The Vyne by Daniel Walls

Title: The Vyne

Author: Daniel Walls

Publisher: Two Harbors Press

Release Date: January 3, 2011

Source: Borrowed

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Asher Meadows has a secret--one he’s so terrified of, he calls it his curse. For as long as he can remember he has possessed unexplainable, supernatural abilities. And for sixteen years he has kept them hidden. But when an elusive girl named Scar enters his village, Asher’s life is forever transformed.

Bound by mutual despair, the teens plot to run away together. However, when a sacred medallion finds its way into Asher’s hands, they soon learn that running is not an option, it’s imperative. In the wake of discovering the medallion, Asher is thrust into the pursuit of a legendary treasure, believed to possess an incredible power--the antidote for saving the world from foretold doom. Yet, for reasons Asher can’t understand, the key to unlocking this power lies with the very mystery of his curse.

Hunted by seething pirates bent on intercepting the medallion, Asher begins to realize that Scar has secrets of her own; she is not the girl he thought she was. Time is running out as he struggles to find the strength to let go of his feelings for her and summon the courage to embrace his destiny--a destiny that could save the world, but cost him everything...

Fantasy doesn’t tend to be my cup of tea but the premise for The Vyne sounded really interesting, plus it was mixed with steampunk which I really like. After having read this book I won’t go so far as to say that fantasy has now become my cup of tea but I may now be a little more open to the genre.

Ash has never really had an easy life. He has spent most of his time on his father’s boat trying not to get in his father’s way for fear of what he might do to him. The thing about ash is that a “curse” has plagued him for the entirety of his life. And as of late this curse seems to be intensifying with Ash discovering he has powers he never even know about. While all of this is taking place, things are changing in Ash’s fishing town and no one seems to really know why. They only common thread is Scar, the mysterious girl that Ash found when he was out on the boat one day. Now everything in Ash’s life is changing and as he soon finds out, there may be more to his past than he ever knew.

Before I say anything on the characters, let me just say that here is a whole slew of them. Honestly, if you name it, it’s there in the book as far as I know. Often, what really makes a story for me is the characters so I struggled a little with this book at first. All I wanted was to know more about Ash and Scar and it took a while for me to get what I wanted. Both characters had a lot to them, more than I thought there would ever be. As for the slew of other characters, there were some good ones, some bad ones, ones that annoyed me and some that made me want to through the book against the wall amongst others. Despite the fact that I’m not usually one for character heavy books, it was an interesting change of pace for someone like me.

Essentially, this book is very much driven by the plot. At first, I had a lot of trouble piecing everything together, all the story lines I was reading just didn’t seem to fit together. That is, until everything sort of came together. At which point things started to pick up and I started enjoying the book more. From that point on, it was one adventure after the other for Scar and Ash. And at the same time, the two characters started really developing and then I was able to really truly enjoy the book. Trust me, if you like action and plot twists you will have more than you possibly could have ever wished for.

Overall, The Vyne was a great read, it wasn’t light or fast but enjoyable all the same. If you’re up for trying something new like I was, you should pick this one up, you won’t be disappointed.

Daniel Walls Interview

Today I have the pleasure of having Daniel Walls, author of The Vyne, stopping by the blog to answer a few questions as part of his blog tour. So without further adieu, here is what he had to say.

Where did you get the inspiration for the book come from?

I didn’t do much “running in the streets” as a kid. I spent a lot of time alone, much of which was outside in my rural neighborhood. My father was a big hunter and fisherman, and I got to tag along on many of his expeditions in the wilderness. Even though I never really got into the sport of it much, I would often find myself immersed in the surreal beauty around me. On trips into Canada I would see plants and birds I had never before seen. They were very, well, alien. So I couldn’t help but imagine how real and beautiful other alien worlds might look like. (They don’t always have to be barren red deserts.) From there I would then reinterpret my thoughts on paper when I would get home and draw (my favorite childhood pastime.)

This, in conjunction with a Star Wars-induced childhood began really fueling my imagination. I started writing and illustrating graphic novels before I even knew what a graphic novel was. Unfortunately I never finished any of them, but it certainly was the basis for what would eventually turn into the burning need to pen a novel.

Why did you choose a mix of steampunk and fantasy as opposed to one or the other?

I’ve always loved the idea of colliding worlds. It’s essentially what you find at the core of almost any great struggle, be it an internal collision of choices or an external collision of societies.

With The Vyne I wanted to try to tell this sort of exaggerated tale of Science Fiction vs. Fantasy. It’s almost as if Science Fiction serves as the “bad guy” and Fantasy is the “good guy”. As to not create a story that felt too polarized and out of step with itself, I used the Steampunk interpretation of science & technology, rather than Star Trek. (Not to mention, Steampunk is just such a fun and beautifully imagined world, why wouldn’t anyone use it?)

I worked very hard to make sure that my worlds felt believable, yet still somehow transported the reader to another place in time. To do that I had to truly write my own rules. So if the rulebook says that Steampunk should have identifiable British undertones and include specific technology, I say, “not in my world.”

Are the main characters in the book, Asher and Scar, based around real people?

Somewhat. I would never purposely write about myself (not real bestseller material). But the more I flushed out the story of The Vyne, the more I began to identify with Asher. His struggles with identity in a small town and his delusions of what the rest of the world might be like, hit painfully close to home. And his reluctance to face his own life’s purpose is another. Scar stands for many people in my life and more so the world around us–about how if we’re not careful, can suck the life from us, draining us of the beautiful humanity we all inherently possess.

Is writing something you have always wanted to do?

Yes. Though I would certainly admit that it has never been very orthodox. I tell most people that I’m not a writer, I’m a storyteller. Someday I hope to be able to call myself a writer. (A few books from now perhaps…) I suffered from slight dyslexia as a child and grew to resist reading because of the frustration and humiliation of it all. But I soon learned that if I were ever to even consider learning how to write my own stories, I would have to read the great works of others. I’m so glad I decided to. I now love reading.

How would you describe The Vyne in one sentence to get people to read the book?

Imagine if you discovered, in the palm of your hand, the power to escape an ancient prophecy—the end of the world?

Thank you Daniel for stopping by and be sure to check out the rest of the tour through The Teen Book Scene. Also, come back on February 19 to see my review of The Vyne.