Tuesday, August 2, 2011

A Blight of Mages: By Karen Miller

A BLIGHT OF MAGES

SUMMARY

Hundreds of years before the great Mage War, a land lies, unknowing, on the edge of catastrophe...

Barl is young and impulsive, but she has a power within that calls to her. In her city, however, only those of noble blood and with the right connections learn the ways of the arcane. Barl is desperate to learn-but her eagerness to use her power leads her astray and she is banned from ever learning the mystic arts.

Morgan holds the key to her education. A member of the Council of Mages, he lives to maintain the status quo, preserve the mage bloodlines, and pursue his scholarly experiments. But Barl's power intrigues him-in spite of her low status.

Together, he realizes they can create extraordinary new incantations. Morgan's ambition and Barl's power make a potent combination. What she does not see is the darkness in him that won't be denied.

REVIEW

I read and enjoyed Karen Miller’s The Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology but felt as if at times it was slow for long sections of the book and at other times, during the action sequences, it skipped over to many of the details necessary to make it into a better more compelling story.

That said I felt A Blight of Mages improved these deficits and made a much more compelling story. The characters were interesting, while sometimes annoying (really only Barl), they appeared much more real than when compared to characters in Miller’s previous books.

As for the plot itself, it was great reading what happened to cause the events that set up The Innocent Mage. It contained build ups and let downs but not that much action, yet still found a way to be entertaining.

All in all, while there were points where I was annoyed with certain characters or was tired of one perspective, I did enjoyed the book. Besides being an enjoyment overall A Blight of Mages also acts as a great first book to become introduced into the world of The Innocent Mage, and it also makes a great look back at the events that caused the events for fans of the later set series.

RATING
7 out of 10

INFO

Publisher: Orbit

Published: August 4, 2011

Price: $25.99

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