Copyright © 2011 by Kathleen McLaren.
Having no siblings of my own, I can scarcely imagine what it’s like to have a twin. And by that same line of thought, there’s a lot of literature and mythology dealing with the supposed mystery surrounding the birth of twins (insert your own sociological theory of dualism here). Even so, there don’t seem to be a lot of stories about twins, so it’s somewhat refreshing to see them used in The World of Bellar, a novel written by Kathleen McLaren and released by Dorrance Publishing.
The Story: Generic Good Vs. Generic Evil
I say “somewhat” refreshing only because the rest of the story is rather generic. Some ancient prophecy says the good twin (Serenity) will fight the bad twin (Calypso) and throw the world into imbalance. The good sister stays with her parents while the demon Diaboloy adopts the evil twin and raises her accordingly. Then they’re reunited at age sixteen, war breaks out, and you know the rest.
The Cast: Well, There Is One, Anyway
In an unsurprising move, the good twin is named Serenity and her evil twin is named Calypso. Serenity is your typical reluctant princess heroine with magic (doesn’t want to fight, but does what she must and is ever so pure). Calypso, on the other hand, is raised to be, well, diabolical. She tortures and murders her servants on a whim, wears giant capes, and schemes on her father’s throne. All she needs to complete her Disney-style villainy is her own catchy song and she’s good to go.
The rest of the cast really doesn’t stand out, with one exception. A little more than halfway through the story, we get introduced to Millisand, who takes over as the hero protagonist after Calypso and Serenity disappear and the world briefly returns to normal. Her job is ultimately to establish a link between this main tale and the brief glimpses of the framing story at the beginning of each chapter.
The Style: Oh How We Repeat Ourselves
The only really peculiar thing is the framing narrative for the whole story. At the beginning and throughout the novel, we get an unnamed widow recounting the events of this story as a kind of fairy tale to her two twin daughters. By itself, this could be taken in an interesting direction, but there’s so much fluff and no depth to these scenes that it doesn’t really matter. They could have been left out entirely and the whole story could have been put into the hands of an omniscient narrator. It would not have changed anything dramatically or thematically.
Final Verdict: The Premise Holds Promise
While the use of twins and prophecies is an old trope, I was willing to give this story a chance because there’s still a lot that can be done with that. By the same token, I thought there would be a lot more worldbuilding given the novel’s title, but apart from one or two paragraphs about the various species, nothing but the main characters and their families really stand out on their own. All in all, this isn’t a bad story. It’s just more of an exercise in story-telling than story-writing.
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I received a complimentary copy of The World of Bellar as a member of the Dorrance Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com to find out how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.
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Bibliography: McLaren, Kathleen. The World of Bellar. Pittsburgh: Dorrance Publishing, 2011.
