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Tor's Quest #0
The Beginning
Find out how it all began.
When his father died, Tor had no intention of taking over the throne and initially refused to take part in the quest. However, when the opportunity presented itself to help a friend, he reluctantly agreed to compete against his brothers.
When he gathers a team to help him, collecting new friends and old along the way, little does he know the dangers they will all face. The clues they have to solve are not easy and the challenges they have to overcome seem almost impossible at times, but teamwork and friendship will keep them going forward.
When asked to commit murder, Tor tries to refuse, but is given no choice. He almost quits when a companion has to walk into fire in order for the team to continue on the quest, but it is the death of one of them that makes him question whether the quest is worth the sacrifices he and his friends are forced to make.
When the issues one of his team has with the ruler of another country causes problems for everyone, Tor begins to doubt the wisdom of travelling with friends instead of hired mercenaries, until he finds out the hard way just how uncontrollable ‘thugs for hire’ can be.
Tor’s Quest is a 5 part series, starting with The Guide then The Maze, The Bard, The Pendant and The Assassin. This prequel tells the tale of how it all began.
When his father died, Tor had no intention of taking over the throne and initially refused to take part in the quest. However, when the opportunity presented itself to help a friend, he reluctantly agreed to compete against his brothers.
When he gathers a team to help him, collecting new friends and old along the way, little does he know the dangers they will all face. The clues they have to solve are not easy and the challenges they have to overcome seem almost impossible at times, but teamwork and friendship will keep them going forward.
When asked to commit murder, Tor tries to refuse, but is given no choice. He almost quits when a companion has to walk into fire in order for the team to continue on the quest, but it is the death of one of them that makes him question whether the quest is worth the sacrifices he and his friends are forced to make.
When the issues one of his team has with the ruler of another country causes problems for everyone, Tor begins to doubt the wisdom of travelling with friends instead of hired mercenaries, until he finds out the hard way just how uncontrollable ‘thugs for hire’ can be.
Tor’s Quest is a 5 part series, starting with The Guide then The Maze, The Bard, The Pendant and The Assassin. This prequel tells the tale of how it all began.
364 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 19, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 19, 2017
The Beginning is a prequel to the Tor’s Quest books, which I haven’t read. It started well, with enough interest to get me in, but the remainder didn’t live up to the start. Unfortunately, this book could have been a lot better with some work. I gave it three stars but think it is somewhere between two and three. I didn't relegate it to two, which indicates dislike, but it was close.
There are three critical areas that need addressing. Firstly, the book is too long. And by that I don’t mean it is a particularly long book, it just feels that way. A good editor would cut out a lot of extraneous material and leave the essence of the story in a more readable form. Secondly, many of the characters, including Tor, could be more three dimensional with good development. Part of this relates to dialogue where all characters speak the same in this book. But the way the story is told is really quite bland and is at best a recounting rather than a showing of the story. The third problem relates to dialogue again. While the book has a contemporary character the dialogue is unrealistic. Nobody speaks like the characters in this book in real life. The author should read aloud the dialogue and see if it fits the character in her head. If it doesn’t it needs to change.
Other little things that might sound like nit picking are in no particular order:
Wizards and Witches wield magical powers and provide much of the interest for fantasy stories. The magic in The Beginning is quite benign and compared to other fantasy tales does nothing to excite or interest.
The Beginning professes to be a prequel, and as such one would expect it to be a book in itself but it finishes with only three parts of the quest completed. It leaves the reader dead in the water with no conclusion to the long-winded tale. As the Tor’s Quest series appears to have been written before this book I assumed there must have been another book to finish The Beginning prequel. But no, the next book is The Guide (Book one of the series). Not sure how it all works. A prequel should be a prequel, not the first book in a series and the second book should not be book one in a series.
There are things that happen in this book, such as the sudden character change of Bellak, that have no explanation in this book. Another left-hanging moment. I guess it might be explained in book two, or is that book one.
Tor, as a character, is a bit boring. Sure, we have established that he is a good man, looks after his friends, seems to have few prejudices in a land of prejudice, but he is a pretty uninspiring leader. Most of what happens in this story is due to chance and not due to any strength of character and that really doesn’t entertain the reader. The man needs to grow a set, basically.
Lastly, there are many grammatical errors in the story that could be fixed up by a good proof reader.
Anyway, I hope my criticism is viewed constructively. The Beginning has good bones but the story could be cleaner and more interesting with a good rewrite. I fear that I won’t be reading the next book though as there are much better books out there to engage my mind on.
There are three critical areas that need addressing. Firstly, the book is too long. And by that I don’t mean it is a particularly long book, it just feels that way. A good editor would cut out a lot of extraneous material and leave the essence of the story in a more readable form. Secondly, many of the characters, including Tor, could be more three dimensional with good development. Part of this relates to dialogue where all characters speak the same in this book. But the way the story is told is really quite bland and is at best a recounting rather than a showing of the story. The third problem relates to dialogue again. While the book has a contemporary character the dialogue is unrealistic. Nobody speaks like the characters in this book in real life. The author should read aloud the dialogue and see if it fits the character in her head. If it doesn’t it needs to change.
Other little things that might sound like nit picking are in no particular order:
Wizards and Witches wield magical powers and provide much of the interest for fantasy stories. The magic in The Beginning is quite benign and compared to other fantasy tales does nothing to excite or interest.
The Beginning professes to be a prequel, and as such one would expect it to be a book in itself but it finishes with only three parts of the quest completed. It leaves the reader dead in the water with no conclusion to the long-winded tale. As the Tor’s Quest series appears to have been written before this book I assumed there must have been another book to finish The Beginning prequel. But no, the next book is The Guide (Book one of the series). Not sure how it all works. A prequel should be a prequel, not the first book in a series and the second book should not be book one in a series.
There are things that happen in this book, such as the sudden character change of Bellak, that have no explanation in this book. Another left-hanging moment. I guess it might be explained in book two, or is that book one.
Tor, as a character, is a bit boring. Sure, we have established that he is a good man, looks after his friends, seems to have few prejudices in a land of prejudice, but he is a pretty uninspiring leader. Most of what happens in this story is due to chance and not due to any strength of character and that really doesn’t entertain the reader. The man needs to grow a set, basically.
Lastly, there are many grammatical errors in the story that could be fixed up by a good proof reader.
Anyway, I hope my criticism is viewed constructively. The Beginning has good bones but the story could be cleaner and more interesting with a good rewrite. I fear that I won’t be reading the next book though as there are much better books out there to engage my mind on.
May 15, 2019
I was given this book to review as I had read the others and I enjoyed it. I actually think that it could be read first rather than at the end of the series because there is nothing to spoil what is to come - I think.
In a way, it was odd to know what was going to happen to some of the characters but there were interesting and entertaining scenes that added even more depth to the saga.
I really liked the details of the story, an adventurous quest filled with magic and intrigue. Written very well, this tale is perfect for fantasy lovers.
Highly recommended.
In a way, it was odd to know what was going to happen to some of the characters but there were interesting and entertaining scenes that added even more depth to the saga.
I really liked the details of the story, an adventurous quest filled with magic and intrigue. Written very well, this tale is perfect for fantasy lovers.
Highly recommended.
March 13, 2021
Awesome Book!!! After reading this one, I had to purchase the rest of the series. I can't wait to find out what happens next!
February 5, 2017
I found this to be an interesting adventure novel. The writer created a world full of intrigue and action. The plot moves along well and the dialogue is sharply written.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews