Tesser: A Father Enraged

The Reemergence #4

by Chris Philbrook

Tesser, dragon of life, immortal force of Earth, has his hands full. He's a father to a dragon child that's about to turn one. A dragon child that smiles, laughs, knows a few words, and is the source for all magic on Earth. So long as he has Matty--Astrid's mom, and the love of his very long life--everything will be okay. So they're gonna party with the trolls, who celebrate Matty's distant troll lineage like she's one of their own, and you best believe they celebrate the dragon child that shares a tiny bit of their blood too. But not all trolls are happy with their situation beneath the Jotunheimen Mountains in Norway. Some of the ancient monsters want change; some hate it. All are nervous, and excited. But some forces in the caverns of Ygg'rasgard want change that requires blood to be spilled, and for a little girl to be taken from her mother, and father. And deeper still, other forgotten forces stir.

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 16, 2018

About the author

About Chris Philbrook

I am the creator and author of Tesser: A Dragon Among Us as well as Elmoryn's The Kinless Trilogy, Colony Lost, Adrian's Undead Diary and the Darkness of Diggory Finch.

I've gone to a LOT of college. I've got a Business degree as well as a Psychology degree, and I've done the full program at the school of hard knocks. I've been a printing press operator, bouncer, purchasing agent, bodyguard, customer service representative, mental health counselor, and more. I can write about weird shit because I've done weird shit. Trust me.

I call the wonderful state of New Hampshire my home, but I love to travel. I love to read, write, play role playing games, miniatures games, video games, and Magic: The Gathering. When I find the time to be active, I like to hike, play basketball, and play football. I am married to a wonderful woman, and together we have two wonderful daughters.

Reviews

[Megan Burnett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love, love, love the concept of this series, but I have to say the character and plot development is definitely lacking. So much of the relationships and individual character development is left unexplored and unexplained. As much as I'm determined to continue reading, I often feel like I'm reading a translation of the original version that left a lot of the story out of the work. I still look back on the introduction of the very first book, Tesser, and swoon over the description and power of Tesser's awakening, but things have steadily grown weaker and thin since then.

I'm going to continue because I love the concept, as I said, and I think there is major potential, but I still find myself disappointed and left with more questions than answers. In this book in particular, Mattie's story requires a whole lot of imagination to believe, but has very little development or backstory to make believable.

More build up in history and description of the religion the Trolls follow would help, but it all mostly feels like a giant hand waive of "it's magic, just go with it".

[Nikolai Wisekal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 4 so spoilers are impossible to avoid from books 1-3, go read those!

So each book of the Reemergence has balanced phenomenal cosmic powers, social upheaval, expanded the range of species and mythologies, oh and made me laugh along the way. This book does all of those things and more. Tesser develops more as the Dragon of life and as a father. Mattie's heritage and role in the world gets explored and expanded. Astrid is well a mixture of amazing, cute, and well a dragon. The Trolls are a fascinating example of evolution and rigid society, and I loved every minute of it. I am just finishing this as book 5 comes out so onwards to a new story and a new dragon can't wait to see what's in store.

[Eric Loflin · Rating 3 out of 5]

After looking forward to the series getting back to Tesser, I was greatly disappointed in this book. It just felt awkward and clumsy much of the time. And for the magnificent Tesser from the first book to be reduced to throwing in, "That's what she said", one liners and "F" bombs every other sentence was just sad. He even told the god of the lake that he was going to rip his arms and legs off, throw him in the water, and call him "Bob". And his wife Matty has turned into a world class bitch. If the first book had been like this, I wouldn't have gone any further in the series.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all that Tesser seems to be main character of this series (he got the first book all to himself, has had cameos in the other books, and now has a second book all to himself) I don't like him. He comes across as very immature, for being literally millions of years old, and determined to stay that way. It gets old fast. I enjoyed the books centered on the other dragons - Ambryn and Fyelrath - significantly more than either of the books centered on Tesser.

[jason hilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

Book 4 of the reemergence series was excellent. As usual with chris’s stories I love his sense of humor that he puts into his novels. Everything he writes leaves me wanting more.

[Joshua Bachand · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, fast read, but I liked the others in the series slightly more.