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Thoughts of an Eaten Sun
The story of a man's quest for revenge on an unnatural beast come out of the wild.
In the remote lands of the Far Finger, danger is a fact of life. Hantle lives in the village of Founsel, where he works as a logger. With no warning, a wolf strikes Founsel, threatening Hantle's family and close-knit community. He demands revenge, but when the beast returns, it outsmarts him and swells in size with each person it devours. Tales of similar creatures destroying entire civilizations raise the question of whether it can be killed.
Hantle must lead the effort to save Founsel, chase the creature across the lands, and convince distant settlements the danger is more than a myth. How large will the wolf grow? Can Hantle raise a force to slay the creature? Or will every person, place, and thing that he knows be lost?
In the remote lands of the Far Finger, danger is a fact of life. Hantle lives in the village of Founsel, where he works as a logger. With no warning, a wolf strikes Founsel, threatening Hantle's family and close-knit community. He demands revenge, but when the beast returns, it outsmarts him and swells in size with each person it devours. Tales of similar creatures destroying entire civilizations raise the question of whether it can be killed.
Hantle must lead the effort to save Founsel, chase the creature across the lands, and convince distant settlements the danger is more than a myth. How large will the wolf grow? Can Hantle raise a force to slay the creature? Or will every person, place, and thing that he knows be lost?
- GenresFantasy
298 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 1, 2018
1 person want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 14, 2019
"Thoughts of an Eaten Sun," published in 2018, is the debut novel of Kyle Tolle, who self-published this book. The author is a personal acquaintance of mine, and that is how this book came into my hands.
The story begins in a medieval-European-esque setting, with a logger named Hantle who has a wife and two sons around the ages of eight and ten. The opening pages set up the peaceful, loving household of this family, and then the book takes a very dark turn by page 14, when Hantle's idyllic family life is suddenly destroyed. What I had thought would be a hero's-journey fantasy novel, or quest novel, immediately revealed itself to be horror novel instead, featuring the kind of graphic violence and gory detail that is usually only seen in grimdark fantasy or horror. The book stays in horror-mode as an enormous, paranormal wolf starts devouring multiple people at a time. The wolf grows in size with each meal, and gets so large that it begins eating entire villages, buildings, and things much larger than buildings.
At first, all of the horror I felt reading about this ravening wolf reminded me of the thrill I felt as a kid while reading books like "Relic" (1995), "Jurassic Park" (1990), and "The Hot Zone" (1994). Some of the graphic detail about the wolf's earliest behavior was nearly identical to the horror scenes in the 1987 movie, "Predator," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don't seek out horror anymore, in fiction or in films, but when I suddenly find myself reading a horror novel, I can well remember how I am meant to feel while reading scenes of graphic violence and death.
"Thoughts of an Eaten Sun," however, doesn't stay in horror-mode for long. After 80-ish pages, the book shifts gear and becomes a more traditional fantasy novel, with a hero's journey/hero's quest kind of plot. The horror recedes and the reader follows Hantle on a long, dusty trip to a city he predicts will soon be devoured by the ravenous wolf. While there are a few more horror scenes on the journey, they pale in comparison to the graphic content of the first 80 pages. Hantle's enemies become fellow human beings who do not believe his tale of a supernatural, devouring wolf, and he clashes with people more than once in an effort to kill the wolf and save the world.
I won't give away any spoilers, but I will say that this book doesn't really have a conclusion. While there seems to be some hero's-journey trope-subversion in the plot of this book, I admit that I didn't understand the ending or find it conclusive at all. The author has mentioned that he might write a sequel, and I think that would be a good idea, because this debut novel ends on a cliffhanger, rather than featuring a conclusive ending.
I'm giving this book 5 stars in the hope that Kyle Tolle will continue his work as an author and publish more books. The prose in "Thoughts of an Eaten Sun" displays a good use of vocabulary and inventive storytelling.
If you are a fan of horror and fantasy, I would recommend this book. But if you prefer YA fantasy or adult fantasy that is not grimdark, then the content of this book will most likely put you off. Although YA fantasy can feature some heavy violence, it is not quite on the same level as watching a movie like "Predator."
Five stars for an indie author who is hopefully just beginning his publishing journey.
The story begins in a medieval-European-esque setting, with a logger named Hantle who has a wife and two sons around the ages of eight and ten. The opening pages set up the peaceful, loving household of this family, and then the book takes a very dark turn by page 14, when Hantle's idyllic family life is suddenly destroyed. What I had thought would be a hero's-journey fantasy novel, or quest novel, immediately revealed itself to be horror novel instead, featuring the kind of graphic violence and gory detail that is usually only seen in grimdark fantasy or horror. The book stays in horror-mode as an enormous, paranormal wolf starts devouring multiple people at a time. The wolf grows in size with each meal, and gets so large that it begins eating entire villages, buildings, and things much larger than buildings.
At first, all of the horror I felt reading about this ravening wolf reminded me of the thrill I felt as a kid while reading books like "Relic" (1995), "Jurassic Park" (1990), and "The Hot Zone" (1994). Some of the graphic detail about the wolf's earliest behavior was nearly identical to the horror scenes in the 1987 movie, "Predator," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don't seek out horror anymore, in fiction or in films, but when I suddenly find myself reading a horror novel, I can well remember how I am meant to feel while reading scenes of graphic violence and death.
"Thoughts of an Eaten Sun," however, doesn't stay in horror-mode for long. After 80-ish pages, the book shifts gear and becomes a more traditional fantasy novel, with a hero's journey/hero's quest kind of plot. The horror recedes and the reader follows Hantle on a long, dusty trip to a city he predicts will soon be devoured by the ravenous wolf. While there are a few more horror scenes on the journey, they pale in comparison to the graphic content of the first 80 pages. Hantle's enemies become fellow human beings who do not believe his tale of a supernatural, devouring wolf, and he clashes with people more than once in an effort to kill the wolf and save the world.
I won't give away any spoilers, but I will say that this book doesn't really have a conclusion. While there seems to be some hero's-journey trope-subversion in the plot of this book, I admit that I didn't understand the ending or find it conclusive at all. The author has mentioned that he might write a sequel, and I think that would be a good idea, because this debut novel ends on a cliffhanger, rather than featuring a conclusive ending.
I'm giving this book 5 stars in the hope that Kyle Tolle will continue his work as an author and publish more books. The prose in "Thoughts of an Eaten Sun" displays a good use of vocabulary and inventive storytelling.
If you are a fan of horror and fantasy, I would recommend this book. But if you prefer YA fantasy or adult fantasy that is not grimdark, then the content of this book will most likely put you off. Although YA fantasy can feature some heavy violence, it is not quite on the same level as watching a movie like "Predator."
Five stars for an indie author who is hopefully just beginning his publishing journey.
September 7, 2018
"Thoughts of an Eaten Sun" is a fantastique novel with a story so rich it feels like it could be a generations-old folktale. The novel follows the humble Hantle, a logger from the forest village of Founsel. His life is upended when tragedy strikes his family and town in the form of a savage wolf that grows larger and more powerful with each life it slays. This sets the protagonist on a revenge-at-all costs pursuit of the beast, desperately trying to devise a way to stop it before it destroys something more than individual lives and small towns.
I admittedly do not read a lot of fantasy because I find there is often an overwhelming amount of detail in the worlds and difficult-to-remember names. But Tolle's writing style here is straightforward and fun to read, while still providing rich detail into the world of Far Finger and the minds of its denizens. I was hooked after just the first few chapters, desperately wanting to find out the ultimate fates of Hantle, the wolf, and the other characters met along the way.
This is an impressive and solid all-around debut novel for Mr. Tolle, and it is clear that the sky (or sun?) is the limit for his writing career.
I admittedly do not read a lot of fantasy because I find there is often an overwhelming amount of detail in the worlds and difficult-to-remember names. But Tolle's writing style here is straightforward and fun to read, while still providing rich detail into the world of Far Finger and the minds of its denizens. I was hooked after just the first few chapters, desperately wanting to find out the ultimate fates of Hantle, the wolf, and the other characters met along the way.
This is an impressive and solid all-around debut novel for Mr. Tolle, and it is clear that the sky (or sun?) is the limit for his writing career.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews