Book Review: The Octunnumi Fosbit Files Prologue by Trevor Alan Foris

 

Goodreads Summary: The Octunnumi does not exist.
Fosbit and any files relating to a Fosbit do not exist.

The Tarelen peoples that protect and provide sanctuary for the Avitens of Fethrist are not real.

The abilities of the Tarelen peoples with their heightened skills, living in their Utopian world are myth, their purpose here mere tales; rumours of their reincarnations enabling them to live many lives… ridiculous!

And there is definitely no magic.

None at all.

No, really, there isn’t.

Magic is not a thing.

There are also no hidden worlds or mythical beings coexisting just out of sight.

Equally, there are no secret access points to these hidden worlds that don’t exist, and there is no, 'unfinished business from the past' that is set to destroy, well, anything.

There is no disaster looming.

Anyway, regardless of any potential threat that may or may not be present, this publication, The Octunnumi and any reference to any other beings is a work of fiction.

And for the record, Scariodintts, should they exist, are perfectly lovely beings whose purpose in life is grossly misunderstood.

Goodreads Ratings: 4.08 stars with over 8,000 reviews

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult, Adventure, New Adult, Science Fiction

Goodreads Challenge: 9/48 (Oh hey. I'm behind, shocker)

2022 Reading Challenge: #20 Read a book with a black cover (find the entire challenge here)

Book Review:

I would normally use this section to tell you about a book I read, but I can't do that because this book doesn't exist and it most definitely does not contain magic. So instead, for this review, I'm going to type in hypothetical thoughts. Because as the description said, it's all just rumors. I most certainly did not order a book that can only be obtained from the author's website that I knew nothing about. It was most certainly not shipped from Europe at the cost of $60. All of this would imply that it existed... 

Okay, that is really hard and I can't do that for the full review. Props to Trevor Alan Foris for being able to write out a description like that. 

Anyways, the whole thing with this book is that as far as I can tell it's only sold on the website, which can be found here. It ships from the UK, I believe so it does take a while if you're in the US. Not including textbooks, it is the most expensive book I have ever bought. It's also the most beautiful. The book it's self is black with a gold title. Every page in the book has decorative steampunk borders, and it's lovely. The appeal for me was purely astethic and the fact that it was a total mystery as to what it was about. Another great feature is that the dictionary is an actual bookmark. Genius.

Here's a look at the prettiness.

I honestly don't want to really talk about the story. Well, I take that back. I do want to talk about it, but I want to help preserve the mystery more. I find that just to be such a cool concept and really as much of the story as the actual story and experience.

What I liked about the story is the uniqueness and cleverness of it. There were a lot of moments that I really had to think about and take it in. I've never ready anything like it. The hardest part for me was that a lot of the time I felt like I was getting half of the story. I don't know if that was because it was a prologue or because it took me so long to read. I just felt like so often I didn't understand what was going on or how the world or magic worked. The only way I can think to explain it is like I was on the outside looking in and everything was fuzzy. Given the secrecy, maybe that was intended. 

I think I'd like to read this again sometime and try to get a better understanding of what happened. I liked the story, and there were parts that I found funny. I just was also really confused a lot. Given that it cost me $60, it's unlikely that I'll acquire the rest of the series when it comes out. Which is unfortunate because I do want to read more. Now that the mystery is gone, I just can't bring myself to spend that much on one book again. I'm hoping that it will come out on kindle at some point. Overall, reading it felt like an actual experience and I'd recommend it or someone who is looking for a book outside of the norm.