The Tiphereth Trilogy Book Review.

Title: The Tiphereth Trilogy.

Author: Katie Hepner.

Genre: Christian, Allegory, Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Romance.

Plot: Aramoth, the orphaned son of Aroroth and Mayhiyel, is undergoing weapons training in the city of Thurwyn when it is attacked by Peerthigrin {savage creatures in the service of the enemy} and he is forced to relocate to the nearby city of Ewythrin with his tutor and guardian the Lady Gwynarae while Ynyth Tamam of the city of Banoch alerts the elderly king and urges union among the five cities of Basileia. The king is gravely ill and sent to Ewythrin to recover while the counsel is disbanded and Ynyth put in charge of selecting new members, but these new members refuse to unite and work together to save the kingdom from the approaching destruction. Meanwhile, Ewythrin is unexpectedly attacked and Aramoth and Gwynarae are forced to flee while an anxious Ynyth rushes to the city's relief and orders his men to defend it before coming to Aramoth and the wounded Gwynarae's aid. When the battle is over and the dust has settled, Ynyth and Gwynarae get married; Aramoth continues his training, befriends Iach who is a boy from Idyllin which was the city they fled to, and discovers the hitherto unknown fact that he has a sister named Aramiel.

Aramoth, Iach and Aramiel all first meet as young children but rapidly grow before our eyes into cheerful teenagers who obey their parents and learn new things nearly everyday. But, in the course of their everyday existence, the enemy forces gather and many battles are fought by the band of boys which Iach and Aramoth lead. Now Aramoth is the heir to the throne of Basileia and when the city of Banoch falls, Ynyth packs up his family {which includes Aramoth and Aramiel} and heads to the City of the King to inform Aramoth's grandfather of the news and once again urge union among the cities. A year later, the day before the armies are to march upon the enemy forces, the old king dies and Aramoth reluctantly assumes his rightful place as the king of Basileia at fourteen years old. He faces his first challenge when the Snozama, a large group of rebellious women who have traded spindles and cradles for swords and shields, arrive at the palace asking to fight alongside the men. When Aramoth refuses, they kidnap him and cart him off to the enemy's dark territory.

From Aramoth's capture and rescue to each battle he leads his men into, this epic trilogy will hold you on the edge of your seat till the final page is turned and the exciting conclusion is reached and the lessons learned by the characters have been summarized for our benefit. This is definitely a book you want to add to your summer reading list!

Likes/Dislikes: This book is the second by Miss Hepner and I look forward to future books by her for she certainly has a talent for spinning clever stories with sound lessons and good morals that today's society really needs to be reminded of. Now, as much as I enjoyed this book, there were a few very minor inconsistencies that kinda threw me: Aramoth's age kept changing which was natural but I don't remember nineteen plus four equalling twenty-four; and it would have been nice to have a little bit description, especially of the bad guy's forces because, when I read that the Peerthigrin have tails, I immediately pictured the lizard guys from At The Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs. ;) And when Iach is whipped, he most certainly would not be able to get up and walk to the City of the King as soon as he did so {plus his mother would definitely have stalled him on his way when she saw his bloody shirt} and he probably wouldn't have been up for smashing the Telos Zizanions when he arrived. ;) I very much enjoyed the wonderful description of the enemy: I have never read a better one in all the books I've read! And it was grand how all the loose ends were wrapped up at the end. Good job Miss Hepner! To purchase this book, check out Miss Hepner's blog: http://mariashiphrahdaltonpublications.blogspot.com/

Rating: G-10 and up for the reading level: highly recommended for family read-alouds.

Date Report Written: May 7th, 2011.

This book was provided free by the author; I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.