4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Pseudo-wizard Gerald Dunwoody is a weakling, a whiner and a marshmellow. After getting fired from his third (or was it his fourth) job, he accepts a position in a far off country as the Royal Court Wizard to King Lional of New Ottosland. His first task transforms a lion into a pussycat and gives crazy King Lional seriously deluded ideas of grandeur. He decides to invade the neighboring country with dragons and magic. Thus ensues a debacle of immense proportions that puts Gerald and Reg smack in the middle of chaos.
After a while, Gerald and his bird sidekick, Reg, grow on you. Even the King's sister, Melissande becomes likeable when compared to the barmy King. His madness is immediately apparent and rather scary.
A real slow read as Gerald's whiny poor-me attitude is aggravating as hell. But if you can persevere, the story has merit. It's a totally enjoyable read with madmen, holy men, dragons, talking birds, sorcerer's (both good and evil). With a little bit of everything thrown into the mix including a surprise ending.
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
I really enjoyed this story. It was easy reading and the story kept my attention. The characters were well written and they story line at times was very exciting. This story is like Harry Potter for adults. I would recommend this book, even if you don't like fantasy, it is a good read.
2 member(s) found this review helpful.
It's like two different stories stuck together.
K.E. Mills has a gift for descriptive writing. Her characters were all physical presences in the story. She also manages to write realistic sounding dialog.
I just have to finish books I start, as a rule. However, the writing in this book was incredibly heavy-handed. The characterizations are very heavy, there's no subtlety involved. This is _not_ a bad read, particularly if you haven't read some of her other works and so don't have high expectations. If you're in for a quick fix of magic and mayhem, then perhaps consider it. If you've got anything better though, leave this one on the shelf. I have picked up the next book in the trilogy to see what mess they will get into next, but I hesitate to start it.