Review: Not afraid to be different, while keeping the same well-worn path
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 28, 2013
I like this book, a lot even. It changes up the usual formula for fantasy while keeping to a well-worn theme. The main character is not some over-powered naive good-looking young man who was perfectly crafted for the tasks ahead, but rather a pudgy stuttering man in his thirties with little experience with the outside world and a laundry list of doubts. This allows for great progression and growth as a character, in which we get to experience his failures, doubts and his successes, even the little ones. This is what really makes me like this book.Though I do think the author is limiting himself by using the stereotypical Tolkien world of elves and goblins, I think he could have done an even better book with some unique world building of his own, I know he has it in him, you can see it as he stretches the boundaries of Tolkien world.This is a great book and I heartily recommend it to all lovers of good fantasy.