Member assessment:
(5 votes) —
Recommended by Drew Daniels, Grace McDermott, Sonja Nitschke, and 1 other member.
Arcana Dium
An ongoing series, with new episodes infrequently.
A war is coming, and two sisters are stuck in the middle. What sides will they both chose and how will they each affect the outcome? Or each other? Read on for the story of Kiera and Emh, set in a modern fantasy setting. Love, fireballs and bombings. What more could you want?
Arcana Dium
Love, war, magic, and two sisters stuck in the middle.
— contains some graphic sex, graphic violence, and harsh language —
Tags: action drama family drama fantasy first person mythic past tense romance series
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Editorial Reviews
Simply Magical
Spotty’s use of multiple first-person POVs works astoundingly well for the story - each is smooth and each has a unique voice. They don’t feel forced - you learn to know the characters, and don’t have to reference the chapter title to know who is speaking.
The story builds, almost from the first chapter, letting characterisation slip in naturally. The characters are well-drawn and lively - far from stereotypes or one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs there simply to service the plot.
The Magic for Dummies sections, as previously commented, are great - they aren’t boring explanations, and often contain morals, such as "The moral of the story is that history is written by the victors. And these victors don’t like people who mess with history".
It’s still very short - sixteen chapters and counting, so do yourself a favour and go for an archive binge so that you’ll be salivating for the next update, like the rest of us.
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Magic for Dummies
Arcana Dium was the first serial I read that told a first-person story from different perspectives. The perspective change was a bit confusing for me, primarily because I’m so internet jaded that I tend to skip past all headers until I’m face-to-face with whatever content I’m looking for.
As a result, when the narrator changed, I spent a moment or three trying to figure out why the voice in my head seemed different than it had moments before.
This fact alone increased my respect of Spotty’s writing ability, which rose further still as the story progressed and new characters were introduced.
The Magic for Dummies bits are by far one of my favorite aspects of the story, as they add depth to the world around the characters. I love when serials do this as you don’t get stuck in a boring monologue while the character explains things to you, yet you still get the added bonus of knowing what the hell they’re talking about.
The update schedule has me a mite bit upset, but as a person who also has a "real life" I can understand when all hell breaks loose and writing suffers. I know I’d prefer to have no update than a poorly thrown together piece written by someone with a stress-monkey on their back.
On a technical note, the layout is very well done. It’s clear, concise and easily navigable.
I’m not a huge fan of the color scheme, but it works well for the story and therefore is easily placed into the "pet-peeve" category.
All in all, a very good read.
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Interesting
Arcana Dium makes full use of the web format to experiment in writing. There are multiple first person formats which, surprisingly, isn’t at all confusing — the author pulls it off quite well.
The prose is simple in a good way. The story is interesting, augmented by bonus stories from a book entitled Magic for Dummies and a bard’s tale.
I suppose what I appreciated most was the fact that we are told the story from different points of view, preparing for a definite shades of grey type story (well, I hope that’s where it’s going).
Definitely worth the read.
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