Fantasy books demand different set of mindset that is possibly smeared with imagination, and should be familiar with new settings and worlds. It’s a genre for deep readers that enjoy taking plunge into something unknown where they are marveled by the abilities of the author’s world building, character sketching, and adventure that can be found in movies and TV series.

The Land of Ataraxia Genesis by SS Merce is a perfect fit for a hardcore fantasy thriller reader. The novel is set in some unknown zone, where the ship and its crew are sailing without anchors and knowledge of the areas. They are armoured by two strong aspects: boldness and hope. What else one can expect in a sea that has no boundaries to explain the idiosyncrasies of its stretch.

The novel instills power of suspense right since its beginning. The story is about one ship named Caelesti Viatrix which is sailing in the unknown depths of the Elswyth Sea. The crew’s 3-night music and party has ended presumably. They are out since a long time, first time in their life. The ship is controlled by the captain Magellan from Prisca.

Kai is a close associate of the captain Magellan. Well, this time Kai doubts the ability of his captain, as earlier he seemed to know the ways around islands voyaged before. For sure, they are into some unknown region, maybe heading for an unprepared war, or in worst case attack from some sea monster. The novel is set in primitive time when exploring the world by ship was a way of life. The story doesn’t forewarn anything. As the novel chugs ahead, you feel being voyaged with them.

All the characters are named non-Indians. It indicates that the region we witness in the story is of Greek or Roman or around it, definitely not the Indian subcontinent. The ship is searching for a guy named Sinan, who disappeared from their land. In fact, no concrete reason is given as why the ship is out for voyage. Just like Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the novel follows similar set of characters and hysterical magical realms, people and other things.

“Our beloved Prisca is nowhere in sight nor is Anhedonia or the lands we usually travel to. It’s like we magically teleported into a new realm!”

The narrative is kept funny and hilarious, so as to keep readers tied, even if the ship was heading nowhere particularly.

“You see Mr Healer here doing his mumbo jumbo all the time,” she said, pointing at Vervain.

Much part of the novel is spent in the ship where the characters are indulged in palaver. Nothing substantial seems coming out in the way, however, this way the author was building a sense of comfortability for the readers. The real story starts when the ship is anchored to Sorin and the Academy opens up for them. Contrastingly, a new saga unfolds here onwards.

At the Academy, the ship’s crew begins understanding the ulterior rudimentary aspects of life cycle of the land Ataraxia. It’s a different strange land made of many island type realms with black history. Since superior life is an issue everywhere, on the pretext of decimating corruption, the Academy uses people like sailors to attack other realms to capture their aether (sort of lifeline). Before the crew could understand their game, two siblings Chloe and Rayleigh expose their Titan roots and what can save Chloe from dying. A long story indeed! However, be it any land or place, human aspirations for better life craving never ends.

Cover Page and Characters:

The cover page is so fabulous that it casts an interesting impression upon first glance. It’s ready to tell a tale of sea and ship and its people. Sublime yet complete! However, it’s devoid of character face – had it been there – it could have been another story to guess from the page.

Final Verdict:

Going through super stressful time, it’s time to escape from the mundane humdrum and plunge into a world of super imagination. SS Merce’s novel is inventive and entertaining and with out-of-world characters. The story was so visually appealing that you can literally see the movie playing out as you turn over page after page. Lovers of the fantasy genre will totally like this one, but so will others.