Steven Calkum was born in 1967 and grew up on a small ranch in East Central Colorado. He earned BS and MS degrees and worked in natural resources for 13 years before becoming disabled in 2011. A voracious reader, he created his own style by rewriting drafts until he would want to read his own work. He remarried in 2016 and plans to be a househusband and work toward a career as a writer/storyteller in addition to raising more children. He currently lives in Wyoming with the youngest of his children from his first marriage. His book “Freeborn: Genesis” is book one of the Freeborn saga. It is the story of Freeborn, a half human and half elven who learned from birth that though he can live among humans and elven peoples, he belongs to neither. (Amazon, 2023)

“Freeborn” – “Half of one world, half of another and anathema to both.” That is what Freeborn has heard all his life. Tishamon, the elven woodsman also known as The Long Walker, took him in when he was born and is the only person who accepts and respects Freeborn as he is. The story begins with Prologue: The Blizzard Birth as a pregnant young slave girl, a Copper Elf, ends up at Tishamon’s doorstep asking for help. She manages to deliver a healthy boy but she does not survive and pleas Tishamon to take care of her son and name him Freeborn. As Freeborn grows up, he and Tishamon travel the Shattered Empire. Tishamon helps Freeborn learn the rules and customs of the Empire’s many peoples, as well as the dangers of the world. An epic saga fantasy novel, it is divided into 58 chapters and follows Freeborn’s many adventures, battles, disappointments, and lessons learned along the way. Join Freeborn as he grows from boyhood to manhood and explores his expansive world.

When the real world gets to be too much, there is nothing better than getting lost in a fantasy novel filled with imaginary worlds, epic battles, and the different inhabitants of these worlds: elves, dwarves, giants, and more. “Freeborn” is definitely one of these novels. It combines a coming of age novel and a fantasy epic and brings readers along as Freeborn grows into the man he is meant to be. Tishamon, his guardian, is centuries old and teaches him survival skills but rarely gives rewards or compliments because “If you lived, that was your reward. If you didn’t, that was your penalty.” The author’s imagination is extensive, as evidenced in the detailed world building and the different societies in those worlds. The map at the beginning is a good idea, but in a Kindle, it is hard to see the details. Even though the language is simple, it is descriptive: “Freeborn swallowed the scream clawing up his throat and drew his sword with a trembling hand” and makes the action come alive throughout the pages. The battles scenes are written in such vivid detail that it is hard not to get immersed in them: “the goblinoid was so heavily muscled and had such thick bones that the arrows were stopped before they could hit anything vital.” Since this is Freeborn’s story, the character development is focused on his life as he grows through the years. Overall, “Freeborn” is a thrilling fantasy adventure. Despite the target demographic being young readers, it should appeal to anyone who appreciates epic sagas similar to the Lord of the Rings.

“We choose, consciously or unconsciously, to react to events in a certain way, for good or ill. The course of a person’s life is charted by those decisions.”

*The author was contacted for an honest review of this book. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.