Eric S. (Shooter) reviewed Not bad, and somewhat original... worth a read, anyway. on 11/28/2008

Helpful Score: 7

This wasn't the best fantasy novel I have ever read, nor the worst by far. If you have read the first book in the series (Innocent Mage) you will no doubt want to read this one as well. For me, the first book was even slower than this book... the author's pacing is not the best, and I found myself skimming some passages to get back to the main story line and the main characters.

Without being too much of a spoiler, I guess my biggest disappointment in this novel was that the "real" magic from the protagonist didn't occur until well past half way through the book, and even then we didn't get to see much in the way of *why* this magic was so effective against his opponent, nor did we learn much about the nature of the magic of the Olken. After all of the build-up, I expected more. In addition, I thought the author took the easy way out by making the magic so "second nature" to the main character; by making the learning of the magic "easy" for him, the author cheated the readers to some degree, since because it was easy, it required little explanation. The protagonist "sketches a sigil" into the air, and we are supposed to envision how that was done without the benefit of a better description. The protagonist "conjures glimfire" yet we don't get to understand the process or the implications, nor does there seem to be any limit imposed on the magic.

So... while it wasn't a bad novel, and I thought the dialogue was pretty decent, I wouldn't say this ranks anywhere near Lord of the Rings, or David Eddings' Belgariad series, or Wizard's First Rule, or George R. R. Martin's Swords series. But it was enjoyable enough, and a lot better than the Magic of Recluce series or (in my opinion) the highly overrated and repetitive Wheel of Time series.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details