Review: Tallow by Karen Brooks

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On the edge of a mystical border called the Limen, close to a beautiful canal-laced city, a humble candlemaker rescues a child whom he raises as his apprentice. 

Years pass and the child’s unusual talents are revealed, the gentle art of candlemaking slowly transforming into something far more sinister.

Lingering in the shadows, enemies watch and wait - a vengeful aristocrat, an exotic queen and the lethal creatures known only as the Morte Whisperers.

They hunger after the child’s ancient magic and will do anything to control it - betray, lie, manipulate. Even murder.

I had been meaning to finish reading Tallow for a long, long time.  I started it some time ago, but put it down when I was really looking forward to read some other books.  For me, Tallow was really good but I couldn't get into it until after a few chapters.  It was sort of like, I read the words, but I didn't absorb it at the beginning. There wasn't much action at the beginning so in my opinion, it took too long to finish setting the scene and get started.  Of course, there's a lot of background information which is handy to know before the actual 'plot' but it was a bit too long.

Tallow was a really interesting character and I really liked her.  However, I did find some minor character flaws that will be listed below in the spoiler...

SPOILER ALERT: Why did it take Tallow so long to realise that she was actually a female?  I didn't think she had to get someone else to tell her for her to realise, especially when there was a female and a male in the house.  Obvious differences, much?  I guess this also added to the interesting part of the book, especially when the person on the cover (a different version to the one shown) was a female. /END SPOILER
Tallow really appealed to me as a character.  As I read through her adventures I just really wanted to make friends with her because she seemed so nice and just so innocent!  I really sympathised with her when she was in trouble and felt her nervousness as well.  I could really connect with her throughout the book.

Tallow was the first fantasy-type book I read that was just different to the others.  That is, different in a good way.  I really liked the idea of the world inside Tallow.  It was just really enjoyable to read about Tallow's learning and growing through her 'magic powers' but of course, many other bonuses made it even better.  I thought it was pretty smart how Tallow practiced her magic...

Overall I really liked Tallow.  Apart from the fact that I didn't quite like the first part, it was really page-turning and I really didn't want to stop reading late into the night.  I should mention I cannot wait to rad the other books in the trilogy!  I rate Tallow 4 out of 5 stars.

★★★★

4 stars - It was great!