A Leaf And Pebble (Incredibly Biased Review)
It’s embarrassing to workout next to this dude.
My cousin, Andrew Monroe, has done a great deal of good in my life. Not the least of which was pulling me from a spiraling depression by encouraging me (read: forcing me) to hit the gym, eat better and , for lack of more soliloquous terminology: disregard women and acquire currency.
That same guy that effortlessly kicks my ass in every single sport, has enviable charisma, and more real-life friendships stretching the entire globe than most celebrities, the dude that became a living donut meme by simply posting enough pictures of himself enjoying them, has now written a fantasy novel called A Leaf and Pebble that, you guessed it, is also pretty damn great.
Andrew was able to create a beautifully sprawling world of magic and adventure that I sincerely hope you will take time to check out. I’m biased, but I’m not wrong.
I wrote this to Andrew shortly after reading the book. I’ve edited small parts that I either rushed while telling him, or that were so wildly inappropriate I would never want other people to read them. I figured this was a unique view on the novel as someone who was close to the author during it’s writing and who doesn’t even normally enjoy the fantasy genre. I once described the Lord of the Rings trilogy of novels as a great way to fall out of love with the English language. Perhaps, some Tolkien super fan can tell me why using 55 pages to describe the sheen atop a body of water was literary brilliance but you all can keep that trash. I’ll enjoy the films.
In many ways this could discredit my opinion, but I like to believe that if a fantasy novel pulls me in so readily when such an applauded classic missed the mark, it must be pretty stellar.
Succinctly: Andrew Monroe is better than Tolkien.
Here’s what I sent him:
Okay, so I finally finished your book. This should be a testament to how much I enjoyed it as I’ve yet to finish Neverwhere or the litany of other great novels sitting on my shelf, also probably given to me by you. So, apologies for my 3rd grade reading speed, but I wanted to write out all my thoughts about this awesome series you are starting.
Firstly, the premise, and world and story are fantastic. I recall “seeing” several of the locations and feeling immersed completely through your descriptions. My favorite is probably the huge tree “you couldn’t shoot an arrow across.” It felt magical and tactile in all the ways good fantasy should. The concept of the turon stone is super cool and (SPOILER I CUT OUT) was crazy badass.
This felt like a tasting menu of most of my favorite stories in a very good way. Elements of Avatar, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and even (f-word)ing Rothfuss built up a world that felt familiar but fresh. The two leads, Nil and Volant are interesting, Volant was my favorite of the two and Rook my favorite character overall I think.
The hand signaling language was GREAT. It makes me think if I’d read this in middle school you and I would have been able to come up with a version of our own inspired by the book. It was believable and I can even picture hand drawn book art showcasing some of the vocabulary.
The magic system was well thought out and balanced. I felt by about 150 pages in that I roughly understood the way Skill worked in the world, and Naturals felt alot like Avatar bending, which I liked. Again, grounding a lot of unfamiliar pieces in the familiar helped make this more real. The tones of racism and conflict were topical and a great way to have an arc aside from Nil and Volant.
The Kingdoms board game was smart and I couldn’t help but feel you knew if this took off you could monetize that down the line and I respect and love that. I also want to play the game, it sounded clever and was written well enough that I felt I could see the board when the story talked of playing it. (Hint: Please make this freaking game. Let me buy this game)
“Left hand of God” is a great curse and I enjoyed the exasperation it conveyed. You write really great battles and the humor call backs with Volant were well placed and helped to break up some of the more emotionally draining sections.
I tried to take note of some of my favorite examples of prose but got distracted in the middle and forgot to mark some so here’s just a couple I thought were good that made me nod appreciatively while reading:
“Preparedness is better than zeal, and more reliable than luck”
“Even the grass seemed drawn to her, barely whispering as she passed through.”
“We always had a differing opinion on beauty. He saw art, sculptures, architectural feats, and other such works as something to be admired. Sunrises and sunsets were candy to him. A well-manicured gardens, a reason to live. On the other hand, I saw physicality as beauty supreme. Talent and ability, creation, composition. There was more beauty in the sculptor carving his marble than the finished creation to me. Accomplishment, especially over nature, were what I found inspired me. A well written book. A hard won contest. This difference of opinions ran deep….” (I enjoyed this especially because it touches on so much of what I love about the buddy cop nature of the two protagonists. Volant’s love of plant life is one of my favorite elements of the story and a clever touch to soften his character. The differences in perception of beauty was just really clever and shows a cool balance in their friendship)
Okay, I’ll stop (crude joke), but this was well done. I’m proud of you for finishing this book. It was an undertaking and I know it must have been hell to push through and get it finished. You’re talented and this is gonna be a damn cool series with potential for off shoot side stories within the world.
Write that next story, bitch.
Buy Andrew’s book HERE
I will be giving out one free copy to a random person that wants it. If you would like his horrendous signature inside, I can prolly swing that too.
Andrew is an author and the owner of the marketing firm Axe and Bow, you can find him at Palace Coffee working on the next book and ingesting unhealthy amounts of both caffeine and carbohydrates.
PS> Yes I made up the word “soliloquous”, but I stand by it.