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A Tale of Origins
A Tale of Origins, book two in The Black Throne trilogy, goes back in time to follow the upbringing of the infamous, villainous Malice Reap.
Vendetta Reap, Queen of Hordes Region, desires power, which she has but is not enough. To secure her position on the throne and build her empire, she abducts a child born of the three great bloodlines of the demon race.
Malice, born of snow and darkness, must live under her highness's cruel eye, obeying her whims, and succumbing to the agony she puts him through. He gladly accepts said agony to protect those he loves. However, when he finds the truth hidden far beneath the ruins of an ancient castle, he must not only learn to survive as the queen's mutt but also learn how to accept who he truly is.
Join Malice as he discovers the long-forgotten and buried history of Vinyamar, struggles with his identity and where he fits in his mother's court or falls into the depths of darkness where not even pain will serve to keep him sane.
Vendetta Reap, Queen of Hordes Region, desires power, which she has but is not enough. To secure her position on the throne and build her empire, she abducts a child born of the three great bloodlines of the demon race.
Malice, born of snow and darkness, must live under her highness's cruel eye, obeying her whims, and succumbing to the agony she puts him through. He gladly accepts said agony to protect those he loves. However, when he finds the truth hidden far beneath the ruins of an ancient castle, he must not only learn to survive as the queen's mutt but also learn how to accept who he truly is.
Join Malice as he discovers the long-forgotten and buried history of Vinyamar, struggles with his identity and where he fits in his mother's court or falls into the depths of darkness where not even pain will serve to keep him sane.
726 pages, Paperback
Published April 15, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 12, 2025
Okay first off I'm so sorry this took so long I'm really bad with reading e-books since I do a lot of reading at nighttime and trying to read an ebook before bed means I won't sleep (not that I don't look at my phone before bed and screw up my sleep schedule regardless but y'know).
Also, I received a digital arc copy for free in exchange for an honest review.
Okay time for the actual review lol.
Pacing
The pacing is much slower for sure, but I think it works much better.
Plot
At first the plot is kinda unclear, like it’s more about just seeing Malice’s life, but I think once shit really starts happening then I think the plot works better than in A Tale of Origins.
Characters
I am Vendetta’s biggest hater, oh my god what an awful person.
Malice is best character, obviously. He went through absolute hell.
Odovacar is my favorite out of the siblings.
Sok and Rayen to me are those creepily identical twins (I actually don’t remember) who are the same character. I felt no attachment to them but it was kind of upsetting when they died since they were like, fourteen at most.
Inyene and Draga I also kind of lump together, but Draga seems more scholarly, while Inyene’s a torturer. Draga I feel has a bit more of a personality while Inyene not so much. I don’t really like them but it’s not as strong as a hate as Vendetta.
I also like Kiran, that death man :(
Emil I don’t know how to feel.
Zephyrus I feel nothing.
Nyx and Karlisle while appearing only briefly I did enjoy.
I did like Alkeim, however there were parts of him I wanted to be shown rather than explained.
Felim didn’t do a whole lot to leave an impact.
Magnus was in this book much less so it didn’t change my existing opinion which is mostly that I didn’t feel much for him.
There’s
Relationships
Kiran and Malice’s relationship was definitely the strongest. I wanted to see more between them though. Them growing apart also kinda sucked.
Malice and Magnus while I get the distance part, I still wanted to read more letters between them. I think I also finally understand their deal in book two, which is that at one point Magnus has intrusive thoughts about Malice that disgusts him enough to cut him off, and both are pretty clearly upset about not being around one another. I don’t think in this book Magnus was actually genuinely romantically interested in Malice. I think Malice briefly had a crush on Magnus when their first meeting happened, but for most of the book it felt platonic otherwise. Than towards the end he expresses interest in him again despite it being long after their friendship break-up for lack of a better term, which I feel was unearned considering how upset he was after Magnus’ last letter.
Malice and Zephyrus while said to be friends I still didn’t feel that they were very close.
I did like Odovacar and Malice’s relationship, not perfect but I think their sibling dynamic is interesting.
Malice and Vendetta’s relationship while pretty bad, was also interesting.
Grammar
I did notice a few mistakes here and there, but not a whole lot.
Worldbuilding
More thought out, the magic is explained more. Still don’t fully understand magic but it’s elemental based. To be fair we don’t see a whole lot of magic, and that’s probably why I don’t fully get. Kinda wish there was more magic.
Other Stuff
There was a part where it was either Tendai, Blodwhen or both where they were working with Vendetta that had something to do with supplying poisons or something, and Malice was shocked to learn that one or both of them was doing that (my memory of this is fuzzy because I only just remembered it, should’ve taken more notes lol), however Malice never confronts them about it or anything which leaves me surprised. It does later get sort of addressed but you’d think he’s confront them head on eventually, but they don’t. It does seem like Kiran and his family are banished (Kiran explicitly but it’s implied the rest of his family is also banished too I think???)
I also understand the whole Annabeth thing, however there’s a point where she just completely disappears to the point where I wonder if she left working at the palace or like… died. Like I get that she stopped being Malice’s like personal caretaker but I did sorta want closure I guess?
At a point it’s mentioned Zephyrus died, but that isn’t true at all as far as I know. Unless Malice does not want to tell people what really happened between them, but I’m not sure why.
Overall
You know, I think I like this book better than Black Throne. We focus mainly on Malice, who is blatantly my favorite, and see his backstory. I think a lot of things would work better if this was the first to be honest. I’m not saying series HAVE to be linear tales, I’m sure there are series where it’s not told in a linear order, however I feel like it might be better to read this first than The Black Throne rather in the publication order. The way things are written makes me feel like this was meant to come out first, it feels more like a first book than anything, but The Black Throne was decided to be published instead, perhaps it being the favorite book or something? There’s also things that happen in the first that don’t make as much sense without reading the first, which I’m sure there are ways that it can be done, but if it was purposeful then the execution isn’t done super well.
In the end, while yes there are things that could be fixed, I do think this is deserving of a five star review because I like reading about Malice. If I had to summarize him in one word, he’s messy but fun to read. I still need answers for book one’s ending so I await patiently for book three, and I hope I’ll continue the tradition of being the first reviewer lol.
Also, I received a digital arc copy for free in exchange for an honest review.
Okay time for the actual review lol.
Pacing
The pacing is much slower for sure, but I think it works much better.
Plot
At first the plot is kinda unclear, like it’s more about just seeing Malice’s life, but I think once shit really starts happening then I think the plot works better than in A Tale of Origins.
Characters
I am Vendetta’s biggest hater, oh my god what an awful person.
Malice is best character, obviously. He went through absolute hell.
Odovacar is my favorite out of the siblings.
Sok and Rayen to me are those creepily identical twins (I actually don’t remember) who are the same character. I felt no attachment to them but it was kind of upsetting when they died since they were like, fourteen at most.
Inyene and Draga I also kind of lump together, but Draga seems more scholarly, while Inyene’s a torturer. Draga I feel has a bit more of a personality while Inyene not so much. I don’t really like them but it’s not as strong as a hate as Vendetta.
I also like Kiran, that death man :(
Emil I don’t know how to feel.
Zephyrus I feel nothing.
Nyx and Karlisle while appearing only briefly I did enjoy.
I did like Alkeim, however there were parts of him I wanted to be shown rather than explained.
Felim didn’t do a whole lot to leave an impact.
Magnus was in this book much less so it didn’t change my existing opinion which is mostly that I didn’t feel much for him.
There’s
Relationships
Kiran and Malice’s relationship was definitely the strongest. I wanted to see more between them though. Them growing apart also kinda sucked.
Malice and Magnus while I get the distance part, I still wanted to read more letters between them. I think I also finally understand their deal in book two, which is that at one point Magnus has intrusive thoughts about Malice that disgusts him enough to cut him off, and both are pretty clearly upset about not being around one another. I don’t think in this book Magnus was actually genuinely romantically interested in Malice. I think Malice briefly had a crush on Magnus when their first meeting happened, but for most of the book it felt platonic otherwise. Than towards the end he expresses interest in him again despite it being long after their friendship break-up for lack of a better term, which I feel was unearned considering how upset he was after Magnus’ last letter.
Malice and Zephyrus while said to be friends I still didn’t feel that they were very close.
I did like Odovacar and Malice’s relationship, not perfect but I think their sibling dynamic is interesting.
Malice and Vendetta’s relationship while pretty bad, was also interesting.
Grammar
I did notice a few mistakes here and there, but not a whole lot.
Worldbuilding
More thought out, the magic is explained more. Still don’t fully understand magic but it’s elemental based. To be fair we don’t see a whole lot of magic, and that’s probably why I don’t fully get. Kinda wish there was more magic.
Other Stuff
There was a part where it was either Tendai, Blodwhen or both where they were working with Vendetta that had something to do with supplying poisons or something, and Malice was shocked to learn that one or both of them was doing that (my memory of this is fuzzy because I only just remembered it, should’ve taken more notes lol), however Malice never confronts them about it or anything which leaves me surprised. It does later get sort of addressed but you’d think he’s confront them head on eventually, but they don’t. It does seem like Kiran and his family are banished (Kiran explicitly but it’s implied the rest of his family is also banished too I think???)
I also understand the whole Annabeth thing, however there’s a point where she just completely disappears to the point where I wonder if she left working at the palace or like… died. Like I get that she stopped being Malice’s like personal caretaker but I did sorta want closure I guess?
At a point it’s mentioned Zephyrus died, but that isn’t true at all as far as I know. Unless Malice does not want to tell people what really happened between them, but I’m not sure why.
Overall
You know, I think I like this book better than Black Throne. We focus mainly on Malice, who is blatantly my favorite, and see his backstory. I think a lot of things would work better if this was the first to be honest. I’m not saying series HAVE to be linear tales, I’m sure there are series where it’s not told in a linear order, however I feel like it might be better to read this first than The Black Throne rather in the publication order. The way things are written makes me feel like this was meant to come out first, it feels more like a first book than anything, but The Black Throne was decided to be published instead, perhaps it being the favorite book or something? There’s also things that happen in the first that don’t make as much sense without reading the first, which I’m sure there are ways that it can be done, but if it was purposeful then the execution isn’t done super well.
In the end, while yes there are things that could be fixed, I do think this is deserving of a five star review because I like reading about Malice. If I had to summarize him in one word, he’s messy but fun to read. I still need answers for book one’s ending so I await patiently for book three, and I hope I’ll continue the tradition of being the first reviewer lol.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2025
Malice origin story was just as devastating as i thought it would be, legit shed a tear.
The way that little Malice and his friends were written were realistic. Maybe it's because I have younger siblings, so the thought process of little kids was spot on.
Although Vendetta's death was anticlimactic, i wasn't surprised by it. It has been shown repeatedly that she underestimates people too much, that she thinks she'll get what she wants.
Can't wait for book 3🙂↕️
The way that little Malice and his friends were written were realistic. Maybe it's because I have younger siblings, so the thought process of little kids was spot on.
Although Vendetta's death was anticlimactic, i wasn't surprised by it. It has been shown repeatedly that she underestimates people too much, that she thinks she'll get what she wants.
Can't wait for book 3🙂↕️
May 4, 2025
A Tale of Origins is the sequel to The Black Throne, by Silas Johnson, and I was provided with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. My actual rating is 2.5 stars, however, the copy I received was an earlier version to what has now been published, and I understand there have been quite a number of changes/edits made in the meantime that address some of the below.
As the title suggests, this is an origin story that explores how Malice Reap becomes the version of himself that we meet in The Black Throne.
The opening (up to about the 10% mark) was interesting, with a solid premise – a child who is the heir of three powerful bloodlines is stolen from his parents by an evil queen. And, we know Malice from The Black Throne, so I was curious to see where he started out.
From there, the story explores the horrors of Malice’s childhood, both through his own eyes, and those of other characters. In the first half of the book (10% to about 40%) there were some interesting settings (Mutuwa, especially), and we were reintroduced to some of the characters from The Black Throne (Magnus and Zephyrus, most notably). Unfortunately, I struggled to connect to the characters; Malice is aged between about 4 and 7 years old. I think the author did well all things considered, but it’s very difficult to give such a young character enough agency and depth to feel relatable to adult readers, especially when they’re having such extreme experiences (the main plot in this section of the book revolved almost entirely around torturing Malice). I had the same challenge connecting with the other young characters–Kiran, especially. Zephyrus was a little better. I wanted to like Magnus, but he felt very much like a minor character and quite separate from anything else happening in the story. The adult characters were all monstrous or cowardly (or both), which made them unlikeable for me - I think this was by design, but it left me feeling quite untethered and disillusioned, especially given the heavy themes.
I enjoyed the middle of the book (~40%-60%) more. By this point in the story, Malice is about 10 years old, and is starting to develop a little more personality and agency which made him a more interesting character. I liked his acts of defiance, and the way he grapples with his own morality. I also appreciated the way his past (and ongoing) traumas are acknowledged in the form of nightmares, and his visceral reactions to certain triggers. Here, Malice has some power of his own and is beginning to find allies, but is also still young and vulnerable; I felt like Malice still had to work to succeed, but there was no guarantee of success, which was compelling.
I wanted more from the final part of the book (~60%-100%) than I felt like I got. Once again, there were some cool settings (the underground city, for instance), some interesting characters/character dynamics at play, and a number of scenes that were compelling/action packed when viewed in isolation; when viewed as a whole, they felt a little disjointed. It felt like the POV characters' main purpose was to provide the reader with different lenses through which to view Malice, rather than working toward their own goals within the story. I also wasn’t clear what Malice himself wanted/was working toward and it didn’t feel like he (or any of the other characters, for that matter) had to work very hard for anything. That robbed me of a lot of the satisfaction I was wanting during the book’s bigger moments/confrontations and left them feeling a little flat/anticlimactic.
Overall, this book was not as well aligned to my personal reading tastes/preferences as The Black Throne was. It was much heavier/more extreme with some of its themes/scenes it depicts, so checking the content warnings is a MUST. This is a book for people who like long, multi-POV, dark fantasy books, who prefer villains over heroes, and enjoy villain origin stories.
As the title suggests, this is an origin story that explores how Malice Reap becomes the version of himself that we meet in The Black Throne.
The opening (up to about the 10% mark) was interesting, with a solid premise – a child who is the heir of three powerful bloodlines is stolen from his parents by an evil queen. And, we know Malice from The Black Throne, so I was curious to see where he started out.
From there, the story explores the horrors of Malice’s childhood, both through his own eyes, and those of other characters. In the first half of the book (10% to about 40%) there were some interesting settings (Mutuwa, especially), and we were reintroduced to some of the characters from The Black Throne (Magnus and Zephyrus, most notably). Unfortunately, I struggled to connect to the characters; Malice is aged between about 4 and 7 years old. I think the author did well all things considered, but it’s very difficult to give such a young character enough agency and depth to feel relatable to adult readers, especially when they’re having such extreme experiences (the main plot in this section of the book revolved almost entirely around torturing Malice). I had the same challenge connecting with the other young characters–Kiran, especially. Zephyrus was a little better. I wanted to like Magnus, but he felt very much like a minor character and quite separate from anything else happening in the story. The adult characters were all monstrous or cowardly (or both), which made them unlikeable for me - I think this was by design, but it left me feeling quite untethered and disillusioned, especially given the heavy themes.
I enjoyed the middle of the book (~40%-60%) more. By this point in the story, Malice is about 10 years old, and is starting to develop a little more personality and agency which made him a more interesting character. I liked his acts of defiance, and the way he grapples with his own morality. I also appreciated the way his past (and ongoing) traumas are acknowledged in the form of nightmares, and his visceral reactions to certain triggers. Here, Malice has some power of his own and is beginning to find allies, but is also still young and vulnerable; I felt like Malice still had to work to succeed, but there was no guarantee of success, which was compelling.
I wanted more from the final part of the book (~60%-100%) than I felt like I got. Once again, there were some cool settings (the underground city, for instance), some interesting characters/character dynamics at play, and a number of scenes that were compelling/action packed when viewed in isolation; when viewed as a whole, they felt a little disjointed. It felt like the POV characters' main purpose was to provide the reader with different lenses through which to view Malice, rather than working toward their own goals within the story. I also wasn’t clear what Malice himself wanted/was working toward and it didn’t feel like he (or any of the other characters, for that matter) had to work very hard for anything. That robbed me of a lot of the satisfaction I was wanting during the book’s bigger moments/confrontations and left them feeling a little flat/anticlimactic.
Overall, this book was not as well aligned to my personal reading tastes/preferences as The Black Throne was. It was much heavier/more extreme with some of its themes/scenes it depicts, so checking the content warnings is a MUST. This is a book for people who like long, multi-POV, dark fantasy books, who prefer villains over heroes, and enjoy villain origin stories.
August 12, 2025
This book was quite a roller coaster of emotions. I started reading it right after the first one, which I absolutely adored, I had no idea this one would have more of an impact on me! If the story of The Black Throne had me so hooked, this one just straight up made me read for hours, so much sometimes I had to personally set myself an amount of pages to read a day.
The plot is exciting and full of twist, the characters are very complex and unpredictable, I got so much into the story i even had dreams about it. If possible I would erase my memory of the story just to read it again! Truly raised the bar set by The Black Throne, at least for me. It fixes the main problem I could see on the last book, being that the story would get a little quick or draw out for too long, though there were some small moments where I would get a little confused over the timeline, but it wasn’t a big problem when reading.
Took so long to read due to college, but I’m glad I still gave it a shot, I would 100% recommend.
Can’t wait to see more of these amazing characters and this beautiful world!
The plot is exciting and full of twist, the characters are very complex and unpredictable, I got so much into the story i even had dreams about it. If possible I would erase my memory of the story just to read it again! Truly raised the bar set by The Black Throne, at least for me. It fixes the main problem I could see on the last book, being that the story would get a little quick or draw out for too long, though there were some small moments where I would get a little confused over the timeline, but it wasn’t a big problem when reading.
Took so long to read due to college, but I’m glad I still gave it a shot, I would 100% recommend.
Can’t wait to see more of these amazing characters and this beautiful world!
March 11, 2025
A Tale of Origins is book two in The Black Throne trilogy, and it is:
-Meant for mature audiences
-Graphic in gore and spice
-Riddled with family drama, high stakes, and self-discovery
-Also fantasy, I'm tempted to say it's teasing the grim dark genre as well
-An exploration of the past
-Once again, please read the content warning at the beginning. ATO is much heavier in atmosphere than TBT. Take the warning seriously and take care of yourself.
I am so excited to see what readers will say about The Black Throne trilogy thus far!
-Meant for mature audiences
-Graphic in gore and spice
-Riddled with family drama, high stakes, and self-discovery
-Also fantasy, I'm tempted to say it's teasing the grim dark genre as well
-An exploration of the past
-Once again, please read the content warning at the beginning. ATO is much heavier in atmosphere than TBT. Take the warning seriously and take care of yourself.
I am so excited to see what readers will say about The Black Throne trilogy thus far!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews