REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, GIVEAWAY: SHIEWO

TITLE: Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight To Adventure  SERIES: Shiewo's Odyssey Book 1 AUTHOR: Ciye Cho                                 PUB. DATE: June 6, 2011 PUBLISHER: Studio Amazepop            FORMAT: Kindle eBook SOURCE: from author for review

Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight To Adventure

The universe of Orberana is a place of great wonder and peril, a dizzying landscape filled with clouds that can talk, clockwork beings that mark their own time, and painted animals that awake in the night. Shiewo Morose is the captain of a flying ship powered by music. She is also a determined young woman on a mission: a quest to find the Wishing Fish that created Orberana. Sailing above the clouds, Shiewo and her crew (Erduu the bamboo, Theo the cloud, Livingston the goldfish, and Felix the painter) are headed for worlds of crazed clockwork bureaucrats, tyrannic kings, and tornado children--worlds that will test not only the crew's bravery... but their very understanding of adventure. Theirs is the odyssey of a lifetime...

Book Trailer

THREE WORDS: Whimsical. Enchanting. Colorful…three of my favorite words!

MY “I JUST FINISHED THIS BOOK” REACTION: Sorry, I can’t tell you my reaction right now, I’m too busy packing my bags for an adventure aboard the Odyssey! I just have to figure out how to get to Orberana...oh and I really hope the second book in this series comes out soon!

MY REVIEW: When author Ciye Cho asked me to review his book, I had no idea what to expect. I was intrigued by the synopsis, but after watching the book trailer, I just knew I had to read this book. And I’m certainly glad I did. Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight to Adventure is a delightfully fun, enchanting, and cleverly original  novel that captivated me with it’s limitless imagination.

This book begins with a simple prologue, placing the reader in the far away world of Orberana, and describes the way this topsy turvy world was created by the mythical Wishing Fish. Shiewo Morose (who is human), the Captain of the ship Odyssey, along with her crew made up of Erduu (man made of bamboo), Theo (a young, talking cloud), Livingston (a cranky goldfish), and Felix (a human and a reluctant stowaway longing for a colorful adventure), set out into the sky to find the Wishing Fish. Along the way, this eclectic and merry group encounters more colorful adventure than they could ever imagine.

This book is filled with so many fantastical elements, characters, and settings. This is the type of book that I searched for as a child. Cho’s creativity and imagination shine brightly throughout this book, and it really is one of the most original ideas that I have ever read.

I found myself completely swept away into the story and enchanting world Cho creates in this book. One doesn’t usually think of the sky has a particularly exciting place to find adventure, simply because its so vast and barren, but in Cho’s world the sky is full of wonderment, magic, and the unexpected. Page after page, I found something new, and even more fantastical then the last thing, to marvel at- there’s a cloud castle, upon a tornado, built of weather; tornado children in training; a Sun King made of fire and magma; evil shapeshifting Wildebresse clouds; a world consumed by time, and so much more.

The crew of the Odyssey make for an eclectic and fascinating group. Captain Shiewo is a tough, yet vulnerable and caring, smart female heroine. Felix adds a bit of exciting unpredictability to the crew and story. Theo and Erduu add a layer of humor and lightheartedness, while Livingston’s crankiness and sarcasm are too much fun to laugh at. I genuinely liked each and every one of these characters, and really liked the way this bunch of ragtag misfits feels like a family.

The flying ship itself is a spectacular creation. The Odyssey is powered by music…how cool is that?! Shiewo plays a piano unlike any other, whose music travels to each deck of the Odyssey and is joined by all the various instruments on each deck. I can’t really do this ship and its design justice with my brief description, but Cho describes it in such vivid detail. In fact, the whole book is written with such great detail and imagery. Cho writes with such a lovely, lyrical flow and with such colorful, unexpected, and detailed language, that his world became very clear and bright in my mind. While reading, I kept thinking how awesome it would be to have this story read aloud to me, I even read a few passages aloud to myself.

But one of the coolest things about this book is that Cho created a virtual interactive website for it. On this website I was able to see beautiful, colorful images of the characters and the ship, and listen to original music Cho composed for the book. I played some of the songs in the background while I read certain scenes, and this created such a fun, dimensional reading experience.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: This book is awesome! I really liked this book and enjoyed every moment of reading it. Cho impressed me with his one of a kind creativity and imagination, and Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight to Adventure captivated me with its fantastical magic and whimsy. I walked away from this book with a renewed and almost excited, childlike sense of wonder and adventure. I think younger readers would be delighted by this story and eager for more…as I am. 

MY RATING

4 CUPCAKES

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Interview with Ciye Cho

Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight to Adventure is such a creative and imaginative book, where did the idea or inspiration for this series come from?

I’ve always wanted to write a story about a flying ship powered by music. But more than that, I’ve always wanted to write a fantasy tale that was really, really left-field. The words “What if...” came up a lot as I started jotting down ideas (for example, what if clouds ate smells? Or what if a goldfish could be a drummer?). I wanted to write something fresh and unexpected. I don’t know if I succeeded, but that’s where my head was at when I started dreaming about the world of Orberana.

You most definitely succeeded!

Is the legend of the Wishing Fish based on a real story or did you make that up?

It’s fictional. I love fishes and flying creatures, so it seemed like a perfect choice for a mythic beast.

It's a really awesome and imaginative creation to boot.

I just love the crew of the Odyssey; they make for a delightful cast of characters. Are any of them based on real people or inspired by real people in any way?

None of the characters were based on real people, but they each embody a specific energy that I hope people can relate to: Shiewo represents determination in all things; Felix is the inner child; Theo personifies shyness; Erduu is an eccentric “wise man”; and Livingston... well he’s an eternal pessimist.

These energies definitely came through and are very relatable. I especially related to Felix and the inner child.

There are several different worlds described in Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight to Adventure, do you have a favorite or one that you enjoyed writing about the most?

I tend to consider the Odyssey to be a world of its own, and I had a great time writing about it. Though its a small ship, the Odyssey is a self-contained, self-sustainable home for all the crew... and it was a fun challenge trying to fit in all the musical instruments, gadgets, rooms, and systems. Every crewmember has a place within the ship, and every level has a highly specific (albeit kooky) purpose. It’s a place I’d run away to... which is why it’s my favorite world.

I was simply fascinated by the Odyssey and would love to run away to it as well.

You composed music to accompany the book, which I loved listening to while reading the book. Did the book or the music come first?

I started the book first, because a story always dictates where everything else should go. However, during the course of writing, I did a lot of musical experiments in order to find the right sound and feel for Shiewo’s “flight songs.” And, more than that, songs sometimes have a way of influencing the story itself. For example, I wasn’t sure what Avalnimbus would sound like until I had finished work on the Worldtornado song.

 I really enjoyed being able to listen to the songs while I was reading and they mesh extremely well.

Do you prefer one over the other (composing music or writing books)?

Writing stories is my favorite thing to do. Yet... I do feel as though words, illustrations and music are merely different forms of storytelling.

Absolutely!

One of the things I love best about books, are all the worlds one can find within them, such as the worlds found within Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight to Adventure. What magical or made up world (from a book, movie, tv show, etc) would you love to be real?

The bathhouse from Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away.” Everything about it is so impractical, unexpected, and downright illogical--which is exactly why I love it!

"Spirited Away" is amazing and the bathhouse is pretty awesome.

Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight to Adventure is about a great adventure, and you state at the end of this book that you believe we are all adventurers, so what great adventure would you love to embark on?

Writing Shiewo was something of an adventure--I often felt as if I was accompanying the captain on her voyages through Orberana. With that in mind, I’d love to write more stories and hopefully meet more like-minded dreamers along the way.

I felt as if I was along for the adventure on the Odyssey while I was reading! There really is nothing quite like the adventure one finds within books.

*(I love asking this question to everyone)* Heroes and heroines are great, but villains and bad guys are awesome! Who is your favorite literary villain? Who do you just love to hate or hate to love?

I don’t really have a specific favorite--but the baddies from Roald Dahl’s works are pretty fantastic.

They’re so deranged and utterly irredeemable. And I think most of us grew up knowing at least one adult who could have come from a Roald Dahl novel...

I love Dahl's novels, and I agree his baddies are fantastically bad.

If you found the Wishing Fish, what would you wish for?

I would wish for the ability to help people (including myself) to follow their dreams.

That is a wonderful wish!

What is the one book you think everyone should read at least once in their life? Why?

It’s not the first time I’ve said it, but it’s a true answer: “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. This little book has inspired me more than anything else I’ve ever read. It’s simple, poignant, and full of a rare kind of wonder that transcends all age groups...

I agree, "The Little Prince" is a MUST read.

I want to thank Ciye Cho for this great interview and for giving us the chance to get to know him and his work better.

You can learn more about Ciye, his work, and Shiewo here:

Ciye's Website I Book Website I Interactive Site I Goodreads I Facebook

You can purchase this book here:

Amazon I Barnes and Noble I Smashwords I iTunes Books

GIVEAWAY

I also want to thank Ciye for offering 3 eBook copies of this book to 3 of you! 


First 3 people to leave a comment with your name and email address win an ebook copy!

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