Customer Reviews

The Awakened Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

So being the good little reader I am, I read and reviewed the Innocent Mage (Book 1) first. I was a bit disappointed there with very little going-ons occurring. In here, book 2, I really felt that punch to the face which Prince Gar receives. At least... I may have preferred it over this.

Harsh? A bit, I'm sure. I don't mean to be. But still, and again, there's -nothing- happening in these books. We have entire chapters devoted to how worried one character is about this, or where these other characters want their location of conspiracy to be (and yet not actually show any conspiring occur), and so forth and so on. I found myself growing anxious as I neared the end of the book, wondering when something large and grandiose would happen. Will Barl's Wall fall? Will the Final Days consume the lands and kill thousands? Will the big nasty bad guy go on a rampage? In the last twenty pages of this 712 page book, yes.

The author seems to prefer set-up over result. She spends a large majority letting us know what action will happen, then skips over the action we crave and summarizes what took place after the fact. And she does it all with characters that never really seem to... change. I waited until this book to pass judgment, and so I have. Many of the characters remain stuck in the cookie-cutter shape the author presented them. The villian was always snarling, racist, and vindictive. (It would have helped to add a little backstory to him.) The "sea slug" character remained a sea slug -- snobby and pretentious. The leading lady, though I could see the author tried with her, failed in convincing me she was anything but conniving and angsty despite her efforts to pass off as harsh and strong. The only character I found making me believe they were actually human was Darran, the pretentious-turned-caring servant to the prince.

All in all, this was a major disappointment. I really didn't want it to be. I wanted to like these books. I wanted to say, "Good job, Karen," but I honestly don't know if I can. At times, I didn't know if I was reading polished, published material or fanfiction. It takes a great effort to write 1300+ pages of a story, and for that I -do- give the author credit. Other than that, I can't say much else.

A fantasy story extremely light on the fantasy, a political piece extremely light on the politics, an adventure extremely light on adventure.
Karen Miller offers us a story more or less devoid of an original setting, decidedly sparse in character detail, and deviously unimpressive in wording. Everything is more or less stock fantasy, you've visited better versions of this world already, and with better characters to inhabit them.
It's a fun bedside/beach book at best, and I've managed to finish the duology without too much discomfort, but no part of this story strikes me as inspiring or original.
Rather than draw us through a sequence of events that teach us about the true nature of her characters and this created world, Miller seems content to spell it out for us... bluntly and repeatedly over the course of over a thousand pages. We're given a cast of characters whose intentions are painfully clear to the reader, or, if they are dishonest, excruciatingly elaborated upon to hammer in the fact that they are as such. It's political fantasy without the cleverness and credibility, combined with the pop fantasy aspect, only without the charm and voice. George R. R. Martin meets Terry Brooks, minus the positive aspects of either author.

My rating was based upon the story, but if I were to be entirely honest, this duology would be demoted to a single star for the multitude of typographical errors commited in the final print by Orbit. Among other things, Orbit seems to have a severe issue with its staff understanding the difference between apostrophes and quotations, and in these books they frequently abuse both devices.

Anyone looking for groundbreaking genre fiction will not find it in The Awakened Mage. Anyone who enjoys fare standard to the genre, well executed, will be quite happy.

Picking up right where The Innocent Mage left off, Ms. Miller zips us through an ascension of events that had me feeling I was right at the climax of the book when I still had 200 pages to go - and then carried me through those final 200 pages with aplomb.

Building off of the first book, the characterization in The Awakened Mage does its predecessor one better. Asher is as enjoyable as before, but all the other main characters - Darran, Daphne, Matt, Gar, Willard are fleshed out further and made more whole. We are given a better team of heroes to root for and a more despicable band of sycophants and evildoers to root against.

The dialogue in The Awakened Mage, much like that in The Innocent Mage is well done. As I said in that review, dialogue is one of Ms. Miller's strength. I also said, in my previous review, that her prose is competent. It is a matter of degree, but I think the practice derived from the first resulted in improvement in this, the second.

My greatest criticism, however, ultimately does delve into the fact that Ms. Miller is not breaking new ground. To be plain, every character that you think should die, does, and every character the plot demands live lives, and those that could go either way are liberally and arbitrarily either left alive or carelessly killed just to remind us that the world is dangerous. Just as I thought JK Rowlings undoing of the owl Hedwig in her final book was a bit of a copout, so too are some of the deaths that occur in this book. If I take the final demise of one of the more sycophantic characters in the book as an example - Ms. Miller could have as easily kept him alive to suffer the knowledge and humiliation of his actions. This would not only perhaps have been more just for the character - he deserved worse than he got - but also slightly novel for a fantasy genre tale. But no, he got exactly what the norms dictate he should have.

Gar's final treatment was particularly unimaginative.

In short, I would have liked to see Ms. Miller get just a _little_ unorthodox with how she ended the tale.

My other criticism may simply be a mistake on my part. However, I got the sense in several locations that Ms. Miller either hadn't made up her mind how she was going to end the book until she actually ended it, or some brilliant editor somewhere convinced her to change the ending (wouldn't surprise me that a commerical editor encouraged the other to stick closer to convention than create something even a little bit different), because more than once there is some pretty strong foreshadowing of events that end up not taking place.

It's possible these were meant to throw us off the trail, but rather, in my opinion, they end up being broken promises, or worse, uselessly occupied space on the page. I would be curious to hear if, among other things, some incarnation of Barl was not supposed to appear at some point in the tale.

I was similarly surprised that, after all of the buildup, some of the supposed aid Asher was supposed to get from 36 or so friends seemed completely irrelevant to the story. A variety of potentially intriguing components to the final climax I expected to see some variation of never materialized, and instead an almost Hallmark, trite little device ended the tale. Again, I blame a commerically minded editor somewhere.

Criticisms aside, I cannot deny that for all but the last few pages of the book I was riveted, standard fantasy fare or no.

The duology is an achievement of which Ms. Miller should be rightfully proud. Not the greatest fantasy ever, but certainly deserving of being labeled, 'good'.

I grabbed the Innocent Mage and Awakened Mage from a local thrift store for a dollar a piece (thank God) and thought I would give them a chance. I suffered through the first thinking it was just a sort of building book and read this one expecting SOMETHING TO FINALLY HAPPEN. I was sorely disapointed. I couldn't even read it, I just had to skim it because it was so freaking boring! The magic system absolutely sucks! We have no idea how the magic works and what anyone is capable of until they do it. There doesn't seem to be limits or rules to it. Also, one of the best parts of reading fantasy is getting lost in a whole new world... she has absolutely no idea how to develop a character let alone a world for them to reside in. I wouldn't even classify this as fantasy lite... it's a disgrace to the genre and all in all just a very poorly written book. Seriously, don't waste your time.

The Awakened Mage has a slightly different focus than you'd expect of an apocalyptic fantasy tale. Many of the reviews have stated that nothing happens, there's no action. Well, they are right. There are some major events in this book and the previous, but in the end they are not the point. The perspective of these books is the role of the savior and how crisis is formed and averted.

As stated in the title of my review, this is a contemplative book. It delves much deeper into relationships, thoughts and emotions than it does actual events. It is a tale of the growth of Asher, as well as those around him, into their various roles in the prophecy.

The Innocent Mage leaves the reader with an intense feeling of hopelessness and inevitability. The Awakened Mage continues the theme, while reveiling, bit by bit, the true depth of the problems they face as well as their salvation. The nature of the Doranen and their coming to Lur is revealed, along with the history of Jervale and the prophecy.

This book drags quite a bit in the first half. It is still a good read, though slower than the first book. The second half picks up the pace, as well as the suspence, though the entirety is farely predictable. In the end the biggest surprise was the growth of Darren. He's a backstage character, but he ends up being the most insteresting and endearing character of them all. As stated in other reviews, he is the only character to change much throughout the duology.

All in all, a satisfying read...and a good ending.

Where to start?

I am convinced that all you reviewers who gave this duology a good review are part of a global conspiracy who's aims are to get me to read trash. Well, you win. I read it, are you happy now?

For all of you considering reading this duology, beware it is a trap! The first book is just barley good enough to get you to read the second, and once you've realized how truly terrible the second book is it's already too late, you've come too far and you might as well finish it. The entire storyline is the worst of cliches, with an ancient Prophecy (With a capital P) about a young backwoods boy destined to wield great power and defeat the evil overlord. The prose is weak, the pace is very slow, the book is riddled with continuity errors, and deus ex machina runs rampant. Not to mention the fact that we are explicitly told that our hero cannot fail because Prophecy (Capital P) will not allow it. That really helps to build tension. Then we get to the character names: Gar, Durm, Barl (a woman), and the evil overlord Morg. I kid you not, Morg. For the last 500 pages I couldn't tell if this was written by Karen Miller or Terry Goodkind. Yeah, it was that bad. The prose took a turn for the purple, every character became a self-righteous, self-satisfied idiot, and Prophecy (Capital P) hung over the entire book like a big fat deus ex machina, serving to kill any tension that might once have been created.

All-in-all this duology was a big steaming pile of trash badly in need of a good editor.

I'm not quite sure what happened with this book. The book is about 9/10ths (or more) build up to a final battle. I think the whole book takes place in the span of a couple of weeks, or so. Anyhow, it takes place over a relatively short period of time. In this short period of time the reader is expected to believe that the protagonist can do the following: accept the fact that he has magic (even though it is the equivalent of a capital offense), embrace the magic, master the magic, use the magic to kill the baddest bad guy in over 600 years. He learns all he needs to know in a barn, in one afternoon.

Huh.

The final battle is just downright BIZARRE. Just a few reasons why I say this: during this ultimate battle of good and evil, while dodging demons & destruction, the characters take the time out to have protracted conversation about past events, complex spells, et cetera. Also, there is a lot of yakking about not distracting the hero from his fight, and then characters go on and distract the hero from his fight. And this fight is over fast-- a couple of pages.

Also, the lead character Asher started out annoying and just got more annoying. This guys will argue about ANYTHING, ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING. And on, and on, and on. At some point I felt like hurling the book across the room. The author just never lets Asher develop beyond an arguing butthead.

I thought parts of the book were pretty good, but not good enough to really recommend this to any of my friends. And I never did get over some of the really stupid premises of the book-- like how both races just quietly accepted their roles, even when it meant a marginalized existence for over half of them. Particularly the part about no intermarriage. It isn't like Asher doesn't frequently muse about how hot the Prince's sister is (a member of the ruling race). And I'm supposed to believe that in over 600 years none of the Olken and Doranen have ever hanky-pankied?

And what is with the cover art (aside from the fact that it sucks)? It has NOTHING to do with the book. Is that supposed to be Asher (the Innocent Mage himself)? Because I didn't read any part of the book that described him prancing around in red outfits.

This is the sequel to The Innocent Mage The Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker)

"The evil foretold has risen ... and we are all that stands between it and the end."Asher has come a long way for a fisherman's son. Together with his friend Prince Gar, he has defended their kingdom against its bitterest enemy, but at great cost. Now, the evil mage Morg is preparing for his most deadly assault. Desperate, trapped in a broken body, Morg has little time and fewer scruples. And he has a plan. As Gar and Asher unwittingly fall into a dangerous deception, Morg gets ever closer to his goal. And this victory would be particularly sweet?for who better to destroy the kingdom than the two who would give anything to save it?"

Yes, as some of the other reviewers have stated, Asher's love interest (Dathne) is less that appealing -- she's whiny and bitchy at times. I guess love is blind! I wish the author had allowed us to get to know her better (and/or made her grow-up a little).

And, no, there's not a lot of the battle and action that some fantasy series excel in.

These two books are not ground breaking fantasy. They are extraordinarily well written, compelling stories about friendship, honor, betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption.

Frankly, I wept for Asher and for Gar, especially. Noone should have to endure his soul-deep pain . I wish there had been a happily ever after ending for all of the characters, but the author's choices made sense and brought peace and closure that worked.

These two books are not light, airy reading for the beach (I disagree with a reviewer who stated otherwise).

The characters undergo soul-wrenching trials and not all survive. So, if you'd like an easy read with a fairy tale ending (and don't we all prefer our fantasy that way sometimes) then this isn't a good choice for you.

Still, an amazing journey and well worth the read.

For the past year or so I have found myself drifting away from my once beloved fantasy genre. I kept up with my favorite series, but I didn't pick up any new series/authors in the genre. It wasn't for lack of looking, just a lack of interest in the available books.

Then, three days ago someone lent me The Innocent Mage and The Awakened Mage. I had my doubts when these books were placed in my hands, but as I began to read The Innocent Mage they quickly vanished.

Asher is an incredibly well drawn character, as are Gar, Matt, and Dathne. These main characters have qualities that endear themselves to readers, but they also have flaws that allow the readers to connect to see them as real people. But the author does not forget the secondary characters. They too are well drawn and well rounded. (I especially like Darran's development and interactions with Asher...hehehehe.)

In the society of the novel people have to deal with subversion, superiority, prejudices, and their faith. All these things are woven into the story and are never overdone or abused. Instead they are dealt with in a manner that is true to how things are in life. There are some people who are on the extreme end of things of course, but most people (of both races) are just ordinary citizens trying to follow the path of life their faith and their society has dictated as to not disrupt their way of life.

The hero of the story comes from humble origins and while this is not necessarily something new for the genre, the author does handle it well. The big developments of the story also occur over a large space of time letting the characters and plot develop at a pace that actually seems plausible. Too often big 'developments' happen one right after another, leaving me wondering 'how did that all happen in that space of time'?!

I spent the weekend reading this 1400 page duology and it was time well spent. The only let down was that it ended. I would have dearly loved to read more about what happened after the novel (I won't say what exactly I would have like to read more about as to not give away the ending).

Anyhow, I conclude this rather lengthy review by saying go buy these two books!

Somewhere around page 300 of this book, I decided the most likable character in the book was the villain. The rest of the characters were petty, obnoxious and cruel. And that's to their friends.

Miller seems to have forgotten one of the key rules of storytelling - you have to care about the protagonists. That's unfortunately impossible, when they are all so obnoxious. I lost count of the times any of the characters said "Shut up! No, really, shut up. Shut up now" to each other. This conversation (monologue) occurs many times throughout the book, and, of course, keeps the characters for communicating, fixing problems, etc. By the third time, this conversation is about as much fun as fingernails on a blackboard.

Sadly, Morg does't win - he's dealt with in the last few pages, in an almost throw away scene. And for Pete's sake, who sends someone into the final death battle with a deliberately broken death spell? It's like "Here, let me take the bullets out of your gun. Ok, now go face the bad guy!" WTF?

But, on the bright side, there is some entertainment value here. I'd like the propose the Awakened Mage Drinking Game. If you drink every time it says "The Prophecy", I guarantee that you won't have to worry about being disappointed by the ending.