What do you think?
Rate this book
Azetha #0.5
The Least of Elves
Toran looked upon the other Elves in Xanti with wonder. They all had at least one Gift, they all had a trade, and they all knew their path in life. Why did he have to be so different? Toran's only claim to fame had been the attention the queen had given him on his Naming Day. She had called him a harbinger … but of what? And now that he was entrusted with a delivery to the Human village of Kipra, he hoped great things finally lay in store - but feared his history of mistakes might spell disaster.
- GenresFantasy
116 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2014
47 people are currently reading
361 people want to read
About the author
Robin Glassey
14 books43 followersRobin Glassey was born in Ontario, Canada and now resides in Utah with her husband and children. She fell in love with science fiction watching Doctor Who as a child and later discovered her father's science fiction paperbacks in their garage.
Robin graduated from BYU with a major in Psychology and a minor in Russian. But learning seems to be an addiction, and she returned to college "for the fun of it," taking classes in photography and writing.
Now Robin uses her experiences as an adoptive/foster parent as well as observations of life in general in her writing. Robin began writing her first fantasy series in 2000 and is excited to have The Azetha Series completed. She describes it as a cross between The Lord of the Rings and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time for teens.
Robin graduated from BYU with a major in Psychology and a minor in Russian. But learning seems to be an addiction, and she returned to college "for the fun of it," taking classes in photography and writing.
Now Robin uses her experiences as an adoptive/foster parent as well as observations of life in general in her writing. Robin began writing her first fantasy series in 2000 and is excited to have The Azetha Series completed. She describes it as a cross between The Lord of the Rings and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time for teens.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 16, 2021
So far it has a great beginning
This was a pretty interesting book to read. I thought it was well written, paced and described. It’s very tragic though. Especially for a first book. The action scenes are pretty cool and the world the characters live in is interesting. I’m definitely going to read the rest of the series and if you like this book, you should too.
This was a pretty interesting book to read. I thought it was well written, paced and described. It’s very tragic though. Especially for a first book. The action scenes are pretty cool and the world the characters live in is interesting. I’m definitely going to read the rest of the series and if you like this book, you should too.
October 10, 2014
I got in to the book after about 5 pages. An from there I couldn't wait to read more. Now that I finished the book I will have a hard time waiting for for Mrs. Glassey next book. Thank you for writing The least of elves.
December 13, 2017
I got an ARC copy from the author to read & review via Instafreebie. Some spoilers ahead in my review!
Now, I wasn't fully sure about this book. I didn't really understand the book description on goodreads but I love reading elf epic stories so I entered this novella without prior notions.
Toran is a youthful blond elf of a well positioned family that lives peacefully in the Elf enclave of Xanti. He's handsome, friendly, polite and a rather joyful person. The problem is that well... he's clumsy, struggled to learn human languages and his magic is pitiful. His father has tried to get him to learn a trade for ages and he gets kicked out after countless unintentional blunders. Meanwhile his older brother Corsyn has every talent that he lacks and merely stares at his failures as a mere hindrance to his promising political career.
One day, Toran is entrusted with a job that seems easy enough: deliver a pair of boots to a man that lives in a human village that is a few days away from his home. He's anxious about interacting with humans for the first time but he doesn't want to disappoint the only person that has kept him on a reliable payroll after proving that he isn't too shabby being the village courier guy.
Meanwhile a second story develops. Sosha was born unfortunate in many ways. She was born half human and half wind elemental which seems to be a sort of humanoid magician species. She has been thrown into a conflicting prophecy sort of Harry Potter style where the bad guy discovers a prophecy of an individual of certain traits that will someday be born to defeat him and in his attempts to kill this person, the bad guy ultimately makes the prophecy come true. The villain in this story is an ancient Elf turned evil called Moran that has lived in a hidden ice castle waiting for everyone to forget his existence to conquer the world. He sends a group of undead humanoid minions to kill Sosha and after locking the magic of her elemental mother Kissa with a strange collar, the pureblood human father with Sosha's uncontrolled use of wind magic defeats the goons and hide in a remote human village under a new identity. The mother Kissa was murdered that night and Sosha's face was maimed with claw scratches by terrifying wolf like beasts leaving her blind from a young age. I find this part of Sosha to be super interesting because it's unusual to have a fantasy heroine and protagonist with a major handicap that neither makes her a lesser person (she has faeries that always aid her) and that despite the existence of magic, she is never cured.
When Sosha's father dies from illness, the village gives her a cruel moratorium: marry a man within 1 week or the village by law will take her land deed away and sell her father's mill to the richest man in town, a man that she detests. Caught in a bind where she knows all too well that no decent man would marry her due to her disfigured face and haughty personality, a strange Elf shows up the door one day with a package and in broken human dialect he wants to marry her! Huh?
Well, not exactly. Toran as the village idiot thinks he said that he has a delivery to make when everyone misinterpreted his poor language skills. He seems so confident in his equivocal proposal that two friendly neighbors have a close talk with both parties. Toran continues to claim that Sosha's father sent him to marry her and they tell Sosha that while he is indeed a strange guy, she can't disparage this unique opportunity to marry a decent guy that seems to genuinely like her as a person. They get married and then two faeries give the great news to Toran. The guy speaks faerish (?) very well and expectedly freaks out.
Fast forward a few months later, Corsyn is off to do an important delivery mumbling insults to himself. Feeling worried about Toran's absence, he visits him and discovers his idiot brother not only married a human miller's daughter, but he seems absurdly happy in his new life in the human village and they are expecting a baby. Now while I loved the entire book, I simply loved Corsyn's scene. He seems like a really awesome guy albeit his appearance is very brief.
The bad guys spot him and after a one sided fight with terrifying flying beasts that wound him and several undead zombies that trap him with powerful magic, he discovers they are going to torture him relentlessly in Moran's castle to extract all of the knowledge he has about the still unborn half-elf of the prophecy. He realizes all hope for him is lost and they will certainly drive him to the verge of insanity but he swore that he will try to protect his foolish brother at all costs.
We don't know what becomes of the unfortunate Corsyn (I hope he reappears in the subsequent series), but the faeries have discovered the undead beasts have located the village and with Sosha in premature labor, the newlyweds will have to make a heart wrenching decision to save their child at all costs.
Beautifully paced and with sufficient exposure that grants us a clear picture of the characters, this book was a thrill to read and I'll definitely read the series sometime.
Now, I wasn't fully sure about this book. I didn't really understand the book description on goodreads but I love reading elf epic stories so I entered this novella without prior notions.
Toran is a youthful blond elf of a well positioned family that lives peacefully in the Elf enclave of Xanti. He's handsome, friendly, polite and a rather joyful person. The problem is that well... he's clumsy, struggled to learn human languages and his magic is pitiful. His father has tried to get him to learn a trade for ages and he gets kicked out after countless unintentional blunders. Meanwhile his older brother Corsyn has every talent that he lacks and merely stares at his failures as a mere hindrance to his promising political career.
One day, Toran is entrusted with a job that seems easy enough: deliver a pair of boots to a man that lives in a human village that is a few days away from his home. He's anxious about interacting with humans for the first time but he doesn't want to disappoint the only person that has kept him on a reliable payroll after proving that he isn't too shabby being the village courier guy.
Meanwhile a second story develops. Sosha was born unfortunate in many ways. She was born half human and half wind elemental which seems to be a sort of humanoid magician species. She has been thrown into a conflicting prophecy sort of Harry Potter style where the bad guy discovers a prophecy of an individual of certain traits that will someday be born to defeat him and in his attempts to kill this person, the bad guy ultimately makes the prophecy come true. The villain in this story is an ancient Elf turned evil called Moran that has lived in a hidden ice castle waiting for everyone to forget his existence to conquer the world. He sends a group of undead humanoid minions to kill Sosha and after locking the magic of her elemental mother Kissa with a strange collar, the pureblood human father with Sosha's uncontrolled use of wind magic defeats the goons and hide in a remote human village under a new identity. The mother Kissa was murdered that night and Sosha's face was maimed with claw scratches by terrifying wolf like beasts leaving her blind from a young age. I find this part of Sosha to be super interesting because it's unusual to have a fantasy heroine and protagonist with a major handicap that neither makes her a lesser person (she has faeries that always aid her) and that despite the existence of magic, she is never cured.
When Sosha's father dies from illness, the village gives her a cruel moratorium: marry a man within 1 week or the village by law will take her land deed away and sell her father's mill to the richest man in town, a man that she detests. Caught in a bind where she knows all too well that no decent man would marry her due to her disfigured face and haughty personality, a strange Elf shows up the door one day with a package and in broken human dialect he wants to marry her! Huh?
Well, not exactly. Toran as the village idiot thinks he said that he has a delivery to make when everyone misinterpreted his poor language skills. He seems so confident in his equivocal proposal that two friendly neighbors have a close talk with both parties. Toran continues to claim that Sosha's father sent him to marry her and they tell Sosha that while he is indeed a strange guy, she can't disparage this unique opportunity to marry a decent guy that seems to genuinely like her as a person. They get married and then two faeries give the great news to Toran. The guy speaks faerish (?) very well and expectedly freaks out.
Fast forward a few months later, Corsyn is off to do an important delivery mumbling insults to himself. Feeling worried about Toran's absence, he visits him and discovers his idiot brother not only married a human miller's daughter, but he seems absurdly happy in his new life in the human village and they are expecting a baby. Now while I loved the entire book, I simply loved Corsyn's scene. He seems like a really awesome guy albeit his appearance is very brief.
The bad guys spot him and after a one sided fight with terrifying flying beasts that wound him and several undead zombies that trap him with powerful magic, he discovers they are going to torture him relentlessly in Moran's castle to extract all of the knowledge he has about the still unborn half-elf of the prophecy. He realizes all hope for him is lost and they will certainly drive him to the verge of insanity but he swore that he will try to protect his foolish brother at all costs.
We don't know what becomes of the unfortunate Corsyn (I hope he reappears in the subsequent series), but the faeries have discovered the undead beasts have located the village and with Sosha in premature labor, the newlyweds will have to make a heart wrenching decision to save their child at all costs.
Beautifully paced and with sufficient exposure that grants us a clear picture of the characters, this book was a thrill to read and I'll definitely read the series sometime.
July 30, 2017
Awesome
The storyline keeps you enthralled and waiting to continue to read more. The intrigue and danger keeps the saga going.
The storyline keeps you enthralled and waiting to continue to read more. The intrigue and danger keeps the saga going.
January 25, 2018
I loved it
I increasing about all magical things. I like happy endings so I was sorry about how this book ended in a cliff hanger. Must read the next.
I increasing about all magical things. I like happy endings so I was sorry about how this book ended in a cliff hanger. Must read the next.
September 8, 2019
I enjoyed this book. I immediately wanted to go to the next installment. No spoilers In my reviews. I keep it simple. It's a good read!
May 27, 2021
Always running.
The least of the elves brought the greatest gift to the Fathara world. Never accepted by his kind because he had no great gift, Toran became a delivery boy. One delivery brought him to his path, the life he was destined to live. Although a short story it is a good origin tale to lead us to Tika and her adventures.
The least of the elves brought the greatest gift to the Fathara world. Never accepted by his kind because he had no great gift, Toran became a delivery boy. One delivery brought him to his path, the life he was destined to live. Although a short story it is a good origin tale to lead us to Tika and her adventures.
December 7, 2022
Good read
I liked how titan was the screw up but became the hero. I would recommend this to my daughter and her friends
I liked how titan was the screw up but became the hero. I would recommend this to my daughter and her friends
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews