Hand of Fire

The Master of the Tane #1

by Thomas Rath

Shunned from birth, Thane is eventually cast out because of his unique endowment of all five Tane. Saved by Jack, a HuMan, thought by Thanes people to be simple myths, Thane is hurled into a foreign world that he must make his own if he hopes to survive. When his only friends, Dor and Tam, try to find and help him, they are caught and tortured by a massive gathering of trolls that could bring about the annihilation of all races. Now, in a desperate search to find and save his friends, Thane must come to grips with his powers and himself before all is lost to the gathering storm of evil. An epic tale of good versus evil, Hand of Fire is a written tapestry of emotion that will draw in readers of all genres and not let them go until the last word is devoured.

Genres: Fantasy

624 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 26, 2001

Reviews

[Kardinalratz · Rating 3 out of 5]

One like a million.

The same YA Fantasy book you get all the time. Every fantasy creature ever invented makes a appearance in this book:
Dragons, orcs, elves, Trolls, (goblins are mentioned), dwarves, worgs etc.

The Maincharacter is a elf (they are called differently in this book but from the description it is clear, so i already forgot how they are called there).

He is absolute nobel, always finds fault in himself and is insecure exactly like the other 100.000 maincharacters in YA fantasy books.

He does not use his amazing abilitys because he hates them or feels they make him different so he tries to hide them but of course if he needs them they come bursting out of him ...

I REALLY do not know why the Authors always feel like the mainperson can not use his abilties it gets really freaking boring that they never try to master their abilities.

This book is better than some of the other YA Fantasy books and badder than some so all in all its just average in almost every aspect.

To compare this book with masterpieces like "Lord of the Rings" and "Wheel of Time" is a joke.

[Parham Doustdar · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot of cliché in this book: races have their usual attributes, the main character has a power he doesn't want to use but shows up just at the right moment and burns everything into cinders, evil characters are evil just cause, and the writing style isn't really good (there are typos and lots of long sentences).

However, the story does pick up in the end. It made me forget its shortcomings, and even though the ending too was much less than I had expected, the author has pulled off something that was not as common in 2001: multiple points of view.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every word of this book. Despite the fact that sometimes I would have preferred shorter sentence structures, or the fact that the main character can be a bit naive at times.
The writing is excellent, the plot is well-structured. Strongly recommended for those who indulge in coming of age stories.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on the standard races of fantasy. I felt it took a long time getting anywhere but towards the end it picked up steam. Will be interesting to read the rest.