When his father was killed at sea, Tobas had been lucky to find a wizard to take him on a apprentice. But the wwizard had died of old age, after teaching Tobas only eht elementary spell for starting a fire. AndTobas' efforts to open the Book of Spells used be the wazard had resulted in a fire that consumed the hut and all its contents. Tobas was left with noting, already too old to seek other apprenticeship. Across the sea, in a faraway Old Ethshar, there were dragons to be slain, princesses and gold to be won, magic castles, and witches who know the secret of immotality. But those were prizes to which no wizard with a single, simple spell could aspire....Tobas gathered his aspiration to his empty stomach and set out to find a rowboat.

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Frankly, I was surprised that this book got such high ratings (4/5 before my rating dropped it down to 3/5). The plot seemed to wander aimlessly about at times, the protagonist doing a lot of things that didn't seem to further the story at all. It was whimsical but the characters seemed rather shallow and poorly developed and Tobas was difficult to identify with. The author did have a few original plot ideas, but that is about the best thing I can say about this book.

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I'd rate this book as a 4.5/5.0. The plot is solid and the entertainment keeps rolling as the story proceeds. The only critcism I could make is that the lazy main character is not always the most like-able person, and that one wife is enough! lol. Over all the book is a well writen fantasy fiction.

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A delightful light fantasy romp.

From back cover: Wth a single spell he could conjure fire. That was about it.
Tobas had been lucky to find a wizard to take him on as an apprentice. But then the wizard died suddenly and unexpectedly after teaching Tobas only a solitary spell, and the youth was too old to find a new master.
In the Small Kingdoms there were dragons to be slain, princesses and gold to be won, magic castles, witches who knew the secret of immortality, and other treasures. But how could a wizard with just one spell hope to win them?

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