Maygest’s Tale by C.E. Cannery

Maygest, an old thief, who has been conning people for the last decade, finds his way of life extinguished when the tyrannical Lords of Osskrip join forces and destroy all the fugitive enclaves, the only places people are allowed to be people. With no place to go and fearing that death may be near, Maygest sets off in search of a mythical harp that is said will bring peace to the land in a last-ditch effort to redeem himself before he dies. The problem is, the harp only seems to exist in his mind.

–from the blurb about Maygest’s Tale

Thank you to C.E. Cannery for providing me with a digital copy for review!

Personally, I can never say no to a good epic fantasy story. The world-building is always amazing, and the stories tend to be incredibly unique. That definitely held true with C.E. Cannery’s Maygest’s Tale. Obviously, it sounds different from other books based on the description alone. But the story more than lived up to my expectations, and I’m excited to share my thoughts on it with you!

So, without any further delay, I give you my review for Maygest’s Tale!

Review

I loved the world-building in this book. Although there was some info-dumping on occasion, it made sense within the context of the scene. And other than those few instances, most of the world-building happened over time, with little details being added in by character here and there when they became relevant.

Plus, I just really enjoyed the fictional world of this book. In particular, I liked the religious figures featured in the story. The different cultural traditions were also very interesting.

As for the characters, I definitely liked them, too. Honestly, when you first meet most of them, it seems preposterous that you’d end up rooting for them. I won’t spoil anything by giving the details, but trust me; you’ll definitely think, “Really? Him?” at times. But Cannery did an excellent job developing these characters; so, in the end, I did find myself rooting for them, despite their issues and flaws.

I also liked that she brought in a wide variety of different people. It meant that there were a lot of different perspectives and personalities in play, an I really enjoyed seeing them all come together.

When it came to the plot, I definitely enjoyed it, overall. Like I said, this story lived up to my expectations. Still, there were a couple of plot points that fell flat, and there were a couple times where the storyline was a little weird. But in general, it was a great story; those few instances didn’t ruin my enjoyment of this book, at all.

And, as a final note, I don’t know if Cannery intentionally meant to have parallels between this story and Arthurian legend, or if that was just my fanatical brain seeing connections where there weren’t any. But there were certain points in this book where I thought she seemed to be alluding to Merlin and Arthur, and I must say that I loved it!

TL,DR Recommendation

All things considered, I really enjoyed this book. Readers who like epic fantasy stories most likely will, as well. Although there are parts where the story felt a little weird, overall, everything was well done. So, I recommend checking this one out; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!

Plus, if you enjoyed this review for Maygest’s Tale or the book itself, I recommend checking out my epic fantasy tag! I read a couple of amazing ones this year that I highly encourage checking out.

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