Review: A brief but mildly interesting fantasy short
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 4, 2013
"Torg's First Death" is a prequel fantasy short story in Jim Melvin's "The Death Wizard Chronicles" series.  The story takes place in the world of Triken, where a legendary wizard named Torg has mastered the art of Death-Knowing.  This ability allows its learner to literally cheat death through deep meditation and return with even greater magical focus and enlightenment.  Torg is the first wizard in centuries to achieve such unparalleled levels of the Death-Knowing ability.  This brief tale describes Torg's first experience and achievement as a Death-Knower.  Here are my thoughts on Torg's First Death;Pros+ Gorgeous and intriguing cover art.+ Quick and easy read.+ Death-Knowing is an interesting premise.+ Author does a good job at explaining the meditation required to achieve a Death-Knowing state.Cons <Contains SPOILERS>- Very short.- No map of Triken, however there's a map in the following books.- Not much happens as there's not action at all.- Reading about Torg's breath exercises becomes tedious relatively quickly.  Also, I was really hoping the necessary death needed for enlightenment would be more dramatic that just meditating to a heartstop."Torg's First Death" has a unique premise and I can definitely see Torg become an interesting character as the main story progresses.  As this story is free there's no risk at giving it a read.  Unfortunately, I was really hoping for a bit more depth in this prequel offering.  Just when things started to get remotely intriguing the tale is over.  In this case the author has succeeded in piquing my interest just enough to want to continue with Torg's adventures and I've decided to purchase the first book in the series.  I'm looking forward to learning more about Torg and his fabled Death-Knowing abilities.