The Chosen Saga
THE GIRL OF MYTH AND LEGEND
By
Giselle Simlett
ISBN-13 – 978-0-9943826-0-3 (eBook)
ISBN-13 – 978-0-9943826-1-0 (paperback)
Copyright 2015 by Giselle Simlett
Published by WWS Publishing Ltd
Leonie is (as far as she knows) ordinary seventeen year old girl who lived in Yorkshire.
Unknown to her, she has a future that has been carefully planned and laid out for her by her
parents in a magical realm called Duwyn. Duwyn is ruled by the Chosen and operates on a class
system based on the strength of a Chosen’s magic. Pulsars are the strongest, but Pulsars are
extinct. Now, Duwyn is ruled by the Thrones, the second strongest, and the lower two castes,
Zeros and Phobiens, are subjected to them. Political power is vested in the Throne Council.
Beings, known as Kytaens, are ‘soul-bound’ to Pulsars and Thrones as personal body guards.
Although they are intelligent, sentient beings, they are treated as possessions by the Thrones.
However, all is not peace in paradise. Rebel Chosen threaten the power of the Throne Imperium
and Leonie is suddenly thrust into the middle of this chaos when she learns that she is also a
magical being; the one remaining Pulsar brought back into existence to bring order to the
world…or to destroy it. Both sides want her power and her cooperation. Being soul bound to
Korren, her Kytaen, she is appalled at the way the Kytaens are treated and initiates a friendship
with Korren that results in serious emotional and mental upheaval for both and threatens a well
established social culture. For a seventeen year-old who is grasping to discover her roll in this
chaos, this is traumatic. When the emotional stress is added to the loss of her father and many of
those she knows in a rebel attack she is left not knowing where she fits in or who to trust.
Unfortunately, the reader is left there too. This book is written as a serial series which means
that the reader is left hanging in the tangled vines of the story until they fork over the change to
buy the next episode. Personally, as a life-long reader, I deplore this strategy and remove
authors I encounter using it from my reading list.
Otherwise, Leonie is a likeable young girl who is sorting out her values and emotional
confusions as a result of rapid changes and stressful conditions brought on by changes in her life.
She must grow a backbone and sort out the different factions that pull her in different directions.
As there many changes around that age, Leonie’s life could be a metaphor for practically any
seventeen year-old growing into adulthood. Leonie’s father has manipulated her upbringing and
has been less than honest with her and with the Throne Imperium about her. Unfortunately, the
reader is left questioning his motives for this and many questions are never answered.
The story is long on mental and emotional rumination as Leonie works through the changes in
her life and the changes she is facing in her value structure. She now knows her father was not
honest with her and that her mother influenced her future, but to what extent and in what
direction are fundamental questions for which she has no answers.
Generally well written and edited, The Girl of Myth and Legend is narrated alternately from
Leonie’s and Korren’s perspective. It is entertaining, to a point, even riveting at times, until
boredom with the mental and emotional rumination kicks in. These things are necessary to the
story to some extent, but ensure that this story is not my cup of tea, and for me, the serial series
format is a fatal flaw.
It should, however, be liked by those who are fantasy fans who don’t mind springing for endless
serial series books or those who enjoy books about youthful psychological confusion about roles
and values. 3-stars
Clabe Polk
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