Review: Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch

Review: Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch

Title: Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch

Author: Angel Haze

Pages: 286

Rating: ****

Review Source: The Author, Angel Haze

Back of Book Synopsis (from goodreads.com):

Debonair, a witch from the Unspoken Lands, has meddled in the forbidden practice of magic and has created an army of nightmarish proportions. When sixteen-year-old Astanyx and his two best friends return from a hunting trip to find their small town of Polca reduced to smoke and ash, they find themselves thrust into battle for which they haven’t been trained.

With the Help of his comrades, including and esteemed warrior, one of the last great wizards and a princess they’ve sworn to protect, Astanyx must fight to unite the kingdoms of humans, dwarves, and elves. He must ask forbidden questions that no one wants to answer, questions about Talimura’s dark history. As Debonair’s brutal warriors lay siege to the kingdoms, Astanyx is driven to pursue a fateful quest for a blade powerful enough to defeat the malevolent witch before she destroys the three kingdoms and unleashes an unspeakable, ancient evil.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book. It has all of the hallmarks of a great fantasy epic reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings and the newer Inheritance series. It is so full of action and has a really fast moving plot. There are all manner of magical creatures: dwarves, goblins, wolves, elves, orcs, ogres, birdmen, hellfangs, armies of the dead, and sorcerers.

Angel has created a huge world with so much happening, and even though she introduces a lot of new characters and situations, she writes so well that I felt a connection to them (there were times when I was yelling at some of the characters hoping they would survive the battle.) Astanyx is on the quintessential hero’s quest. He has survived the terrible destruction of his home and the massacre of his friends and family. He is sent on a quest to warn the nearby (and far away) kingdoms of the monster army by his dying father. He finds friends and teachers along the way who help him discover the power and bravery inside of him and becomes a true hero and warrior.

While some of the scenery and creatures a little too closely resemble those of The Lord of the Rings (the underground castle of the dwarves, the forest of the elves and some of the personality traits of the dwarves and elves,) she was able to make each individual character a unique individual and so they felt different enough and real.

There were some editing errors like missing words or repeated words  and once and a while they would trip up the flow of the story, but they were few and far between and the story itself swept me up enough  that they were hardly noticeable.

There was a lot more action than character development but because it is a series and because of the multitude of characters, I assume there will be more development across the series. I look forward to getting to know Talimura and the people who live there better.

I love the cover!!

I give it a ****