Review: Hook, Line, and Sinker
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 4, 2010
This book has something that is sadly lacking in a lot of indie fantasy books out there - an engaging narrative voice. The writing style reminded me of the opening chapters of The Eye of the World (sans prologue). The world clearly holds many supernatural dangers, and only a meticulously maintained truce with the Faerie prevents humanity from being swallowed up. Not that the Faerie are any less alien or any less eager to hunt humans for sport than all the other creatures of the world, but they are good for their word. As long as humans uphold their end of the deal, the Faerie will abide by theirs, even as they secretly hope humanity will eventually break their word and so set the Faerie loose on humanity. I'm sure you can see where this is going...Amber Magic has several tropes that have been done so often in fantasy that they strike me (perhaps unfairly) as red flags - faeries, young heroes, an obvious romantic interest, and a mysterious dark rider who stalks the hero. That being said, I couldn't help myself. The story is not new, but Larson tells it in an interesting way. It held my attention.As other reviewers have noted, Amber Magic is not a standalone story. It establishes the "normal world" and ends shortly after everything goes very wrong. It's not a cliffhanger, per se, but it's a bit like if The Fellowship of the Ring had ended after Frodo announced his decision to carry the One Ring to Mount Doom. If you want to know how the story ends, you're going to have to read the sequels. So far, the taste of the bait has been well worth the pain of the hook.