Review: Loved this book - keeps you thinking throughout a very long story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 28, 2011
There are a billion fantasy novels out there, and it seems like with kindle online publishing, that there are 10 new ones every day.Certainly, at 99 cents, and just a few reviews - there is little to indicate this novel in particular is worth getting.Let me convince you:- It's really really long  (fantasy requires immersion, fantasy usually focuses around world building and character building, the longer books tend to do better and this book is about 2-3 times your normal book length).- It stays interesting throughout....the characters are always moving and there are new challenges and puzzles while staying within an overall theme, and the plot does make measurable progress rather than just wandering around just for fun.- The people in the story seem fully real, and the main character has the key attributes of being likable but flawed, but willing to grow.- The story while fantastical has real directness, there are no magical saves....everything must be worked for, when things go well - there is a price to be paid, good isn't all good and bad isn't all bad, the main guy isn't so stupid that he doesn't ask himself a hundred times whether he should just give up his magical quest every day- Writing, it isn't perfectly elegant yet it reaches relatively high in a few places and some of the scenes are awesome.  It's amazingly smooth given the length of the book.- At the end, I just couldn't believe the author couldn't have continued the story for another several hundred pages....buying the next book when it comes out is an easy call.Negatives:- Given how much time/effort that must have gone into making this book, who knows when the next one will be available.- You're going to have to take breaks reading this book, it is too long even for speed readers.- The next volume is going to have to add an extra dimension or different perspective...the first book is just right, but two books of this length with the main character doing most of the narrative might be too much.