The Legend of Tawhiri
There is a legend in the Archipelago. Long ago, the ocean grew weak, and feared for his heart. He took to the form of man and walked among the people.
Tawhiri was a gift from the ocean. Plucked from the waves as an infant. The people of the Islands know that the Ri, the spirits of the ocean, abandon unwanted half-breeds on the shore. These demigods are destined to return to the sea and leave ruin in their wake. It has happened many times before.
Tawhiri has no interest in spirits or ruin. He loves his village, but as long as the elders forbid him from the ocean he cannot pass the tests which will allow him to become a full member. When Kai'Ali, a friend whose twisted foot has held her back along with Tawhiri, passes the test and leaves him behind, Tawhiri must battle the seeds of bitterness.
Then the ocean begins to call to him.
-Goodreads
Title: The Legend of Tawhiri
Series: Standalone
Author: J.E. Purrazzi
Page Count: 185
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.25/5.0
Date Read: November 7th, 2023
Opening
The Legend Tawhirir by J.E. Purrazzi was added to my personal SPFBO-9 TBR. This was ultimately my 29th read from this competition. I initially added this one to the list because it did look interesting but it was also on the shorter side so I figured it would be easy to slide into a month of reading which is exactly what happened.
Pacing
The pacing was decent. It was a short read. I will say it never felt rushed due to it being on the shorter side of a novel length. However, I did notice more than a handful of editing issues, mostly typos in the Kindle version I read through. I also struggled with some of the vocabulary and early on found myself looking up several words and didn't even find definitions on a couple. I realized after finishing the book that there is a definitions section at the end of the book which might have helped this. So anyone reading this, you now have a heads up that this exists, use it if you need to!
World Building
The world building was really good. The author did a great job in so few pages in making sure I felt immersed in this island world filled with magical and mythical sea creatures and gods. There was just enough mention of other islands and the greater world away from the islands to make the world seem much bigger than the couple of islands we focus on for this story.
Character Development
The character development was also solid. Once again, I think with a shorter word or page count that we are working with here we saw a good arc for our protagonist. We also got to witness just a small bit from a couple of supporting characters. I think the author would have added a few dozen pages though we might have gotten to understand some more of these supporting characters a bit more and connected with the story just that much more as well.
Closing
All in all I think The Legend of Tawhiri served just the purpose and expectations I had for it. It was a really fun and short read. If you are a fan of mythological fantasy in an island setting, this would be right up your alley. If you're just looking for a solid short fantasy read like I was, I'd also recommend this one. Go ahead and give it a shot. It's certainly worth the time.
Scoring
Pacing 4.5 / 5.0
Worldbuilding 4.0 / 5.0
Character Development 4.0 / 5.0
