The ax-wielding horsemen came in the middle of the night and burned Amanki’s village to the ground. Now he’s the sole survivor, and it’s up to him to bring the murderers to justice.But first, he must discover who’s to blame for the slaughter. The answer lies in the capital of the empire a thousand miles from his destroyed village. With the bloodthirsty horsemen on his trail, a dying mage at his … dying mage at his side, and the distraction of a beautiful woman, he sets out on his voyage. Little does he know, the emperor has put a price on his head.
What readers are saying…
★★★★★ “An epic journey of a lifetime!”
★★★★★ “Unpredictable with twists and turns that keep you frozen to your seat!”
★★★★★ “I promise you won’t be disappointed!”
★★★★★ “Sweeping in scope but very human in scale.”
★★★★★ “A coming-of-age fantasy story fraught with peril.”
★★★★★ “An unforgettable adventure!”
THE TALES OF TZOLADIA SERIES (COMPLETE)
Book 1: The Emperor’s Harvest
Book 2: The Emperor’s Trap
Book 3: The Emperor’s War
Book 4: The Emperor’s Visions
Book 5: The Emperor’s Doom
more
The Emperor’s Harvest by RA Denny is a YA fantasy novel, formerly entitled Refugees.
Mud, rocks, and trees. In addition to humans, there are three types of people: those with flippers feet who live best in much, those with rock-like hides, and those who glide from tree to tree. There are prophecies about a young man and about a monster who bears all three qualities. The emperor has heard tales of this and is sending his bloodthirsty warriors to kill the prophesied man.
This story is a chosen one fantasy story. There are four point of view characters, one from each of the races, and while their stories are initially separate, they all head toward the same conclusion and side in the upcoming war. It was an entertaining story which I enjoyed very much.
The most creative part of the story was the three races other than human—the ones represented in the series title, Mud, Rocks, and Trees. They were original fantasy beings, and I found their skills and the potential of the vague prophecies concerning them very intriguing. I’m planning to check into the rest of the series to see how everything turns out.
The characters seemed young, and the writing was appropriate for younger teens. However, there were some pretty gory parts because the enemies were so evil. Other than that, the story was clean.
I enjoyed the story for its creativity, and I hope you will too.
I received a complementary copy for this book from the author. All opinions are my own, and I wasn’t compensated for sharing them.
An epic journey is exactly what this book was. Following our three leads Amanki, Moshoi & Brina through their trials and tribulations, Refugees sets the groundwork for the series which spans 6 books. All slated at the perfect length to keep teen minds engaged.
Our leads are interestingly enough humans with animalistic features of duck, armadillo and flying squirrel, and Denny did not disappoint with the incorporation of these features. With each being very different creatures, I was intently intrigued as to connecting factor between the three young hybrids. Using the animals as inspiration to direct the story setting was impeccably crafted leaving no stone unturned.
Amanki and Moshoi story though seemed to fall flat when in comparison to Brina’s. I felt myself more drawn to Brina character and more invested in her. Even though all three demonstrated their strengths and weakness, it was nice to know that our heroes are not without flaws making them each that much more likable. Moshoi seems to have the oldest spirit but I found myself questioning his judgement. Amanki seems to have grown up with blinders on to the world and is very naive. While Brina, well as I said before I felt drawn to her and her struggles. Whether my interpretation or not is correct of the characters that is the way I perceived them based upon their action and words.
My only complaint was that once you started to dive into a character’s story the next chapter would move you onto another. But they are clearly marked as to who’s you will be reading
I received a free copy of this book, this review posted was done so voluntarily.
Refugees (Mud, Rocks and Trees) was such an exciting read from start to finish!
I wasn’t quite to sure what to expect when I first picked up the book and started reading but I wasn’t pleasantly surprised. In this novel, we have three young individuals who are destined to save the world except none feel quite ready and they are not quite sure how. Each comes from a different past and culture, even their bodies are made differently. One is in the human form of a duck, another like a flying squirrel and another with the hard skin of an armadillo. What could they possibly have in common?
They have one man who becomes their guide and the star that set their destiny.
Each chapter is told from one of the young characters view-point as they struggle to leave their home to begin this new journey. All have risked banishment, being an outcast and one even is spared death. The novel is an exciting journey from start to finish, you never really know what is going to happen next and you feel connected to our main characters. I felt more connected to Amanki (the duck man) and Brina (the one that resembles the flying squirrel) and I am not quite sure why. Every time I came to their chapters, I just had to have more! I was emotionally invested in these two characters especially Brina.
This is an excellent novel for young adults (and adults who enjoy a great fantasy read!). I can not wait to read book two in this series as I was so sad when the book ended and where it ended.
Refugees is the first book in the Mud, Rocks and Trees series and it’s a really strong start! Refugees felt to me like a true fantasy adventure, I loved how the 3 young people are very different in their ways, customs and languages but are all threaded together by one man, Baskrod, a simple fisherman highly bound by his faith with more to him that meets the eye i’m sure. The mud, rocks and trees relate to the culture each of the 3 hail from, usually I would try and pick a favourite but I found all 3, Brina (trees) Moshoi (rock) and Amanki (mud) to be fantastic characters with their own specific traits, strengths and flaws (I hope they all make it together in future books as I would love to see how they interact with each other). I especially liked how time was spent showing how different each society was, how their beliefs, understanding and acceptance of other cultures and religions shaped how the story moved forward and impacted upon what happened to the characters
The book is in multiple POV’s (my favourite) for each of the 3, intriguingly we also have the view of Metlan (grass) occasionally which usually would end up being too many characters for me to keep track of, but he is used sparingly and only to drive the story forward where necessary which I was glad about. As grass doesn’t feature in the series title his inclusion took me a little by surprise and my mind is ticking over about the part he has to play in it all!
There is a ton to love in this book, I really enjoyed the slow reveals of how the story was coming together and the small nuggets that wove through it in relation to the star and the prophecy. It was well paced and the multiple POV’s led to me feeling like I was on a cliffhanger throughout which made it an exciting read, although it was a little unfair to some characters occasionally as I found myself rushing through some chapters to find out what happened next with others! Some of the chapters are quite short and punchy but it serves the story well and keeps the characters moving forward without losing track of where each are.
For me the only thing that I would have liked is that the 3 would have moved further forward on their journeys by the end, it’s very much a story to set up the series (6 books in total) and I felt it ended too soon despite it being a decent size read; everything was very open ended, which had a slight Lord of the Rings feel to it. Amanki was the first to have their part of the story come to an end and I felt he got a little left behind because of it, I am a big fan of things being tied up neatly though, so that’s more down to me and not at all a fault in the story telling.
Ultimately if you’re a fan of intricately woven stories with a sense of adventure, intrigue and a little bit of faith then you will enjoy Refugees, it’s certainly got the makings of an epic series!
4*
ARE YOU READY FOR A REAL ADVENTURE???
Wonderfully written, well paced, unpredictable with twists and turns that keep you captivated and frozen to your seat. RA did a remarkable job of making this so realistic that your completely pulled into the scenes as if your part of the adventure. A great job and truly amazing.