The Final Warden Gifts of Vorallon I Volume 1 Thomas Cardin 9781481196833 Books
Download As PDF : The Final Warden Gifts of Vorallon I Volume 1 Thomas Cardin 9781481196833 Books
The Final Warden is the first book of the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy. The world of Vorallon is failing. Hordes of demons destroy cities and everyone who lives in them. The raiders of Zuxra, foul men who answer only to their mad queen, enslave and conquer all that remains. As all descends into darkness, the Old Gods sleep, but they have entrusted the survival of Vorallon to the gifted. The gifted are men and women blessed with unique abilities that are fueled by the strength of their spirits. Lorace is one of the gifted, a hollow shell of a man who has been scarred by demons and bereft of all memory. He finds himself on a desolate shore, the only clue to his destiny, and his past, is a sphere of dull silvery metal he holds clutched in one hand. A mysterious call draws him north, toward the last bastion of light that exists upon Vorallon, the fortress city of Halversome--the next target of the Queen of Zuxra and the gifted people who do her bidding
The Final Warden Gifts of Vorallon I Volume 1 Thomas Cardin 9781481196833 Books
The world in this book is close to something out of J.R.R. Tolkien or R.A. Salvatore, with humans living in alliance with elves and dwarves while threats to their world manifest in the forms of ogres, trolls, and demons. It’s a familiar epic/high fantasy type of world, but it was well executed here.The protagonist of the novel is Lorace, a young man who awakes one day with ritualistic scars on his body and no memory of where he’s come from. In this world many people have a particular ‘gift’, which could just as easily be called a ‘power’ or ‘ability’. As the story progresses Lorace discovers his own gift, which he calls ‘sight’, the power to see within his mind places far from his location. In the context of the fictional world these gifts are said to be given by various gods, worshipped by the humans, dwarves, and elves together. Lorace is in possession of a mystical artifact called the godstone, sacred to the gods (naturally). With the aid of humans from the city of Halversome and dwarves from the city of Vlaske K’Brak, Lorace works to recover his memory and discover why it was lost. Along the way he becomes drawn into a war between the peoples of this world and demons from the realm of Nefryt, whose ravages threaten to destroy the world city by city.
The strongest aspect of this story is the quality of its worldbuilding. Within the first few pages, the amount of detail and complexity to the setting blew me away. The details of the world came out naturally, through character interactions and through comfortably brief narrator’s exposition. I was impressed with it, and I hope that I can come close to doing as well in my own work. The plot was at some points plodding and it took some time to get set up to certain key events, but I wouldn’t say I was bored with it. The book is relatively short, just over 200 pages, so for me it was a quick read overall.
There were several typos throughout the book, such as using “–ing” when “–ed” is meant and misusing apostrophes frequently. Given the overall quality of the rest of the story, this was strange to me. Apart from that, the story ends on something of a cliffhanger. Lorace’s main story arc is completed, but the arc of another character, a demonic entity called the Devourer, is left unresolved. This book is the first of three, so I may well get the next in the series to see what becomes of the Devourer. Cliffhangers are an annoyance to many readers, but the fact that the main arc of the story was resolved satisfied me in this regard.
The last comment I want to make on this book is that it fits one fantasy category that I’ve been hearing a lot about lately: Noblebright. The opposite of GrimDark fantasy, Noblebright is generally positive and optimistic. Heroes are heroic and villains are defeatable. This may make for more predictable storytelling, but it also provides some comfort for many readers who’ve felt lost with the recent trend that’s been popularized by ‘A Game of Thrones’ and its imitators. Fans of Noblebright fantasy and fans of more tradition epic fantasy will enjoy this book, and I’m pleased to say that I did.
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Tags : The Final Warden: Gifts of Vorallon I (Volume 1) [Thomas Cardin] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Final Warden is the first book of the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy. The world of Vorallon is failing. Hordes of demons destroy cities and everyone who lives in them. The raiders of Zuxra,Thomas Cardin,The Final Warden: Gifts of Vorallon I (Volume 1),CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1481196839,Fantasy,Fantasy - Epic,Fiction,Fiction - Fantasy,Fiction Fantasy Epic
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The Final Warden Gifts of Vorallon I Volume 1 Thomas Cardin 9781481196833 Books Reviews
Fantasy is a unique genre, requiring a complete suspension of disbelief from the reader. Opening a fantasy story means departing this world to experience an entirely new one, somewhere that has different rules, issues, and people. We have expectations, of course. We don't want the bad guys to win. We want to understand and relate to the characters. We want to be able to picture this new world as we read of it. We want unfolding events to make sense without being predictable. It's a tough order, really, for an author to fulfill, but many do so quite well. It's a pleasure to find and read such good books.
I find The Final Warden to be one of those books. This is a debut novel, and the first of a trilogy. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. I had to see what would happen next. I spent far too much time reading it that first day, in fact.
There will be no spoilers here, just some impressions. Several characters and story elements are introduced in separate chapters, with some of those elements beginning to weave together as the story progresses. I like the concept of the planet being self-aware, and able to assist its chosen defenders in a limited fashion. The conflict between the dark and the light is a complex one, involving both gods and mortal of several races. The hierarchy of the gods is not completely clear, at least not yet. It is clear that these gods cannot battle alone, are not invincible, and perhaps were not always gods. I find that intriguing.
The races populating this world have familiar names from our own planet's rich mythology. They have some expected traits as well as some unusual ones. Humans on our planet aren't quite the same as humans on Vorallon. The description and history of the two main settings for the action paints a vivid picture without disrupting the flow of the story. Most of the character development focuses on two main characters, and is well done, though I suspect not yet complete. A third important character I thought to be just a bit naive, but his back story is an unknown factor as yet.
Overall, this is a very well written book with a good pace, and a nice combination of action and interludes. Be aware that there is no neat ending, with two more books to follow this one. There also is no annoying cliffhanger, that's a plus for most of us. I enjoyed reading it and certainly want to read the rest of the story.
With George RR Martin's A song of Ice and Fire series taking book stores by storm, I notice that the sheer length of the series scares a lot of people off of fiction. A single book is too long, the series isn't finished, and too much mythos/characters they say.
The Final Warden is a great introduction to people looking to get into fiction. The story and mythos is incredibly rich for a shorter series. There are three books, so you don't have to worry about waiting. The author has a great hook to lead the reader into the story.
Whether you are new to fantasy, or a hardened reader who's read the King Killer Chronicles and Lord of the Rings, I highly suggest the Gifts of Vorallon books 1-3.
I just finished reading all three of the Gifts of Vorallon books. If you hate cliffhangers as much as I do, I suggest buying all three now as the first two books do end abruptly. The series has a very satisfying end, even though its not a traditional "And they all lived happily ever after" one.
The main character is a hero with a very grand destiny that he can either accept or reject with only his friends and the entire world's survival at stake. Sounds very similar to other fantasy books; but these three have a very fresh take on that very familiar plot and is worth reading.
Without giving out any spoilers I can tell you that the elves, dwarves, dragons, and sorcerers are not the only folk who wield powerful gifts. The humans are gifted as well and all must face their own fears and failures before they can fulfil thier destinies.
It is a well thought out series that I think would please the most jaded fantasy reader.
The world in this book is close to something out of J.R.R. Tolkien or R.A. Salvatore, with humans living in alliance with elves and dwarves while threats to their world manifest in the forms of ogres, trolls, and demons. It’s a familiar epic/high fantasy type of world, but it was well executed here.
The protagonist of the novel is Lorace, a young man who awakes one day with ritualistic scars on his body and no memory of where he’s come from. In this world many people have a particular ‘gift’, which could just as easily be called a ‘power’ or ‘ability’. As the story progresses Lorace discovers his own gift, which he calls ‘sight’, the power to see within his mind places far from his location. In the context of the fictional world these gifts are said to be given by various gods, worshipped by the humans, dwarves, and elves together. Lorace is in possession of a mystical artifact called the godstone, sacred to the gods (naturally). With the aid of humans from the city of Halversome and dwarves from the city of Vlaske K’Brak, Lorace works to recover his memory and discover why it was lost. Along the way he becomes drawn into a war between the peoples of this world and demons from the realm of Nefryt, whose ravages threaten to destroy the world city by city.
The strongest aspect of this story is the quality of its worldbuilding. Within the first few pages, the amount of detail and complexity to the setting blew me away. The details of the world came out naturally, through character interactions and through comfortably brief narrator’s exposition. I was impressed with it, and I hope that I can come close to doing as well in my own work. The plot was at some points plodding and it took some time to get set up to certain key events, but I wouldn’t say I was bored with it. The book is relatively short, just over 200 pages, so for me it was a quick read overall.
There were several typos throughout the book, such as using “–ing” when “–ed” is meant and misusing apostrophes frequently. Given the overall quality of the rest of the story, this was strange to me. Apart from that, the story ends on something of a cliffhanger. Lorace’s main story arc is completed, but the arc of another character, a demonic entity called the Devourer, is left unresolved. This book is the first of three, so I may well get the next in the series to see what becomes of the Devourer. Cliffhangers are an annoyance to many readers, but the fact that the main arc of the story was resolved satisfied me in this regard.
The last comment I want to make on this book is that it fits one fantasy category that I’ve been hearing a lot about lately Noblebright. The opposite of GrimDark fantasy, Noblebright is generally positive and optimistic. Heroes are heroic and villains are defeatable. This may make for more predictable storytelling, but it also provides some comfort for many readers who’ve felt lost with the recent trend that’s been popularized by ‘A Game of Thrones’ and its imitators. Fans of Noblebright fantasy and fans of more tradition epic fantasy will enjoy this book, and I’m pleased to say that I did.
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