Official Review: The Onyx Plague by T.M. Clifford

[Scerakor]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Onyx Plague" by T, M. Clifford.]

The Onyx Plague takes place in a fictional world of Teloria, primarily in and around the town of Beaver Creek and the nearby Fairy Grove, Sherema. The events of the book take place ten years after a magical plague swept through the land. The Onyx Plague is book one of the series of the Dragon Seed Legacy. Book one introduces some of the characters in the series and main trigger events which will likely be crucial throughout the series.

The Onyx plague follows our protagonist, Aeron, a young telora (human from the world Teloria) on his adventures as the first telora in a long time to be invited and welcomed into the Fairy Grove. We are introduced not only to the boy, but the wide cast of Faer’eh and Tae’ru (fairies) which reside in the grove. We follow Aeron through his adventures to the Fairy Grove where he learns about how the fairies live, protect themselves and each fairy’s role in the community. The protagonist’s actions in the Onyx plague lead to a series of events whose consequences reverberate throughout Teloria and will likely be critical in the future books of the series.

Since Teloria is a magical world, main portion of the Onyx Plague deals with how magic is accomplished. The magic within the Onyx Plague comes from Orbis, which is used by both the telora and the fairies as a source of their power during the book. By drawing upon the power of Orbis the characters within the book are able to perform everything from teleportation to healing.

The Onyx Plague attempts to get the reader to buy into the story through detailed descriptions of the magic, fairy life and the interactions between the fairies and the telora. Unfortunately though, by the end of the book I still didn’t feel like I had a good grasp on the source of the magic, how it is harnessed and what its limits are. The fairies seem to have a certain capability to master it but only certain telora have this ability (and to varying degrees). I was also still confused on the motivations behind some of the characters and the reasons behind some of the critical events of the book. Since these were such big themes in the Onyx Plague, it took away some from the plot, but hopefully these questions will be answered in the future books of the series.

As a reader, I was unable to relate to the characters, or picture them in the way that Clifford likely intended. One comes to the book with a preconceived notion of what a “fairy” is and unfortunately, that notion prevented me from thoroughly engrossing myself in the world. Similarly, despite the fact that Aeron is in fact a child, for such a key character in the book I found that he lacked significant depth. Perhaps this was the author’s desire, but again, it prevented me from buying into the story completely. The premise behind the story is solid (assuming that the confusion above is addressed in future books) but the characters and races leave something to be desired.

The Onyx Plague was not to my liking, but that is not to say that others would not enjoy it. It is a good story which is an easy read and has the potential to draw readers into the world, provided significant character development and comprehension follows in future books. The simplicity of the novel stands as both a downfall and an upside to the novel, depending on the background, ability and desires of potential readers. For these reasons I give the Onyx Plague 2 stars out of 4; it was not for me but other readers may enjoy it.

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