Sunborn Rising: Beneath the Fall

In this fantasy story, intended the first book in a series, the world of Cerulean is decaying, the entity composite of intertwined forests floating upon oceans surrounding a star. The chief female protagonist, a girl named Barra of a race known as the Listlespur, somewhat feline in appearance as the illustrations confirm, discovers her deceased father’s journal highlighting the world’s happy past and the plague leading towards its downfall. With the help of her two friends Tory and Plicks, Barra seeks to fulfill her patriarch’s legacy, with her adventure taking them beyond the Fall, the abyss below their world.

Safronoff dedicates his story to individuals such as Dane and Kylie, not to mention publisher Neoglyphic Entertainment. The narrative itself opens with heroine Barra contemplating entering her dead father’s forbidden study, which her mother Brace wishes to be reclaimed by trees, Brace also forbidding her daughter to go to a locale known as the Middens. A mysterious three-eyed stranger named Fizzit sometimes accompanies the trio of Barra, Tory, and Flicks, with a being called Argus serving as something of an antagonist throughout the book, which has plenty of action and ends with a cliffhanger.

The main draw to the novel is its absolutely gorgeous illustrations that consist of simple inkings common throughout most chapters alongside one-or-two-page-large colored images that give readers great insight into what the characters actually look like, although there are many times when captions for the art would have been welcome so that the reader can perfectly imagine the characters and events within their minds. Overall, this fantasy work is definitely worth a read, even just for the majestic art direction that brings to mind films such as James Cameron’s Avatar, and whets this reviewer’s appetite for its forthcoming sequel.

Aaron Safronoff is author of the Discovery Award winning science fiction novel, Spire. Since his debut, he's published a sequel, Fallen Spire, and a novella of literary fiction, Evening Breezes.
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Safronoff's diverse background includes the formal study of computer science, bio-chemistry, and culinary arts. However, most of his career has been in the videogame industry in quality, production, and design.

Today, Safronoff is the co-founder and Chief Storyteller of Neoglyphic Entertainment, and is busy writing his fifth novel, the second installment of the Sunborn Rising series.

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