by Timothy Wolff, A Legacy of Boulom Novella
Summary:
Where reality fails, dreams are eternal.
After saving the realm from the wrath of the gods, crystal sorceress Everleigh Bennet hopes to return home and relax with her family. Instead, she finds her lover, Felix, imprisoned by the God of Wisdom in a scheme that threatens to remove his free will forever. Everleigh must venture to the kingdom of Terrangus to either free her family from the clutches of the Masked God or, if fate wills it, grant them eternal peace.
Protocol of Valor is a novella set in the world of the Legacy of Boulom series. It takes place 60 years before the events of Platinum Tinted Darkness.
Review:
Not only was I able to read this novella before release (I threatened Tim very aggressively…), but more importantly, I can count on a Tim Wolff story to not only be a banger, awash with brilliant writing, but also on him as an author and friend as an inspiration.
So now let’s rip apart this novella…
…nahhhhh, it was a really damn good story.
Protocol of Valor is a prequel novella set decades before the main Legacy of Boulom trilogy, told via a POV of an ancillary character who shows up in the later half of the series.
Now, this is truly a contained prequel story with a beginning and end for this particular character. You don’t have to have read the trilogy to understand what’s happening, however, much of the lore/worldbuilding is diluted here. So should you read this novella first, you won’t get the great breadth of Wolff’s world, but it does give enough enticement. If I was to recommend a reading order, start with Platinum Tinted Darkness first, but that’s just me, I like lore.
The cast is small, and I think that was a smart decision. Everleigh, our crystal mage and protagonist (I should note this novella is told through 1st POV whereas the trilogy is 3rd multi-POV, so there is a different feeling/tone between the two works) is an interesting character. As a Guardian, she has a task to protect the realm, but Tim deviates from the norm and makes this a very personal story for Everleigh. She is a fairly blunt personality lacking witticism, so she might not work for everyone. Luckily we have Celadon, a glorious zephum! We need Tim to write more novellas about zephum protags, just saying, Tim… It was nice to see Wisdom, the Masked God, here, as well as a character named Landon from the main trilogy. It was like seeing old buddies again.
As far as the plot goes, it’s hard to talk about without spoiling the novella or the main series, but I will say it does touch on many concepts introduced in the series, especially relating to Wisdom’s ultimate goal (iykyk). But as I said, it’s a personal story, so it directly affects Everleigh, and I really liked that.
But my favorite thing about a Tim Wolff story is his prose. The man is a master wordsmith, just dropping bangers left and right. For example:
What is it about the below-average man that he has the audacity to see himself as God?
And then a couple pages later he brings in the humor:
Humans wouldn’t understand honor if it mated with their mother.
Protocol of Valor is a fast read, only some 70 pages, so easily done in a sitting or two. It has a lot of heart, and it scratches an itch for Tim’s world!
Find out more about Protocol of Valor!
Bill Adams
During his collegiate days at the turn of the century, he began to develop his passion for writing, especially within the epic fantasy genre about unlikely heroes. It was there, Bill began to formulate the story that would eventually become Ashe’s unwanted journey and The Divine Godsqueen Coda.
Aside from writing, Bill loves movies and reading, especially SFF B-movies. He likes to know all the useless trivia, like who played who, and what the stories were behind the curtain. He is a master at Scene It. Bill’s few other hobbies include soccer, a good whiskey, a slice of pizza, and growing a beard. It is the little things he enjoys most.
Leave a Reply