The novel “The Great Migration” by Steve Ramirez was published for the first time in 2021. It’s the first book in the S’orne Saga.
The discovery of an arm belonging to one of the monsters called s’orne causes great concern. A century earlier, an entire city was destroyed by a horde of those monsters that killed many citizens and infected others with a lethal fever.
When Bellona and the group she’s part of finish following the Great Migration, she attends a festival that is supposed to be a celebration. Between strange rumors and revelations, the situation becomes complicated, especially when the complications concern the presence of s’orne.
“The Great Migration” begins a saga that initially has a strong fantasy flavor. The setting in a technology-limited world where humans have to defend themselves from various dangerous species offers that kind of impression even without the presence of magic or similar elements.
The greatest danger comes from a species called s’orne: these are beings that look like humans but are endowed with superhuman strength and behave like rabid animals. The comparison is not only due to the fact that they attack anyone in an extremely violent way but also because they infect humans with a sort of fever that pushes them to the same behavior and causes their death shortly after. It’s been a century since the last s’orne attack, which quickly devastated an entire city, but people are terrified of them even after generations.
The possibility of a new attack is discussed by various characters, who also mention parts of their civilization’s history connected to that threat. This represents an important part of a rich worldbuilding that includes various aspects of its society, among which the religious element is central. The first half of “The Great Migration” alternates action, even intense, with slower parts that are used to offer new information about this world.
The story contains a certain amount of exposition but Steve Ramirez included it in ways that made it part of the plot, without infodumps of the kind that break up the narrative. In addition to dialogue regarding the new s’orne threat, lessons from a tutor were used to explain the major religions of that world and the various differences and similarities between them.
Dialogue is also used to develop characters and the relationships between them. Their opinions, which can concern the s’orne threat, religions, and more, and the comparisons between different opinions, which can even become animated, help give depth to the most important characters. In other cases, there are revelations that show new faces of characters who hide secrets and the reactions of the ones who discover them. Some revelations also give a more science fiction tone to the saga.
The pace accelerates in the second part of the novel, where there are many dramatic events that are also intense. The amount of action increases and it too is used to develop important characters by taking advantage of their actions and different individual reactions to new dangers.
“The Great Migration” is only the first part of a bigger story and has no real ending. It’s a start that I found promising due to the high level of worldbuilding and the development of the important characters. If it’s a type of story that intrigues you, I recommend reading it with the awareness that you also need to read its sequels to get to the ending. It’s available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.
