Crowns and Kingdoms

Book One: Tarshish

Children - Preteen
262 Pages
Reviewed on 07/01/2014
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    Book Review

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Crowns and Kingdoms Book One: Tarshish is a children’s fantasy adventure penned by Norris Bloom. Across many kingdoms, a group of kings agree to preserve their next-born children in order to protect them from Judoc and his vicious Night Invaders who threaten to wipe out royalty across the kingdoms. This first book in the series follows fourteen-year-old Zora, who discovers that she is the daughter of the King of Tarshish. She returns to her kingdom to find it on the brink of invasion and, with the help of her childhood friends, Vivi and Sun, Zora must use her simple upbringing to restore peace and harmony to her land.

Norris Bloom’s fast-paced adventure is very suitable for the intended age group, though older readers may find it lacking a little in emotional depth. The triple perspective between Zora, the King of Tarshish, and the villainous Judoc makes for inventive and interesting narration combined with a fast-paced plot. The central messages of self-sufficiency, education and the benefits of growing up away from privilege are well interspersed with the usual young teen drama elements of sibling rivalry, friendship and blossoming romance. A strong variety of action, adventure, fantasy and villainous plot points keep the story interesting and all of the characters are enjoyable to read about, if a little two-dimensional at times. Overall, Crowns and Kingdoms Book One: Tarshish is a pleasant and light-hearted read which will keep children turning the pages to find out what happens next. A good start to a conceptually interesting series.