This new storyteller has a voice with a lot of potential. Enchanters is purely a fantasy book, but the author has infused it with sociological and ecological concerns with the world at large.

The book was incredibly engaging and the pages continued to turn to explore the deepening mystery set forth.

A young girl goes on holiday to Norway to visit her extended family - and to find her way home, to find her path in life. With her, we fall into a world where accepted rules of reality and expectations shimmer into colorful dreams, becoming more and more fantastic with each turn of a page. Russell creates a very complete sense of the main character’s waffling confusion and fascination with this new and sometimes frightening world.

The language is truly beautiful. It creates such a full mental and emotional sketch that even if the reader had no interest in the tale it was telling, it would be difficult to lay the book down before its conclusion. The author’s ability to bring his world to life is the gift that really makes this book come alive. The truly engaging use of words that don’t see enough time in print these days helps create that pull. Beautiful use of words like Myradelle brings magical images to mind.

Enchanters expresses a certain cynicism that can only be fought through hope and belief in something stronger and deeper than ourselves. David Bryan Russell breaks down human faults gracefully, without being preachy.

The novel had a good, strong ending that didn’t leave me wanting. As a reader, it is wonderful to know there is more to come, but it is much more satisfying to put down a book that ends rather than simply stopping in the middle of the story. David Bryan Russell gave a conclusion that wrapped up the story neatly, while pointing to the possibility of more adventures in the future. His will likely not be a “new” name in the fantasy genre for long.

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

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The Weekend Bulletin - Paradise Magazine
Michael Jacobson

Enchanters may be described as a fantasy novel, but should never be confined by the term. Conforming to many of the conventions of fantasy literature - magical characters with incredible powers, extremes of good and evil, parallel worlds - the story's social, spiritual and environmental themes are delivered directly and accessibly to the real world. And the result is deeply affecting.

Communication of ideas is not just Russell's mission, it is his medium. Writing novels may be a new pursuit, but as a storyboard artist and concept illustrator, both key roles in the movie-making process, Russell has long been one of Hollywood's busiest and most creative visual designers. He had worked with directors including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Robert Redford and James Cameron on films such as Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Batman, Moulin Rouge, and The Chronicles of Narnia. The kind of imagination, strength and commitment Russell has exercised in his artwork, now enhances Enchanters, Russell's fine debut novel for which he traded his brushes and sketchbooks for pictures painted in prose.

An expansive and accessible adventure, at its centre is 19-year-old Glys Erlendson, a young woman with a strong environmental sensibility who, on a family trip to Norway, discovers the hidden, magical world of Myradelle and, astonishingly, her future there as an Enchanter. Transformed, Glys barely has time to accustom herself to her new home and magical powers before dark forces begin to impose their will on Myradelle and the planet.
Dedicated to the preservation of life and the reconnection of humankind with nature, Glys and her courageous friends embark on a perilous adventure to save the world and ensure its renewal through the powers of love, goodness, co-operation and sheer common sense.

In fostering a strong awareness of the cultural, environmental, spiritual and human connections that unite and define us all, David Bryan Russell reveals how wonderful we can be. As such, his aim is simple, though never simplistic. And whether it is through his art, his writing, the way he lives his life and the better world he imagines can be made real, David Bryan Russell's vision is clear and his aim is unfailingly true.

Filled with fantastical intrigue, diabolical trolls, and beautiful sorceresses, David Bryan Russell’s debut novel is an imaginative read that sets itself apart from the usual fare of contemporary fantasy.

Focusing on Glys Erlendson, a 19-yr-old girl vacationing with her family in Norway, Russell’s Enchanters tells the tale about a young woman’s mental and physical transformation into a very strange adulthood. While spending time with her relatives, Glys enjoys the aesthetic countryside of Norway and tries to reconcile her idealistic notions of politics, the environment, and global injustice with the real world. A chance encounter with a mysterious woman named Leanya, however, changes Glys’ plans more than she could ever have imagined.

You see Glys happens to be a unique individual known as an Awakener, a person who has the ability to mature into one of humanity’s ancestral Hidden Folk. The mysterious Leanya recognizes what she is one day in the woods and gives her a small, magical item known as a vitann. This gem-encrusted object is the focus of her power and reflects her inner growth. Soon enough Glys’ transformation, as well as her vitann’s, is complete and the young woman finds herself in an altogether different world.

As Glys increases her knowledge of Mother Nature and learns how to use her powers in the lands of Myradelle (one of the last secluded groves of benevolent Hidden Folk Enchanters), a nefarious plot is being brewed by the evil Noctivolls. Running counterpart to the good-natured Enchanters, Noctivolls and Shadowlings live off the anger and misery of humans and congregate in more urban environments.

One particularly nasty Noctivoll is plotting his return to the Underworld with dire consequences to the world above. For the sake of humans and Hidden Folk alike, the now estranged Glys must return to America to investigate these heinous crimes and put an end to his schemes of grandeur.

Russell’s first novel is a very enjoyable read that differentiates itself from other fantasy books with almost severe shifts in tonality. The first and third parts of the novel focus predominantly on the real world, and here Russell’s writing flows freely while conjuring vivid imagery with ease. The middle of the book describes the color-saturated realm of Myradelle where fantastical beings live in harmony with the land. The fantasy elements are incorporated rather well between the Myradelle and real world segments. The pacing of the book is quite atypical (the main conflict is not even established until 2/3rds of the way in) yet doesn’t impede the novel’s forward momentum and only further accentuates its unique shifts in tone and mood.

David Bryan Russell’s first novel is a breath of fresh air for the fantasy genre. Russell’s second installment, The Shining Realm, is in the works now.

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