95 of 96 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A pleasant surprise, May 20, 2011
This review is from: The Book of Deacon (Kindle Edition)
This book showed up as a free download yesterday. I woke up this morning and figured I would start a few pages of this book over coffee. Seven hours later, I finished the book and bought the 2nd book in the series.
I'm struggling to find the words to describe why I enjoyed the book. It was a book about war, magic, wizards but it was done very differently than other books of that genre. The character development was well done. The good characters had flaws and the bad characters had redeeming qualities. And, most importantly, I never found myself in skimming mode. And, of course, the ultimate positive review of any book is to immediately purchase a 2nd book by that author (which I did). If you are a fan of fantasy fiction, you will probably enjoy this book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good book. Worth the read for simple fantasy escapism., June 11, 2011
This review is from: The Book of Deacon (Kindle Edition)
Ok, first things first. I picked up this book via my Kindle because of its price (free). And for a free ebook, it is more than worth its cost, which is your time. I would not have been upset if I had paid a small amount to purchase this book.
Now, onto the book review itself. This is a simple tale that relies upon the tried and true fantasy formula of a "nobody" coming into their own as a previously undiscovered prodigy has been used by many fantasy authors. This formula therefore requires either significant character development or a type of twist to the story to rise to the five star rating. While this first book utilizes this formula, the character development is still somewhat lacking and even the "education" process wherein the heroine in this book learns to control her power is simplistic and repetitive. If the author was attempting to write fantasy targeted at a child or young teenager, this might be appropriate, but I did not get that impression. I believe this was fantasy that was to be consumed by an adult audience, therefore the lack of sophistication compels me to remove a star from five to four.
So why did I give this book a three star rating? Editing! It is a shame that a good tale should suffer from clunky language, and both grammatical and spelling errors. A professional editor could definitely assist the author in polishing this story. At that point I would be happy with a four star rating for this story.
So overall, as it currently stands, I give this tale three out of five stars. A good read, one that I would not mind paying a small sum for, and definitely worth the current cost of only your time.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic!, May 21, 2011
This review is from: The Book of Deacon (Kindle Edition)
This was a free download I happened upon and was pleased to discover that it wasn't a blurb to entice me to buy the rest of the book. It's also a fairly long story at 8000 plus on the Kindle. It's a page turner and a fascinating read. Many times I read a free download but choose not to pursue the next books in the series, not so with this story! Also, the books are very reasonably priced at 2.99 to make it a bargain not often seen on Kindle, sad to say. Thank you for the wonderful books Mr. Lallo!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
