The Curse of the Thrax (Bloodsword Trilogy, Book 1) by Mark Murphy

The Thrax killed Jaykriss' father and his body and his sword were never recovered.  Jaykriss is now fourteen and his goal in life is to kill the Thrax and avenge his father.  He'd also like to get the legendary sword back.  But the Thrax is huge, strong, and determined.  The odds aren't good.

The author and PR by the Book allowed me to join this blog tour and read this book for review (thank you).  It has just been published, so you can buy a copy now.

Jaykriss' best friend is Marda, an excellent archer and hunter.  Jaykriss is better with his sword.  Together they hunt for their families, fish for fun, and are very good buddies.  They do well together and face their battles back to back to stay safe.  They have one group of locals who hate them, but they manage to fight them off.

The two boys have a natural fear of the priests, which is a good thing.  The Dark King is in power and he is truly dark.  While the school teaches them he's good and things are well, not everyone believes them.  When a priest comes and takes away Jaykriss' widowed mother and his sister to marry the new Chieftain he wants to stop the process.  His mother tells him to leave it alone, she'll be OK.  He doesn't agree.

If he's to fight against the system, he needs to know more.  He knows there is only one place he can really learn what he needs.  There's an old man in a secluded cave behind a waterfall.  The only way he found him in the first place was by evading the Thrax.  He and Marda went behind the waterfall and the Thrax lost them.  However, they almost died of fright when someone spoke behind them.  Zamarcus offers them knowledge.  Much of it is from long, long ago and no one else knows it.  It's forbidden but they want to learn.

Add in a bit of romance when Jaykriss finds himself falling in love with Sola, a brave young woman who is also an excellent archer and is beautiful.  He likes her and then it turns into more...

There's also an old prophecy that's not very encouraging; it seems if he's the "one", he's going to die in his quest.  Knowledge, reasoning, and good decision making might change the outcome.  But does he have enough?

This was a good read with lots of action and a good premise.  The characters are each strong in their own right, and I'm looking to reading more in the series.  Why don't you give this one a read and see what you think?