Official Review: Trials and Tribulations by Jess Thomas

Kristin Ransome · Post by **Kristin Ransome** » 12 Feb 2020, 23:57

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Trials and Tribulations" by Jess Thomas.]

3 out of 4 stars

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If I told you that you were the most powerful being in the world, that would be pretty great right? You would have the power to create things from nothing and return things to nothing. The world is your playground…but everyone insists you are simply a child who needs teaching and a jewel to be protected. How can you learn when everyone either loves you or hates you? Jess Thomas explores Darius’ perspective in his series’ sixteenth installment, The Chronicles of Darius: Trials and Tribulations.

Darius is young…well young for an “Eiravian”, a race that has an extraordinarily long lifespan. Dubbed the “Jewel”—a powerful wizard prophesized to destroy the world—at a young age, Darius was shipped to Earth for safekeeping from both his memories and everyone who feared him. Fate eventually saw his return to Eiravia, where he was able to build a life with his family and mate. However, one of the newest family members, Killian, cannot settle in as his mate has been missing for far too long. Also, in a slightly different world, Predition still lurks, waiting for Darius’ defenses to fall long enough for him to break free from his prison and exact his revenge. Can Darius control his magic well enough to bring his family back together while keeping Predition’s influence at bay?

Jess Thomas does an amazing job of painting his characters with real emotion. I find it near impossible to read a book where characters’ emotions seem to be an afterthought, but this book does not suffer the same flaw. Darius is put through many unique trials, and I found myself celebrating or wallowing along with him. This style gave the characters a three-dimensional personality that allowed the book to draw me in further as I became invested in their experiences.

Despite this book being the sixteenth book in the series, Thomas did a great job of providing enough background information for the reader to grasp the story, allowing this book to potentially be read as a stand-alone. The series has a large, overarching plot that spans the entire series; however, this book consists of several smaller plots chronicled in a journal-like fashion, with no single plot being the main focus of this book. I believe that this book could become a solid stand-alone novel with the inclusion of one main cohesive plot or dilemma that extends the duration of the novel, instead of multiple unconnected trials.

If there is one recommendation that I can make to the author, it would be to work with an editor to iron out and fix the numerous grammatical and spelling errors present on most pages. The most common error was the misplacement or complete exclusion of quotation marks, leading to confusion on multiple occasions.

In conclusion, this book is a unique addition to the fantasy genre and would best be enjoyed by an older audience interested in alternate universes and the relentless fight between good and evil. While this book is wonderfully original with well-written emotion, due to the numerous errors, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. While this book holds something for a wide variety of readers, it does contain some explicit content that some readers may be sensitive too. Overall, this book has piqued my interest and I look forward to reading Darius’ story from the beginning.

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Trials and Tribulations
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Amy747 · Post by **Amy747** » 15 Feb 2020, 01:44

The first paragraph of your review really drew me in. Great review!

Amberlily · Post by **Amberlily** » 15 Feb 2020, 10:24

It's impressive that this author as managed to write so many books within the same series. I like that this book is approachable even if you haven't read the 15 books before it! I feel like after a while it would be pretty hard to make sales if you need to rely on dedicated readers. It sounds interesting... but I'm not sure I could handle reading this with that quotation mark issue you mentioned. I get headaches easily and that doesn't sound like something that's good for me. Thanks for the review!

Manang Muyang · Post by **Manang Muyang** » 19 Mar 2020, 20:41

The 16th book! That would be easy if it's like The Adventures of Darius or something. But a continuing story? The series must have a loyal fan base to keep the author writing about Darius.

Post by **Alice Heritage** » 21 Mar 2020, 05:29

This sounds like an imaginatively built world with multiple dimensions. I'm glad the author did a good job with the emotions - that feeling of connection is so crucial for the reader. Fantastic review!

Nisha Ward · Post by **Nisha Ward** » 26 Mar 2020, 12:52

From the summary, I thought Darius' tale was the main bulk of the book, to be honest. I can see what you mean by it needing one cohesive plot to tie it a together, and I'm glad you were able to single out one that could serve that purpose.

Post by **Adina Lutinger** » 04 Apr 2020, 07:08

What an intriguing book! The premise seems very promising, and it sounds like the author did a great job with the character development. I'm also really impressed by the fact that it can be a stand-alone book despite being the sixteenth(!) book in the series. it must have been a real challenge for the author to make it that way, but it seems like he nailed it. Thank you very much for the great review!