The Ancient Enemy: The First Book of Arna

A former farmer, Thru Gillo became a scholar of the Assenzi, a tribe of scholars. They taught him the history of his race and how Man the Cruel destroyed the world before disappearing into the mists of time. Or are they gone?

My interest in this book was piqued by its cover. In an alternative universe with an ape-like protagonist, I was ready to be blown away. Rather, Ancient Enemy is your cliche fantasy novel, rewritten with an ape-like protagonist instead of your average human character.

In this story, you meet Gillo, a young mot who is heartbroken after losing the love of his life to someone else. When his family gets tired of his moping, they decide to send him away. While he was there, he joined a monastery and learned about human show more history. His life completely changed there.

While reading this, I kept thinking of The Planet of the Apes! The human race colonized this world thousands of years ago and 'uplifted' monkeys and other animals. As a result of humanity's rapacious overuse of resources, Men died out, leaving only the Uplifts. From the title and the blurb, it's clear that Man is returning! Men, the cruel, are something of a motto for the apes, and stories about Humans still exist in holy texts.

Even though it sounded interesting, I was bored out of my mind. The first half of the novel is devoted to developing Rowley's world and the world around it (e.g., the uplifted monkeys). Rowley does not provide much information about the monkeys uplifted besides the mots.

As soon as I reached halfway through the novel, my interest was lost. There is no point in reading the story any longer. I was hoping for more action and less world-building, but the story ultimately fell short. The lack of depth in the characters and the slow pace made it difficult to stay engaged.

Overall, it was a disappointing read. show less