"While the book has many problems which dissuaded me as a reader, it was not completely lacking."

Legends of Auryona: Return of the Queen

by T. D. Wulf

Genre: Fantasy

Book Synopsis

From tattered scrolls, through time and war, many of the legends of Auryona have survived. The Return of the Queen is one such legend. Just days after Eire's King fell in battle, the country was plunged into terror. The queen and princess were missing and Prince Terquin announced that they had left in the night and were presumed dead.

Years went by and tyranny, war, and bloodshed mixed with rumors that the queen still lived. Terquin and Hrolf fought over their father's throne, using the people as their weapons. It seemed as if nothing could be done to save the people and the land from the darkness that shrouded them.

One man broke away from Terquin and waged his own war. Morgard, loyal to the king and queen, served Terquin for too long. He broke ranks and set out for eastern Eire. There he will make his stand, there he will wait for his Queen.

Morgard's actions will turn the tables on Terquin. The new shift in power and loyalty will open the door for the queen to return. Her return to her land will not be the end of the story. They will not simply yield the throne to her. The battle to reclaim the throne will shape Eire's future.

Bec's Rating

Bec's Review

I love fantasy books, so it always disappoints me when a fantasy book falls short of my expectations. Sadly this is one of those book to such an extent that I struggled to get through it. There is something about the writing that fails to capture the imagination or draw you in, making it rather slow reading. While sometimes an interesting plot can save this problem, the plot of this book is not enough to make up for this lack, rather it seems to contribute to it. Like the writing, the plot is slow, taking awhile for many things to happen before reaching a stage where everything happens at once.

The problems of this book are not aided by the multiple perspective changes of the book. This is one of those books where every major (and some minor) characters get their story told, with new character perspectives being introduced midway. At times these multiple perspectives can be confusing, even though they are told in the third person, causing me to struggle to keep track of each of the individual stories. These perspectives also led themselves to extending the ending of the book, which each perspective needing to be wrapped up. As a result the book takes some time to end after it should of, resulting in a final 10 per cent of the book that can be skipped over.

However while the book has many problems which dissuaded me as a reader, it was not completely lacking. There were times when the story and writing did seem interesting and it is easy to see that this book, with the aid of editing and a touch of rewriting, could become so much better than it is. Just because I found it slow going at this point in time doesn’t mean it will always be so. And of course there are those who like every person in a story to get their say, and so the multiple perspectives of this story would suit them.

Disclaimer: May not be appropriate for children due to violence.