I received a copy of “From the Depths” as part of the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Competition (SFINCS).
This story is told from the point of view of Konar and Karliah, the children of a couple of pirates, as they navigate the challenges of the world and difficult family problems, until their father is called by the emperor to retrieve a lost mythical artefact – a scroll, which seems to possess a great power.
The worldbuilding is very complex with different races, lore and the hint of a magic system, as well as lots of new words.
We follow the adventure of this family in trying to retrieve this scroll and the consequences for the children, but I would like to have learned more about the scroll itself and why it was important that it was retrieved. I felt that the second half was less detailed than the first half, and that pace change threw me off a bit.
The main characters are interesting and well-developed, though occasionally I would forget that they were only 12 and 8 years old as their voices became too adult.
Overall an enjoyable story and possibly a good entry point for Garcia’s main series.