Imperial Visions is a first novel with a lot of promise. Although a lot of the usual fantasy tropes are present – the young man learning how to deal with newfound power, the young queen fighting to protect her country, the mysterious evil intent on ruling the world – there is enough innovation to prevent it from feeling too derivative. And, let’s face it: those tropes are used so often because they make for an interesting story filled with tension. It’s no different here.

Thomas isn’t a perfect hero, and the young queen makes diplomatic errors instead of unerringly negotiating her way through the trials that beset her. Nor is she universally liked or disliked, which is definitely refreshing. The mysterious evil chap is a little too mysterious at this point to really comment on. And the usual religious tension – the sophisticated religion of the Imperial invaders contrasting with the “noble savagery” of the native people – is turned on its head. The religion of the empire seems to be a rougher thing compared with that of the people of Laurentia (the continent recently discovered by the Triune Empire). It’s more reminiscent of Catholic vs Protestant than Christian vs pagan.

There are some minor problems, though. Mansfield occasionally throws in too many adjectives, or big words which don’t quite fit in the context, and these can make his writing appear a little pedestrian in places. The different species seemed like they were included just to make it clear that this is a Fantasy World and they really needed to be better integrated into the story. Perhaps that will come in the next book. Finally, there were a lot of typos for a published book, and I always find that offputting.

I G Mansfield is a Rafonaut, and his screen name is Iain83. Thanks very much, Iain, for sending this to me to review. I enjoyed it. And it was rather nice to be reading it when I was on holiday at Loch Torridon.