Review: Author sort of loses control of the story for a bit
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 20, 2014
The central problem with this series has always been the same as the central problem of the Dungeons and Dragons system on which it is unapologetically based: casters scale very hard, and in terms of raw power the sorcerer class can pretty much disintegrate its way through any problem in 18 to 21 seconds with a couple decent items and the planar binding ability.This issue was resolved, or rather deferred, in the last book by essentially having the titular sorcerer sit in a corner humming disinterestedly to himself whilst the focus of the story moved to other characters.Deskins probably should have stuck with that strategy, because from page 1 his only method for controlling the massive, godlike power of his returned protagonist is to have him behave in a rather... stupid way.  Our hero is hogging the idiot ball so hard for this entire book that he's given the Evil Gods Of Evil For Real Im Telling You Totally Evil Trust Me like 14 penalty free-throws for double-dribble by the start of the second half.And even with all the stupid, the guy is still so massively overpowered that pretty much everyone falls into line _anyway_, without him having to actually... y'know, resolve conflicts, overcome difficulties, the kinds of things that it is the sole purpose of protagonists to do.A last minute focus shift to legacy characters tries vainly to save the book at the last minute, but it doesn't really work.Three stars because I guess you might as well spend the money to read on if you've made it this far-- if it was a stand alone story it'd be more like one.