Customer Reviews

The Wizard's Ward (Luna)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I enjoyed this book! The setting was pretty standard romantic fantasy fare; there was nothing too surprising or unusual. But I loved the characters, and I cared about their situation, and I always wanted to know what happened next!

The plot was a fairly typical heroic quest, but it kept me entertained, with plenty of action, adventure, and romance. I actually found Rath's emotional and spiritual journey to be just as interesting and compelling as the physical journey our two protagionists were taking. This book is a fun fantasy/romance/adventure novel, yes, but it is also ultimately a novel about faith -- the power of faith, living with faith, and finding faith -- not necessarily in God in the Christian sense (although strong parallels can be drawn between the Christian concept of God and the Giver of the novel), but in the idea that there is a benevolent spiritual force at work in the universe, and in the transformative power it can have in your life if you let it. Interesting.

Also, it was just plain fun. Lots of derring-do and so on. A good read, on whatever level you want to look at it!

This is another pleasant addition to the new fanstasy line from Luna. Maura Woodbury has lived a quiet, domestic life of learning magic with her guardian, the wizard Langbard. Then all is turned upsidedown by Langbards's revelation that she is the Destined Queen of the downtrodden land of Umbria, who must awaken the Waiting King who will ultimately save the country from its evil oppressors - the Han. At the same time, she inexplicably helps save the outlaw Rath who literally comes crashing into her life. She dislikes everything about him.
The scene is set for a 'quest' tale, with the Maura and Rath struggling alone to fulfill her task. They are pursued by the evil magicians of the Han throughout.
The pair of course are irresistibly attracted to each other, but are firmly kept apart by Maura's strong devotion to her Waiting King.
This was an enjoyable read, the story easily kept the reader's interest. However the plot itself suffered from being continually bogged down by the 'saving' of hero and heroine by each other. Maura get captured by thieves. Rath is captured by the Han. It clogged the pace.
Both Rath and Maura were believable and the chemistry between them was well done. This contributed to the feeling that the love story was much more to the fore than the fantasy elements. The background of Umbria was very lightly sketched in indeed, and in places became mere wallpaper. There are really no secondary characters at all, Langbard is ruthlessly eliminated very early in the tale. This made the hero and heroine carry a far too heavy burden, as almost every other character was merely a name and a few cardboard virtues or vices.
Still, I would like to know what happens next, as there is very obviously more in this saga

I've been a huge fan of Deborah Hale's romances for quite some time, as well as an avid reader of the lighter forms of fantasy. This book highlights Hale's wonderful ability to create characters who are overall realistic, with just a hint of melodrama to elevate their plight to the level required for romantic fiction. Both the hero and heroine of the Wizard's Ward captured my interest and sympathy, right from the beginning. In addition, the elements of a midieval-type culture were obviously well-researched, just as they were in Elusive Bride and Border Bride--they were presented matter of factly and in appropriate detail, which lent the setting of the narrative a comforting degree of familiarity despite the fact that the story takes place in a completely different universe.

However, the fantasy element is a bit weak, as is the plot. Maura learns of her destiny within the space of a few pages, right at the beginning of the book. We don't really get to see the opression of the Umbrians or the cruelty of the Han, and there's almost no time to learn about Maura herself before she goes tearing off on her quest. Maura's arsinal of magic seems pitifully small, judging by the number of times she resorts to the same four or five spells--in the follo-up story, due out sometime next year I hope to see a bit more diversity.

That being said, the action scenes do get better as the novel progresses and there are several all-around great scenes--specifically I'm thinking of the chimoney clogging episode.

If I were to offer one criticism overall, it would be that the entire story from start to finish could have used about seventy-odd more pages of detail, filling in the gaps in the narrative and acquainting the reader a bit better with the circumstances that serve as the background to the plot. Overall though, it's a fun read if one is willing to use one's imagination to fill in the gaps, and I would encourage fans of Hale's romances to give it a try. Don't expect hard-core fantasy though, or even something as detail and plot oriented as the Elizabeth Hayden series. Perhaps the second book will do more for the fantasy lovers.

Deborah Hale is a greatly loved author of historical romance with a huge following of fans. I couldn't wait to read her first fantasy novel, as I have loved her previous books, and I was not about to miss this one, which I enjoyed immensely. If you're a fan of Deb Hale, don't miss this book, as she delivers a fast moving story full of adventure and romance. As always, her characters are genuine and interesting, and the story is full of atmosphere and neat twists, and at the same time it's a fresh and different style for her. If you haven't tried Deb Hale, this is a great time to start.

This book is amazing. You have characters who resemble different people in different ways. The characters make human mistakes, have human thoughts. The characters are completely what you could consider perfect.
The story line gives you lots of twists and turns. It will show you places you never thought would be in this book. This book has things happening in it that you didn't think would happen. This book is suspensful, and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
All in all, this book is suspensful, amazing, wonderful, enjoyable, and completely worth reading. I may not recommend it to young readers, but to older, more advanced readers, pick it up and read.

I am a long time fantasy reader and I really enjoyed this book. Being more of a fantasy reader I enjoyed the action sequences best (the original escape through the woods and the final battle at the mines). I preferred the subtle romance scenes. This had the best hero I have seen in a long time. This is the best of the Luna books I have read so far!

The concept for "Wizard's Ward" sounded good... young woman trying to fulfill her destiny, goes from an orphan to being a queen... But the execution was, at best, fair.

There is a ton of action in this book, but it doesn't serve to really make the characters grow. It felt like the author was inventing new problems for the characters so they could prove how cool and qualified they were, but they were just there for the sake of moving the storyline along, not to provide depth.

The other thing that annoyed me was how, every fifth paragraph, there was something about how Rath noticed Maura's physical charms and was drawn to her, or vice versa. Okay, I get it, they like each other. Since there didn't seem to be much along any other lines (was Rath even interested in Maura's wit, intelligence, or anything else?) I found their romance sort of fake.

Which leads me to my last point - the whole book was sort of obvious. Of course they're going to get out of every impossible predicament they get in. Maura's got her magic sash and Rath's got his swashbuckling wit and there you go. Of course they're going to fall in love. They snipe at each other, but they're also the only two people on this journey. Of course the ending works out the way it does! There's been no real conflict to move the story in a different direction!

Check it out from your local library. It's not a keeper, just something good for the beach. And if this is your first Luna book, I would recommend "Silver's Edge" or "On Fire's Wings" to start instead.

Wow. This is the most transparent plot, worst character development and most insipid prose I've read in a long, long time. My god. The text starts on page 9......

(...)

... and on page 19 she finds out she's the long lost queen of prophecy. I kid you not, on learning this news she actually protests "It cannot be... I'm nobody special." On page 30 she saves the hard-boiled (but extremely good looking) outlaw from a bunch of bad guys. Of course, they dislike each other intensely. And it's not until her ward/protector dies a few pages later that she discovers how crucial he is to her impending queen-hood.

I won't "spoil" the rest, though I imagine from my brief "plot" summary you can probably figure it out. Listen folks, if you're looking for imagination or a different take on the usual rags-to-riches fantasy cum fairy tale, you're looking in the wrong place.

So why three stars? Honestly, I enjoyed it despite myself - though please, don't spread that around. I have a reputation to protect.

It really was dreadfully done on every level, but the fact is that this is an almost universal theme because it is well, a universal theme. Certain themes - like discovering that you're actually an important person after all, or that passionate dislike can easily turn to passionate like - are enticing. Sure it's badly written. Sure the characters are poorly developed. Sure the bad guys are pure evil with no signs of humanity. Sure the theology is half baked. But it's still fun.

Summary: an extremely light weight read that retreads all the old fantasy cliches. But mildy entertaining anyway. If maudlin isn't your thing, I'd say skip it.

If I did, I certainly would have had a different set of expectations.

As it stands - "The Wizard's Ward" is well in keeping with the Harlequin Romance tradition - silly, immature heroine shrilly opposes the stock alpha male hero until she falls into bed with him (I read way too many Harlequins in my not-so-distant past). The sex scenes, particularly in the final 5 pages are embarrassingly bad. The plot, and its conclusion - a recycled version of the traditional Arthurian "Return of the King" was telescoped from the first 20 pages. Unappealling characters make the journey very unworthwhile.

An enchanting story, but ultimately a deeply unsatisfying book. It's as though the author went through all the time and trouble to create an exquisite wedding dress, full of intricate details and beautiful furbelows, only to stick it on a blank-faced and soulless store mannequin. It's obvious the author spent a lot of time building the world in this book, covering not just geography, but plants and animals, even taking a page out of Tolkein's book and creating a language. Yet all this wonderful detail is used to dress up a tired and predictable love story: Boy meets girl; boy and girl despise each other; through adversity, boy and girl learn to appreciate each other; appreciation turns to love; boy and girl kiss; boy and girl find their destiny with each other. A perfectly good epic fantasy premise, which should have carried the author through another couple of books, is ruined by a trite romantic storyline and an abrupt ending. What a waste.

Nov. 2009 update: I just learned that the author wrote a sequel, which is good as she had plenty of material to use and a storyline to finish. However, considering The Wizard's Ward is merely a romance dressed up as fantasy and considering the disappointment I felt after reading it, I highly doubt I will read the sequel.