Customer Reviews

Bad Spell in Yurt

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Humorous/light fantasy is a much-neglected subgenre, and talented writers in it are quite rare. ...I was delighted to find "Bad Spell in Yurt," a lovely book by a talented author.

Daimbert is not a particularly good wizard, but it doesn't matter so much because Yurt is not a very big kingdom (as he informs us on the first page). He answers an ad requesting a Royal Wizard in the kingdom of Yurt, where the old wizard has just retired. When Daimbert arrives, at first he thinks that the worst problem he'll have is having to perform magic that he doesn't know, due to his skipping classes. He meets the weakened King Haimeric, the amazingly holy chaplain, the young queen, the flirtatious youthful queen's aunt Lady Maria, the king's sullen-looking nephew Dominic, and various other characters. On the surface, all seems fine, except for Daimbert's problems installing telephones.

However, something is rotten in the state of Yurt. Daimbert finds that he is not the only source of magic in the castle -- someone or something is causing the king to grow weaker and weaker. When he asks the old Royal Wizard about the problems, the only thing the old man will say is that no one can go into the north tower. Daimbert must unravel the mystery, and find who is responsible for all these problems. But can a class-skipping young wizard face evil and win? Hopefully!

C. Dale Brittain adds a little spice and flavor to the usual wizards and medieval settings. There are no strained attempts to make this tale ultra-different, but rather Brittain simply lets it flow. We have kings, wizards, demons, courtiers, and political plotting. Yet the plotline never becomes bogged down or too serious.

Humor in this book is never blatant or overdone, eliciting chuckles rather than belly laughs. I loved Daimbert dyeing his beard gray and buying the threadbare red-and-black top, writhing when the constable announced that they wouldn't expect telephone magic for at least a few weeks, and noting that his "Christmas suit" is ruined after slaying a dragon. It's wry and understated, but very realistic. Readers could definitely imagine someone thinking this way.

Daimbert is a delightful character. He's not flawless, or even very skilled, but his brainpower and niceness overcome the fact that he's not too good at wizardry. The supporting characters are a little less defined, but all are great, especially aging (sometimes NON-aging) ingenue Lady Maria, the solemn chaplain (who is as likeable as Daimbert in a very different way), and the ex-Royal Wizard, who is the sort of crotchety, capable wizard that everyone likes.

Descriptions are pretty good, evocative when describing action but never overdone. The dialogue is also realistic; too many fantasy books take themselves too seriously, resulting in silly melodramatic language, but this book is full of characters who talk like real people. The conversation with the demon is especially well-done, as is Daimbert's debate with the chaplain.

... Fans of Discworld ...should check out the adventures of Daimbert.

The main character, Daimbert, is a likeable, good-hearted young man who grew up in the city without knowing a true home. A recent graduate of the School of Magic, Daimbert never took anything too seriously, including his magical academia (oops). As the story progresses, he grows into a man who is ultimately willing to sacrifice everything in order to protect and serve the people he has grown to love.

With a title like "A Bad Spell in Yurt", I knew the book wouldn't take itself too seriously. I expected a fun, light-hearted story that would be an easy read for a lazy vacation. What I didn't expect was a story that would engross me from beginning to end, with some very emotionally charged scenes. I highly recommend it.

This book is not as lighthearted as the title might indicate, but it still has a great deal of charm. It is a light, engaging read, but there is nothing light about the subject matter. Kudos to Brittain for being able to pull it off! The depth of the characters and view really surprised me-- very rarely are fantasy books, especially light fantasy books, written like "real life," where sometimes there ARE no easy answers or ready-made villains. The characters are very real people, and their relationships and reactions to each other are complicated and not always easy to define (just like real life). I don't want to scare anyone off by this "heavy" review because it's not a "heavy" book at all. I found "A Bad Spell in Yurt" to be an excellent light fantasy that can be appreciated on a deeper level (if one is so inclined). It is worth noting that my twelve-year-old brother liked it as much as I did, in his case without doing all the complicated analysis.

A wizard who manages to graduate from Wizard's School gets a job in a small kingdom far from the city. It looks like a good job, but when he gets there the first thing he is asked to do, he hasn't a clue of how to do. He learns as he goes and finds that he can do what is asked of him. He goes so far as to invent "new" magic because he didn't listen as well as he should have in his classes. As a teacher, I find that kind of sad, but kind of hopeful in that those students who have potential can overcome their lack of interest in education and find that their instructors do know what they are talking about. I have all the books in the series and look forward to finding the time to read more of them. So many books and so little time, if it catches and holds my interest, it has to be a good one.

Endearing characters, a charming setting, and deft wording make this a most enjoyable book. Told in the first person by a good-natured, easy-going wizard just starting in his profession (after barely graduating), the book moves with zest through colorful and fascinating events. Brittain is absolutely lavish with intriguing details, such as a far northern land of wild magic, confrontations with demons, real dragons, herbal magic, illusions, and so on, and she satisfies the reader's cravings for more information in later books of the series. As entertaining as this book is, however, it is the varied friendships among the characters that make me read this book again and again.

I just couldn't pass up a book with a title like that, and I wasn't disappointed. Maybe not the best book I've ever read, but it held my attention through to the end. It's not a "humor" book, or action, or suspense, or mystery, but has a little of all of that thrown in. The book's aim is simply to tell an interesting character driven story, and it succeeds.

I'm not about to join a Yurt fan club or anything, but I have all five books in the series so far. And whenever the next one comes out, I'll definitely add it to my collection.

The Royal Wizard of Yurt series by C. Dale Brittain is an entertaining one. The first book is called A BAD SPELL IN YURT and stars the young wizard Daimbert.

Daimbert has just barely graduated from the wizard's school but he manages to find a post as royal wizard in the tiny kingdom of Yurt. In this world, only recently have wizards been taught in a school. Previously the apprentice program was the way to wizardly learning. Also strong in this world is the Christian church (although this is otherwise not really Earth).

In Yurt the young Daimbert (who is dyeing his beard grey) is commissioned to set up telephones and magic lights. But the real reason he was hired was not for minor luxuries, but because a spell is killing the king. Daimbert must analyze the spell, seek help from his predecessor, befriend the local chaplain and convince an evil demon to leave his world.

The story is paced like a mystery with the reader finding things out as Daimbert does and trying to solve the puzzles of the plot. Although many scenes are light-hearted, this is not a comedy series. t is, however, a very good read and I recommend it for fans of fantasies with a bit of mystery and magic.

Having inadvertently restarted my acquaintance with C. Dale Brittain's tales of the wizard of Yurt with a late tale (Mage Quest), I decided to go back to the beginning and fill in the gaps. This book, 'A Bad Spell in Yurt,' is the first, and introduces us to Daimbert, a young mage who barely passed his exams out on his first job in the miniscule kingdom of Yurt.

Daimbert's nice enough, even if he has to die his hair grey to look authoritative, but his skills are meager. And Yurt for all its small size, has major problems. King Haimeric is under a curse and wasting away. Magical locks keep coming undone. The castle needs a phone system, and Daimbert cut that class in school. And, lest I forget, the previous royal magician is a very sour old man who has too many secrets.

Daimbert, for all his affection for his new kingdom, is up to his neck in trouble. His only salvation is an uneasy alliance with the castle priest. Both find they are in it for more than the bargained for as they discover that the problems they thought they had were a walk in the park when compared to the darker secrets lurking below.

For some reason the publisher has chosen to market these tales as humorous. While Brittain has a light touch, the real meat of her stories is quite serious. People die or come very close, unhappy secrets are discovered, and sometimes there is a serious lack of hope. This mix of styles is what makes these books more than a confection. Daimbert develops quite a bit in this book alone, and further volumes will see him become the kind of character one is always glad to meet again.