Forsyth Turn is not a hero. Lordling of Turn Hall and Lysse Chipping, yes. Spymaster for the king, certainly. But hero? That’s his older brother’s job, and Kintyre Turn is nothing if not legendary. However, when a raid on the kingdom’s worst criminal results in the rescue of a bafflingly blunt woman, oddly named and even more oddly mannered, Forsyth finds his quaint, sedentary life is turned on … on its head.
Dragged reluctantly into a quest he never expected, and fighting villains that even his brother has never managed to best, Forsyth is forced to confront his own self-shame and the demons that come with always being second-best. And, more than that, when he finally realizes where Lucy came from and why she’s here, he’ll be forced to question not only his place in the world, but the very meaning of his own existence.
Smartly crafted, The Untold Tale gives agency to the unlikeliest of heroes: the silenced, the marginalized, and the overlooked. It asks what it really means to be a fan when the worlds you love don’t resemble the world you live in, celebrates the power of the written word, challenges tropes, and shows us what happens when someone stands up and refuses to remain a secondary character in their own life.
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A well written story is a thing of beauty. There is magic in reading twenty, or thirty, or forty pages in what feels like the blink of an eye. The words just flow and give an alternate meaning to the expression ‘page turner.’ The pages just seem to turn themselves as the words build pictures and feelings and sensations. A page turner doesn’t require swashbuckling, mystery, or danger, although there are some readers, I would imagine, who wouldn’t see it my way. This is a well written story that wraps all these things into an epic fantasy without making the action the most important thing.
THE UNTOLD TALE revels in its many levels of complexity; it is a tale within a tale, within a tale. The characters are both cardboard cutouts and fully fleshed individuals of such emotional intricacy that you, the reader, feel their every agony of pleasure or pain.
I was particularly enamored with the way J. M. Frey guided me from fantasy to reality with such subtlety that I found myself ensnared so totally that there was no letting go. The premise here is unique to me, which added a new dimension to my reading experience.
Since I have started reading with writing a review as my goal, I find that words will pop into my head that I must remember to use when writing my review. THE UNTOLD TALE seems a perfect vehicle for the extremely strong female protagonist, Lucy Piper… “Pip.” As I neared the end of this long and involved story, the word hubris came to me unbidden. This fantasy is a story of our times cloaked in the colors of fantasy. It examines love from all angles. It examines kindness and equality to and for all. It speaks to the evils that abound in all worlds… the real and the fantastic. In THE UNTOLD TALE, you will learn the symbiosis of the writer with the reader, and how the tale unites the two.
It is a rare thing indeed to read a book that comes as near to perfection as does this one. My perfect book uses language to paint a picture, to evoke a tear, to make me laugh, and to be as close to never ending as possible. Yes, a good book should always leave you wanting more, and this apparently will fulfill that want since it purports to be the first in a series. I totally look forward to the next installment.
I bought the second book in JM Frey’s Accidental Turn series-The Forgotten Tale-before I finished this first story. I love Forsythe’s discovery of the man he was meant to be once he meets Pip. Pip is a hero, whether or not she sees it. Kintyre and Bevel and a cast of minor characters add depth to an adventure-filled quest. The Untold Tale is a story definitely worth reading.
At the beginning of the story I got tired of hearing Forsyth demean himself and not believe someone could/would actually like him. Ay 30% in the book she told him she admires him etc and he still doesn’t believe her. Getting old. The three-some sexual story wasn’t appropriate. Also the details in the first sexual encounters was too graphic. I appreciated the wording for subsequent encounters…until there was another detailed account. It was a quest story and about the time the characters are thinking this is too easy/boring I’m thinking the same thing. Then things take a twist and start to get more exciting. When that happens the rest of the book is excellent. I loved the ending where the author actually fleshed it out.
One of the better things about being a reviewer and reader for Voracious Readers Only is that I am offered books and can chose which ones I will read and review. The drawback is that the books are all e-books and I like a real book to read in bed. Technology and I still fight and it takes determination to read on my Blackberry when I have to tap several times to turn a page or I touch the screen and we fly back to the beginning or another chapter. Still I have found several good books to read despite the techy problems.
‘The Untold Tale’ is an interesting fantasy read. The setting – which I won’t talk too much about for fearing of spoiling the surprise – is nicely original. The male MC, Forsyth Turn, is interesting if a trifle annoying at times. He does wimp on about being a wimp. The female lead, Pip, is also irritating at times too, but this adds to her stroppy nature and makes her more 3D. The plot is a lovely mix of all the old fantasy plots turned upside down and therefore turned into humour. There are some delightful moments of comedy, especially on the so-called Quest.
My one complaint is that so much was stuffed into the plot that we were in danger of mental indigestion, but that’s more a writer’s POV as I’d have liked some tighter editing, for example of the feminist thread, which was belaboured at times. This is the first of a series so I sympathise with the author in that she must get enough of the themes and characters she will work on later established now. But she writes a good character and her dialogue is apt for each character.
If you like fantasy and want a different one for a change, give this novel a try. It’s a fun read, there’s enough in the plot to make one think, and it is funny, more so if you know the typical fantasy plot lines and so can see where the mickey is being taken.