Book Review: Water's Calling by Courtney Pollman-Turner

Gotta love any novel that starts life as a D&D campaign! It just guarantees that you're going to get a fun, adventure-filled story, probably with a few random twists and turns. 'Water's Calling' definitely delivers that, with the protagonist of the story gathering her party of adventurers and heading out on a quest to stop a war. But that's not all you get; with a professional psychologist doing the writing you also get a ton of character development along the way, realistic and captivating relationships, and a journey through trauma that feels emotional and real.

The story takes us on a journey from LeiRain's home village as she goes out to seek her fortune, and then returns to find tragedy. What follows is her journey both to forgiving herself and to stopping something even worse happening to the entire country. But as well as being an adventure, this is also a love story, as LeiRain goes from being the outcast to finding others like her who appreciate and understand her.

My favourite thing about this book was how beautifully the emotions and the magic were described. Sometimes they're almost the same thing, certainly very strongly interlinked, and the descriptions both help you visualise something that cannot be seen and draw you into the emotions so that you become invested in the story, and have to read more.

If I had to level a criticism, it would only be that the ending felt rather abrupt. But as long as we get a book 2, I think that can be forgiven! Looking forward to seeing what the next stage of LeiRain's adventures will be!