The Count's Son

by Tobias Gavran

Thomas wakes up in a world that isn’t his. A world where magic and violence are omnipresent, and his parents are still alive. Now the son of a Count, Thomas needs to face the dark secrets of his alter ego, a young man who looked just like him but wasn’t as simple.

Genres: Fantasy

86 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2020

About the author

Tobias Gavran is a now 30-something French author with a knack for pasta and Fantasy. His first book, a thriller called "Mort sur mesure," was self-published back in 2013, it was in French and you probably won't read it. His first English book, The Count's Son, was self-published in 2017. Someday in the future, he might write more, but procrastination is a hell of a thing.

Reviews

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

💥 May 14, 2021: FREE for the next three days!





Actual rating: 3.5 stars. And a quarter.

⚠️ Friendly warning: this non-review may or may not be stuffed with "stuff."

Okay, people, before we embark upon what is destined to be a most fascinating review (because, yes, I am still in coffee IV mode), let's get one thing straight here: I am your father this story has absolutely naught to do with Dracula/Vlad the Impaler/Nosferatu/Whatever, or any member of the Silly Fang-Bearing Clique (SFBC™). So if you were thinking of reading this book because it smelled of vampish wimpishness coolness, well, you know, move along nothing to see and stuff.

So. A couple of years ago I was still young and innocent back then, obviously , I read Trojan Wolf: Olympia, another short story by Tobias Gavran. It wasn't bad, but I wasn't much into short stories when I read it because I was, you know, young, innocent, and also a little clueless back then so I didn't exactly love it and stuff. Decades Years passed, I got busy unleashing my murderous babies on puny humans reading other, you know, stuff, and proceeded to completely forget about this story and its moderately amicable author. Until said author started stalking me mercilessly and wouldn't leave me alone until I'd read this new story of his mentioned he had a new story out and said he would be interested to hear what I thought about it the guy is evidently suicidal, and possibly lacking in the sanity department . Sorry, what? You want me to cut the crap and ♫ get down on it ♫ get down to it already? Sure, no problem, I aim to sometimes please and stuff.



First things first: it gives me great misery pleasure and sorrow happiness to announce that I am still alive, despite this being the second book with a disgustingly young MC that I read this week. Please feel free to be glad and rejoice and stuff.

So this story is about a *shudders pre-emptively* young adult who wakes up in some kind of alternate reality filled with magic and violence and stuff. As he rises and shines from his beauty sleep, he realizes that he is now the son of a count—who isn't our pal Dracul, remember?—a kinda sorta of alternate version of himself, only with slightly assholish, homicidal maniac tendencies. Which is pretty glorious, if you ask me. I mean, who wouldn't love to become a slightly evil version of themselves overnight? I know I would. A nefariouser nefarious little me, now that would be fairly stupendous. Anyway, the not-so-disgusting youth—Thomas is his name—wakes up, smells the coffee to a new Fantasy world, with alternate friends sidekicks, and an alternate daddy who is the warrior/knight-like, armor-wearing lord of the castle and stuff. Then spoiler spoiler spoiler things start happening. Which I can't tell you about because, you know, spoiler spoiler spoiler. The end. And stuff.



I can't say much about the story itself, but I can tell you this: this little tale here is somewhat cool not too bad. The plot is pretty original, fast-paced and entertaining, with lots of action and fun twists. Characterisation is nicely done, too. So much so that I found myself getting attached to the cast in general, and its most juvenile members in particular (which is slightly revolting, if you ask me). So yes, I think you could say that I almost nearly enjoyed reading this book. To be disgustingly honest, this could have easily been a 4.5/5-star story. The problem is that the writing felt a bit, I don't know, off, sometimes. The wording and turn of phrase are a bit unsettling at times and can get in the way of the story. Also, there were quite a few typos and misspellings, which I found a little distracting. So fix these issues of yours, little tale, and you can be fairly certainly sure to get an almost practically stellar rating from me and stuff.

➽ And the moral of this I Miraculously Withstood Two Repulsively Youngish Casts in a Row Can I Go Back to Reading Deliciously Dark Grown Up Stuff Now Pretty Please Crappy Non Review (IMWTRYCiaRCIGBtRDDGUSNPPCNR™) is : this story is good. This story is short. This story is very cheap. So maybe you should consider giving this story a bloody shrimping try and stuff. Also, Tobias is sort of a nice guy an okay guy who happens to sometimes have a sense of humor, so, you know, QED and stuff.



P.S. No this was NOT an ARC, Tobias is most certainly NOT my friend, and I was not paid in severed limbs to write a positive review for this book. Just in case you were wondering. You are quite welcome.



[Pre-review nonsense]

This is the second time in a week I don't DNF slightly like a book featuring a disgustingly young MC. I'm really beginning to question my sanity here.



Yeah, pretty much.

Pretty sure some very dark evil is at work here. Well either that or Tobias Gavran wrote a good story. Which is highly doubtful and stuff.

» Full Seems Like I Really Need to Buy a Couple of Grey Cells on the Black Market Because I'd Assumed this Book was about Dracula's Son How Can Anyone Be So Braindead I have No Idea Crappy Non Review (SLIRNtBaCoGCotBMBIAtBwaDSHCABSBIHNICNR™) to come.

[Rainz ❤️rainnbooks❤️(on a break) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many Thanks to the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

A fantasy novella, The Count’s Son by Tobias Gavran has an attractive plot. Thomas is grieving the loss of his parents but after a night’s sleep, he wakes up in a place completely alien to him. In the alter universe, his parents are alive and magic rules the world.

With the help of an assistant Aliska, and his friend Tallovan, Thomas understands the daily grinds of this new place and a chance encounter with an alchemist opens his eyes to the truth of his identity. But danger soon follows as Thomas becomes Tom and accepts his fate.

The story is quite interesting and even though it’s a novella, the characters are detailed and I was able to connect to the turmoil faced by Thomas. There are areas like the history of the Wildlanders that required a little more detail into the story but overall, The Count’s Son is a fast paced uniquely plotted exciting adventure of Thomas.

And I hope the adventure continues!

This review is published in my blog https://rainnbooks.com/, Goodreads, Amazon India and Twitter.

[Jaycee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book from the author in exchange for a honest review (you guys, he literally told me to trash it if I hated it ok, so this is not biased)

THIS IS A BOOK YOU SHOULD NOT SLEEP ON!!!

When I first read the title and description I thought it would be about Dracula's son, which is really why I asked for the book ahaha. Anyways, our MC wakes up in a place he doesn't know, surrounded by people he doesn't know. Until he finds his father who is acting different. He realizes that he's in a different world where his family is still alive. He has a sister too, like what? The he starts to learn more about the world, the people in it, his family, but most of all, himself.

I really liked this story, the characters were well written, the dialogue was realistic, and the pacing (!!!!), you don't realize how important pacing is until you read good pacing.

One problem with the story was that it was a short story. I'm not the biggest fan of short stories because they're short, you're never completely satisfied because there could be so much more world exploration or character growth. So I'd really hope that the author one day makes this a longer novel, or a part two ahah *nudge nudge*

[DJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this story through a post on Reddit offering it as a free e-book on Amazon, and I rather enjoyed it.

The Count's Son was a quick, adventurous read with fun little twists and turns. Overall, the premise and plotlines were good, but there were definitely some places that needed something extra. I caught myself backtracking to make sure that what I was following along with what I was reading and that I was do so accurately. The author works well with the fast pace of the story, and he does a good job at making you feel attached to the characters and hope for certain outcomes. The wording and particular word choices are really what my only issue was with this story. As a reader, I couldn't see everything coming and guess what was about to happen next in most of the situations. As I said earlier, I enjoyed The Count's Son, but I'm only giving it 3 stars because there are some things in it that could use extra review or work to make the read flow more smoothly.