Author TJ Hapney

Description/Blurb:

For the mature fans of Harry Potter, A Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Elder Scrolls, Legend of Zelda, Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, Fable, and Dragon Age, The Tale of Onora follows the journey of a young orphan after his village is destroyed and he is forced to grow up in a dangerous world. As he navigates through different walks of life, he begins to uncover a conspiracy as to why his village was destroyed. Before he can put the pieces together, his fate is sealed by a terrible war. In the storm of chaos that follows, his actions turn him into a legendary hero.The more renowned he gets, the closer the source of evil is drawn to him. The more he fights for the truth, the more of an outlaw he becomes. 

In Book One, a boy at the brink of adulthood travels beyond the ruins of an ancient elven city, to The Crown of The World in the far north. It is there where he meets his father for the first time, in search of the answers and reasons his mother refuses to discuss. At the risk of his life, he learns that finding the truth requires knowing The Tale of Onora.

Review 2 of 5 Stars

I was provided with a copy of this book/novella (pretty short) by the author in exchange for an honest review.

The first thing this book lacks is a solid plot, though I was really hoping for the best as the beginning of the story intrigued me. The second thing it lacks is an ending. I swear it just stopped. Maybe that was the author’s attempt at a cliffhanger. If it was, I apologize, but it didn’t work for me. I felt like someone had ripped out the last pages of the book and left me without an ending. I even reread it to make sure I hadn’t missed something.

The author was pretty busy trying to pass along his own philosophical views, but seems to have forgotten to get on with the storytelling. I don’t mind a little socio-political musing, but it needs to go somewhere. There were some parts of the story that were interesting. In fact, there were several good starts to a book in this book, but it just didn’t go anywhere. I really wanted it to, but the “it” factor just wasn’t there. I kept hoping for something more to happen or be explained, but it wasn’t.

I think the description/blurb posted with the book on Amazon was strange for this book. The mature fans of Harry Potter, A Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, etc. generally expect more meat from their stories and this in no way reminded me of those books. As I am one of those fans, I was somewhat perplexed as to why this story would try to include itself alongside of such great stories. I was left with tons of questions about what happened to the characters in this book and very few answers. Anyway, I guess you can all tell that it wasn’t my favorite book. Some parts were really interesting. I was interested in the old man and the boy, but it seems like it lacked follow-through.

I don’t recommend it, but I did manage to finish it. You might enjoy this story, but I was put off by the lack of an ending. I have a ton of books to read so I probably won’t read any additional books in this series. I’ve had a run of good luck so it was only a matter of time before I picked up what I consider to be somewhat of a dud. As always, to read or not to read, the choice is yours. I hope everyone has a great week and hopefully I’ll be back with news about a story I enjoyed more next time.