I recently received a copy of A Tale Of Darkness from author Jacob Ruder for review.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I found it very entertaining (the reason I read in the first place). I know that there are social messages woven into this work but I will leave the discussion of those to other reviewers. My days of reading for educative purposes are long past me. As I said I read for entertainment.

As entertainment, A Tale Of Darkness fills the bill quite nicely. It has romance, internal conflict, war, sort of a coming of age, good versus evil along with some interesting twists and turns. I did enjoy the flipping of some tropes in the whole good vs evil conflict. The story line of Forset (I kept wanting to see Forest) and Vona was a take on Romeo and Juliet but with a better outcome (closest to a spoiler you'll get from me).

This is apparently the first work by this author and is a good debut. Perhaps a bit simple in that I could see what was coming at times, but this didn't impact my enjoyment of the story. It will be interesting to watch this authors growth as he continues to write, and he should continue to write.

A Tale Of Darkness is officially a fantasy though it does not really need to be read as such. The fantasy themes, for me, took a backseat to the overall story and it worked well here. The story was strong enough to carry the reader without resorting to fantastical elements. They are there but they are not the main focus. In my opinion a strong story is more important. Kind of like a movie that relies on special effects rather than a good storyline. So, hats off to Jacob Ruder for a good, strong and entertaining story. Enjoy!

Mike