WATERSPELL Book 1: The Warlock [Kindle Edition]

Deborah J. Lightfoot (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Intriguing premise and original characters ... Carin and Verek's well-crafted relationship balances in a tense power struggle ... Fine fantasy." --KIRKUS

"A delightful read ... tight writing, fast-moving narrative and intriguing characters." --Goodreads Review

"Definitely captures interest ... Carin immediately becomes an interesting POV character, with a nice sense of mystery surrounding her. Verek is intriguing as well. The threat is tangible with a compelling sense of consequences." -Steve Saffel, Del Rey editor

"Absolutely delightful! Carin and Verek are very well-defined. I liked them right from the beginning. I was hooked from the beginning!" -Judge, Paul Gillette Memorial Writing Contest

Product Description

Drawn into the schemes of an angry wizard, Carin glimpses the place she once called home. It lies upon a shore that seems unreachable. To learn where she belongs, and how to get there, the teenage traveler must decipher the words of an alien book, follow the clues in a bewitched poem, conjure a dragon from a pool of magic -- and tread carefully around a seductive but volatile, emotionally scarred sorcerer who can't seem to decide whether to love her or kill her. Book 1 of a series -- the story continues with WATERSPELL Book 2: The Wysard. (Available as e-book or paperback.)

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 570 KB
• Publisher: Seven Rivers Publishing (November 13, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00686UIFW
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,576 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

I began as a journalist, or at least that's what I got my degree in. After college, I worked for a newspaper, then as a magazine editor and feature writer. These days I earn my living as a freelance editor for a national nonprofit organization. I've written three award-winning books of history and biography. I'm a member of The Authors Guild. My newest work is a fantasy, WATERSPELL, an intricate, multi-layered trilogy about a girl and the wizard who suspects her of being so dangerous to his world, he believes he'll eventually have to kill her ... which poses a problem for him, since he's fallen in love with her. My married name, and a name I've sometimes been published under, is Deborah Lightfoot Sizemore.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Spell-Binding Read!, January 17, 2012

By 

Shelley Caldwell - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: WATERSPELL Book 1: The Warlock (Kindle Edition)

I don't see how this could avoid being a hit--I couldn't put it down. Good, complex story; well crafted, well written.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lightfoot's Tale is a Joy!, December 19, 2011

By 

David R. Davis (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: WATERSPELL Book 1: The Warlock (Kindle Edition)

Deborah Lightfoot has taken sword and sorcery books to a new level! Besides creating an engrossing fantasy world with a connection to Alice, and "Through the Looking Glass", Lightfoot has peppered her story with intelligent dialog and description. I can't wait to read the final two books of the trilogy.--David Davis author of many picture books and "Travels With Grandpaw"

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff, February 20, 2012

By 

Tahlia Newland - See all my reviews

This review is from: WATERSPELL Book 1: The Warlock (Paperback)

The Warlock, the first book in the Waterspell series by Deborah Lightfoot, is a well crafted, traditional fantasy that grabbed my attention and kept it. It's a truly unique book with magic that transcends worlds via a fascinating pool of water, and in which Lewis Carrol's `Alice Through the Looking Glass' has an unexplained relationship to the world inhabited by Carin, a teenage traveller and the Warlock, Lord Verek.

Carin is heading north. She doesn't know why, just that a wise woman told her she should go because she didn't belong in the south and now something drives her to keep walking. When she stumbles onto Verek's lands, her journey comes to an end. At first, she thinks he is going to kill her for trespassing, but when he discovers that she can read the language in the `Puzzle Book,' he asks her to sort the books in his huge and disorganised library.

Verek is emotionally scared, powerful and lacking in basic social skills, nevertheless we feel that there is a warm heart in there somewhere because he loved his dead wife and son. Carin doesn't see it however and neither do we. We see grief, anguish and rudeness. He seems to wonder why Carin fears him, but he does little to reassure her that his intentions towards her are anything other than murderous, and when he does act in a more civil way, she misreads his intentions. I would have liked to have seen a bit more development in their relationship. At the end of the book, Carin was still as suspicious of him as she was at the beginning and despite spending many hours together, there was no warmth between them. They are as stubborn minded and emotionally volatile as each other.

To him, she is a puzzle, because some of his enchantments have no power over her and he realises that she comes from another world. He takes her to his magical pool and shows her a glimpse of it, enough to confuse and terrify her.

The rest of the story involves her talking to the housekeeper, whose cheerfulness provides some light to contrast with the darkness of her master, making a friend of a wood sprite, an escape attempt, and doing the Warlock's bidding in his sorcery aimed at finding the secrets of the Puzzle book and Carin's nature. The mystery, rather than unfolding with each revelation, deepens as the story develops. By the end of the book, the puzzle pieces have been revealed, but the puzzle is not solved. I didn't find this frustrating in the least because the journey to get to that point was enough to keep me engaged and satisfied.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, especially the description of the pool, its magic and the mystery behind it. The worst part of the story is the ending. It wasn't the kind of cliff-hanger that had me throw the book in the corner - that reaction I keep for books that open up a new thread and then leave you hanging. This simply ends after a tricky piece of sorcery but before we find out whether Carin is safe or not. It's not a hopeful ending, but it works for the story and it left me resigned rather than annoyed that I would have to read more to find the answers, so I'm still going to give it 5 stars. I recommend it for those who love traditional fantasy.