The Merewyrm’s Tooth by Oliver Paglia (Animal Kingdoms; 1)

The Synopsis:

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.

I received this book from the author for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Review:

The Merewyrm’s Tooth weaves a treacherous adventure as Faharen leaves his home to retrieve the only item that can save it, the tooth of an ancient monster.

Faharen’s story is gripping to say the least. He is a courageous character that encounters so many difficulties, horrors, and temptations, yet he is quick witted and well equipped for each task. He is truly an excellently developed adventurer.

The story world is complex and we encounter many new creatures, both friends and foes, as we travel across the worlds. It is easy to understand, thanks to the author’s writing style, and the backstory of the worlds is explained at the beginning of the book.

I did have an issue with the pacing of the book however. Time didn’t seem to exist in the story and once I finished the book, I honestly had no idea how long it took Faharen to accomplish all that he did. To me, it felt like the entire story took place during a single day, maybe a week at most, though I know that realistically it was probably intended to last several months. I really don’t know. And it’s not that the story was too fast, because it really wasn’t, there were just not very many transition scenes or breaks in between the action to give us a sense of time lapse, everything just happened immediately after another.

I really did enjoy the story of Faharen and the author has a beautiful writing style that reminds me of the classics I love, so I would definitely want to read more of his work in the future. But as for The Merewyrm’s Tooth, I am only inclined to give it 3 out of 5 stars and would like to make mention of the high violence content and mild sexual comments (no cursing).