April 2023 Indie Book Review

The Warriors of Bhrea: The Lost King By T.M. Kohl

Master Inherited Powers or They Will Master You
An Indie Book Review by Joseph Poopinski
4 stars

After getting her mother killed through disobedience, a mysterious entity bound to Lauren’s prized locket rescues her from those same murderers.  This sorcery teleports her to a medieval, magical land known as Bhrea where she befriends a homeless vagrant.  He’s really a prince who’s looking for the book’s missing, eponymous character, his father.  With much humor & heartache Lauren learns the language of her mother’s native world & tons of heretofore unrealized details about herself:  Primarily that she’s a Night Warrior with great, albeit uncultivated, psychic potential.

This is a fun adventure (broadly a good versus evil story), briskly paced, in a well-rounded fantasy world with each surprise & twist plausibly conveyed in the water-tight plot.  Perhaps a moral of the story is “Listen to your mom, so you don’t get her killed.”  But probably, if we move past that, as we should, it would be about how “One must steadfastly practice & face even stressful challenges to become the person whom she wishes to be.”  Lauren recognizes feelings, remembers her values, channels attitudes constructively, makes difficult decisions & purposefully seeks zen clarity instead of easily leaning into the doldrums or avoiding her hereditary path for a posh, lethargic court life.  I loved the witty commentary, culture shock miscues & language differences, especially the smartphone scene & “inkahuts.”