Merewyrm’s Tooth
From The Publisher
Faharen was a contented enough young lad, living a simple farming life with his adopted kin the Manxii, on the North Western Plane of the Animal Kingdoms.
After a mysterious blight begins to ravage the pastures of his homeland, he must embark on a perilous quest only he can complete; to cross the Great Forest, entering the Realms of Men to retrieve a piece of ivory with healing properties from a legendary monster, the Merewyrm; a creature so ancient it predates both man and animal kind.
Not long into his journey, it dawns on Faharen that he is part of a much larger, darker world than he thought existed and must mine hidden depths he wasn’t aware he possessed to survive.
Created by the gods to divide fallen men from the faithful animals and forsaken by them long ago, traversing the Great Forest will not be easy, for it hides many malevolent creatures such as the Satyrs to name but one; a half man, half cloven hooved beast that knows only spite and treachery!
With the body of a man and the heart of a Manxii, Faharen must do what is deemed impossible; cross the worlds to save his people.
The Book Blogger Review
In a mythical world where humans and animals are separated by a great forest, a child, Faharen, is born who is able to bridge the nations. When massive crop failures threaten a race of creatures only Faharen is able to cross the divides to find a tooth of the fabled Merewyrm, the one hope to rescue the crops and save an ancient race from extinction.
While this is fairly traditional Fantasy Quest in appearance, Merewyrm’s Tooth brings a completely new experience. It’s the clever blending of folk tales, real myths and the author’s own creations that gives this book an edge of similar entries in this field. His canvas is huge and rivals the giants of the genre such as Tolkien or Martin but it’s Paglia’s skilful handling of these interwoven creatures and legends which really brings this tale to life.
The plot is not going to overturn the genre with originality as it’s a straight line quest in search of a mythical object, but then, that’s what readers of fantasy love and it seems Paglia knows his market well. All the key points are ticked at just the right places and he handles these like he’s been doing it for years, which is all the more remarkable as this, we believe, is a debut novel. Fantasy Quest is a massive market but it’s also severely over-supplied and it needs something special to break into it. We think Merewyrm’s Tooth may just be the book to launch a promising career for Oliver Paglia.
