Book Review – The Octagon’s Eight by Mairon Oakley

Earlier this year when I was at Fantasy Forest with Smash Bear Publishing promoting my

book, I promised myself I was going to stop by another author’s stall and pick up a copy of

their book, which I had heard so much about through a mutual friend. This author was self-

publishing and self-promoting their work, with no publisher to help them, so I wanted to pop

along and support them a little bit. It’s hard enough getting your work out there with a

publisher at your back, let alone on your own! The author’s name is Mairon Oakley, and the

book was The Octagon’s Eight.

The premise is fantastic D&D material – a dark elf sent as a spy to the surface under orders

from the priestesses who rule his underground society, captured and sent out to sea with

seven others on an impossible quest to investigate a mysterious, Bermuda Triangle-like

section of open sea where magical energies are high and ships mysteriously disappear.

During the journey he is forced to co-operate with people he would ordinarily enslave or kill

without a second thought, and he comes to question his upbringing and treasure his new

found family.

The book is wonderfully written. The narrative trots (or should I say ‘sails’?) along at a steady

pace, and the characters easy to love. I think my favourite is Marrow, the librarian half-orc

who prefers dresses to leathers and furs. Life at sea is described vividly, helping to transport

the reader onto the raft along with the characters. Like any good D&D game, the action is

regular and varied, with the group encountering different challenges the further into the

Octagon they venture.

I think there are only two criticisms I can level at the book. First, some of the encounters feel

a little rushed, in particular (avoiding spoilers) when Dirian finds himself dealing with a

presence from his past (and Eldrin – I wanted more from Eldrin!). I would have liked a little

more description, a little more to the encounter to make it feel a bit more significant and less

fleeting, especially when it is a moment of such importance to the main character.

The second criticism is regarding the ending, when the group reach their journey’s end. It is

left deliberately vague, leaving you wondering about what they found and how they got

home. Now, there is a second book in the works, so it may well be that my complaints will be

answered by that when it comes out. But for now I am left feeling a little disappointed and

confused about what happened at the end, and when the rest of the book was so good, it is

a bit of a shame.

That being said, it is still well worth your time to grab a copy of this book and read it. You will

enjoy it, you will fall in love with the characters, and you will be waiting impatiently for the

next one, like I am!