(This review is a cross-post of one I posted on the furry.engineer mastodon instance. I wanted to cross-post it here so folks here on the Lemmy side of things could see it as well.)

“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass...” Wait, that’s not right.

“Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall…” Hmm, not quite.

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” Wait, no that’s not right either…

Ah, here we go! “The grey fox fled through the forest, her paws as quiet as an owl’s shadow...” and thus begins Joaquin Baldwin’s (@joabaldwin@mastodon.social) epic fantasy tale Wolf of Withervale, the first book in his Noss Saga series. In the first book of this already epic series, we find Lago Vaari and his friends, new and old, embark on the start a hero’s journey across the lands of Noss. Learning the secrets of an ancient and powerful mask, they come to discover that far more is at play in their world than any of them had expected. There is no doubt that a reader coming to it will find the story deeply engrossing, and absolutely looking forward to future books within the wider series.

What Joaquin has crafted with the first book of the Noss Saga is absolutely spectacular, nay I think the word beautiful is truly the one way to describe the book in a single term. The world building and lore are spectacular, the themes are as varied as they are deep, rich in meaning and storytelling. The characters, both protagonists and antagonists, are deeply crafted with their own understandings and modus operandi, each adding their own unique thread to the story. Wolf of Withervale is a marvelous foundation for the Noss Saga series, and I can truly say that I cannot wait to see what is in store in the books to come!