Review - Tarsus by J.C. Owens

Bullied by his warlord father, Tarsus has never known kindness. Everyone looks down on him because of his white hide and silvery hair. When their renegade fortress is captured by the Queen’s army, Tarsus expects to die along with everyone else. Instead of killing him, the Queen’s daughter gives Tarsus to her brother Varan, who makes the young centaur his servant. Tarsus still expects to die eventually, when Varan tires of him.

“Tarsus” is set in a fantasy world where the centaurs and minotaurs of Greek mythology are real. All of the characters are centaurs. Like many stories from this author, this is a captive to lover tale, which also means there’s a whiff of dubious consent about how the two main characters eventually get together. You’ll want to be aware of this content warning before deciding to pick up this book, but the key scene is sensitively handled.

The narration switches between several characters, although from Tarsus and Varan’s points of view for most of the story. Tarsus is an abused young man (colt?) shunned and scorned because he is different. His captors, including Varan, initially treat him much the same. However, at least some of them see past Tasus’ strange looks to perceive the kind, hard-working person he really is. There’s an ugly duckling fairy tale twist to Taurus’ story that you’ll probably see coming.

Varan is the army commander who initially doesn’t know what to do with Taurus. Once Taurus proves himself to be an adequate servant and loses some of his fear, it’s easy to see why Varan would be attracted to the lithe young centaur. The shift from attraction to obsession is a little hard to grasp, but it's not beyond belief.

“Tarsus” is available from Smashwords or see BookBub for other online sources.