“An imposter rules the throne. A prophecy remains unfulfilled. The light is nearly gone.
In the kingdom of Tenebra, allegiance to the true King has been all but obliterated by a jealous rival. Only a handful of faithful subjects remain to challenge his authority and spread the truth; these are known as the Tiding Bearers. But after years of brutal slaughter, the rebels are hardly more than a legend and nothing stands between the false ruler and his ultimate victory—until a new generation of heroes takes up the cause, from the unlikeliest of origins…
A crippled slave, a spoiled heiress, and a disgraced prodigy, drawn together by the message of a mysterious stranger, set out on a quest that promises them unmatched power, wealth, and wisdom. What they didn’t dream of was an enemy who would stop at nothing to stop them and a choice that would change their world forever.”
Series: Book #1 in the “Tiding Bearer” trilogy.
Spiritual Content- Jeremiah 9:23-24 at the beginning; Scriptures are also quoted, remembered, referenced, & thought over (including Isaiah 41:10 being said to be the Giver’s pledge); God is often called the Giver in this book & Christians are called Tiding Bearers; Talks about God/the Giver, gifts from Him, mercy, & the characters’ heart’s desires; Most ’H’s are capital when referring to God; All three main characters meet a mysterious woman who quotes Scriptures and tells them to follow the Path to the key of life, to not stray from the Path, trust the Giver, & about the gifts from the Giver; The physical gifts the characters receive from her change into something else (*Spoilers* They all receive a special stone: Mavis’ turns into a necklace, Doran’s is a sword with Isaiah 41:10 on it and makes him feel courageous when holding it (later realizing it’s the words and not the sword), and Errol’s turns into a key that is able to unlock anything he tries; Soon after, Mavis wonders if their items are giving them the desires of their hearts when an opportunity she wants appears; They get distracted by this and realize that they were warned this would happen; Mavis thinks that God must be disappointed in them for their actions; After making a mistake, Doran hopes he can show the Giver what he has learned through the experience *End of Spoilers*); When hearing about Tiding Bearers being attacked, Doran wonders why the Giver didn’t protect His faithful followers; Doran recites the Gift’s pledge and adds to help him make his enemy pay; *Major Spoilers of the Ending* At the very end, the trio go to the mountains and meet the Giver Himself who is described as “so tall that His mighty white head nearly touched the ceiling, and His shoulders hulked like distant mountains, snow capped by His bright robes. His voice was as powerful as the roaring ocean I’d heard off the cliffs on the coast, yet as gentle as the evening breezes rustling through the grass on the plains”; Doran is healed by Him and the other two also have special moments with the Giver and they feel peace and joy in His presence *End of Spoilers*; A few mentions of prayers & praying;
*Note: The villain (also called “the deceiver”) is able to do illusions (through incantations) & is a master of manipulation and deception (*Major Spoilers* Towards the end, the trio are taken to his castle and experience the illusions (such as guards disappearing into thin air and one is described as an “unholy concoction”, & the villain saying that he is in control and their God can’t save them); He also makes it where each one of the trio can see the other’s deaths and Doran sees the illusion of blood covering himself from all those he loved, but each of their gifts from the Giver shows the truth and they have to trust in that; The villain accuses that God wouldn’t want to ally Himself with someone like Doran); A fire happens and Doran leaves the deceiver in the flames *End of Spoilers*); The villain tries to manipulate Doran especially and says that the Giver is a charlatan (also adding that Doran has gotten this far due to his own skill and intelligence, not “the Imposter and his so-called gifts”); Others call Doran (who was born with one leg shorter than the other) “cursed” (when Mavis finds out about this, she repeats it in a tone of awe, but then comments that it makes sense because of their luck turning sour quickly); One group seems to place a high importance on “Bounteous Earth” for the answers to their questions and believe the stars to be an external source of wisdom (implying they worship them); Errol says he and his people worship Reason and Logic instead; Fiction fantasy phrases are said: Doran saying that “Fury” granted him something, something happing when “Mount Fury freezes over”, something being “Fury’s fortune” or a miracle, “Shadows knowing” someone needs help, Doran asks for “Fury” to give him strength, ‘stones bury us all’, and ‘Fortune help me’; In a moment of anger, Doran asks “Fury” why he isn’t dead and prays for Fury’s inferno on someone; Doran also swears “on Fury” that he is telling the truth; Errol calls Mavis a “golden-haired goddess”; The group visits a town that has a “goddess of pleasure” with a temple overflowing with offerings to her; The trio takes part in cheers to the city of pleasures (called Myway), Mavis saying that she’s never felt so “happy and free as Myway has made” her; Mentions of gods & serving them; Mentions of the “goddess of pleasure”; Mentions of luck; A few mentions of superstitions & superstitious people; A few mentions of curses & wishing curses on others; A mention of a place having an “almost holy glow” to it; A mention of lucky charms; A mention of counting lucky stars (which is implied that one group of people do seriously); A mention of Errol calling himself “wickedly handsome”.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘biddies’, a ‘putz’, two forms of ‘blast/blast it all’, eight forms of ‘shut up’, nine ‘blasted’, eleven ‘bloody’, and sixteen forms of ‘stupid’; Fantasy-world curses: a ‘my stars’, two ‘stars above’, two ‘cursed heavens’, a ‘blasted Reason’, a ‘by Reason’, four ‘what in Reason’, two ‘Fury’s inferno’s, two ‘hurts like Fury’s, five forms of ‘where/what/how in Fury’, eight ‘Fury’s, eleven forms of ‘what/why in Fortune’, and fifteen forms of ‘bloody/smoldering Fury’; Other fiction phrases like ‘fury’s wrath on you’, ‘Mount Fury consume us all’, and ‘for Fury’s sake’ are all said up to twice each; Insults like “may his corpse feed a thousand vultures”, “may his bones bleach white in the desert”, “may a thousand worms make a feast of him”, “maggot-infused corpse of a man”, and “maggot” are all said; Mentions of curses (said, not written; including by Doran and Errol; When Errol curses at Doran, Doran responds to teach him to swear in Errol’s region and he’ll have strong words for him as well); Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Some lying (due to keeping secrets from villains); Lots of fighting/fights, being attacked and beaten, punching, being held at sword/knife-point and holding others at sword-point, being choked, being chased, injuries, pain, blood/bleeding, & passing out (semi-detailed); An earthquake, A fire, Being trapped in a cave-in, & Seeing dead bodies around (including of a child, up to semi-detailed); Seeing fighting/fights, people being beaten and stabbed, & other people nearly killed and killed (semi-detailed); Thinking they saw a murder & Grief (x4, up to semi-detailed); Going to a tavern, accidentally getting drunk, & gambling (*Spoiler* Errol gets drunk and also drags Doran to a gambling den where he also gets drunk; They both regret their actions and have hangovers afterwards; Doran says it will never happen again and Errol later refers to himself as a reformed gambler *End of Spoilers*; semi-detailed); Doran has been a slave most of his life under a cruel master that killed Doran’s family (including his grandmother that was killed in front of him) and Doran wishes throughout the book to be able to take revenge on the man and kill him (*Spoiler* As the book continues, he wonders when the man’s hold on him will be broken and thinks it would have been better to die in the mines; Doran imagines himself standing over the man’s bloody body, but the stone from the Tiding Bearer feels heavy in his pocket when he does; Towards the end, Doran is cut on his face by the man and the man torments him with more pain to come; *Main Spoilers* Towards the end, the villain gives Doran the opportunity to execute the man, but Doran does not (though he does draw blood with the sword he is given) and the man is murdered off-page; The villain tells Doran that he will never feel peace unless he does it, but Doran tells the villain that he is aware that he is trying to manipulate him *End of Spoilers*; all up to semi-detailed); Doran has nightmares and memories of the murders of loved ones (PTSD-like, semi-detailed); Mavis slaps Doran in a moment of being upset, but shortly after apologizes for doing so; After being betrayed, Errol wishes to make someone pay for their actions against him; A few side characters are eager to beat someone up or kill them; Many, many mentions of deaths, murders, fighting/fights, weapons, threats, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (including phrases like “running someone through”, slitting throats, and gouging someone’s eyes out, semi-detailed); Many mentions of slaves & slavery (and how mistreated they are); Many mentions of gambling, betting, alcohol, drinking, drunks, getting drunk, & taverns; Mentions of executions; Mentions of old women and pregnant women being beaten and killed by villains; Mentions of threats of harm & death; Mentions of earthquakes, cave-ins, & people suffocating; Mentions of a group of “supposedly dangerous revolutionaries”; Mentions of kidnappings, kidnappers, & ransoms; Mentions of crimes & criminals; Mentions of bandits, thieves, & stealing; Mentions of gangs, thugs, & con-artists; Mentions of cheating; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deceit; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of prison; A few mentions of vomiting; A mention of someone threatening to harm a horse;
*Note: Doran was born with one leg shorter than the other and is called a “cripple”, “defective”, and “cursed from birth” (which Doran notes his case is considered to be a “curse worse than stillbirth” in his region; Another offers to kill him, calling him a “disfiguring boil” on the area; Doran wonders if his parents ever thought about disowning him); Errol betrays his friend’s secret to get ahead; Errol can be arrogant with his knowledge & someone warns him about it; Mentions of PTSD-like symptoms by those who have been through trauma.
Sexual Content- Seeing a kiss in a play & Being jealousy; Men kiss Mavis’ hand (as a greeting and while flirting); A few touches, embraces, dancing, & blushes (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of “companionship inns” during a pleasure festival a town is having, the place having many women, & women offering men “delightful company”; A few mentions of flirting; A couple mentions of some men might want a pretty girl as their slave; A couple mentions of a girl looking at a man like a love struck puppy; A mention of Errol wishing he was writing “rejections to dozens of love confessions from beautiful women”.
-Doran
-Mavis, age 16
-Errol
P.O.V. switches between them
375 pages
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My personal Rating-
I didn’t know when I added this book to my reading list for the year that it was an allegory and as some you normally struggles with those, I’m glad I didn’t because I wouldn’t have read it most likely. “Gift of the Tiding Bearer” was a strong allegory, but I was able to follow along well despite my usual challenges with the genre.
This book starts out a bit intense with the POV of one of our main characters that is a slave and frequently being mistreated and beaten. Somehow despite this though, those parts still had a hopefully note to them and while I felt horrible for Doran, it didn’t make those parts feel horribly sad. More like stoking a righteous anger against the villains he is facing in a way? His POV is the only one in first person, which gave it more of a personal story and I would say more lessons as well. There was a bit more blood and fighting than I personally prefer to read about, but I’ll admit to having a low threshold for that kind of thing. It definitely didn’t feel gory, though, or like the author was determined to show all the bad things to heighten the light that would come (like I’ve seen other authors do), which I appreciated.
While our female main character, Mavis, is a bit of a spoiled brat at times, you can truly tell it’s because of how she was raised and the lack of attention from her parents. I overall liked her and seeing her growth. Realger was my favorite character, though.
Errol had his moments of being an arrogant and annoying jerk when we first meet him. I really didn’t like him for a while, but he eventually got better and bothered me less.
The allegory elements of this book reminded me very slightly of the children’s edition of “Hinds Feet on High Places”that I read when I was young, but I think most would compare it to “The Chronicles of Narnia” or similar books. Personally, I still haven’t read Narnia, so I can’t compare it to that, but from what I know of those books, I think it’s got similar elements and fans of either book would probably enjoy this one as well.
As far as the world building, it was a very unique setting. I would have preferred to have more details up front about all the cultures and all those elements, however, as it was really a learn-as-you-go type of style (which I don’t usually like for fantasy books). These elements were very fleshed out, but because there was so many of them and all the different places and cultures were shared here and there throughout the book, I had a hard time keeping track of it all. By halfway through I hit my stride in it and became more invested in these characters and their mission. I definitely had moments of wanting smack some sense into the characters for some of their poor decisions, but it was all for the sake of lessons and learning for them.
I wasn’t sure about continuing the series, personally, but I saw that it seems like it’s about Mavis more, so I think I probably will see about reading it as well.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
