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Azetha #1
Secrets of Fathara
While sixteen-year-old Princess Tika has all the trappings of a princess, the misfit teen who can see and talk to faeries is trapped by the stuffy life of a royal and her father’s expectations of perfection.
What would His Majesty say if she told him she can see and talk to Death?
Tika fears the worst thing looming on her horizon is a loveless marriage arranged by her father and vindictive aunt, but when tragedy strikes the castle, the first of many secrets are revealed and marriage becomes the least of Tika’s worries.
As a result, traitors insidiously infiltrate the castle, the royal guard, even Tika’s own family and she is stripped of the only home and family she’s ever known, forcing her to go on the run.
And while the pseudo princess learns more about her true heritage and unique gifts this heritage bestows on her, she’s hunted by an evil sorcerer’s assassins and his living and undead creatures of forbidden dark magic.
Now the life of stuffy gowns and boring balls Tika so desperately wanted to escape, she desperately wishes she could have back.
Epic YA fantasy author Robin Glassey transports readers to Fathara where Death walks the land with a happy grin, having a conversation with the Intelligences is a sign of madness, and where an encounter with a Sha’andari is hazardous to your health.
What would His Majesty say if she told him she can see and talk to Death?
Tika fears the worst thing looming on her horizon is a loveless marriage arranged by her father and vindictive aunt, but when tragedy strikes the castle, the first of many secrets are revealed and marriage becomes the least of Tika’s worries.
As a result, traitors insidiously infiltrate the castle, the royal guard, even Tika’s own family and she is stripped of the only home and family she’s ever known, forcing her to go on the run.
And while the pseudo princess learns more about her true heritage and unique gifts this heritage bestows on her, she’s hunted by an evil sorcerer’s assassins and his living and undead creatures of forbidden dark magic.
Now the life of stuffy gowns and boring balls Tika so desperately wanted to escape, she desperately wishes she could have back.
Epic YA fantasy author Robin Glassey transports readers to Fathara where Death walks the land with a happy grin, having a conversation with the Intelligences is a sign of madness, and where an encounter with a Sha’andari is hazardous to your health.
315 pages, Paperback
First published September 26, 2014
3 people are currently reading
726 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.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 15, 2017
about 3.75 stars
This had a lot of ideas in it that I really liked; the creativity is great. There’s a lot of “telling” rather than showing, but it works for a YA book. Otherwise, it would be too detailed to hold young readers’ attention. This is actually a great book for that neglected group that’s between MG and YA. There are some editing issues. (Since I know Robin, this is probably a little biased.)
This had a lot of ideas in it that I really liked; the creativity is great. There’s a lot of “telling” rather than showing, but it works for a YA book. Otherwise, it would be too detailed to hold young readers’ attention. This is actually a great book for that neglected group that’s between MG and YA. There are some editing issues. (Since I know Robin, this is probably a little biased.)
April 19, 2018
Originally published on Just A Girl High ON Books.
"I RECEIVED A FREE DIGITAL COPY OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW."
The best thing about this book was its mystery. The worst thing, sadly, is there is a lot of POV change throughout its course. And I mean, A LOT.
Let me give you an example of it. I read through the first seven chapters, and I had already read like, around eight different point of views. Now, for some readers, this may be a normal thing, but I found it highly unappreciative. I mean, when I read a book, I want to get to know the characters the way my protagonist knows them. I want to like the protagonists or at least, the people important to her (be it in a good way or a bad way). Or maybe I just want to like someone. After reading so many different POVs, I just got too lost as to who do I want to relate to. I didn't get the feeling like they were talking to me. It was as if there were so many people who were simply narrating me a story all at once that I got nothing but confused.
Now I talked to the author of the book about this, and this is what her reply was, "The reason why there are varying point of views is because I'm a fan of Robert Jordan who writes with many points of view. As I considered the different characters and the scenes I was writing, I chose the character whose point of view I thought could deliver not only the setting in a particular way, but deliver information about that the main character didn't have access to but which the reader needed to know. I think of this series as a cross between Lord of the Rings and Robert Jordan because you have the fantasy elements of elves and magical creatures with the complexity of multiple characters. Only Jordan does it on a much grander scale. *And then there was a smiling emoji*"
Now when someone reads it that way, the idea seems up to the mark. But the thing that I found was (considering this is my personal review and I have to give in to honesty) that it was a theoretical idea that shouldn't be implemented unless sure. I haven't read Robert Jordan so I cannot comment on that, but I have read Robin Glassey, and honestly, I did not like it in her. I couldn't link to the characters as much as I wanted to, so that sucked...yeah...
Other than that, I found the book a sort of a prologue to something grander. Here are my reasons for the same:
1. Tika finds a secret about herself that her mother had hidden from TIka's father as well. - Check. Now I'm wondering if the king never questioned as to where did she get the baby from. And why. I mean, surely he would know if his wife isn't pregnant, right?)
2. She is attacked, or rather poisoned and so the king decides to send her to the land of her people where she will be safe. - Check
3. Other than the various points of view in the first few chapters, this book is solely about her journey to Xanti and what dangers happen to them on her way. The obstacles they meet and all that.
And just that. Nothing more, nothing less. I guess the different points of view made up for the amount of words that made it to so many pages, but there wasn't much happening. Every character was busy narrating his or her own story, and no on bothered to think what me, as a reader was thinking. So much of new information was overwhelming. I guess there were ways this could be made different, but then.. I'm not sure. It was her choice, after all.
Then there were some serious character issues I went through. Everyone was busy bossing around in their way, starting from that maid-servant, Wionna to well, everyone basically.
Other than that, the names of Sha'andari confused me a little due to their similarity, but then I guess Glassey had a special reason for doing that so I don't think I mind that. Now I'm wondering if the word Sha'andari means something. [Any suggestions?]
And finally, I don't think I have anything else or anything specific to say. These two (too many POVs and the fact that it looked more of a prologue) were the only thing that bothered me, so yeah...
Pretty much it.
"I RECEIVED A FREE DIGITAL COPY OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW."
The best thing about this book was its mystery. The worst thing, sadly, is there is a lot of POV change throughout its course. And I mean, A LOT.
Let me give you an example of it. I read through the first seven chapters, and I had already read like, around eight different point of views. Now, for some readers, this may be a normal thing, but I found it highly unappreciative. I mean, when I read a book, I want to get to know the characters the way my protagonist knows them. I want to like the protagonists or at least, the people important to her (be it in a good way or a bad way). Or maybe I just want to like someone. After reading so many different POVs, I just got too lost as to who do I want to relate to. I didn't get the feeling like they were talking to me. It was as if there were so many people who were simply narrating me a story all at once that I got nothing but confused.
Now I talked to the author of the book about this, and this is what her reply was, "The reason why there are varying point of views is because I'm a fan of Robert Jordan who writes with many points of view. As I considered the different characters and the scenes I was writing, I chose the character whose point of view I thought could deliver not only the setting in a particular way, but deliver information about that the main character didn't have access to but which the reader needed to know. I think of this series as a cross between Lord of the Rings and Robert Jordan because you have the fantasy elements of elves and magical creatures with the complexity of multiple characters. Only Jordan does it on a much grander scale. *And then there was a smiling emoji*"
Now when someone reads it that way, the idea seems up to the mark. But the thing that I found was (considering this is my personal review and I have to give in to honesty) that it was a theoretical idea that shouldn't be implemented unless sure. I haven't read Robert Jordan so I cannot comment on that, but I have read Robin Glassey, and honestly, I did not like it in her. I couldn't link to the characters as much as I wanted to, so that sucked...yeah...
Other than that, I found the book a sort of a prologue to something grander. Here are my reasons for the same:
1. Tika finds a secret about herself that her mother had hidden from TIka's father as well. - Check. Now I'm wondering if the king never questioned as to where did she get the baby from. And why. I mean, surely he would know if his wife isn't pregnant, right?)
2. She is attacked, or rather poisoned and so the king decides to send her to the land of her people where she will be safe. - Check
3. Other than the various points of view in the first few chapters, this book is solely about her journey to Xanti and what dangers happen to them on her way. The obstacles they meet and all that.
And just that. Nothing more, nothing less. I guess the different points of view made up for the amount of words that made it to so many pages, but there wasn't much happening. Every character was busy narrating his or her own story, and no on bothered to think what me, as a reader was thinking. So much of new information was overwhelming. I guess there were ways this could be made different, but then.. I'm not sure. It was her choice, after all.
Then there were some serious character issues I went through. Everyone was busy bossing around in their way, starting from that maid-servant, Wionna to well, everyone basically.
Other than that, the names of Sha'andari confused me a little due to their similarity, but then I guess Glassey had a special reason for doing that so I don't think I mind that. Now I'm wondering if the word Sha'andari means something. [Any suggestions?]
And finally, I don't think I have anything else or anything specific to say. These two (too many POVs and the fact that it looked more of a prologue) were the only thing that bothered me, so yeah...
Pretty much it.
December 14, 2014
My daughter loved the book and said that it had a great storyline and was fun to read. Her friends are also reading it and said the same.
August 26, 2017
Ok book. Not my favourite but not bad either. Some points too slow and too many characters were telling the story.
March 30, 2018
I read the prequel to this series (The Least of Elves) back in December and usually when I like a particular book, I don't wait very long to read the sequels.
Tika's somewhat unusual life as the princess of Rhodea falls into disarray just a few days after her mother's unexpected death. To add salt to the wound, Tika is given a letter from her mother as her 16th birthday gift. And if things were not sufficiently unconventional to the scraggly princess that would prefer to ride her wild (but as she claims to be tame) sand tiger instead of courting handsome princess in parties, the letter devastates her.
Isleen isn't my mother and my true parents died when I was born? WTF??!!
Thus begins a story of how Tika begins to come to grips with her Elven heritage along with her nascent curative and wind magic. After an attempt to murder her foils thanks to divine intervention, her adoptive father King Maric sends her off with a group of his most devout guards to Xanti, an Elf city where her grandparents live and where they hope she will be safe.
Only that if you've read The Least of Elves, you'd know that Tika has a fearsome immortal mad sorcerer Elf as her enemy that will stop at nothing to capture her dead or even worse... alive.
We finally get a glimpse to another softer (albeit still twisted) side of Mortan the Unbound Elf who wishes to save the life of Daiinu, a beautiful female elf that is afflicted with a seemingly incurable poison. His attempt to reverse the curse have been fruitless, but maybe Tika is the answer...
The story then shifts to several minor characters, some of which seem like they will carry an interesting role in the story. Spider is in reality a young nobleman that was forced to live off the streets under a new identity when he discovers something horrible about his stepfather. Little does he know that the wagon chooses to hide as it leaves Taverra is part of the company that is taking Tika to Xanti... Rude and not even remotely picky about the food they feed him, I find the way the accompanying ambassador elves are "keeping an eye on him" during the trip to be amusing. Seems like he's pretty much arrested and will accompany captain Hawley. I think he should be glad for the offer. He's probably going to be safe with the finest guards of Rhodea.
Another recurring character is a minor prince named Dhaved of an enemy nation called Soren. Unlike his war hungry father and older brothers, Dhaved is studious, kind and madly in love with Tika. Too bad she's too busy fawning over her elf tutor Baldaar to be paying any attention to him. Friend-zoned, ouch!
In the prequel novel, we only get to briefly meet Corsyn, Tika's witty and somewhat condescending elf uncle that always held a grudge for his clumsy younger brother Toran. After 16 years of incessant torture in Mortan's castle, Corsyn has been left as a lunatic in shambles that is only being forcibly kept alive for the occasional questioning by Mortan. It's obvious he will continue to hold some sort of role in this story although I have a hunch it will be grim.
All in all, the book is a quick read and while not a literary masterpiece and it holds far too many POV's of teritary characters to be a fully polished novel, the story is very fun and I'm excited to read the remaining books. If you love stories with feisty hybrid elves and a mad elf sorceror that has *literally* cheated death, you'll probably like this story.
Tika's somewhat unusual life as the princess of Rhodea falls into disarray just a few days after her mother's unexpected death. To add salt to the wound, Tika is given a letter from her mother as her 16th birthday gift. And if things were not sufficiently unconventional to the scraggly princess that would prefer to ride her wild (but as she claims to be tame) sand tiger instead of courting handsome princess in parties, the letter devastates her.
Isleen isn't my mother and my true parents died when I was born? WTF??!!
Thus begins a story of how Tika begins to come to grips with her Elven heritage along with her nascent curative and wind magic. After an attempt to murder her foils thanks to divine intervention, her adoptive father King Maric sends her off with a group of his most devout guards to Xanti, an Elf city where her grandparents live and where they hope she will be safe.
Only that if you've read The Least of Elves, you'd know that Tika has a fearsome immortal mad sorcerer Elf as her enemy that will stop at nothing to capture her dead or even worse... alive.
We finally get a glimpse to another softer (albeit still twisted) side of Mortan the Unbound Elf who wishes to save the life of Daiinu, a beautiful female elf that is afflicted with a seemingly incurable poison. His attempt to reverse the curse have been fruitless, but maybe Tika is the answer...
The story then shifts to several minor characters, some of which seem like they will carry an interesting role in the story. Spider is in reality a young nobleman that was forced to live off the streets under a new identity when he discovers something horrible about his stepfather. Little does he know that the wagon chooses to hide as it leaves Taverra is part of the company that is taking Tika to Xanti... Rude and not even remotely picky about the food they feed him, I find the way the accompanying ambassador elves are "keeping an eye on him" during the trip to be amusing. Seems like he's pretty much arrested and will accompany captain Hawley. I think he should be glad for the offer. He's probably going to be safe with the finest guards of Rhodea.
Another recurring character is a minor prince named Dhaved of an enemy nation called Soren. Unlike his war hungry father and older brothers, Dhaved is studious, kind and madly in love with Tika. Too bad she's too busy fawning over her elf tutor Baldaar to be paying any attention to him. Friend-zoned, ouch!
In the prequel novel, we only get to briefly meet Corsyn, Tika's witty and somewhat condescending elf uncle that always held a grudge for his clumsy younger brother Toran. After 16 years of incessant torture in Mortan's castle, Corsyn has been left as a lunatic in shambles that is only being forcibly kept alive for the occasional questioning by Mortan. It's obvious he will continue to hold some sort of role in this story although I have a hunch it will be grim.
All in all, the book is a quick read and while not a literary masterpiece and it holds far too many POV's of teritary characters to be a fully polished novel, the story is very fun and I'm excited to read the remaining books. If you love stories with feisty hybrid elves and a mad elf sorceror that has *literally* cheated death, you'll probably like this story.
October 22, 2020
What I liked: the story was clear and well-plotted, I always felt like I knew what I was going on, and I enjoyed the themes the book was exploring. All of the "good guys" were enjoyable characters, and I was rooting for them. The world felt real and well imagined, like the countries would really be like that, and people would really react that way to the events in history, and the book held my attention and kept my disbelief suspended except when it exhausted me (explained below). I enjoyed my time in this world with these characters, but perhaps not enough to read the next one.
What I liked less: I started out really enjoying how everything had its own name, and there were no familiar plants or animals anywhere, but by the end I was pretty tired of it, and I didn't want to remember any more names so I just started skimming those parts.
Similarly, I got very tired of being introduced to new point of view characters, to the point where I actually audibly groaned out loud when I realized chapters were being told from the point of view of people I'd never heard of, and I was going to have to keep track of yet another person. Moreover, some of those points of view were actively harmful to my enjoyment of the story, especially a lot of the opposition. I understand that we had to see so much of what the antagonists were doing because the heroine was completely clueless, but I'd rather have spent more time with her protectors analyzing threats than with the people causing those threats. Especially since they were (with one or maybe two exceptions) just different flavors of pure, irredeemable evil. I know it's YA and a lot of people think there's no room for nuance, but personally I cannot get behind irredeemable evil. It's not that the author didn't try to give them all sympathetic motivations, it's just that they spent so much time thinking about their sympathetic motivations in so much detail that it sort of killed the suspension of disbelief for me.
This book was fine. Easy enough to pick up, unfortunately pretty easy to put down.
What I liked less: I started out really enjoying how everything had its own name, and there were no familiar plants or animals anywhere, but by the end I was pretty tired of it, and I didn't want to remember any more names so I just started skimming those parts.
Similarly, I got very tired of being introduced to new point of view characters, to the point where I actually audibly groaned out loud when I realized chapters were being told from the point of view of people I'd never heard of, and I was going to have to keep track of yet another person. Moreover, some of those points of view were actively harmful to my enjoyment of the story, especially a lot of the opposition. I understand that we had to see so much of what the antagonists were doing because the heroine was completely clueless, but I'd rather have spent more time with her protectors analyzing threats than with the people causing those threats. Especially since they were (with one or maybe two exceptions) just different flavors of pure, irredeemable evil. I know it's YA and a lot of people think there's no room for nuance, but personally I cannot get behind irredeemable evil. It's not that the author didn't try to give them all sympathetic motivations, it's just that they spent so much time thinking about their sympathetic motivations in so much detail that it sort of killed the suspension of disbelief for me.
This book was fine. Easy enough to pick up, unfortunately pretty easy to put down.
October 11, 2018
This epic is set in a well-delineated magical world, suitable for all ages except for the realistic levels of death and gore.
Growing up as a princess is never easy for free-spirited Tika, but it is complicated by her emerging otherworldly talents, as well as discovering that her royal parents are not her real ones-- she's part Elemental and part Elf as well! Luckily the kingdom of Rhodea is friendly to non-humans and has Elf ambassadors; when her parents die suddenly as part of a plot to thwart her developing powers, they are able to sneak her away to meet with her Elven grandparents in the faraway kingdom of Xanti.
It becomes a race against time and attempts to kill her, as Mortan, an ancient Elf renegade sorcerer in thrall to supernatural Intelligences, deploys his many minions, created over centuries, in order to eliminate the savioress, the 'Azetha', destined to kill him and his armies.
But hey, Tika's still a regular human bred girl whose best buddies happen to be a sand tiger and the prince from the kingdom next door, with a dislike of burnt oatmeal and a crush on her tutor. That is, until she keeps healing from all the horrors on the journey one after the other, which certainly are not boring in the least.
Though the introduction to the villain came far too soon for me, I am well engrossed now in this odyssey.
Growing up as a princess is never easy for free-spirited Tika, but it is complicated by her emerging otherworldly talents, as well as discovering that her royal parents are not her real ones-- she's part Elemental and part Elf as well! Luckily the kingdom of Rhodea is friendly to non-humans and has Elf ambassadors; when her parents die suddenly as part of a plot to thwart her developing powers, they are able to sneak her away to meet with her Elven grandparents in the faraway kingdom of Xanti.
It becomes a race against time and attempts to kill her, as Mortan, an ancient Elf renegade sorcerer in thrall to supernatural Intelligences, deploys his many minions, created over centuries, in order to eliminate the savioress, the 'Azetha', destined to kill him and his armies.
But hey, Tika's still a regular human bred girl whose best buddies happen to be a sand tiger and the prince from the kingdom next door, with a dislike of burnt oatmeal and a crush on her tutor. That is, until she keeps healing from all the horrors on the journey one after the other, which certainly are not boring in the least.
Though the introduction to the villain came far too soon for me, I am well engrossed now in this odyssey.
March 15, 2019
Well written, easy to follow storyline. Loved the names and the sand tigers. On a voyage of discovery, Tika discovers why she is so different from others in her kingdom. Coming to terms with her heritage and the dangers that are attached to her true identity make the past seem like a picnic compared to what lies ahead. The destination was not the primary goal, the journey was the purpose of defining what Tika’s destiny holds. I love YA books, I can share with my grandchildren and they get super excited when we discover new books together. Thank you for another good book for our library.
June 16, 2022
I only read a realively small amount of this story. And, from what I did read - pretty much everything about it was pretty horrible. The author doesn't seem to know much about anything - particularly about violence or fighting. I can't lie. Being a premier expert on physical violence myself, it really irks me when someone that obviously knows next to nothing about the subject attempts to write scenes that have anything to do with violence. Bur, the real reason that I stopped where I did is that I was beginning to wonder if this author even knows how to count.
January 26, 2018
Great
Not long enough. Now I need to buy another book I don't like waiting and watching on the sidelines. Hopefully I will be luckier soon.
Not long enough. Now I need to buy another book I don't like waiting and watching on the sidelines. Hopefully I will be luckier soon.
May 30, 2015
I enjoyed reading about teen princess Tika and her adventures...
Tika is not your typical princess. Though Tika does exhibit some typical teen behavior such as rebelliousness and doing hew own thing... She likes sneaking her pet sand tiger into her room, even though that's not really permitted. She dresses as she pleases. She worries if the guy she likes has any interest in her. She fights with her dad, the King.
This is a story of self-discovery and doing the right thing.
Looking forward to the sequel The Veil of Death to read more of Tila's adventures and what else is in store for her. And hopefully, the prequel The Land of Elves for more background adventures.
DISCLOSURE: received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Tika is not your typical princess. Though Tika does exhibit some typical teen behavior such as rebelliousness and doing hew own thing... She likes sneaking her pet sand tiger into her room, even though that's not really permitted. She dresses as she pleases. She worries if the guy she likes has any interest in her. She fights with her dad, the King.
This is a story of self-discovery and doing the right thing.
Looking forward to the sequel The Veil of Death to read more of Tila's adventures and what else is in store for her. And hopefully, the prequel The Land of Elves for more background adventures.
DISCLOSURE: received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
February 10, 2017
I wish I could get an editable text file of this book so I could select all of the names and change them to ones that I can differentiate between easier (or to ones I simply like more).
Read
September 5, 2014This story was a long time in the making and I believe it is a must read for fantasy fans from middle school and up. I fell in love with the characters as I wrote them and I hope you will enjoy falling in love with the world of Fathara and its inhabitants. This first book introduces you to Tika, a princess in Fathara who discovers a disturbing secret from her past that changes how she views herself and her future.
April 23, 2015
There were too many characters and not nearly enough character development for me. In the end I really didn't care what happened to any of the characters because I hadn't grown attached to any of them.
January 11, 2015
I had a hard time keeping characters straight at first. But the adventure was good. I look forward to reading the next book!
February 23, 2020
Absolutely a must for fantasy lovers. The world is fantastic, and the original take on magic is fab! No spoilers here, just read it! It's a page turner for sure!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews