Tag: Magic

The Glass Magician

The Glass Magician

Normally I am not a fan of paranormal fiction, but this book hit two buttons for me.  I am a fan of turn of the century (I guess I have to specify the turn of the 20th century now) fiction, and I love stage magic.  The Glass Magician is not a bad book; it came close to being excellent.  Sadly, there are a few places the story let me down. The characters are probably the best part of the book, or at least one character is.  Thalia Cutler, the eponymous magician, is a fairly likable main character.  She is strong-willed and competent while still exhibiting flaws and worries enough to be interesting.  Stevermer hit a good balance with Cutler, making me care about what happened to her through the story, which is one of the most important parts of an engaging novel.  Thalia also has a decent character arc through… Read more »

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The Garden of Stones

The Garden of Stones

Review by Travis Starnes The first book in the Echoes of Empire series, The Garden of Stones is an epic story of a civil war, a madman’s vicious path to power and the noble warrior that stands in his way. The description of the book made me eager to get a copy and start reading.  I have to say from the outset you can tell how intent Mark Barnes is to build this world.  It is obvious on every page how much care and detail he put into the world, the politics, the people and the language.  Generally I admire when an author really builds out the world the story is set in.  For me it is what elevates The Lord of the Rings from a good read to an amazing novel and the keystone all fantasy books should follow. Unfortunately, Barnes does not successfully pull of the world building the way Tolkien did. … Read more »

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The Magician

The Magician

Review by Andy As young adult fiction goes The Magician is okay but needs some work. Even though it is fantasy the chances of a fifteen-year-old killing a millennia old giant lizard seems kind of slim. The weak plot is helped some by a subplot that is pretty good and characters that are interesting and funny. As a sequel it does not hold up to the first book in the series, The Alchemyst. What makes this series work is the setting of Earth where magic is very much alive. The series also brings legends, gods, and goddesses out of fiction and puts them beside famous people from history, who are themselves often immortal.  For anyone interested in mythology this combination comes off as pretty clever. While the main plot is fairly weak it does pick up the story where the first book left off and continues the plot through well. … Read more »

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