Tarranau Book Review

If you like fantasy epics and tales of magic and characters with long, unpronounceable names, (sorry James) then this week’s review will be right up your street as we take a look at Tarranau by James Tallett.

Tarranau is the name of the protagonist from which the book gets its title. The novel, which is the first in a series, tells the tale of Tarranau the water mage. The eighteen-year-old can control the movement of water and bend it to his will, hence his title. His talent also means that he has spent the last several years training at his island’s academy for water mage students. 

However, weeks before he is due to graduate, Tarranau is seemingly framed for stealing a medallion from one of his teacher’s and decides to flee his home before standing trial for the crime. Tarranau’s journey and the course of the book, tells his adventures across the sea, where he receives training from another water mage, too far off lands, fights with bandits and his eventual arrival to the stone-walled mountain city of Tri-Hauwcerton.

 

During his travels Tarranau goes from being an inexperienced, fearful youngster, to a tough, fighter who has come to master his element. 

Tarranau is also probably the most unlucky fictional character that I have ever read about. If he’s not been captured, he’s escaped, then been captured again, had assassins coming after him and being threatened by thugs down dark alleys.

That’s not to say that Tarranau is at all a pushover, especially once he has mastered the trick of turning water into ice blades and skewering enemies at a hundred paces. His character is sarcastic, which makes him somewhat funny. He is also very likeable and it makes you want to keep reading to find out what happens to him next. 

The book itself is written mostly in first person perspective, which usually follows Tarranau but will flit to other characters he encounters, including his friend Sawwaed. This conveys the thoughts and motions of the characters very well but the narrative does sometimes move to third person, usually when describing new landscapes. 

Though I did feel that the description of some locations was a little lacking, it would have been good to have a little more deal to get a better feeling of the surroundings the characters were walking into.

However, the fight scenes in the book are epic. The feelings of characters, the atmosphere and the speed of fight are conveyed like they are happening in real time, which is to be applauded. 

Now I return to the long names of some characters. Fortunately it only ever seems to be some minor characters, namely spirit mages that have such names. They seem to be instantly forgettable, even if the character has just delivered a major plot development. 

Anyway, besides that minor gripe, Tarranau is a very good read and I strongly recommend it to fantasy fans who want to get their teeth sunk into a new epic. I hope the sequels to come are just as good.

I give it 7/10.

Tarranau is available on Kindle here. It is also available in paperback.