Book Review: The Story of Evil, Volume I: Heroes of the Siege by Tony Johnson
Genre(s): Epic Fantasy
Book Synopsis:
During an entertaining jousting tournament, a mysterious villain attacks the capital with his army. Three young adults decide to fight back against insurmountable odds despite knowing their slim chances of survival. Follow Stephen Brightflame, a nineteen-year-old who aspires to become a knight, Tyrus Canard, an arrogant warrior, and Kari Quinn, a Halfling archer in this first volume in the five-part series, “The Story of Evil.”
Review:
This was an interesting book with some unique elements.
There are three main POV characters featured in this story. Stephen (Steve) Brightflame is a warrior and renowned jouster, well-liked by the people of Celestial. Tyrus (Ty) Canard is Steve’s adopted brother; he’s an aerial warrior and gryphon-rider. And then there’s Kari Quinn, a hunter from Celestial. Kari is half-elf, half-human, but in the context of this book’s world, she’s called a “halfling.” (It took me a while to figure out that halfling referred to her mixed-race status as it wasn’t explicitly stated at the start of her story arc. I’ve read a lot of Tolkien and Tolkien-inspired fantasy, so my brain immediately associated the word with “hobbit.” Kari is not a hobbit.)
All three main characters are around the same age (nineteen to twenty-ish), and while they each have a unique background, they all came across as very similar in terms of personality. I would have liked to see a little more differentiation between them; I think they would have been more engaging that way. As a reader who really enjoys character-driven stories, this was an aspect of the book I struggled with.
I did find the magic system to be pretty interesting and fairly unique. In this world, it’s very rare for humans/elves/dwarfs to have the capability to use magic, but most monsters can. And the elemental varieties a monster can use are dependent on its coloration; red for fire, green for air, etc. There are a few monsters presented in the story who can wield more than one element, in particular the big bads like Nightstrike and his Phantom rider.
Both sides of the conflict have both traditional mounted combat and aerial combat, which was pretty cool. There are gryphons, phoenixes, dragons, and more. The aerial combat scenes were probably my favorite. There are a couple notable fight scenes on the ground too, though one was more magic-based than traditional fighting, so there’s a little something for everyone in that regard.
While I enjoyed most of the story, I did feel the ending was a little rushed and stopped very abruptly. There is more available in the series, however, so if you decide to dive into this book, you don’t have to wait to see what happens next. (I believe there are five books currently available.)
Author’s Amazon Page: Tony Johnson
Amazon link: The Story of Evil, Volume I: Heroes of the Siege
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