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Legends of Lairheim #0.5
Redemption
A fight gone wrong. A tragic mistake. One man’s journey to find redemption…
Exhausted after a lifetime spent battling the Malvers monsters, Histrun wants more for his people than simple survival. The fighting method he and his bond-mate, Zehala, devised has the potential to finally destroy the monsters and bring an end to the thousand years of war. Only the Dehanlair Clan, led by Histrun’s arch rival, hasn’t embraced the new method. They finally agree to learn the method, but only if Histrun and Zehala are the ones to teach it.
Filled with foreboding, Histrun and Zehala travel to the far southern province. When he arrives, he finds the province is overrun by monsters, and his rival ruling as a cruel tyrant. Histrun must somehow overthrow the despot and save the Dehanlair people, without becoming their Clan Alpha and forced to live the rest of his days far from home.
Exhausted after a lifetime spent battling the Malvers monsters, Histrun wants more for his people than simple survival. The fighting method he and his bond-mate, Zehala, devised has the potential to finally destroy the monsters and bring an end to the thousand years of war. Only the Dehanlair Clan, led by Histrun’s arch rival, hasn’t embraced the new method. They finally agree to learn the method, but only if Histrun and Zehala are the ones to teach it.
Filled with foreboding, Histrun and Zehala travel to the far southern province. When he arrives, he finds the province is overrun by monsters, and his rival ruling as a cruel tyrant. Histrun must somehow overthrow the despot and save the Dehanlair people, without becoming their Clan Alpha and forced to live the rest of his days far from home.
- GenresFantasy
ebook
Published January 1, 2017
3 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Tora Moon
13 books81 followersTora Moon writes all genres of fantasy and especially loves to write stories which allow the reader to journey into worlds full of magic and escape their ordinary lives for a time. Ancient cultures and religions, mythology, and folklore fascinate her and find their way into her stories.
Besides reading, some of her hobbies are sewing, crocheting, and making wire-wrapped jewelry. Her love of travel has taken her to several countries and saw her living in an RV for several years. She makes her home in the southwestern desert with her feline companion.
Besides reading, some of her hobbies are sewing, crocheting, and making wire-wrapped jewelry. Her love of travel has taken her to several countries and saw her living in an RV for several years. She makes her home in the southwestern desert with her feline companion.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 4, 2017
Very engrossing story. I liked the characters, the bad guy was despicable and I was very invested in his death! I'm definitely going to follow this series, and this author.
August 24, 2017
Loved this book! I received a copy of this book for free. I'm glad I did. This is an author I have t read before and she had me hooked from the first page. I will be reading the entire series.
September 22, 2017
I entered a book givaway and recieved this from the author. I am glad that I got this book otherwise I wouldn't have gave it a second thought. What a great story line and characters. I know she has written a series based on the type of magic and characters that was in this book (which I will be now reading) I just hope that she does another continueing where this left off. Great story, characters and writing makes for a great read. Great Reading Everyone!
July 7, 2017
This book was free from the author. Plus this is a new author to me. I am really happy about it all, because this turned out to be a really good story. A well developed story and wonderful characters. I can happily recommend the Malvers War books starting with Redemption. I am going to start the next book now.
July 27, 2017
Really enjoyed reading this book, only issue I had was many names were hard to pronounce. Besides that, characters were interesting and looked forward to each ones development as the story moved on. Interesting concept of magic between the sexes. The use of color identification was good, made following the powers of each group easy. Good book,hard to put down.
June 25, 2017
Received this a freebie I'm glad I received it. Good story with a world full of colourful characters
Would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy stories
Would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy stories
January 14, 2018
It took me awhile to get into the book and I do believe this was because it needed more information about the type of people we were reading about, their language and the time the events where taking place, all information which I found at the end of the book! However once I started to get into the story about Histrun and his bond mate Zahala and the monsters they fought continuously to protect their clans in the land of Lairheim I really got into the story and must admit I loved it. Redemption is a prequel to a series which is action-packed and full of magic, shapeshifting, very exciting battle scenes and great women heroes who fight side by side with their men. All clans and their where eight in all had an alpha couple heading the clan and all had accepted the fighting system to tackle the monsters which had been created by Histrun and Zahala except for the Dehanlair clan led by Histrun's arch rival Mendehan. Now he finally seemed to capitulate and they were making their way over to this clans area to teach them the efficient way to tackle the monsters who had become a scourge on the land of Lairheim. But when they get to Dehanlair they find things where much worse than they had ever expected and that they had walked into a trap of horror! Can they save the people of Dehanlair and can they ever leave from this place intact? A very exciting read, well done Tora Moon for the great story line, look forward to reading the series now!
December 5, 2017
You can get a free copy of this eBook by joining the author's mailing list, so that's why I tried it. It's not quite what I expected, and that's a good thing. This is a fantasy story about a world populated by a race of shapeshifters and magic-users. The men are all shifters and the women use magic. (Kind of made me wonder if the world has any transgender people, LOL). Since it's about shifters the author does steal a few tropes from Urban Fantasy Werewolf fiction, but fortunately only a little bit. And the combination is actually pretty interesting.
The story divides itself into two parts. In the first part they travel to the stronghold of another clan, only to discover that the clan leader (alpha) has gone off the deep end and they have to put him down somehow. Once that's all dealt with then you have the second story which is about one of the heroes of the first half trying to come to grips with the mental anguish of having been unable to save his "bondmate" from a fatal attack.
On the whole, it's a decent story. The world didn't appeal to me. Too many things about it just didn't feel right. But the story itself was nice and worked fairly well.
I won't be continuing with the series but I still think it is a worthwhile read for the ingenuity of the premise.
The story divides itself into two parts. In the first part they travel to the stronghold of another clan, only to discover that the clan leader (alpha) has gone off the deep end and they have to put him down somehow. Once that's all dealt with then you have the second story which is about one of the heroes of the first half trying to come to grips with the mental anguish of having been unable to save his "bondmate" from a fatal attack.
On the whole, it's a decent story. The world didn't appeal to me. Too many things about it just didn't feel right. But the story itself was nice and worked fairly well.
I won't be continuing with the series but I still think it is a worthwhile read for the ingenuity of the premise.
September 22, 2017
This book is a prequel to the three book Malvers War series. The main characters are Histrun, a warrior, and Zehala, his bond mate and training partner. Histrun and Zehala have trained all of the clans a new way to fight the Malvers monsters. He has one clan left to train, the Dehanlair Clan. Histrun's long time rival, Mendehan, is the Alpha of the Dehanlair Clan and only recently agreed to let Histrun and Zehala come to train his clan.
When they arrive at the home of the Dehanlair, they discover that Mendehan has turned into a cruel tyrant and that Hitsrun needs to save the Dehanlair Clan. His actions there sets up the plot for the remainder of the book and possibly the next three books.
I liked the development of the characters, especially Zehala and the female members of their clan. It was also fascinating to learn about their powers and how they are discovered and developed.
I received a free ebook to read and submit an honest review.
When they arrive at the home of the Dehanlair, they discover that Mendehan has turned into a cruel tyrant and that Hitsrun needs to save the Dehanlair Clan. His actions there sets up the plot for the remainder of the book and possibly the next three books.
I liked the development of the characters, especially Zehala and the female members of their clan. It was also fascinating to learn about their powers and how they are discovered and developed.
I received a free ebook to read and submit an honest review.
October 12, 2018
I usually rate a book based on my ease of reading the story. Some I finish quickly as I get very intent on the characters and their roles. This book took me longer and I admit to not feeling the connection to the people in the tale. I think it has potential so will try the next in the series.
March 27, 2019
Great writing and I loved reading this book. Highly recommended. Fast pace and good plot make it a must read.
April 29, 2019
What a story. Can the monsters be battled and won over. Not to be missed. Outstanding.
November 25, 2018
First things first: this is a good bit of fantasy and there's plenty to enjoy. However it is not perfect. This is of course only my personal opinion, and I want to make a point that there are many good things alongside the parts that niggled.
It's an interesting read with strong undertones of Peter V. Brett's "The Painted Man" - both are set in gritty, high-fantasy worlds overrun by terrible monsters. The main characters in both are those who have found a way to fight these creatures and are spreading the word. Here the comparison ends.
Histrun is a well-fleshed out character: an older warrior with serious skills, but he knows his age is causing limitations. No hot-headed youths here, which is quite refreshing. His strength as a shape-shifter and his knowlege of how to tackle the Malvers monsters that plague the land could still make him overpowered, but his humility and flaws make him a much more interesting. The exploration of his anger over Mendehen, grief from his lover Zehala's death, and slow emotional recovery is something quite different too, although I did have an issue with some of the later chapters (more on that shortly).
Tora Moon's Lairheim is a world full of curiousities. Understanding all the nuances of Reds/Browns/Blues/Whites, shifters, creatures, clans, Alphas and just general terminology does make the early part of the book feel a bit of a slog as there is just so much to take in. There is an appendix at the end, but it's not so easy to hop between pages in e-book format! One entry seemed to be missing though: Malvers monsters. Considering how often they turn up, beyond what they physically are we don't get much detail. Where'd they come from, or when did they first start appearing? Why are they called Malvers monsters? I wish there had been more exploration of the important elements, such as the magic system or the nasty critters that inhabit the world in the story rather than relegated to the glossary.
One thing that did bother me throughout was repetition. Sometimes it was the same word appearing often in a short space of time, others the taking of phrases used earlier in the book turning up to describe exactly the same thing. For example, I couldn't help but wonder how come the warriors didn't have slang or shorthand for the Malvers monsters rather than having to repeat Malvers monsters again and again.
A minor thing was that towards the end, the writing could slip into the habit of time hopping where events are skimmed over. It can feel like parts are being left out, and with the story winding down it suffered a little from a common prequel novella condition of introducing a lot of people/places/events rather superficially because they'll be important later.
I hope you can forgive the critical nature of my review, as it is a pretty good fantasy read rich with scope and ambition. I recieved this free from the author's newsletter, and so wanted to give an honest review without glossing over things. Thank you Tora Moon for sharing your world with us. There's surely plenty more to come in the Lairheim series built upon the events of this story, and it'll be interesting to see how they pan out.
-I got this book from a free giveaway-
It's an interesting read with strong undertones of Peter V. Brett's "The Painted Man" - both are set in gritty, high-fantasy worlds overrun by terrible monsters. The main characters in both are those who have found a way to fight these creatures and are spreading the word. Here the comparison ends.
Histrun is a well-fleshed out character: an older warrior with serious skills, but he knows his age is causing limitations. No hot-headed youths here, which is quite refreshing. His strength as a shape-shifter and his knowlege of how to tackle the Malvers monsters that plague the land could still make him overpowered, but his humility and flaws make him a much more interesting. The exploration of his anger over Mendehen, grief from his lover Zehala's death, and slow emotional recovery is something quite different too, although I did have an issue with some of the later chapters (more on that shortly).
Tora Moon's Lairheim is a world full of curiousities. Understanding all the nuances of Reds/Browns/Blues/Whites, shifters, creatures, clans, Alphas and just general terminology does make the early part of the book feel a bit of a slog as there is just so much to take in. There is an appendix at the end, but it's not so easy to hop between pages in e-book format! One entry seemed to be missing though: Malvers monsters. Considering how often they turn up, beyond what they physically are we don't get much detail. Where'd they come from, or when did they first start appearing? Why are they called Malvers monsters? I wish there had been more exploration of the important elements, such as the magic system or the nasty critters that inhabit the world in the story rather than relegated to the glossary.
One thing that did bother me throughout was repetition. Sometimes it was the same word appearing often in a short space of time, others the taking of phrases used earlier in the book turning up to describe exactly the same thing. For example, I couldn't help but wonder how come the warriors didn't have slang or shorthand for the Malvers monsters rather than having to repeat Malvers monsters again and again.
A minor thing was that towards the end, the writing could slip into the habit of time hopping where events are skimmed over. It can feel like parts are being left out, and with the story winding down it suffered a little from a common prequel novella condition of introducing a lot of people/places/events rather superficially because they'll be important later.
I hope you can forgive the critical nature of my review, as it is a pretty good fantasy read rich with scope and ambition. I recieved this free from the author's newsletter, and so wanted to give an honest review without glossing over things. Thank you Tora Moon for sharing your world with us. There's surely plenty more to come in the Lairheim series built upon the events of this story, and it'll be interesting to see how they pan out.
-I got this book from a free giveaway-
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews