Book Review: The First Fear by M.S. Olney
THE FIRST FEAR by M.S Olney is the first volume of The Empowered Ones. It is a dark and interesting fantasy story that I very much enjoyed for its classic qualities. A bit of Ancient Rome, a bit of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and a bit of Star Wars. Our protagonists find themselves hunted by a vast and powerful empire that wishes to stamp out those individuals who possess magic (or The Power as it’s called in this world). A young man who discovers this quality about himself is the only hope. There's a reason this story keeps working and M.S. Olney puts his own delightful spin on it.
In this case, our young man in question is Elian. He and his best friend Lizella are serfs that are legally distinct from slaves in that they are bonded but not chattel. The teenagers find themselves with no protection against the children of slaves, though, that feel like they can take out their frustrations within impunity on those the law doesn't have any reason to protect. Elian's parents try to get him to keep his head down, but he thinks a dose of humiliation will teach his bullies a lesson. Which, honestly, is his first mistake.
A deadly prank goes horribly wrong, and Elian's powers awaken in a way that would do Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Mutants credit. Unfortunately, this brings down the wrath of the Supreme (the Empress) and her Hollowed. They serve as the Darth Vaders of the Supreme and are incredibly effective and scary enemies. A good hero is only as good as the villain and the author manages to make some genuinely frightening ones.
The magic system is well-developed to the world and possessed of good origins, limitations, and effects on the civilization and interestingly it’s a system based on people’s emotions. Different emotions grant different abilities, such as Anger granted super strength, Joy the ability to leap supernatural distance etc, You can understand why the Supreme feels threatened by any individuals who possess sorcery other than her but it's not so overpowered as to make it so our protagonist invincible to any problems he might face.
One element I feel odd about praising is also how the slave economy of the empire functions. A lot of how economics functions in fantasy settings get hand-waved and isn't necessarily salient anyway. However, the culture of slavery and how it is handled in the setting is an interesting bit of world-building and goes a long way to establishing what pieces of garbage the Supreme and her cohorts are.
In conclusion, I think The First Fear is a pretty good classic fantasy novel. Despite its handling of slavery and threats, it’s not especially dark and is a nice classic tale of good versus evil. The protagonists are scrappy, the world-building is well-done, and the enemies are hateable. Good for fans of Sanderson and stories like Dragonlance Chronicles.
