Tsalix Silverthorn and the Scepter of Destiny

by Richard Siddoway

2 brothers. 1 throne. World War. King Elosha is dying and his twin sons, Princes Abadon and Johona, are deeply embroiled in a battle over the throne of Sodizen. One is noble and the other is a psychopath. Hoping to end the bloody chaos and restore peace, the King summons three men from the small village of Aravah, tasking them with the impossible of retrieving talismans that are prophesied to unlock the Scepter of Power on Mount Destiny. To aid them on their fantastical quest, King Elosha bestows upon each of them, vials of elements to be opened when needed most. Amidst their honor and duty, they find their hometown torched to the ground, with surviving family and friends imprisoned by Prince Abadon. They are faced with choosing between rescuing them or completing the mission. The brave men choose to obey the King, overcoming tumultuous weather, terrain, dangerous and helpful mythical creatures alike. With scarce food and water, led by Tsalix, the three men embark on an arduous odyssey across the kingdom to retrieve the Scepter on Mount Destiny and restore peace in the realm.

230 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2020

About the author

I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and reared in Bountiful, a town about 10 miles north of Salt Lake City. I graduated in the first graduating class from Bountiful High School in 1957. Five years later I returned to teach at BHS. I taught there for 26 years with a year out to teach among my Navajo friends in Chinle, Arizona.

I left Bountiful High School when I became vice principal at Viewmont High School--Bountiful's cross-town rivals. I then moved to the Davis School District Office as the supervisor of library/media and technology education. In 1994 Governor Michael O. Leavitt asked me to build the first state-wide virtual high school. When I retired in 2007 the Electronic High School was the largest high school in the nation.

I served three terms in the Utah House of Representatives--the last two years as Speaker Pro Tempore.

I have been lucky enough to have several books published; one of them, "The Christmas Wish" was a New York Times best seller and was made into a movie starring Debbie Reynolds, Neil Patrick Harris, and Naomi Watts.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have served as a Bishop and Stake President. My wife and I have served missions in Nauvoo, Illinois, and Taylorsville, Utah (Spanish).

Most importantly we have eight children and twenty six grandchildren.

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish to thank the publisher for providing an eARC of Tsalix Silverthorn and the Scepter of Destiny. I received a digital copy via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I must say going into this book I had high hopes and I was not disappointed! An adventure story of three friends sent on a quest by the king, two princes at war for the throne, and a redeemed warrior: What more could you ask for?

The ruthless Prince Abadon disagrees with his father’s rule. He has made it his mission to fight against not only his father but his own twin brother, Prince Johana. For 50 years the Obsidian Wars have brought death and destruction to the kingdom but King Elosha has a plan.

The Solider, Tsalix, The Farmer, Asur, and The Lumberjack, Kwercus are three young men summoned for an audience with King Elosha. Neither know what for but they must honor the command and set out on separate journeys to do so. Along the way each of them face numerous trials, tribulations, and certain death but ultimately they make it to the king. The King then tasks them to find the three talismans that will allow the Scepter of Destiny to be freed from its crystal prison. The Scepter of Destiny will aid in destroying the evil forces of Prince Abadon and freeing the kingdom from his plight. Armed with four vials of elemental force, what they can carry, and blessings of the king the three set off to find the first talisman.
Unfortunately, it is atop the very mountain that Prince Abadon calls home.

Along this first leg of their long journey they meet Cha Legai, a lieutenant in Prince Abadon’s army. After being left for dead by his captain and healed by the very people he has been told are cruel and monstrous he starts to question where his loyalties lie and why he has so blindly followed Prince Abadon’s rule. Joining up with the adventurers he starts to see he might be on the wrong side of the war he has fought so hard in.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to the continuation of the journey. The world building in this book is imaginative and while everything was given a name as well as a vague description of the area it wasn’t hard to follow. I have found that when authors give names to every town, mountain, and desert it can make the world a bit hard to follow and can take away from the actual story. Here it wasn’t too overwhelming. In all honesty the descriptions were enough that you could probably draw a crude map of the kingdom.

The characters are well thought out and given decent personalities. While they are a bit flat at times (honestly who isn’t) they have enough development for me to want to learn more about them. They are complex enough that they are individual people but boring enough that they don’t argue amongst themselves.

The story telling switched from each boy’s perspective as told in third person when they are separated and once they are together it shifts to a third person’s view among all of them. The same goes for the villain’s perspective. We are being told the story versus being a part of the story. It is well done and not hard to follow. About the only complaint I have is the random bits of outside (meaning outside the adventurers) intrigue thrown in for dramatic effect. They seem oddly placed but I feel like they are going to be extremely important parts of the story down the road.

[Hannah May Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title: Tsalix Silverthorn and the Scepter of Destiny
Author: Richard M Siddoway
Pages: 230
Publisher: Cayelle Publishing
Rating: 3/5

A huge thank you to Richard M Siddoway, Cayelle Publishing and Love Books Tours for letting me be part of the tour!

Synopsis:

King Elosha knows his days of being King are numbered due to his illness. His sons, princes Abadon and Johana are already battling over the throne and who will be the next ruler of Sodizen. Johana is noble, fit to be king where as Abadon is a psychopath, if he wins the land would be in chaos. Hoping to restore peace to the land, Elosha summons there men from Aravah. They are bestowed the difficult and gruelling task of retrieving the Talismans that are prophesised to unlock the Scepter of Power on Mount Destiny. Hurdle after Hurdle these men continue to obey the King, obstacle after obstacle the men continue to be determined to rescue the scepter and restore peace to the realm.

Review:
I was really intrigued by the book description for this read, so much so that I re-read it a couple of times before I agreed to take part on the tour. It really piqued my curiosity and I was unsure if this would be a read for me, but I needed to give it a try and find out. The mention of mythical creatures did excite me, I was really looking forward to find out what creatures I would be meeting in this read.

Fantasy isn’t my usual genre of read, I sometimes struggle to get my head around them. However, the little map at the beginning of this helped my imagery and the tone of the book was nice, easy going and down to earth, something I was able to connect with. The author also puts us straight into the story, the adventure begins straight away with no huge build up which was brilliant for my attention span.

I was able to visualise the authors writing and the chapters weren’t too long which meant the story was moved on at quite a fast pace. Some fantasy lovers may think maybe too fast but for me the pace suited the book. The story is told from different character perspectives but these jumps were easy to follow.

Some of the characters I found likeable, others I were unable to connect with. Tsalix, Asur and Kwerkus were the main focus in the story and thankfully, I really liked them. To say that prince Abadon is meant to be a psychopath, for me we didn’t get enough of his dark, evil side. I would have loved him to be a little more brutal, but this could be me and my weird way! I would also have liked more of a background story of both the princes, to see the events which lead to them becoming how they were, this may have also helped me to connect with them deeper. This was also the same for Tsalix and his companions. I would have loved to have heard more about their life and their friendship before their quest begun.

This read was an easy fantasy read however, it didn’t need a lot of brain power, it was one you could relax with. For any newbie fantasy readers, this would be a good book to start with as it eases you in to this genre. It is a good introduction to the series and it does leave you wanting to know what would happen next, I just really hope it would involve more mythical creatures.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me the ARC of this amazing first book of the series. Review is based on my honest opinion after reading the book. The book is not intimidating in terms of number of pages. It is easy to read and the storyline is very easy to follow whether it's the first person or third person doing the narrative. There are some areas of concerns like lack of description as to how two characters known each other. Some other times a scene will be cut short and moves to another scene and it feels like it needs more narrative to justify each characters journey. All in all, I really enjoyed the characters and how the role of each character rolled out throughout their journey. Magic system is not that bad. I hope that on the next series, there will be more magic involve. World building is good, not too many places and landmarks that you need to write down to remember after you finish halfway of the book. The approach to villain turned good guy is quicker in transition rather than most fantasy villain I've read that it's so hard for the villain to be good halfway through the story, or sometimes the villain stays being a villain (SPOILER- I'm talking about the Lieutenant). Overall, this is an easy and very comforting read for me. I hope that you guys should pick this book and try because I did enjoyed the adventures of the characters and I can't wait for the next books in the series.

[Lynsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Tsalix Silverthorn and the Glittering Peak’ was a great conclusion to an interesting and adventurous tale! Will Tsalix and his chums manage to finally make it to the Glittering Peak and find the Spectre of Destiny in time for the King?

I would say you could have picked this book up as a standalone but there are far too many references to the previous books that don't explain it enough for a new reader to be able to grasp the threads of the narrative. I also wish in a way this book was longer as I would have loved to be able to delve more into certain parts like the dragons, the death of the King. But then that means the story has captivated you when you want to learn more about the characters and their environs.

I flew through this concluding book to the series in a few hours and it was lovely to be returning to characters I enjoyed in the last book. I would have been happy to spend more time in this world as we all sometimes need to read an adventure about good vs. bad and just escape into a fantasy. This series is a great gateway book into the fantasy genre and it was one of the first that I picked up last year. I have grown to love and enjoy fantasy so much more over the last year.

I will look out for more work from this author in the future. Let me know if you read this and your thoughts.

[Tessa Dysart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really struggled with this book. When I read the description the story seemed interesting, but although I wanted to see how the story concluded, the book didn't grab my attention enough to read it carefully. First, it is hard for me when the names of the characters are so fantastical that I struggle to pronounce them in my mind. There are a lot of fantasy names and beasts in this book, and they weren't introduced in a way that drew me in. I felt thrown into this fantasy world, rather than gently introduced.

The three main characters seemed rather wooden. In the end, I didn't care a lot about any of them (maybe it was because I couldn't pronounce their names).

Despite my negative comments, I did want to know if they got the scepter of destiny (and why Tsalix is so important), but the book didn't get there. I would have to read the subsequent books to answer those questions, and I am not sure that I have it in me.

Thanks Netgalley and publishers for the free e-arc. I wish I liked this book more, but I don't.

[Danielle Amor · Rating 4 out of 5]

What An Amazing Start To What Is Going To Be A Fantastic Series! It Was Not The Sort Of Book I Would Usually Read, But I Was Hooked From The Start! Although I Know I Probably Did Not Pronounce Some Of The Words Correctly In My Head!

My Favourite Parts Are When The King Approaches Each Warrior -

⚔️ Kwercus Strongheart of Aravah, I give you wisdom beyond your Ken, strength behind your belief, and peace in your soul.
⚔️ Asur Longtooth of Aravah, to you j give the ability to judge without being judgemental, the composure to see without anger, and the knowledge of the ages.
⚔️ Tsalix Silverthorb of Aravah, you of
Your own volition have already served the king of the field of battle. To you I give the knowledge that no task given you will be too great - there will always be a way to succeed. I give you quick wit, with the ability to solve the puzzles that will befall you. Most of all I give you a compassionate heart.

I Am Looking Forward To The Next Book Already!

[Celeste Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great reading. It takes places within a kingdom that is being battle by the sons of the king. It reminded me of the many films that have this importance about the king having multiple male heirs. This one however relies on the destiny of three young men who have different occupation from one another. It was interesting to see why each one was needed for because each had and learn different skills, they were able to make a great team. It was a slow beginning to set up the story but after that you will enjoy their journey. If you like stories such as King Arthur or on a similar era this book is for you

[Alex Nonymous · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Tsalix Silverthorn and the Scepter of Destiny.

Though it features an interesting world, Tsalix Silverthorn felt almost indistinguishable from most other 'adventure' stories to me. Featuring quite a large core cast for such a short story, Tsalix Silverthorn takes a very distant approach to narration, not unlike that of an old fairytale. Normally it's a narrative style I really enjoy, but something about its use here just made it too difficult to connect to the story.

It's not a bad book by any means, it just wasn't the book for me.

[Sally Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book, I found that the book at points was confusing and the story was not very clear. There could have been more depth in some chapters and less in others, I found it hard to envision the story and unfortunately was a little lost in places. I would like to thank Love book tours and the publisher for providing me with a copy.

[Sebrina Bancroft · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. I would say that it is a great starter book for anyone wanting to get into fantasy and I recommend it.