Customer Reviews

Tahn: A Novel

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

The beginning of this story was absolutely fantastic; I was captivated and submerged into the story. The beginning encompassed both mystery and a great style of writing.

About 30-40% of the way through the book, however, the dialogue becomes rushed, and I felt like I read the same message about God's mercy at least 50 times per chapter. I am an extremely passionate Christian, but the forced dialogue ruined my motivation to continue reading. The characters had great potential to be well-developed, but the author neglected many details which would have made everything more realistic.

It's a shame because it started off so great. You'll become immersed in the story from the beginning, but don't expect it to get any better; you'll more than likely end up disappointed as I did.

In The Princess Bride, Inigo Montoya speaks the famous line: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." While reading Tahn, I kept hearing that line echo through my head. The setting in Tahn is quite similar to The Princess Bride, being some medieval time that's still our earth while not fitting into any timeline we know of. And this novel could easily be classified as a fairy tale for adults. It's an exciting and fun ride at the beginning, though it slows down a lot toward the end.

Leisha Kelly has written several Depression-era novels (Rorey's Secret, Julia's Hope, etc), but for this novel she's chosen to go a different route and thus the name change to L.A. Kelly. Tahn is definitely not one of those historical books she's known for.

Lady Netta of the House of Trillet is awakened in the middle of the night by a somehow-familiar stranger attempting to kidnap her. What makes it even more bizarre is his claim that he's trying to save her. In shades of Oliver Twist, Tahn Dorn is an orphan raised a mercenary by a cruel man named Samis. But rather than pickpocketing, Tahn learns to kill. When he finally reaches the age he feels he can stand alone, he tries to break from his brutal lifestyle and save Lady Netta in the process because she has been targeted as the next to die.

As the story progresses, Tahn takes in the small band of orphans he himself was supposed to train and tries to protect them as well with Lady Netta's help. But when Netta realizes that Tahn is the man who killed her husband years ago, things get rough. Can she forgive the man she swore to hate forever?

As I said before, Tahn is a great adventure story that starts out with a bang and runs for a long time off of it. Both Tahn and Netta are well-crafted characters, and Samis is just plain mean. The kids are well-written for the most part as well. The problem comes in the fact that almost every character has some sort of internal struggle with forgiveness. Tahn worries about his past and how could God ever forgive him for that. Various other characters have their own struggles as well, including several last-minute additions to the cast who really seem to serve the sole purpose of slowing the story down. You'll breeze through the first half of this book, but it may take a little bit of effort to finish it-and I highly recommend you do. The ending is a good one.

While there are shades of romance in the story, this isn't a romantic novel per se. There's enough action to keep most readers happy. The biggest stumbling block in the book is the budding romance between Lady Netta and Tahn. I understand that being a Christian means forgiving one's enemies, but falling in love with her husband's killer is a bit of a stretch.

Tahn is a good book for the most part. Despite the slow second half, the story as a whole should keep you into it. And it's a pretty short read, so it won't take long to finish it.

There should be a warning that every paragrah is about God and the glory. It is not for the casual reader of Christuan fiction it is very overdone.

I should have read more of the reviews. I'm not familiar with the author. I didn't realize that this was as religious (Christian) as it is. I never finished it. I loved the first half, but got rather tired of the preaching. Probably read 2/3 of the book and quit. Thank goodness it was a free book.

I have to say that I did enjoyed the basic storyline of this book. If the Christian characters hadn't tried so hard to change every none believer into a believer, I would have given it a much higher rating but all the proselytizing was way over the top. That took away from the storyline for me and because of that I didn't enjoy the book as much as I feel I could have! I consider myself a Christian but I do not like it when writers write that if you ONLY turn your life over to God your life will be perfect. I guess the thing that I have the most problem with in this book is that when Tahn and Vari gave themselves to God their Opium addiction is cured but not only that they kept telling all the other assassins that all they have to do is give themselves to God and they to will not have the addiction anymore. Faith writing like that drives me crazy.

I picked this book up at the library based on its interesting cover and write up on the back- I love medieval era fantasy. I had no idea though that it would be so full of proselytizing! There is no indication of this on the book anywhere. I can barely read Netta's self righteous rantings. The book has a great plot though and I am going to continue reading hoping her character matures.

This "novel" is largely a waste of time. Characters are poorly developed, almost cartoon-like, melodramatic stereotypes. Consider the image of the good guy getting shot in the heart, and then taking 14 minutes (or 22 pages) to die, all the while orating about the grief of living, the ultimate success of "the good", the Grace of the Lord, and the price of chopped liver. Tahn suffers to a degree that becomes farcical, all the while denying and seeking God, while the "Lady" twit who inspires him comes across as a religious bozo. The plot is a crude morality play, fit for 6th graders, maybe, if one wishes to damage their psyches. Serious Christian questions are answered only on the elementary school level, yet manage to resolve the deepest mysteries and unbelievable suffering of the characters. Pure melodrama, but not particularly interesting. I propose that the greatest suffering about Tahn will be on the part of the reader.
Caveat emptor.

Tahn kidnaps Lady Netta Trilett from her bedroom, but allows her to scream so that she awakens her family so that they will have a chance to save themselves because someone is going to torch the manor house. Tahn is supposed to take Lady Netta to his master Samis's fortress but he can't do that to a woman he cares about, a noble whose husband he killed. Netta fears him until he sneaks into Samis's stronghold and rescues the children that Saamis took off the streets so that he can train them to be assassins.

She learns Samis took Tahn in as a child as he did many other children, made them fear him and then got them addicted to opium so they would not leave him. He raised a fearsome group of mercenaries who would kill for him.

Baron Trent hired Samis's men to kill the Triletts because they were in the way of his being crowned king as they are widely beloved for their kindness and piety. Most of Netta's family died in the fire or were hunted down by the mercenaries. Tahn risks his life to keep the children and Netta safe; he knows Samis's thugs will eventually kill him, but for love it is worth it even if he believes it is unrequited.

This historical romance is a fascinating work in which even the greatest sinner can be redeemed if he truly repents his misdeeds. Tahn is a tough warrior but also a shy and introverted man who always expects to be friendless and hated because he is an outsider. Netta's love warms his heart and he realizes that redemption and death are only a heartbeat away. L.A. Kelly writes a beautiful adult fairy tale with a deep moral message.

Harriet Klausner

Honestly, I could barely bring myself to finish this book, but I persevered so that I could write an honest review after I figured out how to explain what exactly is wrong with this thing.

Yeah, there's preaching, & a Christian will recognize the truth in the lesson. The description includes a reference to the Christian theme of forgiveness, so don't go complaining about thinking the story was about anything other than what it is. Unfortunately, the lesson is lost in the lack of CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, which forced Kelly to revert to over-the-top preaching which even most Christians would find over-zealous. (Actually, as a Christian, I found myself laughing at a few things...some of the other reviewers do a great job explaining why, so I won't take up any more of your time with that here.)

The characters are shallow, childish, immature...fill in what you will. I just didn't buy it. Really, I wanted to like Lady Netta, but she just annoyed the snot out of me. I couldn't figure out her angle, her motives for doing or saying almost anything. Her thoughts revealed little, & Kelly didn't seem too interested in filling in the blanks. Now Tahn Dorn is an interesting character, & I really would've loved to have seen him less insecure...because, I mean, really, the guy is a studly manly man, no doubt about it. Nothing doing. He blows hot & cold, & again, the main issue for me is that I could not wrap my brain around his motivation for, well, anything. I could speculate about both characters 'til the cows come home, but it isn't the same, & even reaching the tale's conclusion wouldn't have told me if I was right or not. And then, to make it all worse, new characters & perspectives were added more than half-way into the book! I actually stopped reading to whine to my husband.

Now here's the truly disappointing part of it all. The story is GOOD. I mean, the plot is really creative, the characters are appropriate, the setting is attractive, & the goal (or lesson, if you will) is relevant. Kelly had a great idea here, but it was sadly overshadowed by inexperience or lack of skill. I can honestly say I'm disappointed to have to rate this book so poorly, & that is because the story is GOOD. The promise of adventure & romance & sadness & healing & everything that makes a story touch someone's heart...it's all here. It's just bogged down by weak characters with poor dialogue &, well, more weak descriptions.

I guess that kind of sums it up in a word. Weak. 2 stars.

Just because I am a Christian woman doesn't mean I will open my heart to the man that murdered my husband in cold blood. I might forgive him his tresspasses, and help him turn a new leaf, but the whole idea that it is a good Christian idea for a widow to find love in her heart for the man that killed her husband is appalling. This ranks right up there with those sickos that think if a rapist impregnates his victim, she should marry him. The book starts out strong, but as it progresses the author just really force feeds her own twisted notion of forgiveness on the reader to the point of absurdity. This doesn't qualify as good Christian fiction unless you are one of those people that believe a Christian woman's place in walking behind her husband.