How to sum up a book filled with such calamity, tragedy, and sacrifice?

To start, this book easily portrays how people can choose to be a force for good, or a force for evil. Everyone has the ability to be one or the other, but it is by our own actions that we become who we are.

This book series has always fascinated me. The complexity of the magical world with Celtic, Egyptian, Christian, and more magic and rituals combined into one magical practice. I love how the antagonist isn't only a super-powered human or mystic, he is something else entirely. A demon. Which is far more terrifying.

The Red Winter, the fifth and final book in the series, shows how bad things can happen in life and there are real consequences to them. And even if you have the power, you can't just turn back time and erase it.

Endings, though sad, will come.

This was a beautifully written conclusion the The Tapestry series. One of the few final books in a series that imbue a sense of contentment in the reader. I'll shout to anyone who'll listen about how amazing this series is. There's nothing like it. It's truly in a league of its own.

I wrote “The Hero Dies in the End” for a handful of reasons.

One) I've always been obsessed with telling stories and how to tell stories. And then I had one of my own to tell.

Two) The characters of The Hero Dies in the End just sorta showed up one day and wouldn't leave me alone. There was a story there that needed to be told. I wanted to tell the story of a person that was resilient to the point of insanity. A person that attacked their problems head on without hesitating, which could then end in a good way or bad. Often bad. A person unafraid of a little risk. A person who seemed to not care about themselves or others, but through subtle actions observed that supposition would prove to be wrong.

Three) I wanted to write a story that showed the struggle between doing what is morally correct and doing what is necessary to stay alive. And how there are very real consequences for our actions. Many people go through these crossroads by living in this sinful world. It's not easy. But people are people, and sometimes the only choice to make is the one where they get to wake up the next morning. All this is mixed into the day-to-day life of a college student who simply wants to graduate and go home. A story that shoes how easy it is to be a danger. How slipping away from your faith and who you are can happen without even noticing.

Four) I wrote this story during a time when I wasn't doing so well physically or mentally. I had just been injured after a running a half marathon and was faced with the very real possibility that I would never run again. I could barely walk for months, even sitting was painful. There was a lot of pain and frustration and I had to figure out what to do with it all. So in a way this story is a process of recovery. I was forced to discover who I was without things I thought had defined me.

-themesswrites

So, you love the Harry Potter series? The witty characters? The scary ‛all-powerful’ villain? The school of magic? The magic creatures? Well, what if I told you there’s a whole ‘nother book series that does all of that but better.

Slams all five books of The Tapestry by Henry H. Neff on this rickety table. Joints held together by hope and dried glue creak from the sudden weight. My love for this series began, I don’t know when, and I can’t even tell you how. Because I legitimately don’t remember how I found this series. My best guess is I picked up the first book at my small local library in middle or high school, couldn’t find the rest of the books within the library system, so had to acquire them through other means . . . the Underground Book Tra ̶ Nope! Not that! That doesn’t exist. At least to my knowledge. And if it does, then someone needs to get me that secret password for it because I want in.

So I slowly acquired the rest of the series, all the way up to book four. And then. Nothing. For years. I couldn’t find book five anywhere. It was published in 2014 and I was very confused as to why it was nowhere to be found until I discovered it was never published as a physical book. Only e-book. That’s right. Random House, I’m calling you out on this one, never released the book in physical format and I was left with an incomplete series on my bookshelf to stare at on rainy days with increasing fury. And there I stewed. I tried a few times to find the e-book and I did, but reading the story in that format just wasn’t the same.

Fast forward to 2024, and I find out that Henry H. Neff self-published the physical version of the fifth and final book in his series and was selling it through an independent bookstore called Watchung Booksellers. I was ecstatic because a thing that I never thought would be possible was now possible. I would be able to read the fifth book, and complete what had been unfinished on my bookshelf for so long. It was an amazing feeling.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Messy, you have given us no reason as to why this book series is supposedly so much better than Harry Potter. And yes, you’d be correct. Thank you for being so impatient, this is called ‛setting the scene.’ This is why it’s better.

The Tapestry begins with a twelve-year-old boy who is recruited to go to a magical school in North America and discovers that he has a rare kind of Old Magic within him. Ya know. It was a whole “Yer a wizard, Harry.” But this was more like “Yeah, these evil creatures tried to kill you, so you’re coming with us, Max.”

But it only gets better.

Because by the end of book two, the world has already ended. Huge battles have been fought. Thousands have died. And the world will never be the same. Because the villain of the story IS all-powerful, defeats the good guys, and becomes ruler of the entire world. Yet we have three more books to go. The magic world itself takes a lot of inspiration from Celtic mythology and has nothing to do with wands. This book series has a complete view of magic, and groups of magic users worldwide. It shows that the magic ecosystem is not solely about a hidden school on the East Coast, it is everywhere. It is in a secret science-based facility in Europe. It is in the Himalayan Mountains. It is on every continent.

The villain doesn’t want our main character because he has a part of his soul. Oh no. He wants to possess Max and consume his magic. That’s right. Consume. As in devour, because the antagonist isn’t a person, isn’t a creature, isn’t even a magical person. No, no. He’s a demon. But Max is truly otherworldly and is one of the few people on earth with the ability to fight against the villain’s powers. And the other bad guys? They’re not only some wizards gone rogue, because there are quite a few of those. Oh no. There are bad guys who are also demons. That’s right, they aren’t even human. With overwhelming strength and abilities not even the average mystic is able to counter.

If the storyline and world building isn’t enough, then the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter and with chapters ought to convince you. Because they’re beautiful.

And the biggest trump card is that the first chapter isn’t utterly boring. You may hate me for this, but I can never get past the first chapter of Harry Potter. It is utterly and completely lacking in fascination. Meanwhile, The Tapestry: The Hound of Rowan, book one in the series, delves immediately into our main character being stalked on a public bus while on a trip with his father to visit an art museum. Immediately something is off, and that feeling only ever continues throughout the narrative.

This is a truly amazing series that I would recommend if you loved or hated Harry Poter. And no, I’m not going to read Harry Potter no matter how much anyone complains about it to me. Trust me, I’ve tried.

I know I’ve been hating on Harry Potter, but I really do love the universe of Harry Potter. It changed the world of young adult fiction forever. It brought so many bright memories to children across the world. It created a community and connected like-minded people even into adulthood.

But The Tapestry is a story of true wonder and deserves recognition.

Cheers,

themesswrites