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The Hungering Saga #1
The Noble Fool
A man is not great because he is a good man. A great man can be good, evil, or any shade of gray in between. A great man is a man who sees the world around him, and changes it to suit him, instead of letting it change him to suit itself. Lowin Fenly didn't want to be a hero, and he never thought of being a villain, but sometimes the path that must be walked by great men leads to dark places. Body twisted by dark magic, the scribe-turned-Knight must learn to control the beast he is becoming, or risk losing the few remnants of humanity he clings to.
318 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
9 people are currently reading
522 people want to read
About the author
Heath Pfaff
14 books63 followersHeath Pfaff is an author who lives in rural, western New York. He was born in a small town, and spent a good potion of his life growing up all over the world as part of a military family. He is married, and has armloads of cats and a dog named Eris.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 11, 2015
This is a strange YA fantasy to rate and review because I'm not even sure how much I enjoyed it! The ideas behind the story were good. The magic was cool and the basic story was intriguing. Unfortunately Heath Pfaff never quite managed to translate his good ideas into a smooth and flowing story. I spent most of this read think this could be a good read rather than being fully caught up in the happenings. The story was also hindered by the fact that the lead character made some really idiotic decisions at times.
This story followed a young scribe, Lowin Fenley, as he was abducted and conscripted into the Kings feared, and monstrous, warrior army after a test showed he had an affinity for the magic necessary to join the warrior order.
The plot had the basic building blocks of an interesting YA fantasy. Lowin may have been conscripted against his will, but he takes to the warrior training well and makes a few interesting friends along the way. The warrior training is also made infinitely more interesting by the fact that it is paired with a magic that has severe consequences and offers rewards that are as much curses as gifts. The plot is further boosted by the civil war between the Kings warriors and the looming threat of a bunch on non-human races that surround the Kingdom.
Lowin was a weird character. Sometimes he was easy to root for and then at other times he would do something so annoying and/or stupid that it would make me wish that someone would just kill him! It was the same with the secondary characters. All of them felt a little inconsistent in personality.
All in all I'd say this was an OK entry level fantasy but the poor quality of the writing will likely not delight more experienced fantasy readers. I loved the ideas behind this story and was a little sad it never really lived up to its potential. I'm leaning towards not reading the sequel.
Rating: 3 stars. It makes three stars mostly for its cool magic and the unrealized potential in the story.
Audio Note: I've heard worse narrators than Paul J. McSorley, but he did seem a poor fit for this story. The lead character was young and McSorley made everyone sound 100 years old!
This story followed a young scribe, Lowin Fenley, as he was abducted and conscripted into the Kings feared, and monstrous, warrior army after a test showed he had an affinity for the magic necessary to join the warrior order.
The plot had the basic building blocks of an interesting YA fantasy. Lowin may have been conscripted against his will, but he takes to the warrior training well and makes a few interesting friends along the way. The warrior training is also made infinitely more interesting by the fact that it is paired with a magic that has severe consequences and offers rewards that are as much curses as gifts. The plot is further boosted by the civil war between the Kings warriors and the looming threat of a bunch on non-human races that surround the Kingdom.
Lowin was a weird character. Sometimes he was easy to root for and then at other times he would do something so annoying and/or stupid that it would make me wish that someone would just kill him! It was the same with the secondary characters. All of them felt a little inconsistent in personality.
All in all I'd say this was an OK entry level fantasy but the poor quality of the writing will likely not delight more experienced fantasy readers. I loved the ideas behind this story and was a little sad it never really lived up to its potential. I'm leaning towards not reading the sequel.
Rating: 3 stars. It makes three stars mostly for its cool magic and the unrealized potential in the story.
Audio Note: I've heard worse narrators than Paul J. McSorley, but he did seem a poor fit for this story. The lead character was young and McSorley made everyone sound 100 years old!
November 14, 2014
I'm a fanatic of Fantasy Genre but I don't really like this book at all. The book has a very monotonous emotional overtone of tragedy, helplessness and somberness throughout. I actually have to force myself to read to the end. Other might say its emotional but it incredibly lacks emotional variety. Its just sad sad all the way.
The plot isn't very interesting either. The characters are even more so. The story was incredibly tragic but the way the story plod along makes me my eyelids heavy. The characters are flat and uninteresting. The only thing that makes them interesting is their circumstances. Other than that they are very easy to forget.
The story essentially is about a young man who is kidnapped and trained to be a warrior (with certain dark sides) to serve the king. The conflict is essentially internal. His training involves things that are morally unacceptable to him. The presence of an opposing faction (which is just as shady) doesn't really add much since the opposing faction is as despicable to him as his original recruiter. The story is just the same in either side. The result is really a book that seems to be going nowhere.
Characters are barely noticeable, which for a novel is quite a feat. Interest on the characters are blot out by the tone and events. The characters feels generic because almost everyone is forced by circumstances to do certain things, the character doesn't even matter. It is especially strong to the protagonist where he always feels like whatever he do the results will always be the same. The outcome is immutable.
The book though strongly emotional lacks variety the keep things interesting. Could probably be of interest to cynic and fatalistic people who takes pleasure from seeing people in such helpless and hopeless plights. Could struck chords with depressed individuals whose misery are confirmed by this book. But not me, I still am emotionally balanced thank you.
The plot isn't very interesting either. The characters are even more so. The story was incredibly tragic but the way the story plod along makes me my eyelids heavy. The characters are flat and uninteresting. The only thing that makes them interesting is their circumstances. Other than that they are very easy to forget.
The story essentially is about a young man who is kidnapped and trained to be a warrior (with certain dark sides) to serve the king. The conflict is essentially internal. His training involves things that are morally unacceptable to him. The presence of an opposing faction (which is just as shady) doesn't really add much since the opposing faction is as despicable to him as his original recruiter. The story is just the same in either side. The result is really a book that seems to be going nowhere.
Characters are barely noticeable, which for a novel is quite a feat. Interest on the characters are blot out by the tone and events. The characters feels generic because almost everyone is forced by circumstances to do certain things, the character doesn't even matter. It is especially strong to the protagonist where he always feels like whatever he do the results will always be the same. The outcome is immutable.
The book though strongly emotional lacks variety the keep things interesting. Could probably be of interest to cynic and fatalistic people who takes pleasure from seeing people in such helpless and hopeless plights. Could struck chords with depressed individuals whose misery are confirmed by this book. But not me, I still am emotionally balanced thank you.
January 29, 2012
In general, I am not a big fan of fantasy books. I find them a bit overdone, repetitive. The usual king such-and-such and wise fierce dragon and pretty wenches bore the hell out of me. When it was suggested to me that I read The Noble Fool, a new and unpublished novel, I did not hold out terribly high hopes.
I am very glad however that I did give it a chance; this is not your average fantasy novel. Indeed it's definitely in the fantasy genre, but the concepts are wonderfully different from the usual fare. It focuses on a single character, Lowin, and his conscription into a sinister military force he had thought purely legendary. To tell any more would simply be to give too much away, but the plot is rich and engrossing, the characters believable and imperfect. You'll certainly find yourself page turning with this one as the story is paced extremely well - there are no dull chapters or wittering paragraphs to get bogged down in.
This book is certainly dark, without having to rely on gore or purile nasties. The action sequences are another of the strong points in this novel - they are scripted exceptionally well, quite outstanding for any book I'd say. They definitely have that exciting, high-adreneline feel that you find in the best of film adaptations, and which is often lost a little in books.
If I were to offer one critique of this book, it would be that it's a little on the short side. I would have devoured much more of it - but thankfully it's the first of a trilogy and I was able to start on the next one (The Vengeful Malice) in short order!
I am very glad however that I did give it a chance; this is not your average fantasy novel. Indeed it's definitely in the fantasy genre, but the concepts are wonderfully different from the usual fare. It focuses on a single character, Lowin, and his conscription into a sinister military force he had thought purely legendary. To tell any more would simply be to give too much away, but the plot is rich and engrossing, the characters believable and imperfect. You'll certainly find yourself page turning with this one as the story is paced extremely well - there are no dull chapters or wittering paragraphs to get bogged down in.
This book is certainly dark, without having to rely on gore or purile nasties. The action sequences are another of the strong points in this novel - they are scripted exceptionally well, quite outstanding for any book I'd say. They definitely have that exciting, high-adreneline feel that you find in the best of film adaptations, and which is often lost a little in books.
If I were to offer one critique of this book, it would be that it's a little on the short side. I would have devoured much more of it - but thankfully it's the first of a trilogy and I was able to start on the next one (The Vengeful Malice) in short order!
April 11, 2011
This book was such a good read. Its emotional, mind blowing, leaves you always wanting to flip the page to see what happens next.
The main character is very realistic. You can really feel his emotions and you feel like you're there with him. This book never has a dull moment, it really puts you in the world and its hard to put the book down and come back to reality.
I would recommend this to all fans of the fantasy genre.
The main character is very realistic. You can really feel his emotions and you feel like you're there with him. This book never has a dull moment, it really puts you in the world and its hard to put the book down and come back to reality.
I would recommend this to all fans of the fantasy genre.
August 4, 2016
This is the best of the series but it seems the author was trying too hard to work everything he had planned into this story and it cause the story to be meh. At parts you would get lost in the descriptions and would lose interest in the story and characters. Unfortunately this writing style ruined this book for me.
November 12, 2020
I saw mixed reviews on this series but i gotta say i loved this first book.The usual fantasy tropes are not in play here.The overall concept and theme of the story feel very original.This isn't the usual boy meets girl,falls in love,loses her and gets her back tale.This is quite the opposite.From the opening pages you get the feeling that the main protagonist Lowin Fenly world is about to change and certainly not for the better.A boy of sixteen he is forced to grow up very quickly and adapt to the situation he suddenly finds himself thrust into.He makes a few wrong decisions but for the right reasons and it begins to shape the man he will become.As a reader you are taken to a world that feels utterly bleak.One in which the forces of good and evil are hard to clearly define and sometimes only separated by the thinnest of margins.After reading this first book i must continue this journey with Fenly.Due to heartbreaking revelations at the end of the first stanza im almost scared to see where the second book takes me but i simply have to see it through because im now fully vested in this tale.
July 26, 2020
This book started out really good. Sadly, as it goes on, the plot starts taking sudden and drastic turns. If there was any foreshadowing, these would be understandable. However, there isn't; rather, the MC learns something and off the book goes in a new direction.
My other problem with the book is that there's a lot of deus ex machina. Most of the time, the MC is unstoppable and everyone us impressed by him. The few times he cannot solve everything by himself, there is a sudden plot twist and everything is fixed.
This book had so much potential and came so close to being amazing.
My other problem with the book is that there's a lot of deus ex machina. Most of the time, the MC is unstoppable and everyone us impressed by him. The few times he cannot solve everything by himself, there is a sudden plot twist and everything is fixed.
This book had so much potential and came so close to being amazing.
September 28, 2023
DNF 9%
I got out of this one quickly as it was obviously bad. The grammar was just terrible – as if no one had given it a read-through before publishing. Aside from that, the dialogue had almost no sense of realism. Reading this book was torture to my frontal lobe.
I got out of this one quickly as it was obviously bad. The grammar was just terrible – as if no one had given it a read-through before publishing. Aside from that, the dialogue had almost no sense of realism. Reading this book was torture to my frontal lobe.
October 16, 2013
Lowin is an appealing hero and is appropriately renamed 'Noble'. He fullfills the 'chosen one' trope - faster, stronger, more able than any other, but remains humble and seeks teaching from those with more experience.
The magic in the world is intriguing and horrifying, and the world building solid. Everything is portrayed with shades of grey, and the storyline avoids any pure good/bad side. Lowen's morality is from his ideals, and not magically congruent with rest of the world. Each character has their own unique motivation.
At first some of the characters feel like standard tropes - the 'gruff trainer' particularly, but as the characters develop they move beyond the expected. Relationships and loyalties are swiftly formed and changed and I liked the unpredictability and reversals.
The book does need better editing, but by the time I was a third in I was oblivious to the grammatical errors.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series
The magic in the world is intriguing and horrifying, and the world building solid. Everything is portrayed with shades of grey, and the storyline avoids any pure good/bad side. Lowen's morality is from his ideals, and not magically congruent with rest of the world. Each character has their own unique motivation.
At first some of the characters feel like standard tropes - the 'gruff trainer' particularly, but as the characters develop they move beyond the expected. Relationships and loyalties are swiftly formed and changed and I liked the unpredictability and reversals.
The book does need better editing, but by the time I was a third in I was oblivious to the grammatical errors.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series
August 25, 2012
Hmm. Got this as the trilogy in one volume (The Hungering Sage Complete), not really aware that it has primarily a young adult target audience.
Some interesting ideas posed, but a distinct lack of depth throughout (wandering down to downright poor at times), with frequent skips in time that seem to be to convenience the author ("I've got bored of this bit, so I'll just wrap it up in a four month summary..."), not the reader.
Perhaps for younger readers it may seem OK - but not if you've been used to the character and plot detail from authors such as G.R.R.M.
I'll try to read the rest only because I've paid for it and already got them on my Kobo, but I have at several points thought I'd just delete it part way through - I find it can be that annoying at times (although I do still want our main man to "succeed" in the classic sense, so I guess it has something).
Some interesting ideas posed, but a distinct lack of depth throughout (wandering down to downright poor at times), with frequent skips in time that seem to be to convenience the author ("I've got bored of this bit, so I'll just wrap it up in a four month summary..."), not the reader.
Perhaps for younger readers it may seem OK - but not if you've been used to the character and plot detail from authors such as G.R.R.M.
I'll try to read the rest only because I've paid for it and already got them on my Kobo, but I have at several points thought I'd just delete it part way through - I find it can be that annoying at times (although I do still want our main man to "succeed" in the classic sense, so I guess it has something).
November 9, 2014
As a few people have commented. This is either a gritty or sad book depending on your preference. The good aspect to this is you can't predict what's coming, because the author is pretty fearless at doing terrible things to whomever. But the sheer slog of terrible things which keeps happening is tiring. I tried to push through to the second book, hoping -now he's got some good powers he can teach the world a lesson. It's a minor spoiler to say this doesn't happen, but even worse things do. In terms of my enjoyment of this book, i'd probably give it a 2, but it's probably worth 4 mechanically and for the story. So I'm splitting the difference with a 3. It's sheers horribleness makes it different and unpredictable, but the characters are a little flat and there simply isn't enough light and hope to add a meaningful emotional journey for the reader. Unless you're a masochist.
March 13, 2012
A decent fantasy book. I enjoyed it very much, mostly because it has some really unusual and original ideas, and some unexpected twists. The writing style is in first person (my favorite actually) and done well enough, so the reader can actually feel and think with main character, although in my opinion it could have been done with less or more to the point explanations of his reasons, fears and obsessions. The story itself is beautiful and engaging, even if little naive. The characters are interesting and seem to be alive, even if their actions sometimes seem unlikely.
The main drawback is the bad editorial job - I don't know who the editor was, but he has a lot to learn and improve. But in overall it is a good book and definitely worth your time reading.
The main drawback is the bad editorial job - I don't know who the editor was, but he has a lot to learn and improve. But in overall it is a good book and definitely worth your time reading.
November 9, 2014
This book went above and beyond everything I expected from it. It contains everything you could want from a good fantasy book (an interesting world, setting, use of magic, main character etc.) but also possesses an incredibly dark and intricate theme about what it means to be human. There are no boring moments, and the author is not afraid to add in crazy plot twists when you least expect them. Overall, I would recommend this book to any avid fantasy reader, and even if fantasy isn't your genre of choice I would suggest trying it out anyway.
September 28, 2015
I picked up The Hungering Saga trilogy as a freebie. I just finished the first of the three, The Noble Fool, and I loved it! Pfaff has built a unique fantasy world and with one of the freshest takes on magic I have read in a long time. His characters are expertly crafted, relatable, and likable. The story is fast-paced yet filled with intriguing exposition. I'm usually not a fan of large amounts of exposition, but Pfaff writes it in a way that kept me swiping to the next page constantly. If you're a fantasy fan, this is story you should read! Meanwhile, I'll be moving on to book two.
January 29, 2012
"The Noble Fool" is a really wonderful book - the first in a trilogy called "The Hungering Saga"
The main character, Lowin, is an ordinary man thrust into extraordinary circumstances and struggles to deal with them in the best way he possibly can. It's a little of a coming-of-age story, a self-discovery tale, and of course a love story. There is deceit, noble heroes and ferocious monsters - but the real question at the end is: who is really the monster?
The main character, Lowin, is an ordinary man thrust into extraordinary circumstances and struggles to deal with them in the best way he possibly can. It's a little of a coming-of-age story, a self-discovery tale, and of course a love story. There is deceit, noble heroes and ferocious monsters - but the real question at the end is: who is really the monster?
July 14, 2016
This was a totally different book than any other I've read before. Some odd and strange things happen...but it's pretty cool. I like that it's not like other fantasy books, of course it has similarities, but most fantasy books do. I think this is a rough 4 star (3.5 if half stars were allowed). I didn't really like the ending - it seemed rushed. I am going to continue the series, and hope that the second book is even better.
February 21, 2012
Despite some spotty editing, this book is quite good. I sometimes got impatient with the main character, but I always cared about him.
Pacing is EXCELLENT and the action sequences are well drawn and stirring.
There is a dark, doomed quality to the story. It could have been a movie directed by Kurosawa.
Pacing is EXCELLENT and the action sequences are well drawn and stirring.
There is a dark, doomed quality to the story. It could have been a movie directed by Kurosawa.
June 29, 2012
2 stars because it's a self published debut and that shit is hard to do. Negative a million stars for the endless exposition. Seriously, the entire book was paragraphs upon paragraphs of exposition. Also many typos. I might write a full review but I feel bad, I apparently hate fantasy debuts because I always give them 1 or 2 stars. Who knew I was so mean :(
March 14, 2013
Picked up this saga from B&N for free and ran out of books from the library. I am very happy i did so and did not pay attention to reviews...as I normally don't anyways. The first book "The Noble Fool" was very good as well as interesting. New, fresh ideas and very enjoyable I think. Looking forward to the next two.
March 31, 2014
This has everything I love and then some....this is an epic fantasy tale of love,loss and betrayal. In the never ending battle of good vs evil how far would you go to ensure victory if you truly believed your cause was just?
February 12, 2012
Review pending reading all three books.
Want to read
August 13, 2017Check comments for why I added this.
May 9, 2012
Very refreshing.
Read
July 25, 2012Eek ! This was only a sample,but judging from what I read, I won't be spending any $ on this trilogy...It was pretty trite.
July 27, 2012
I would not call this a 'must read' but it is a very enjoyable read. It held my interest easily and I liked that it was more original than a lot of the stuff I have been reading of late.
April 15, 2016
The main character is a schizophrenicly, self-absorbed, moron; if any of the characters could have mustered any sort of consistency for five sentences this story might have been bearable.
April 27, 2017
Strong start to the series, very unique concept of a book and overall enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews