taysbookshelf's review
5.0
What a great story! Part coming of age, part heroic adventure, the story weaves equal amounts of action and worldbuilding. I had a great time reading it, and am really curious to learn more about the world its written in. I will definitely be reading the other three books in the series.
hostral's review
4.0
Having already previously read Twixt Heaven and Hell by the author, I knew what to expect going in. My one great concern was that this was an earlier offering. Would this live up to the standards set in Gregory's later releases?
I shouldn't have worried. The first book in The Wandering Tale quadrilogy of short stories is a solid piece of writing that could serve as the opening for any great fantasy novel.
It revolves around two characters, the naive young village boy William and the mysterious newcomer Coary the swordsman. Probably not the best names for characters, and an ominous start given how the farm boy come to greatness has been done to death.
Gregory doesn't fall into this trap, and while there is loss and heartache within these pages it isn't tacked on to serve as some prop to the story. The farm boy doesn't grow up to become the mighty warrior in the space of a few thousand words and he doesn't discover the hidden depths of his magical powers either. The swordsman is a mentor of sorts, but it's largely brushed over by the story and there's no cliche foreshadowing.
The lead antagonist is not the dark one incarnate but rather a simple bandit of sorts. Much more realistic fare for the sleepy village setting that the story lives in.
The resolution of the swordsman's arc did a Gregory special and took me off guard, a trick that he'd pulled on me in his previous book courtesy of misdirection. It seemed oddly fitting with the setting yet again but I'll not elaborate for fear of spoiling the punch.
All in all you've got a solid coming of age tale here that's wrapped up nicely and satisfactorily. It pays subtle homage to previous high fantasy writings from twenty years ago on the topic without borrowing so much that it bores.
This particular short story doesn't cajole you into buying other tales and lets the strength of the writing stand on its own. That's the reason I'll be buying more books from Tristan Gregory, and it's the reason you should be too.
I shouldn't have worried. The first book in The Wandering Tale quadrilogy of short stories is a solid piece of writing that could serve as the opening for any great fantasy novel.
It revolves around two characters, the naive young village boy William and the mysterious newcomer Coary the swordsman. Probably not the best names for characters, and an ominous start given how the farm boy come to greatness has been done to death.
Gregory doesn't fall into this trap, and while there is loss and heartache within these pages it isn't tacked on to serve as some prop to the story. The farm boy doesn't grow up to become the mighty warrior in the space of a few thousand words and he doesn't discover the hidden depths of his magical powers either. The swordsman is a mentor of sorts, but it's largely brushed over by the story and there's no cliche foreshadowing.
The lead antagonist is not the dark one incarnate but rather a simple bandit of sorts. Much more realistic fare for the sleepy village setting that the story lives in.
The resolution of the swordsman's arc did a Gregory special and took me off guard, a trick that he'd pulled on me in his previous book courtesy of misdirection. It seemed oddly fitting with the setting yet again but I'll not elaborate for fear of spoiling the punch.
All in all you've got a solid coming of age tale here that's wrapped up nicely and satisfactorily. It pays subtle homage to previous high fantasy writings from twenty years ago on the topic without borrowing so much that it bores.
This particular short story doesn't cajole you into buying other tales and lets the strength of the writing stand on its own. That's the reason I'll be buying more books from Tristan Gregory, and it's the reason you should be too.
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