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The Anmorian Legends #1
Wrath of the Exiled
His world long since shattered following the invasion of his home planet, Rezaaran Valhara is abandoned by fate to slavery. However, his fortunes take an unexpected turn when he is offered a chance to join the Intergalactic Revolution of Independent Systems in the ongoing war against the Obsidian Dominion.
Initially consumed by anger and doubts, plagued by the memories of his parents' murder and a desire for vengeance, Rezaaran suppresses these demons in the pursuit of a purer purpose to restore peace as he becomes the last War-Mage of the fabled Vokarii.
On a quest spanning the galaxy Rezaaran begins to unravel the secrets of the four realms of Anmor and his destiny in an ancient battle.Yet his greatest challenge will be within. Will he find the strength to walk the path of a hero?
Initially consumed by anger and doubts, plagued by the memories of his parents' murder and a desire for vengeance, Rezaaran suppresses these demons in the pursuit of a purer purpose to restore peace as he becomes the last War-Mage of the fabled Vokarii.
On a quest spanning the galaxy Rezaaran begins to unravel the secrets of the four realms of Anmor and his destiny in an ancient battle.Yet his greatest challenge will be within. Will he find the strength to walk the path of a hero?
- GenresFantasy
490 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2014
2 people are currently reading
310 people want to read
About the author
Dhesan Neil Pillay
2 books9 followersMy name is Dhesan Neil Pillay from Durban, South Africa.
Writing has always been a passion for me, encouraged by my parents and several inspiring English teachers through my schooling years.
When I am not writing to an eclectic playlist while sipping on strong, dark roast coffee, I spend my days working as a junior doctor specializing in paediatrics.
Both medicine and writing are joint passions of mine and the road to this point has been amazing, but the journey is only beginning and I look ahead with great enthusiasm for where the road leads next.
Writing has always been a passion for me, encouraged by my parents and several inspiring English teachers through my schooling years.
When I am not writing to an eclectic playlist while sipping on strong, dark roast coffee, I spend my days working as a junior doctor specializing in paediatrics.
Both medicine and writing are joint passions of mine and the road to this point has been amazing, but the journey is only beginning and I look ahead with great enthusiasm for where the road leads next.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 30, 2020
Rebellion is rife in D.N. Pillay’s The Anmorian Legends: Wrath of the Exiled! After losing everything, Rezaaran Valhara has been thrust into slavery, but he soon discovers that his struggle for freedom is just beginning. Joining the resistance against an evil empire, he sets out on a quest to master his mysterious powers as the last War-Mage. I’m a huge sucker for rebellions against overwhelming empires, and Pillay’s story offered everything I could want! Smooth action, an interesting mystery, and great characters fill out this novel nicely! Can’t wait to see where Rezaaran’s journey takes him next!
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March 11, 2020I received this book for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Read an excerpt at my blog.
First things first, I must express my amazement with the scope of this novel’s world. So many planets. So many races. Such far-reaching consequences and epic struggles. Anyone who wants lots of big-picture issues in their speculative fiction would not be at all disappointed here. The combination of science fiction and fantasy is fascinating. I mean, space wizards are always cool, but this goes far beyond wizards in space. There are so many aspects to this story that come together for an action-packed ride through the universe.
While the big-picture elements really hit home, I had a tougher time connecting with the smaller issues. The lesser conflict felt a bit lost beneath the umbrella conflict. The main character’s backstory made his personal struggles clear, but beyond him, I felt there could have been more to differentiate the other characters. Character interactions also felt a bit jumbled. Specifically, the romance seemed to come out of nowhere. The love interests went through the common steps of dislike-at-first-sight, realizing they were wrong about one another, friendship, lust, love—but it all happened so fast. I was left feeling like there was no possible way they could have fallen in love because I missed half their interactions. The villains also all seemed to be extremely similar. Several archlords appeared throughout the story, and it felt like they all yelled and cackled in rather the same way.
The thing I struggled most with was the writing itself. There was a lot of head hopping, which was mostly okay once I realized it was happening. It did result in a more distant POV that contributed to my lack of connecting with some of the characters. There were also lots of very detailed descriptions. For example, at least two sentences were often used to describe things like a facial expression changing. I got bogged down in these changes and would lose track of the action.
There was a bit of a spiritual angle in here, which I found interesting. Again, the scope of this world is impressive. By the end, I found myself curious about the sequel.
Read an excerpt at my blog.
First things first, I must express my amazement with the scope of this novel’s world. So many planets. So many races. Such far-reaching consequences and epic struggles. Anyone who wants lots of big-picture issues in their speculative fiction would not be at all disappointed here. The combination of science fiction and fantasy is fascinating. I mean, space wizards are always cool, but this goes far beyond wizards in space. There are so many aspects to this story that come together for an action-packed ride through the universe.
While the big-picture elements really hit home, I had a tougher time connecting with the smaller issues. The lesser conflict felt a bit lost beneath the umbrella conflict. The main character’s backstory made his personal struggles clear, but beyond him, I felt there could have been more to differentiate the other characters. Character interactions also felt a bit jumbled. Specifically, the romance seemed to come out of nowhere. The love interests went through the common steps of dislike-at-first-sight, realizing they were wrong about one another, friendship, lust, love—but it all happened so fast. I was left feeling like there was no possible way they could have fallen in love because I missed half their interactions. The villains also all seemed to be extremely similar. Several archlords appeared throughout the story, and it felt like they all yelled and cackled in rather the same way.
The thing I struggled most with was the writing itself. There was a lot of head hopping, which was mostly okay once I realized it was happening. It did result in a more distant POV that contributed to my lack of connecting with some of the characters. There were also lots of very detailed descriptions. For example, at least two sentences were often used to describe things like a facial expression changing. I got bogged down in these changes and would lose track of the action.
There was a bit of a spiritual angle in here, which I found interesting. Again, the scope of this world is impressive. By the end, I found myself curious about the sequel.
September 30, 2015
Spectacularly over the top! Deliciously outrageous! Pillay serves up his villain as a nefarious paragon of ancient evil and his hero as a young man coming into his powers in this fantasy romp that happily pillages staples of the genre to deliver them gift-wrapped in a fresh package with a lovely soupcon of sci-fi thrown in for good measure.
Swords and sorcery meets spacecraft? Check. A villain that will bring out the worst of Lord Sauron in everyone? Check. Despotic Archlords pillaging entire planets, oppressing hapless populations and laughing manically in the face of justice? (Some of their evil-overlord rhetoric will have you in stitches) Check. And did I mention the talking sword inhabited by an ancient spirit / wise mentor? Check-check!
Now that's not to say that this fantasy debut novel does not come with few imperfections. The characterisation falls a bit flat. The female sidekick is really there just for a pretty face and to convey Our Hero from one confrontation to the next as he kicks various Archlords in various unmentionable places. During this string of encounters Rezaaran Valhara, our Young Apprentice, learns about his powers and absorbs something of their powers on the way to the final confrontation with what I sincerely hoped would be Mr Evil himself, but sadly, in this volume, is not. It's a chunky volume that I felt became repetitive in places, and the hero grows so quickly into his powers that there is little room for character development after the midway point in the novel, just increasingly more unbelievable encounters which Rezaaran sees off with aplomb. The editing is technically sound but a pro might have chopped 30-40K words off the length.
Nevertheless, if you consider yourself a dyed-in-the-wool fantasy fan (I am!), if you like your Sauron/insert character of unabashed evil served large and in charge, and if you enjoy quest-style fantasy, then this might just be your sip of martini, shaken not stirred. I will be watching this author and I hope you will too!
Swords and sorcery meets spacecraft? Check. A villain that will bring out the worst of Lord Sauron in everyone? Check. Despotic Archlords pillaging entire planets, oppressing hapless populations and laughing manically in the face of justice? (Some of their evil-overlord rhetoric will have you in stitches) Check. And did I mention the talking sword inhabited by an ancient spirit / wise mentor? Check-check!
Now that's not to say that this fantasy debut novel does not come with few imperfections. The characterisation falls a bit flat. The female sidekick is really there just for a pretty face and to convey Our Hero from one confrontation to the next as he kicks various Archlords in various unmentionable places. During this string of encounters Rezaaran Valhara, our Young Apprentice, learns about his powers and absorbs something of their powers on the way to the final confrontation with what I sincerely hoped would be Mr Evil himself, but sadly, in this volume, is not. It's a chunky volume that I felt became repetitive in places, and the hero grows so quickly into his powers that there is little room for character development after the midway point in the novel, just increasingly more unbelievable encounters which Rezaaran sees off with aplomb. The editing is technically sound but a pro might have chopped 30-40K words off the length.
Nevertheless, if you consider yourself a dyed-in-the-wool fantasy fan (I am!), if you like your Sauron/insert character of unabashed evil served large and in charge, and if you enjoy quest-style fantasy, then this might just be your sip of martini, shaken not stirred. I will be watching this author and I hope you will too!
October 14, 2016
Full review here :The Anmorian Legends by D.N. Pillay - http://wp.me/p6sITu-4Hr
The world building is one of a kind. I have never seen anything like this before. A great blend of fantasy and science-fiction. Pillar delivers his descriptions very carefully. It has sword combats and spaceships altogether.
The main strength of this novel is unexpectedly the villain. I won’t spoil anything here but the evil side of him reminds me of Sauron from Lord of The Rings. And I love it. Deceitful and completely wicked.
Even if the novel has an amazing universe, it’s weakness resides in his plot and the main characters. It’s a thick volume and sometimes I felt it was quite redundant. As if some parts were not relevant to the story at all. The main character acquires his powers quite fast so I didn’t really get to enjoy the character development as much. Finally, the sad part is that his side chick doesn’t do much. I wanted more kick-ass-ing scenes from her part but that didn’t happen. I wished to see more active female characters in this novel.
Trang-Book blogger and Book reviewer
http://bookidote.wordpress.com
The world building is one of a kind. I have never seen anything like this before. A great blend of fantasy and science-fiction. Pillar delivers his descriptions very carefully. It has sword combats and spaceships altogether.
The main strength of this novel is unexpectedly the villain. I won’t spoil anything here but the evil side of him reminds me of Sauron from Lord of The Rings. And I love it. Deceitful and completely wicked.
Even if the novel has an amazing universe, it’s weakness resides in his plot and the main characters. It’s a thick volume and sometimes I felt it was quite redundant. As if some parts were not relevant to the story at all. The main character acquires his powers quite fast so I didn’t really get to enjoy the character development as much. Finally, the sad part is that his side chick doesn’t do much. I wanted more kick-ass-ing scenes from her part but that didn’t happen. I wished to see more active female characters in this novel.
Trang-Book blogger and Book reviewer
http://bookidote.wordpress.com
October 13, 2019
This is book 1 in a story that spans across the galaxies and follows a young mage who starts the story as a slave but is soon told it is his destiny to become the strongest war mage, and the only one who would be capable of destroying the evil that has run amok for the last few centuries.
I received this book directly from the author, but all opinions are my own.
I thought the magic, the different worlds, the history, and the war were all thought out very well. I found the battles to be fascinating.
Sometimes the pacing of the story felt a little slow, especially towards the beginning of the book. Also, the story telling wasn’t always consistent. You spend most of the book from Rezaraan’s (the main character’s) perspective, but later the author throws in some other viewpoints. The epilogue is in first person but the whole of the story was in third person.
The characters and romance felt a little flat. At first I did not care for Rezaraan, but he did grow on me. He was just too perfect, too kind, too smart, too strong from the start; but it did make me mad when the inevitable fall from glory occurred. Mostly I was mad because it was such a contradiction of his character prior to that point. The transition was not smooth and therefor not as believable.
Overall though, I was very glad to experience this story. The creative worlds, aliens, and magic system make this good versus evil story well worth picking up.
I received this book directly from the author, but all opinions are my own.
I thought the magic, the different worlds, the history, and the war were all thought out very well. I found the battles to be fascinating.
Sometimes the pacing of the story felt a little slow, especially towards the beginning of the book. Also, the story telling wasn’t always consistent. You spend most of the book from Rezaraan’s (the main character’s) perspective, but later the author throws in some other viewpoints. The epilogue is in first person but the whole of the story was in third person.
The characters and romance felt a little flat. At first I did not care for Rezaraan, but he did grow on me. He was just too perfect, too kind, too smart, too strong from the start; but it did make me mad when the inevitable fall from glory occurred. Mostly I was mad because it was such a contradiction of his character prior to that point. The transition was not smooth and therefor not as believable.
Overall though, I was very glad to experience this story. The creative worlds, aliens, and magic system make this good versus evil story well worth picking up.
March 31, 2020
Awesome! I think this book is a perfect example of Science Fantasy. The blend is balanced, the wordbuilding a force to be reckoned with and our hero strong-willed and complex (just the way I like it!)
April 27, 2020
This is a new author to me, and he has done a really wonderful job with his world and character building. It’s a decent length book and needs to be so the author is able to successfully world build as the novel progresses. I’m impressed with this great story.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
April 5, 2019
I liked this story by Dhesan Neil Pillay. The world building is one of a kind. For once, I was more rooting for the villain. I was immersed in the world that the author had created, but was left feeling empty with the character development. It feel short for me. Overall, I still enjoyed the story, but I'm hoping the future works are smoother.
October 11, 2017
This book is an ambitious one and it is easily apparent as you read the story to see the author’s efforts in crafting it. The storyline does promise a lot of bombastic stuff and the author lays down some pretty cool concepts however the characterization mars the story as its seems very archetypal.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews