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Scion
In a world where humanity never was, the lands touched by the Sun-God Aten are changing.
Aiur is a soldier, always has been. Raised in the noble caste, he has served his lord for decades and earned the vaunted rank of Consul. Over those years he has gathered friends, comrades and advisors; building a family about himself where he hatched with none.
Syla is an outcast, a lynchpin in the hidden culture of those who live outside of the strict caste system ordained by Aten and its faithful. Possessed of ravenous ambition and a decade of her ill-gotten gains, she now seeks to spin money into true political power.
Yet as their private worlds begin to collide, the schemes of grander forces descend upon their lives. Each have plans and fates in mind for Aiur & Syla; from the greatest of glories to the most ignoble of deaths.
Can these two cold-blooded reptiles navigate the storm that comes for them? Or will they fall, to be lost and forgotten in the sands of time?
This is the first book from Tales from Atal, you can find out more at
Aiur is a soldier, always has been. Raised in the noble caste, he has served his lord for decades and earned the vaunted rank of Consul. Over those years he has gathered friends, comrades and advisors; building a family about himself where he hatched with none.
Syla is an outcast, a lynchpin in the hidden culture of those who live outside of the strict caste system ordained by Aten and its faithful. Possessed of ravenous ambition and a decade of her ill-gotten gains, she now seeks to spin money into true political power.
Yet as their private worlds begin to collide, the schemes of grander forces descend upon their lives. Each have plans and fates in mind for Aiur & Syla; from the greatest of glories to the most ignoble of deaths.
Can these two cold-blooded reptiles navigate the storm that comes for them? Or will they fall, to be lost and forgotten in the sands of time?
This is the first book from Tales from Atal, you can find out more at
400 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 10, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 9, 2026
4 out of 5.
This was an interesting read. In fact, its kind of hard to describe, but I will do my best.
The best way to describe Scion is that its a political war epic set in a fantasy world inhabited by anthropomorphic lizard people-absolutely no humans at all as the synopsis promised-with a dash of cosmic horror and religious undertones.
Sounds bonkers, right? And in many ways it is, but in a good way.
To put the negatives out, the plot takes a long time to get going. Until the 100 page mark or so, we are thrust into this new world with little warning or explanation. We have to figure out for ourselves what is going on as we follow our two main leads, Aiur and Syla, through their paths and political views and ambition.
The first half of the story deals heavily with politics and stepping stones, all while moving at snail's pace. It took ages for me to get into the plot because of this. It doesn't help that the book is littered with grammar errors. The story thankfully stays consistent despite this, but the errors still took me out whenever I noticed them.
Sometime after the 100 page mark, though, everything kicked in, and I was hooked! The mystery unravels, the action intensifies, and the emotional value escalates! It was difficult to care for Aiur and his found family at first, but by the end, my heart was in my throat whenever something bad happened to them, and I was more curious about Syla's enigmatic character and backstory.
The bits of world-building we get, while still mostly in the back ground, became more interesting and clear, the action sequences were fun, strategic, and nicely paced (fair warning for the squeamish: lots of gore, severed limbs, and unpleasant descriptions), and the characters were compelling, My only issue with said characters is that some of them blended together (so many have blue scales, it got hard imagining who was who), with some completely disappearing from the plot-though not without some build-up to where their story-lines go.
Overall, despite a slow, complicated start, this was an intriguing and creative introduction to a new world that I hope to explore and understand more in future sequels! I'm also glad the author did something different by making everyone lizard people. It made everything so much more interesting, and I probably wouldn't have been as intrigued if they were regular humans.
This was an interesting read. In fact, its kind of hard to describe, but I will do my best.
The best way to describe Scion is that its a political war epic set in a fantasy world inhabited by anthropomorphic lizard people-absolutely no humans at all as the synopsis promised-with a dash of cosmic horror and religious undertones.
Sounds bonkers, right? And in many ways it is, but in a good way.
To put the negatives out, the plot takes a long time to get going. Until the 100 page mark or so, we are thrust into this new world with little warning or explanation. We have to figure out for ourselves what is going on as we follow our two main leads, Aiur and Syla, through their paths and political views and ambition.
The first half of the story deals heavily with politics and stepping stones, all while moving at snail's pace. It took ages for me to get into the plot because of this. It doesn't help that the book is littered with grammar errors. The story thankfully stays consistent despite this, but the errors still took me out whenever I noticed them.
Sometime after the 100 page mark, though, everything kicked in, and I was hooked! The mystery unravels, the action intensifies, and the emotional value escalates! It was difficult to care for Aiur and his found family at first, but by the end, my heart was in my throat whenever something bad happened to them, and I was more curious about Syla's enigmatic character and backstory.
The bits of world-building we get, while still mostly in the back ground, became more interesting and clear, the action sequences were fun, strategic, and nicely paced (fair warning for the squeamish: lots of gore, severed limbs, and unpleasant descriptions), and the characters were compelling, My only issue with said characters is that some of them blended together (so many have blue scales, it got hard imagining who was who), with some completely disappearing from the plot-though not without some build-up to where their story-lines go.
Overall, despite a slow, complicated start, this was an intriguing and creative introduction to a new world that I hope to explore and understand more in future sequels! I'm also glad the author did something different by making everyone lizard people. It made everything so much more interesting, and I probably wouldn't have been as intrigued if they were regular humans.
March 2, 2025
I had a lot of fun while reading, and finished the book pretty fast relative to when it was delivered. The aspect of political maneuvering is always fun to watch ,battles are intense, and I want to see how the plot progresses in later entries. Prose could be improved and there's a few typos that made it in, but it never really detracted from my interest. Thank for writing!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews