Osric's Wand: The Wand-Maker's Debate by Jack D. Albrecht Jr. & Ashley Delay

WARNING!  This book is not DRM-free!

The Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Price: $3.07

"I just want to be a dude." Osric says.
"Oh, but you can't!  That would make a boring story!"  Boom!  The earth shook and things exploded.
"Oh noes!  I am trapped under a pile of rubble!"
"Not today!" Buzz Lightyear comes swooping in and blasts away the rock.
"Fine!" Osric pouts.  "If you're going to be like that, I guess I will save the world!" And he flies away on a dragon.

Note: This is not a true representation of the book in anyway.  Some characters and event are loosely based off of Osric's Wand but are heavily screwed for comedic effect.  Also, Buzz Lightyear is a purely fictitious addition on the part of this editor

What did this book not do well?  We will get to that, but first... the good.

Teh Good (yes I wrote "teh" on purpose):
I was drawn into this book right from the start.  A mystery is afoot and though not a lot happens at first, the author draws you in by describing the world and the character's thereof.  Now, this is not the type of dry description you would see as a caption on a painting, but the description of the painting itself.  A picture is worth 1,000 words, and though the author does not use that many (though I never counted them, so if there is a 1,000 word description, don't hold it against me) the world feels full of life.  This is what made me fall in love with the book right from the start, because the writing within me surges with passion and is humbled in respect of an author who can describe something so vividly that I am pulled into the world to a point where I don't want to leave.

If the description is what sold me, the dialogue is what kept me reading.  I have seen (and written, sadly) enough slap-stick dialogue to notice good writing in between the ""s when I see it.  The author uses humour fabulously as the characters foil off of each other that will keep you engaged and interested in what they have to say.  A number of times I caught myself laughing without realizing it and my wife had to ask me what was so funny.  If a work of art gets me laughing or crying (or illicits any other strong emotion, I guess) I give it two +s, or thumbs up.  Whichever you prefer.

I enjoyed the author's use of the third-person omniscient POV.  It have seen this done very poorly in the past, and this was a beautiful refresher.  Though it was told from such a perspective, I still felt like I was engaged in the story-telling, and not reading as if engaged in an out-of-body experience.

Teh Bad (no, that was not a typo):
"Why is there any bad, Daniel?  If you gave this book 5 stars, shouldn't it be perfect?"
While this is a good question, I also have a good answer (well, at least I think it's good).  I have never before rated a book 5 stars because of this very question.  The problem is that I can be cynical enough that there is always room for improvement.  Unless I would rather read the book through in its entirety than eat, work, and any other business that is required of my body, I don't know if it truly deserves a 5 star review.  That being said, I was torn for a while in deciding whether to rate this 4 or 5 stars.

Now for my reasoning (finally, I know.  Get to the point already, eh?)  It is better than most books that I have rated 4 stars. (Yes, all that build up for such a simple reason.)  Though it has some faults I believe it is an exceptional book.

The first fault it has is probably also what I liked the best about this book.  Sometimes the descriptions and world-building elements can be lengthy enough that it breaks up the action quite a bit.  This happens less and less as the story progresses, but this is probably due to the fact that more "action" is happening.  This bring me to my second problem with this book.  Not a lot happens.  Yes there is some action and fighting and stuffs, but that doesn't make it an action driven tale.  The backbone of this story is not the story itself but the world-building.  The plot doesn't jump all over the place, but it isn't as it seems.  The story starts out telling you it will be about a guy trying to prevent a war, and then its about some mysterious wand... but that's not actually the plot of the book.  A lot of this is set up (I presume) for the second book, but the plot is actually about dragons (say no more to prevent spoilers).  The reader only finds out about the plot about halfway through the book, and the action doesn't pick up until the final quarter.

This plot/action issue has its good and bad points.  I was not initially impressed by the "I'm going to save the world" plot and was almost happy to see that, in the end, that is not what this book was about.  I also though, given the length of the book, that this plot would have to be rushed in order to get through it by the end.  Because of this it is almost better that the plot is not as it first appears, but instead there is a single conflict that is resolved nicely by the end.

Conclusion:
This book is beautifully written and despite the minor plot disruptions, it is one of my favourites.  It is full of colourful description, humorous dialogue, and some great concepts when dealing with magic and its various elements.  Oh, also talking animals.  That's a thing.

Special Note:
Despite all of this, unfortunately I cannot recommend that you purchase this book.  The only purchasable version is a DRMed Amazon file.  I had a chat with author Jack D. Albrecht Jr. who told me that at the time of publication they did not know about the evils of DRM and subscribed to the lie that it helps prevent piracy.  Since then the authors have realized that DRM is not a good idea, thus their second book The High Wizard's Hunt is completely DRM-free as will be any future works.  I received a DRM-free version of this book directly from author Jack D. Albrecht Jr. and I would encourage you to contact him if you want a DRM-free version of this book.

Where you can find it:
Amazon

Rise of the Aligerai by Kira R. Tregoning

A DRM-free Urban Fantasy tale

The Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Price: Free

Would you rather have wings or hold destructive magic at the tips of your fingers? In Rise of the Aligerai you can do both! The first in an urban fantasy trilogy (I presume. Kira R. Tregoning shows that she is editing the second book as well as writing the third... so at least a trilogy anyway.)

This is a story of parallel realities... but not really. It's a story about some college girls just trying to find their place in the world... but not really. Well, what does the description say? "Sita Newbury and her college roommates must protect both Earth and Corá from soul-stealing occultists or face the destruction of both worlds." I guess that's the best we're gonna do.

If you have read this plot synonsis, you have read the book. Don't get me wrong this is very lengthy book (164,000), especially for the price tag (free)... but is it a good book? I put that book at the top of my to-read list because I haven't seen any hype at all about it, and thought it deserved at least one person to read it and say what they think. I guess I am that one person.

Tregoning gives a thank you in the forward of this book for all those who helped her via beta-reading, editing, or just general encouragement. The editing quality of this book really shines, as I don't think that I found any poor grammar or spelling (not that I was reading with the criticizing eye of an editor, so there might be a few poorly placed commas or something). For such a lengthy book this must have taken a lot of time and I applaud Tregoning for doing this. There is nothing worse than struggling through poor editing to try to find the gem underneath. With the poor spelling/grammar out of the way, the read is free to find the gem... but there is no gem here.

Tregoning has a great idea for a great story, but that's where the greatness ends. There is such great potential in this story for mystery and suspense, but the writing style throws that out the windows. It is told from a third person omniscient perspective to the point that the reader becomes very omniscient. There were a few parts in the story where the potential of a plot point or character drew me in, but soon enough the mystery was revealed to the reader in very plain words... and usually more than once.

For example (Minor Spoilers): At the beginning Sita Newbury is attacked. She then goes to college afterwards like nothing happens and the reader is left wondering what that was all about. Once arriving there they meet some guys (because who wouldn't as a girl at college). The story switches perspectives to one of the guys (the attacker from the beginning) who avoids eye contact with Sita as to not be recognized. Nice hint, but not obvious. Then we switch back to Sita who thinks, I recognize that guy, but where from? not bad, but making it a little more obvious. At this point the reader knows that this guy is the attacker so the writing can go one of two ways A) reveal them to be who the reader thinks they are B) throw in a twist and be like, "actually, just kidding! You were wrong!" Tregoning chooses the former, but in a really bad way.
"That guy is bad news! He works for the enemy."
"I knew I recognized him! He attacked me house."
"That's right, that was him."
"What? He attacked your house?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
--Scene--
"You know, she remembers you attacking her house."
"Well I did, so good on her for having a memory."
--Scene-- The next morning
"I can't believe he would attack your house!"
"Well, he did."

This is a glaring fault of this book that rears its ugly head time and time again. The reader is not left with any suspense at all. Though sometimes the characters may not know what is going on, the reader does, so it makes it less interesting when they find out, making the story predictable. One of the main drives of a good plot that keeps you reading is wanting to know what happens next. If you already know what happens next, why are you reading?

The second problem with this book is coupled with the first in that again I think it stems from the writing style. Everything is explained vs. shown. If the reader and characters need to know about a concept, there will be a dialogue section explaining it in great detail leaving a dry taste in your mouth. After the explanation nothing more need to be said because the other characters make sure to ask all the obvious questions along the way and clarify multiple times just to be sure that the reader gets it. Often-times concepts are explained more than once by different characters in different situations.

And the third problem? This book has basically one character... But wait? doesn't the book description say "Sita Newbury and her college roommates?" Sure it does, but there are all one character. There are 5 girls who are part of this Aligerai, but they are all the same. All of them are the happy go lucky pre-teen squealing-at-everything-in-site-because-I-can person. Despite the fact that I find these people annoying in real life thus have no desire to encounter them in a fictitious world, I saw no reason to have five of them. The story would have worked just as well with just Sita Newbury at college. When they are all in a room together talking, it really doesn't matter which one of them says what because they all will pretty much say the same thing in every situation. For the first third of the book I didn't even remember their names because they were always together and talking, so it was basically irrelevant.

The Conclusion:
With all of these problems, why then did I give it 2 stars? Well, I thought about it for a bit, but I don't think that it deserves one star simply out of respect for all of the work the author put into this. If someone sat day at their favourite text editor one evening, wrote until their fingers bled, opened paint and scribbled or a while for cover-art, and then posted the book... that is a one star review. This book is well editing, the plot is well thought out, it had some neat (though not new) concepts when it comes to magic and for this it deserves 2 stars.

Where you can find it:
Smashwords
Amazon (cost is $0.99 on Amazon)
Kobo

The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker

A DRM-free Steam-punk Fantasy tale


The Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Price: Free


There once was a woman named  Amaranthe Lokdon.  She loves her job as an enforcer, hunting down thieves and all manner of evil that may cross her path.  One day she is called on specifically by one of the higher-ups in down to do a special project.  Imagine her excitement!  ... And you'll have to imagine more than that, because that's all I'm going to tell you about this wonderfully crafted story by Lindsay Buroker.  Oh, and one more thing.  there is an assassin   His name is Sicarius.   You will have to read it to find out the rest... the question is, should you read it?  Short answer: yes.  Long answer: read the review, okay?

Buroker does a good job at setting up the story and putting in place elements that will play well into the story later on. The characters are pretty good, though often predictable, but I enjoyed the humour in the dialogue spurred on by different backgrounds and world views. I am quite amazed at how good the book is despite the fact that not a lot happens. There is a single plot thread that develops slowly throughout the story, but though the pacing is a little slow, I was impressed that Buroker kept the tale engaging throughout.

I was not completely convinced by the plot.  Amaranthe Lokdon devises this plan off of the top of her head, and it definitely feels like an off-the-top-of-her-head plan.  It didn't convince me, and I am glad to see that, though this is what drive the story, Buroker didn't just have the other story characters go along with it "just because that's what the story's about, okay!"

All in all, the plot points that were unconvincing and left me hanging, asking "Why" in the first half of the book were rectified by the second half. The biggest problem I had throughout was "Why is Sicarius even hanging out with these untalented folk and entertaining such an unconvincing plan?" I was happy to see that this was tied up nicely by the end and it didn't not leave me in want. I will say, however, that such seemingly glaring character flaws and plot holes at the beginning of a book could turn a lot or people off, thus they would never finish it and find out that it is actually good. It kind of gave me that thriller feel where you don't really know the whole story until the very end (and even then a lot is left for your imagination... or for the other many books in the series ;) ).

The Conclusion:
A good fantasy read. I didn't find anything in Buroker's writing to make her work stand out from the crowd (other than not being awful like many self-published indies these days. ;) :P). She didn't do an excellent job at description, action, dialogue, plot, characters, and all things that make up a book, but rather a well rounded good job. IMHO this is better than doing excellent at one thing (i.e. description) but completely failing at another (i.e. dialogue). If you like fantasy/steam-punk this is for you.

Where you can find it:
Smashwords
Amazon
Kobo