Nico Zapf '25
You know how when you’re discussing something that you love so much and you’re so passionate about how great it is, you can barely form actual sentences to explain the greatness that said thing possesses? Well, that’s how I feel about the Legends of Thezzmar book series by Helen Scheuerer.
Because of its humorous and realistic character dynamics, fast-paced and plot-driven nature, and beloved #BookTok tropes we all know and love making them cringy, this series is a highly underrated must-read in the high fantasy genre. If you love any other mainstream #BookTok series, you will devour this one.
This four-book series follows Thea, a badass FMC (female main character) who has a short timeline on her life, believing she will die at age 27, and Wilder, one of the best warswords–the most powerful and elite warriors in Thezzmar–who is investigating the surge of monsters entering the five kingdoms of Thezzmar.
With her death foretold, Thea is doing everything in her power to become what she’s always dreamed of being – a warsword. The only problem is women aren’t allowed to even wield blades, let alone become warriors, because of a prophecy spoken 20 years prior that basically claimed a woman would destroy all of Thezzmar.
I won’t lie to you. At the beginning of this series, Thea can be annoying at times. She has her moments where she stubbornly tries to “not be like other girls” since girls are limited to becoming healers or chemists when she just wanted to live out her warrior dreams. But instead of that character flaw being an unintentional annoyance written by the author, like many other mainstream #BookTok books we have seen, Scheuerer made sure that Thea had that flaw so she could have character growth from it.
Over the course of the series, Thea’s younger sister Wren shows her that healing and chemistry jobs are just as important in war as fighting is. She eventually starts to agree with that mindset. Thea’s “not like other girls” mentality isn’t used as a plot tool to separate her as the protagonist of the book, but rather as one of her many growth points, which is incredibly refreshing to see in a fantasy book.
Wilder is honestly what you expect the typical grumpy MMC (male main character) to be, at least for the first two books. But also, what’s wrong with the cliche brooding love interest, if he’s a well-fleshed-out character? For the first two books, Blood and Steel and Vows and Ruin, because Wilder is begrudgingly stuck with mentoring Thea while also trying to fight his growing attraction to her, his solution is to try to be as detached and nonchalant as possible. But, of course, it doesn’t work.
Don’t worry about getting bored with this cliche character because as I’ve learned Scheuerer does everything for a reason, which we see in the third and fourth books, Fate and Furies and Shadows and Storms. Wilder goes through a number of traumatic events that he has to work through, which force him to grow and do things that he wouldn’t have ever done, like set limits for himself, accept help from people around him, and learn to love wholeheartedly without letting his fear of what would happen stop him.
Now I know what you’re thinking: the two main characters should be well-written, and complex; what about the side characters? I am proud to say they are just as beautifully fleshed-out, complex characters as the protagonists.
We have Cal and Kipp who are Thea’s best friends, Thea’s sister Wren, and Torj who is Wilder’s best friend. Their dialogue is amazing with Cal being the ride-or-die friend and Kipp being a humorous drunkard, and don’t get me started on the nurturing, mothering Wren, and the just-along-for-the-ride Torj.
I can promise when reading the interactions between this found family, you’ll see a familiarity from your own friendships reflected back to you. Between slaying monsters and fighting a corrupt kingdom, these people still make time to have an intimate family dinner-esque feeling when they’re all just dancing around a bar the night before they go to war. Personally, I want to be at their Thanksgiving table and I know you would want to too.
My favorite part of the Legends of Thezzmar series is that Schuerer managed to fit all the best book tropes while also not rushing or slowing the plot. We have the previously mentioned found family; we have a slow burn series with the “one-bed” trope, “one horse” trope, an MMC that is feral for the women he loves, and so much more. My personal favorite tropes in this book are, and yes, I have a list:
“Who did this to you?”
We shouldn’t be together, but we want to be together tension
A woman in a man’s world
“Touch her/him and you die”
And, finally, female rage. Who doesn’t love that?
To all the #BookTokers, I promise you will inhale the words on these pages.
Overall in the simplest of terms, Helen Scheuerer, if you are reading this I want to personally thank you for blessing the world with the Legends of Thezzmar. It’s a fun, beautiful, and, at times, heartbreaking read. It will have you laughing till your ribs hurt one moment and have you crying on the edge of your bed the next. And if you are not Helen Scheuerer and you are reading this, walk, in fact, run as fast as the speed of light to Barnes and Noble to buy this whole series. I promise you will not regret it.