Book Review: The Land Uncharted by Keely Brooke Keith

I've been meaning to review this book for ages and am glad to say I finally got around to it!

Summary (as seen on Goodreads):

Lydia Colburn is a young physician dedicated to serving her village in the Land, an undetectable island in the South Atlantic Ocean. When Lt. Connor Bradshaw’s parachute carries him from the war engulfing the 2025 world to Lydia's hidden land, his mission could expose her simple society. As Connor searches for a way to return to his squadron, his fascination with life in the Land makes him protective of Lydia and her peaceful homeland, and Lydia’s attraction to Connor stirs desires she never anticipated. But will they be able to keep the Land off the radar?

Written like a historical, set like a scifi, and filled with romance, past and future are woven in this inspirational story of life in a hidden land. If you like the rural setting and wholesomeness of Amish Fiction but are looking for something new, read The Land Uncharted.

Review:

I found myself absolutely immersed in the world created by the author. The way Conner and Lydia’s societies are so different is written incredibly well. I especially loved the way the push-ups were described from Lydia’s point of view, when it was foreign to her yet we as readers can easily pick up on what she is seeing for the first time. Conner's awkward transition into the society is endearing and hilarious. The only difficult part to understand was how exactly the dialogues differed between the cultures. It was easier to see as the story continued, but still not quite distinct by the end.

There were some moments when the story could have been shown more than told (“she felt happy” or “she felt proud”), where many emotions are labelled but the readers aren’t shown how the emotions translate into physical feelings. There are also instances of time lapse such as when Mr. McIntosh goes to get the splint where things happen a little too suddenly and too quickly, and readers have to backtrack a bit.

Lydia’s character is immediately apparent upon just a few pages into the first chapter. Readers easily know of her passion and commitment, her independence, and she is an easy main character to love. However, sometimes it felt like Lydia was a little too “perfect,” despite what she said about herself. While this is partially because of the world the book is set in (which I must mention again that I love very much), no character is ever perfect, and it would have been nice to see more flaws in her and in Conner himself. Conversely, Frank is presented as entirely evil, and it would have also been nice to see at least one good thing in him, even if reluctantly and briefly.

The mysteries presented throughout the novel are very intriguing and keep the plot moving forward very well, and clearly the author spent a lot of time editing this book. Many of the sentences are tightly constructed without using too many words. There was an instance of “whaled so loudly” when it should’ve been “wailed so loudly” and Lydia’s last name is misspelled in the fifteenth chapter, but errors such as these are minimal and it is rare to find so few of them in a self-published work (as I understand this to be). There is also a constant omission of a comma before "then" in many sentences when it was needed, but this is not necessarily incorrect enough to say the piece is not polished.

Throughout the novel when Lydia bandages or treats people, there are several times when the process is wrapped up into just a sentence or two, when it might have been helpful for readers and more realistic if the scene was written out just a little more to bring realism to Lydia's profession. However, this could also just be stylistic choice.

Overall this was a wonderful read and I hope to read the other two books of the series soon. I give this book 3 and a half jellyfish, rounded up to four.

You can find The Land Uncharted on Goodreads and Amazon!