Dar Tania: How the First Priestess of Tiamat Arose and Founded the Dragon Empire of Morbattania

by Eric K. Barnum

Thousands of years have passed with the dragon god Alerius watching over his many tribes of barbarians eastward on the Forsaken Isles. Waiting for just one of them to hear his mother's voice, he has guided and driven his people to be worthy of their name - Morbat, children of dragons. Dar Tania, daughter of the Tribe of Horses is the first to face her Coming of Age test, pray to the Mother, and have that prayer answered. She becomes the first priestess of Tiamat and joins herself to Alerius' dream of building an empire of divine warriors. This book sets the stage for the rest of the Forsaken Isles series. Dar Tania is followed by Malcor's Story, set 1,800 years after this one.

Genres: Fantasy

104 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 2016

About the author

Dar Tania, the 1st book in Forsaken Isles won 2018 ELIT Bronze! ForsakenIsles.com won ELIT 2018 Best Author website!

To learn more about Eric K. Barnum and the world of the Forsaken Isles, visit his blog at forsakenisles.com or erickbarnum.com

An avid fan of the fantasy genre, Eric K. Barnum finally released his first book, Dar Tania, in September 2016. Set in a novel fantasy world pulled between magical and divine powers, Eric presents the Forsaken Isles, a world not too unlike our own. As the druid Brook said in Dar Tania II: Set's Dream, 'forsaken' because the people of the isles fled from their devastated homes, never to go back.

Eric writes from Virginia when not otherwise engaged in his career as an analyst, hiking with his three daughters, or reading. With a deep love of fantasy works, and inspired by modern fantasy authors like Raymond E. Feist, David Eddings, and Brent Weeks, Eric hopes to take the familiar and present new ideas about how and why, in a world with magic, gods still matter. The paladin is a particular favorite in all Eric's stories. Their relationship with priests, dragons, avatars, and necromancy in particular fill the pages of the Forsaken Isles.

Reviews

[Michael DeAngelo]

A great foundation can truly let you aspire to even greater things, and in the case of the Forsaken Isles series, Dar Tania excels at putting together a base level that the following books can build off of. This first story in Barnum's world goes far beyond what you might normally expect from an introductory tale. It simultaneously introduces compelling characters while establishing layer after layer of lore and backstory for the books to come. Though the story stands strong as its own narrative, it manages to also set things in motion that Barnum will no doubt reference in the rest of the Forsaken Isles books.

If you're looking for an introduction to a world, and a book that has a mix of fantasy, spiritual and philosophical elements, Dar Tania is a wonderful read!

[Andro]

I followed a reviewer to this book. I saw him criticize another author's work really well and after the same reviewer rated this book at 5 stars, I had high hopes. I was disappointed... I had to DNF this book around 71% and luckily it is a short story overall. The frustration caused me to write my first review on goodreads.

This story fails fundamentally in the "show don't tell" department. Half the time I thought I was reading the appendix of a board game or a character flavor text from an RPG game, and I think quite a few of those are better than the story about Dar Tania. In addition, certain sections of conversations and chapters feel like they have been written separately and then combined without editing or review, the flow is really disjointed. These inconsistencies and typos really force the reader out of immersion.

The reader will find the caricature depictions of typical characters like: the arrogant, idiotic and illogically violent crown prince who was sent on a diplomatic mission for peace and trade talks; Pragmatic underlings (knight, priest, princess/wife) that have to suffer the prince; the inevitable rebellion/insubordination against the prince by his underlings due to the pure/semi-logical arguments of the (mostly) mary sue protagonist; etc...

This story attempts to address philosophy, theology and government in a very short amount of time with minuscule (if even that) background... and fails miserably. The arguments are often inconsistent, with clear signs of strawman fallacy throughout the book. And even that ends up pointless because most conversations ultimately boil down to who the stronger force is and their arbitrary morals and since there are dragons in this book, you can imagine who that force is.

One particular conflicting point struck out to me and it caused me to just not take this book seriously anymore. At the start of the book, one of the dragon lords tells mary sue that there are only good/equal people around the village because he ate the ones that do harm to certain individuals in the tribes. This tells me that the equality in the tribe has ultimately been achieved by selective purging based on an arbitrary moral code of a single draconian being. Around 60% of the way through the book, I come across a conversation between Mary Sue and a knight from another kingdom regarding the state of their governments, philosophy and theology. Mary Sue convinces the opposing dignitaries that their entire lives and beliefs have been wrong with just a simple fact that the tribal peoples live equally with no poverty or beggars while the neighboring feudal nation actually has social structures such as beggars and poor people (can you believe that!?) and wins the argument. No counter arguments at all. The illogical actions of the crown prince were added for good measure.

In conclusion, I do not recommend reading this book. I cannot imagine coming back to this author.

[Kirk]

"Great Dragons", an intriguing fantasy story with high hopes of more to come. Love the many aspects of 'Dungeons & Dragons', with a new creation of religion and power. The magical aspects are enthralling and the characters are wonderful.

The foundation has been set and really recommend this one to anyone interested in magic, fantasy or thought provoking creation.

[Nithul Nath]

Fantastic work from a new comer . One of the best fantasy stories that you could get, a treat for lovers of fantasy fiction . Eric. K Barnum, hope we will be hearing this name much often in the coming future. Awaiting your next book.

[Nancy Foster]

What a thrilling yet bizarre book to read! I'm sort of a member of a facebook fantasy group and they suggested this book among a few others. I came with open expectations and didn't leave disappointed.

The plot views dragons in a completely different way from most fantasy stories. In this iteration, they are sacred creatures born from a higher goddess named Tiamat that decided to remain in the world as mortal gods with extended lives that can take a human form of their desire. They didn't create humans, but they watch and try to guide them.

The book starts with a nervous teenage girl named Dar Tania who has to perform a coming of age ceremony by trying to mount the fire dragon god's back. Against all odds because she isn't particularly athletic or skillful, she flies in the sky with a crude rope harness and a strange femenine voice speaks to her granting her the blessing of Tiamat herself. Rejoiced that the goddess mother finally chose a worthy human, the fire dragon named Alerius blesses Dar and her hair turns bright red.

Alerius's two brothers Y'draggeth (a white ice dragon that takes the shape of a female child for the thrill of spooking human enemies) and Spark (a blue electric dragon) also bless Dar and her eyes turn blue and her lips flicker with fire sparks.

Dar is occasionally switching between two personas: the priestess Dar that has a great vision to unite her nation of barbarian tribes and found a new nation called Morbattania that speaks eloquently and fearfully, and then terrified teenager Dar that has been unable to fully grasp that her life has changed forever.

The story quickly switches and Dar has invited several key members of the neighboring "civilized" nation of Tayronia. A paladin named Shane that is attracted to Dar but unwilling to forfeit his chastity vows, a ranger named Bruce that isn't particularly religious but open to Dar's offering, a somewhat naïve princess named Allura that seems to feel attracted to the ice dragon and Prince Roland, Allura's husband who detests Dar and won't honor her request to initiate trade.

After insulting Dar and murdering some of her chief advisors, Roland opens a can of worms for no reason whatsoever and ignites the anger of the fire dragon god Alerius. Can the three invited humans and Dar convince the dragons to find a peaceful solution and accomplish Tiamat's vision?

If there is one thing that I applaud from Eric, it is not only the fluid prose but that he is capable of making characters that only appear for a scant scene or two to be memorable and interesting. This isn't easy to do and he does a marvelous job. Bruce seems to be the most ignored of the protagonists, but you still get to enjoy all of the characters and the increasingly complex world they live in.

While I was getting confused about the odd mythology of the god of nightmares Set, I'm certain the beasts that Alerius caught and froze as statues will carry a huge importance in the later novels.

The plot and worldbuilding are top notch and I never had any idea where the plot was heading to. Eric is indeed a phenomenal writer and while I sort of fear getting involved with 500 page meganovels, I will find the chance to read them sometime because I'm certain they will be a great read.

[Paul]

I read this a while ago but I feel I just have to say that what I read in the beginning of this book did not turn out at all what I was expecting it to be. I had low expectations, but somehow this book fell further than I thought it could. I think the only good part of this book was the very beginning and in my opinion if you don't want to be thoroughly disappointed just stop reading after the first chapter.

The difference between the main character in the first chapter and the next time you see her is so drastically different it actually doesn't make any sense. The rest of the characters are so bland I just couldn't continue. 1 star.