Tales of Truth and Treasure Book 4: Dagger, Spear and Sword by James Haddell ~ Blog Tour

“Stories tell us what it is to be human, to love, to fear, to forgive, to feel and to adventure. Treasure the stories…If you do, you will find the truths you need.”

Dagger, Spear & Sword is the fourth book in the exciting adventure series by James Haddell. Readers will love setting off on another thrilling quest with Tia, Meghan and Pasco as they try to find the Hallows of King Arthur. Each time they come across a carved Solomon’s Knot, they know magic and mystery lie ahead. This carving is a symbol of Tia’s past as well as her future. How is Tia connected to the power of King Arthur and the longevity of his legend? Why do his Hallows call to her? What dangers will she face to discover her truth?

Tia, Meghan and Pasco are the most wonderful trio. So caring and encouraging, they always have each others’ backs. Meghan is absolutely brilliant in this book. So feisty and capable, she is the perfect model of a strong girl who will do anything for her friends and family. Her take charge attitude makes her the star of her own story – living every exciting moment and expressing her genuine delight for Tia each step of the way. She could not care more for her adopted sister. It’s like they’ve always been together.

Tia must push herself to be brave. Naturally hesitant, she’s inspired by Meghan to take action and led by her own desire to discover the truth. Only she can find the answer which means she must step up and do things she never imagined possible. Tia’s character growth is inspiring.

This is a wonderful series celebrating adoption and newly formed families. Full of unconditional love and support, Tia knows her family is always cheering her on no matter what. It’s the strength she finds in her new family that allows her to step out in her search to discover her potenital and what life has in store for her.

Secret tunnels, underground caves and portals to other places provide the setting for heart-racing adventure. Readers will quickly be caught up in the story, not able to turn the pages fast enough to find out how this remarkable girl will hold her own against some of the most legendary, ancient women ever known. Excalibur, the Lady of the Lake and Morgan, estranged sister of King Arthur, are no match for this powerful girl.

I’m honoured to share an incredibly thoughtful guest post by author James Haddell about his inspirations for the Tales of Truth and Treasure series:

I have always found inspiration as a children’s writer in my firsthand experiences with children – working as a primary school teacher, volunteering overseas with disabled children, and parenting my own kids with their myriad of experiences.

We adopted our two eldest whilst living in Thailand and I have always felt that, considering how many children’s stories star a protagonist who has lost at least one and often two parents, the emotional journey of losing birth parents and being adopted is not well-represented in children’s literature at all. Characters like this make for instantly endearing heroes to send on thrilling adventures, but they are not often allowed to be emotionally vulnerable, anxious or riddled with a lack of self-worth.

I wrote The Lost Child’s Quest (the first book in the Tales of Truth and Treasure series) in an attempt to tell the story of a character that my own children would recognise themselves in: Someone trying to reconcile their early trauma with the security of now being in a loving home. Someone who is prone to anxiety in situations where most children would just feel excited, and yet has an incredible resilience that enables them to thrive in situations that would be too much for most. Someone who wants to know who they are a little better but is unlikely to ever know the details of their birth history.

Tales of Truth and Treasure are still treasure-hunting adventures with quests, dungeons and magic (and Dagger, Spear and Sword probably has more of that than any of the first three books), but this series is as much an adopted child’s journey of self-discovery as it is all of that.

As I’ve continued this series, I’ve increasingly realised that this theme is poignant for all children, and indeed for all of us. We all want to understand ourselves better and work out how we fit into an everchanging and expanding world. As we learn more however, the knowledge we gain seems to shrink in comparison to our increased realisation that there is so much more to life than we could ever learn – every answer leads to at least two new questions. Yet we understand ourselves better through the journey.

I guess this is postmodernism, though I certainly don’t want to get too philosophical. But I do think this is where stories play such an important role in broadening the horizons of people of all ages. You can get absorbed in a story and feel things instead of just thinking. We can wrap our hearts around things that are too indefinable to get our heads round.

Learning things is good, but truth is better. It’s great to accrue knowledge, but understanding is more valuable. Facts can be useful, but stories can be profound. Stories are truth and treasure.

Find out more about the first three books in the series below: