve helped you along finding your next read. If I haven’t, I’d recommend checking out all the other reviews we have here on the SFF Insiders page, and you might find something that’ll pique your interest there.

Wherever you are reading this, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening or goodnight!