Review: The Eye of Farem by Ron Blacksmith

An epic adventure beyond the known cosmos, The Eye of Farem by Ron Blacksmith is a bold first piece in his Rangers of the Realm series.

Thousands of years in the future, humanity has spread amongst the stars, along with Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and a kaleidoscope of otherworldly beings and bots. Guided and protected by the noble and legendary Wardens, the Realm of Planets is a thriving and diverse ecosystem born from the wise and daring population of Earth.

When Captain Mik Rogan and his crew of Rangers aboard the Rockne receive orders to retrieve an ancient artifact with galactic implications, it sends them careening off on a trail that has been cold for centuries. However, what they are seeking is only one piece of a much larger piece of technology, one that not only predates the Last War, but may actually have caused it. When the dark secrets of their own origin story are revealed, these intrepid heroes must face the ultimate decision: defy their fierce allegiance to the Wardens, or risk the lives of trillions across the Realm by letting history repeat itself.

The story sets itself apart for its creative mixture of fantasy and science fiction tropes, with a sprawling diaspora of colonized planets and sentient beings that seamlessly cross genres. There is a comforting familiarity with each of these fantasy characters, which still maintains a flare of originality, as they are in such an incongruous setting. Harkening back to traditional fantasy, elves are closely linked to nature, orcs are naturally hostile, dwarves like to tinker with mechanics, and the non-sentience of robots makes them untrustworthy to the newbie crewmember, which turns out to be a clever bit of foreshadowing early on.

For having a premise as far-flung and expansive as this one, there are quite a few plot holes and bits of exposition that are left out, leaving readers to connect the loose dots or make assumptive leaps. The story itself also feels too similar to some classics of the genre; the search for an ultimate weapon to defeat an age-old enemy is a bit too familiar, and artificial intelligence has been a default villain in sci-fi literature from the very start. While the mixture of sci-fi and fantasy may be one of the novel’s strongest components, the author may rely too heavily on previous works of both genres.

On a technical level, there aren’t many typographical mistakes, but numerous passages have stilted and unnatural prose, which feels coldly detached or methodical in places, without requisite descriptions to make characters and scenes stand out from each other. For example, characters are often described as tall and thin, with dark hair or white skin, but descriptions don’t reach very far beyond that. Similarly, the conversational dialogue across different characters and races is nearly identical, and could be readily heard today, which is in part relatable, but also feels like there could be more variation for a story taking place thousands of years in the future.

That said, despite these stumbles in execution, there is an immediate accessibility to this cosmic quest, and fans of the genre will appreciate the breezy readability and recognizable elements of beloved deep-space adventures.