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Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite
Origins of the Never (Tales of the Neverwar Series, Book 0) by CJ Rutherford starts thousands of years before the Tales of the Neverwar, an epic fantasy through space, time, and reality. Teralia is a world of light and beauty, holding the core of magic that infuses the universe. Olume and Tenybris, two friends who are closer than brothers, are destined to become the mightiest among the immortal Elven race. Unfortunately, each will walk on a different path and face each other as enemies.
Since I have not read the sequels, my review is based solely on this novella. There were times when I felt the narrative was a bit too heavy, and as a fantasy fan, the plot direction is somewhat a familiar one for me. That said, Origins of the Never is a solid prequel by Rutherford, and it successfully gets me interested enough to seek out the series and its other installments. The premise is well structured and the detailed world building has all the elements that fantasy readers will love – magic, dragons, elves, faeries, ethereal worlds, and the classic good versus evil.
This is a short read, but the pace is good and Rutherford manages to give room for character development for the cast and shows his creativity in terms of storyline. There are also enough action scenes to satisfy readers, even though this is only a novella. All in all, Rutherford has a very exciting and imaginative series for the fantasy genre, especially for lovers of elves and dragons.
