Q is for a Quest of Heroes by Morgan Rice

A Quest of Heroes

Amazon Summery:

A QUEST OF HEROES (BOOK #1 IN THE SORCERER’S RING) revolves around the epic coming of age story of one special boy, a 14 year old from a small village on the outskirts of the Kingdom of the Ring. The youngest of four, the least favorite of his father, hated by his brothers, Thorgrin senses he is different from the others. He dreams of becoming a great warrior, of joining the King’s men and protecting the Ring from the hordes of creatures on the other side of the Canyon. When he comes of age and is forbidden by his father to try out for the King’s Legion, he refuses to take no for an answer: he journeys out on his own, determined to force his way into King’s Court and be taken seriously. 

But King’s Court is rife with its own family dramas, power struggles, ambitions, jealousy, violence and betrayal. King MacGil must choose an heir from amongst his children, and the ancient Dynasty Sword, the source of all their power, still sits untouched, waiting for the chosen one to arrive. Thorgrin arrives as an outsider and battles to be accepted, and to join the King’s Legion. 

Thorgrin comes to learn he has mysterious powers he does not understand, that he has a special gift, and a special destiny. Against all odds he falls in love with the king’s daughter, and as their forbidden relationship blossoms, he discovers he has powerful rivals. As he struggles to make sense of his powers, the king’s sorcerer takes him under his wing and tells him of a mother he never knew, in a land far away, beyond the Canyon, beyond even the land of the Dragons. 

Before Thorgrin can venture out and become the warrior he yearns to be, he must complete his training. But this may be cut short, as he finds himself propelled into the center of royal plots and counterplots, ones that may threaten his love and bring him down—and the entire kingdom with him. 

My Review:

I wasn't sure about A Quest For Heroes to begin with.  It felt slow to start with and I wasn't sure if I would really get into it.  Fortunately for me, I was wrong. By the end of the book I was so hooked I didn't want the book to end.

Let's start with the characters. Rice does and awesome job at filling them out. Thor, the main character, is convinced he will become a knight, and with his attitude and honor, it is hard to believe that he won't become one in future novels in the series.  Gwendolyn, the king's daughter, is an interesting combination of strength and weakness. You can see in her also the potential to be great, but her disinterest in ruling definitely looks like it will play a part in where her future goes. Even the villains, and there are quite a few, are fleshed out. Not all their motives are revealed before the end of the book, but their characters aren't paper thin.  I thought at first that Thor's perfect knight attitude might annoy me eventually, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't.  If anything it kinda grew on me and made me root for him even more.

Then there is the world itself.  Rice has impressively built his kingdom in the ring.  While fleshing out this world to the reader, he also drops intriguing clues to the world outside the ring.  I am definitely interested to see more of the world in future books.

The story is definitely strong.  Even though it is Thor's story, it is told from multiple points of view.  Seeing how they are all weaved to together is a definite treat.  I like to try to guess which way an author is leading me.  When an author takes a turn I might not expect, but that still keeps the story interesting and keeps me wanting to read more, it is definitely a plus. The story itself ends with a cliff hanger.  I don't want to spoil the novel, but it wasn't a happy ending. Lots of strings were left untied and the future of its characters is definitely uncertain. But I was so wrapped up in wanting to see what would happen to Thor that, while I was frustrated there wasn't more book to read, I was hooked.  I need to read March of Kings and see what happens.  As this is only the beginning of the series I'm sure that book won't end in a neat little bow either, but as long as it is as well written as this one, I'm sure I won't mind too much.

I think this looks like an awesome series.  Male or Female I think the reader will definitely enjoy it.  I wouldn't recommend it for too young a crowd though.  There are some topics that lean towards the deeper end.  Nothing vulgar or erotic  or anything, but I would recommend if you plan to give this as a gift to read it first before giving it to anyone under 18.  But despite that I think this novel was awesome and definitely recommend it. Also it is currently free on Amazon!