Customer Reviews

Wild Magic (The Godwars, Book 3)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THE GODWARS. When the First Gods created all things, they brought forth two lesser gods, Tharn and Balatur, to walk upon the new world. But greed and power twisted their minds and turned their ambition into madness. And so the First Gods condemned them to eternal sleep in order to preserve creation. Now, the exiled prince Calandryll, the mercenary Bracht, and the warrior woman Katya pursue Rhythamun, a powerful wizard who would wake one of the mad gods and provoke apocalypse. He carries with him the Arcanum, an ancient book of power that--simply by virtue of having been discovered--already stirs the god from his slumber. But Calandryll and his companions are chased by another vengeful mage, whose dark magics have created Cennaire, an undead murderess, to thwart their efforts. And as they face the perils of civil war, magical assaults, and the ever-present threat of Cennaire's treachery to reach Rhythamun before he wakes the god, they live with the knowledge that the fate of the world rests solely in their hands.

Wild Magic kept pace with the first two books in this trilogy, and kept my attention just as much. The personal trials that Calandryll, Bracht, Katya, and Cennaire go through flesh these characters out even more. The battle at the end of the book was good, and the conclusion was captifying as well. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a fantasy series.

Though the third book carries the same level of action that occupies the first two books of the series, it is completely ruined by it's unsatisfactory conclusion. The whole plot of all three novels is keeping the god Tharn from being awakened by destroying the book that tells how to wake him up. This never happens in the story. As soon as the book has been taken from the insane wizard who is trying to bring back Tharn, Wells simply concludes the novel with a quick "happily ever after" type ending that tells the reader nothing. The four main characters simply ride off into the sunset without actually completing the task they have been attempting to complete over the course of three novels. Wells simply implies that they will get around to it. I'm sorry, but I believe it to be a rip-off when an author simply dumps an ending like this. It's as if he doesn't care anymore

This book isn't bad, but there are a few things that really annoy me and prevent me from liking it more. First of all, while the first book in the series had a lot of different action, this one is mostly one long, mostly boring trip across the plains, and tends to be more discussion based than action based. And the discussions tend to be rehashing the same issues over and over again. A typical scene will have the character Bracht deciding he doesn't trust someone and so wanting to yell at them and stab them and then 20 pages of trying to convince him that the person is a friend. Then when someone tries to explain something, he complains about "riddles." I wanted to grab him and shake him and tell him to shut the heck up and just listen. I don't remember reacting this way to the previous books and so I think he's definitely getting more annoying as the story progresses.

The other notable issue I would mention is that once every ten pages or so the author will throw in some incredibly obscure word that maybe one in a thousand readers has ever seen before. I started to write them down in preparation for writing this review. Some examples include: estivatious, hymenopterous, monticule and prognathous. Now I am well read and work as a copy editor and still he manages to drag up words I would never even guess existed. I don't know if he's trying to impress someone with his vocabulary or what, but I don't see a reason why these need to be in there. The rest of the book is perfectly understandable, and then he will toss that in out of the blue.

Anyway, the book is decent all in all, and if you read the first two you need to finish the series. It's worth reading, but be prepared to endure long, frustrating arguments and have your dictionary handy.