Wand of the Witch (Misfit Heroes 2) - Daniel Arenson

I really enjoyed the different aspects of Arenson's first Misfit novel and thought I would give the second one a go. It has a tough first novel to follow and I feel it fell a little short, here's why.

There were a couple of things Arenson tried to achieve in writing that should be left in the realm of film. The Montage. This works very well as a time filler in films, where we don't need to see the entire training session of a group of soldiers for example. I found this did not translate well into words. For a start the placing of this montage in the book was a real jerk to the pacing. Normally montages are set to music and although a tune is mentioned in the novel, it was a real difficulty trying to suspend my disbelief enough to allow for random music, even in a comedy fantasy novel. It just seemed too far fetched for me to enjoy. Saying this, a huge well done to Arenson for trying something new and a bit quirky. It just didn't work for me.


The pacing of the novel was a bit off for my tastes as well, there seemed to be parts that dragged on when you just wanted to find out what was going on. Who needs a side story when you're about to go fight the baddie at the end? 

One thing that worked for me in the first novel was the use of accents and stutters. One of the characters suffers from a crippling stammer, she is unable to pronounce 'r's' and 'l's', instead they are typed as 'w', this was endearing in the first novel, it was annoying in this one. Some of the sentences were hard to understand and this was a hindrance to the novel as a whole. One of the other characters comes across as 'too stupid to live' and I have to wonder what they brought to the novel as a whole. I'm not going to name them as that would be unfair.

There are good points in the novel as well, the world is well written and some of the writing is well worth a read. I enjoyed reading about Mazrilla and I think her background is very cleverly written. It fits well and she has sound motivation for being the way she is. You learn a lot about the people from the world as a whole while seeing through her eyes and these part of the narrative are very good.

Putting aside the issues I have highlighted above, this novel is worth a read. It's nowhere near as good or as funny as the first novel and if a third comes out I doubt I will bother to look at it but to say the book is unreadable would be unfair. Give it a go, after all, this is just my thoughts and who's to say I'm right?

Eye of the Wizard (Misfit Heroes, Book 1) - Daniel Arenson

This book was a blessing of a find. I wanted to read some fantasy, as I often do, but fancied something a bit different and this book offered me just that. It follows the story of five characters and how their apparent flaws get them exiled from their homes. They end up banding together and having to save the world from a skeletal warlock whose lust for revenge seems to dominate his entire being.

I admit to being a bit unsure during the first chapter or so as I didn't know quite how to take the novel. Once I realised it was a comedy and written to be so, I started enjoying it. I enjoyed it so much I managed to finish it in a matter of days! Although I wasn't quite laughing out loud, there were a few snickers along the way. Arenson writes in a few cliches through the novel which normally would be a massive ranting point - as I have done in the past - but he uses them to his advantage. He pokes fun at the accepted norms of fantasy and does so very well. The antagonist of the novel is a walking cliche but that's what he is meant to be and as a result, is all the more amusing.

The language was a delight to read, simple and to the point, there are no long winded descriptions in the novel, a lot of this is left to the reader - just how I like it, I think even the ten year old kids in my class at work would enjoy this novel, its so easy to read! Not too many adverbs and the right balance between action and chatter.

There are five protagonists in the book and each one has different flaws. These flaws do cause the characters no end of problems, especially the warlock who gains a temporary deformity every time he casts a spell, like rabbit ears or a giraffe neck, yet somehow they manage to overcome their difficulties and still achieve their goals. The characters seemed balanced and well formed to me, I cared about what happened to them and even the odd repetition of phrases didn't bother me.

I only have two niggly points to make about the novel; the chapters seemed episodic to me, like the novel was written as a bunch of short stories and then formed into a novel later, they are consistent but I like a bit of a cliff hanger at the end of a chapter, not for everything to be well rounded - maybe a personal preference and don't let it put you off reading. The other is an even more minor point, one of the characters makes a curse on the Queen of England. It bothered me because it's set in a fantasy world, which means England probably doesn't exist, let alone have a queen, it grated me a little but not enough to put me off the novel.

I have heard there is a sequel to the novel so will be off to give that a read in a little while, this book is well worth it, it will have you laughing on the inside, if not the out!

Taming Fire (Dragonprince Triology book 1) - Aaron Pogue

After the disaster that was my last read, this book was a delight! It wasn't perfect and if it had followed something like Doug Hurlick's Among Thieves it might not have been such a success but such as it is, this book is well worth a read.

The storyline is pretty simple, telling of a young convicted thief's son, who's working as a shepherd to escape his father's crimes, is found by a wizard and offered power he has not really dreamt about. Couple that with his more than decent knowledge of sword-play you'd think he'd have an easy ride to the status he has never had... Nothing could be more wrong. The author has no qualms about making things difficult for his character, he spends more time injured, shunned or being tortured than getting where he needs to be, it makes a welcome change from reading about characters that are good at everything or learn everything easily.

The book has a good mix of politics, magic and dragons and the plot twists in good ways during the first two thirds of the book. It got a little predictable at the end and I felt as though the ending had been rushed a bit. We all like our hero's to win the day and get the girl but in this book, the girl turned out to be someone he'd had a two minute conversation with at the start of the book and not seen since until right at the end. She seemed more of a plot point than a real character.

There are other characters in the novel that could be a bit more developed as well. The wizard who finds our hero plays a major part at the start of the novel, gets injured and then is never seen again. Why did he go to all the effort of fetching the young shepherd if you're going to ignore him... Even after you recover?

The world is well thought out and the magic system the author has used is different to what I have read before which is a welcome change. It is a step away from your traditional fire throwing cliche and a step towards something else, this alone makes the book worth a peruse.

Despite these flaws, this novel is well worth a read. I enjoyed it and will be reading the follow up sometime soon.