Kindle Price:	$0.99
Sold by:	Amazon.com Services LLC

Promotions apply when you purchase

Add an

audiobook with Audible narration for $1.99

Audiobook Price: $6.08

Save: $4.09 (67%)

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

C J Rutherford

Follow

Origins of the Never: Prequel to the Tales of the Neverwar (Tales of the Neverwar Series) Kindle Edition

by CJ Rutherford (Author), Colin Rutherford (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

457

Related to: Tales of the Neverwar

See all formats and editions

The survival of all reality is in the balance.

Tenybris and Olumé have been friends, closer than brothers, for over a thousand years, Nothing could threaten their bond, until the Darkness enters one of their hearts.

The spark of jealousy grows within Tenybris, causing a spiral into the depths of depravity. But worse, his descent feeds the growing spectre of darkness on the magical world of Teralia, tainting it, causing shadows to lengthen across the world, and through the limitless chaos of the Never, the rest of reality.

As the Darkness grows in power, Olumé faces a desperate choice.

Kill his friend, or banish magic from the universe, forever.

The wrong choice might be the end of everything, everywhere.

Print length

54 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

October 26, 2014
File size

6341 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Report an issue with this product or seller

Ross Rosenfeld
1,728
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $5.99
J.G. Sedgwick
4,442
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $0.00
Craig Halloran
5,225
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $0.99
Craig Halloran
1,858
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $0.99
G. P. Ching
9,502
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $0.00
Julie Wetzel
2,969
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $0.00

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00OYFRU6O
Publisher ‏ : ‎ ; 3rd edition (October 26, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 26, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6341 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 54 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #3,736,014 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #5,965 in 90-Minute Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Reads
- #20,797 in Mythology & Folk Tales (Kindle Store)
- #23,469 in 90-Minute Literature & Fiction Short Reads

Customer Reviews:
457

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

C J Rutherford

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

CJ Rutherford has always been a story teller, even if they started out in his mind only. He grew up on a farm in very rural Ireland, and was left pretty much to his own devices most of the time.

So, he invented his own world, with fairies, trolls, and other mystical creatures.

His stories stayed with him throughout his life, sometimes scrawled down on scraps of paper, and occasionally brought to life in a sketch (although he’s the first to admit what he drew and what you might see might not bear any similarity to each other.)

Along came two daughters, and at last he had an outlet for his imagination. As the girls grew up they were enthralled by the characters and the worlds their father created. He even brought them to life in his fantasy world, and they never knew when he sat down to tell them their bed-time story, whether they would be fighting a dragon or playing with one.

But time moves on, and daughters grow up, and soon enough, CJ needed another way to tell his tales.

The rest, as they say, is history…or the future, depending on how you look at it.

Tales of the Neverwar is a unique fantasy series, spanning two worlds, one of magic and one of science. Millennia ago, magic was hidden to prevent it being used by an ancient evil malevolence to conquer the universe. Now, the spell hiding it is failing, and the magical land of Teralia is about to re-enter our world.

The Darkness, banished for thousands of years, awakens as the magic grows stronger, and searches for a way to use this new magic, this 'science', to free itself from the prison entombing it.

20-year-old Katheryn’s ordinary life is turned upside down when she discovers she’s the only thing standing between survival, and the destruction of everything she loves.

So begins a desperate battle across time, space, and multiple dimensions, as magic collides with science in an ancient battle for supremacy…for whoever controls the magic, wins the war.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5

457 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

W. Stuart

Great Prequel!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

I read Souls of the Never by Colin J Rutherford last year and gave it 4.5 stars. When Colin Rutherford decided to pen the prequel to the book, I had to read it. This one is good!

Synopsis (from the author): Teralia, a world of light and beauty; it holds the core of magic that infuses the universe.
Here, two friends, closer than brothers are destined to become the mightiest among the immortal Elven race.
One will fall, ensnared by an ancient evil, thought destroyed eons ago.
The other will face a desperate choice to save a doomed world.
Ultimately, only one can prevail.

What I liked: Colin Rutherford did a great job of filling in the background for his story. He reveals the story behind the story in just the right way. The interplay between the two friends, the reason for the descent into evil and madness was handled just right, and the sacrifices made set the stage perfectly for Souls of the Never.

What I didn’t like: About the only criticism I have is that some of the characters didn’t flesh out as much as I would have liked (Or’n, for instance), and that the dragons gave in a bit too easily.

Overall impression: Well written, great background on the Souls of the Never series, and an overall excellent read. I would recommend it to anyone who needs a primer on the series, or who wants a short but entertaining story!

My rating: 5 Stars!

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lisa B.

An Amazing World To Live In

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

This was such a magical world. Three friends grow up very close. Two guys and a girl. Both love the girl very much but only one wins her heart. Neither are aware of their friend’s love. They believe it’s just as a friend. He becomes so jealous, especially when the two get married. He takes dragon eggs away from a dragon so the dragon will perform fireworks at the wedding, hoping to impress her with this special, unique gift. All along he becomes more bitter day by day. In this world, there is no hatred or ill will. It is filtered out as one passes through to the world. But the friend has visited another place and has a seed of hatred inside him speaking bad things. There is sorrow and heartbreak along with great battles. If you love stories with dragons and elves, you will like this.

Helpful

Eoghann Irving

but I still love it. So I went in to this novella ...

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2015

Verified Purchase

I have a soft spot for epic fantasy that involves elves and dragons. Yes it's a well worn area, but I still love it. So I went in to this novella predisposed to enjoy it even though I didn't know much about it.

It's important to know going in that this isn't a stand alone story. It's a prequel and while it does tell a story it also leaves a lot of things to be resolved in the main book sequence. I wouldn't let that put you off too much. You'll know by the time you get to the end of the story whether you want to continue or not.

What's It All About?

Origins of the Never is the prequel to Souls of the Never and as such it sets the stage, giving us an introduction to the universe of the Never, the nature of magic in this world and also the source of evil.

The story is framed around the childhood friendship of two elves Olumé and Tenybris. But it seems that Tenybris is perpetually in Olumé's shadow and over hundreds of years jealousy and bitterness grows.

This sets up a chain of events that threaten the peaceful world of Teralia and the rest of the Never, not to mention setting in motion a story that will play out many many years later.

Short but Sweet

At an estimated 42 pages for the Kindle version this story doesn't take long to read and it's told with an economical style. In fact my single biggest criticism might be the brevity.

There are a couple of points where the change in Tenybris seem a little too abrupt and some additional time spent smoothing out the transitions might help to make the transformation more convincing.

It would have been nice to get a bit more description of the world of Teralia. It is presented as this almost paradise but I don't really have a picture of it in my head which is unfortunate because I think my reaction to the damage caused to the world would have been much stronger if I had a stronger image to go with it.

The same is true of our brief glimpse of the Never. We do get a sense of this huge universe of worlds, but no clear notion of what the different worlds might be like

Fairytale or Legend

The way the story is told is slightly unusual too and it does remind me rather of the way Tolkien wrote parts of The Silmarillion. Big things are happening, but we are kept at a distance from most of them and the story is paced in such a way that we cover hundreds of years sometimes in only a couple of sentences.

We do get a glimpse at the larger universe of the Never though and the story achieves its primary function which is to set up the antagonist for the Neverwar series and sow the seeds for the story that is coming. It also achieves a secondary goal, at least for me, which is to make me curious about how things are going to play out.

Most of the tale is told through the point of view of Tenybris (though we get brief looks from other characters too) but I didn't come away feeling that I knew him particularly well. In part this is because of how radically he changes over the course of the story. Both Tenybris and Olumé are effectively avatars for the Light and the Dark. People who prefer all shades of grey may not appreciate the more absolute nature of the evil on display here, but I had no problem with it.

Did You Like It?

Yes, I love this sort of fantasy. It seems to have gone a little bit out of fashion but it's the sort of stuff I grew up on and it's nice submerge myself in it again. Plus there are dragons and who doesn't like dragons?

I already have the next book loaded on my Kindle and will be reading it as soon as I can find a gap in my To Read list.

Buy, Borrow or Skip

Assuming you like epic fantasy (with dragons and elves) I think this is at least worth borrowing. If your taste runs more towards grimdark this may not be your thing. The series itself is billed as Young Adult so it's not aiming to be too dark.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ngaruawahia Girl

A neat prequel

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a really neat prequel for Souls of the Never and I enjoyed it. It forms a great background for the first in the series and is a steady, fascinating read. It’s well written and holds the reader’s attention easily. I love the imagery of a world protected from ambition and greed by a special kind of magic and especially appreciated the way the author wrapped the elements of good and evil together in a finely woven ribbon of destruction. It was different from the usual integral bad character making everyone’s life a misery and concentrated more on a latent hidden evil that works its way into a decent man’s character through emotional hurt. That’s what real life is like and it resonated with me.

I read this prequel around the time of its release and gave it four stars. I've just reread it as part of reading the whole series and the author has made a lot of changes in terms of editing and diction and I'm revising my rating to five stars based on that alone. I think second time around I like it even more than the first and will be moving onto Souls next, which last time I read in the wrong order.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

bonnie DALE keck

kidlike but not stupid, fleshed out but not too much

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2017

Verified Purchase

Prequel is permafree I think, the rest of the books seem to be on kindle unlimited. Since it says YA rated based on that; kidlike but not stupid, fleshed out but not too much. Also ended up with this on audio somehow, which is unusual for me {kindle for pc with audio along with narrator and speakonia reads to me and keeps me from having extra costs just to hear but hearing something read professionally is nice for change} Do like tolkien type things, middle earth or other worldly/animals stories.

Tales of the Neverwar Series
Origins of the Never: A Free YA fantasy.With Ancient Dragons, and Faerie Magic 0
Souls of the Never 1 - Worlds of the Never 2 - War of the Never 3

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

heather

lovely

Reviewed in Canada on March 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

Lovely short story

Claudia Petrache

Five Stars

Reviewed in India on October 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

Very good product

Bel

A lovely world that is being corrupted

Reviewed in Germany on June 26, 2016

Verified Purchase

I listened to the audio book, which I got at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

It's short, as prequels may go, but it sets the scene for the ensuing books nicely. I felt that I really wanted to know how the story goes on, so I started the sequel, and that's great, too.
I love the idea of a world where there's no greed, jealousy, etc, but, as can be expected, others want to profit from this world, or even destroy it, and so the dark forces set to work to achieve their goal.

Katie Welburn reads at a very fast pace, which isn't something I'm particularly fond of. That said, she reads with great passion (without exaggerating), which I totally enjoyed.
I found a way to manipulate the speed somewhat, so on the whole, it was an enjoyable listen.

Candace Lafleur

Love!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 1, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is the kind of book that you pick up on a whim, looking for a quick read, and get so sucked in that you can't put it down.

I loved this book. The characters give a new twist on good vs evil and I honestly feel myself rooting for the bad guy. It reminds me of one of my favorite X box games - Overlord. The way that the worlds leave so much to your own imagination, that you see inside the heads of other characters, that you as a reader get to follow along the simple cause and effect that builds Tenybris into what he is... a simple act of love and protection going wrong, perceptions being misunderstood, actions unappreciated, misinterpretations...

This book knocks home how the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

And I loved it.

I raced home to download the next book in the series, and I'm sure you will too.

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Image Unavailable

Follow the author

Origins of the Never: Prequel to the Tales of the Neverwar (Tales of the Neverwar Series) Kindle Edition

The survival of all reality is in the balance.

Customers who read this book also read

Product details

Videos

About the author

C J Rutherford

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries