A Splendidly Told Fantasy

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	• The Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker) Karen Miller Orbit, 2007 - 672 pages average customer review:based on 55 reviews view larger image
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A Splendidly Told Fantasy

I must agree with other reviewers in that the story that Miller is telling isn't altogether original. So, you might ask, why the five stars? Much of fantasy is considered unoriginal because the genre does draw on similar aspects that resonate throughout. This being the case what separates a work of fantasy is not always the storyline, but on how the story is told. This is what Miller has done exceedingly well and the reason I look so highly on this book.

The story flows from beginning to end with not even a hiccup to make the reader snort in derision or shake their head in disbelief. The character interactions are real. The dialogue is real. Everything seems so real, which is a breath of fresh air in a genre that oftentimes glosses over this aspect of writing in order to insert their flare or describe awesome scenes of magic.

Miller has this element present, allowing the reader to immerse themselves in the magic of Lur, but she also weaves a story that allows your emotions to become enveloped and involved. Many a time I was caught up in my emotions as I read about Asher and Gar.

On the flip side the story didn't really go anywhere. You expect at least to see an Innocent Mage, but you are left wondering when that mage will make an appearance. The book also ended abruptly. I was getting to the last 40 pages thinking, okay here comes some action... Then 20 pages and so on. To me it felt as though this book was not intended to be a stand alone book 1 but is rather the first half of a long book, one of which the publisher thought would be better to split into two books.

My reserves aside I am very happy to have accidentally stumbled upon this book and given it a try. I had virtually written off fantasy as being able to produce books that are not parts of long drawn out series and also couldn't make the reader personally involved. Bravo to Miller for showing me that there are some authors still worth reading in fantasy.

5 stars.

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The Innocent Mage

The Innocent Mage is a 640-page book in which very little happens. The first several hundred pages are primarily devoted to character development, building the world in which events will eventually happen. It's not until page 485 that the plot truly begins to progress, and even then it does so at an excrutiatingly slow pace, taking another hundred-odd pages to work up to the cliffhanger ending. (Literally, in this case.)

This is not to say that the character development is entirely wasted, though I find most of the characters unsympathetic. Asher is tolerable when not going on about his feelings for Dathne, who has many of the hallmarks of a Mary Sue and who drives me absolutely mad with dislike. Gar is tragic and adorable, but many of the other characters are not well developed, left to populate a vaguely-defined world. Other characters, like Fane, are developed but entirely unappealing.

Despite the lack of plot for much of the book and the mostly-transparent characters, it actually reads fairly well. I pounded through it in two or three sittings, enjoying it despite Dathne and myself. Unfortunately, though, I'm not sure I enjoyed it enough to want to plough through the close of the duology.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to someone who doesn't have particularly high standards or who wants a read that they don't really have to think about. There's not any one thing in particular wrong with this book, there's just not any particular thing right with it, either.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

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