Stranded in an otherworld named Ether Daniel is befriended by characters who have no real problem accepting his presence there and who never fail to help him in his quest to find the magical key he needs to make the journey home. 

The story starts off brilliantly with the main character stumbling into Ether early on but from there onwards his journey is far too convenient for it to be truly exciting. 

Despite ten chapters over ten weeks the characters have failed to endear themselves and I have become indifferent as to their fate.  This could easily be rectified though if the author injected a good dose of atmosphere and emotion along with a huge dollop of conflict.

There is also the possibility that this story might be better suited to reading as a completed novel rather than in weekly chapters and it may work better for a less demanding reader than myself.

The writing itself appears to be faultless and the site is well designed, interesting and easy to navigate.  The only opportunity to interact with the author is by email and I think that this is a mistake.  If there had been a comments section the author may have interacted with readers, helped to alleviate concerns with the world building and kept the interest alive.

There is nothing I would have liked more than to be able to sing the praises of Ether and I really hope that the author takes another look at the story and turns it into the great adventure I believe it has the potential to be.

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Ether has me feeling very conflicted.  I enjoyed it for what it is, but, ultimately, it left me wanting for so much more.

The story proceeds exactly as billed: Daniel Harper, a recently-discharged Air Force doctor, returns home to find his favourite (and rather eccentric) uncle dead.  His uncle has left [more . . .]

The basic premise has been done many times—guy falls through portal into another world and must go through various (mis)adventures to get out again.  The steampunk elements give this a fun twist, though, and the writing is solid.  There are occasional editorial lapses, mostly of the homonym variety, but no worse than what one would find in a lot of traditionally published paperbacks at the bookstore these days.

It will be interesting to see where this goes.  The author has the skill to tell a good tale and if this doesn’t veer off into cliche (or if it’s done in a fresh way), it’s a keeper and worth buying the print version.

Note: This review based on having read the first four chapters.

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