Goodreads: The Tail of the Order of the Blue Maiden

Author: Al Romero

Published: 11th July 2017 (Hyrax Productions)

Source: Copy from Author

Rating: 4/5 (Really liked it)

Official Summary: “As the talented and determined priestess, Mieu Notra, continues her quest to free the demigod Cacco from the cruelty of Lord Deseo DeLasombra, she finds that the lines between friend and foe become blurred. Betrayed by her Grandmother, the Countess of Cortuna, who schemes to give Mieu’s hand in marriage to her worst enemy, she turns to unlikely allies for help: The Seventh Day Bandits, a group of thieves that strike when most decent folk are at church. Mieu soon finds herself on the run in a wild and lawless territory where she discovers a mysterious castle that seems far too good to be true.
Meanwhile, in the sleepy town of San Marga, Mieu’s escape from the countess creates some unexpected consequences when the entire town is sensationalized by her disappearance. Amongst the townsfolk is a lowly stable boy and ‘no-tail’ named Ayan, who, having been abused and insulted all of his life for having been born without a tail, is desperate to prove himself and join the legendary order of knights known as the Wulvekraken. Ayan surprises himself by breaking the rules, and setting off on an unlikely quest to free the blue-haired maiden, Mieu, from the highwaymen he mistakenly believes to be her captors. With his cousin Jon Cabal, a refugee from a war-stricken land, and a peculiar scholar named Earon Deacon en tow, Ayan finds himself on thrilling adventure beyond his wildest dreams where he obtains Shadowgleam, the legendary sword of Vellorea’s first king.
Mieu and Ayan’s fates intertwine as they weave in and out of a perilous conflict between a settlement of refugees, and an army of invaders that seek to enslave them. They do all of this under the watchful eye Griol, the all-powerful deity of the Velloreans, who manipulates all the players from the shadows of the netherworld, and waits patiently to claim the souls of fallen warriors.” – Goodreads

Review: I really enjoyed this. There was a lot that happened, you got to see a lot of the characters. From the very start of them becoming much more. Becoming what they were destined to be. I like the time travel/it all happened before sense you got from some of the characters that hinted at it. Like a few of them knew a lot more than what they were saying. The world building, the religion, the songs/poems everything was so amazingly done. You could tell the Author had sold part of his soul to put it all on paper. It was very complex and so well built.

Why not 5 stars? The size of the book. It was massive 743 pages. And the font was very small. It took a bit of the joy out of reading the story because it was just too long. Yet I felt not much could have been cut out. In a way, it felt like it could have been split into 2 books.

I like how the main character was so grey. He was a hero but not at the same time. Just a boy trying to the right thing in a mad world. Mieu annoyed me a little in places. She came across as a brat. Lucky enough she semi-grew out of that.

(Disclaimer: I received a copy from the Author. Does not affect my review.)