Review: a bit slow, but a solid start to an epic fantasy series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 10, 2014
Other reviews explain the story well. I found the novel generally easy to read and engaging. The characters are like able, comparing favorably to David Weber's Safehold books. I have really enjoyed most of the Safehold books, but Cooper's novel does lack the technical background and additional complexity in storytelling. I particularly like Julia, the main character, who was pulled from our world into theirs. She generally employs scientific experimentation to try to learn magic, and her take on a feudal society is interesting, if unsurprising. There are some questionable aspects to her characterization, though. One of the first things she learns is that the focus and concentration she employs as a top gymnast enable her to use magic, yet later in the novel, as she struggles to master a crucial magical skill, she seems to have forgotten this early lesson. Also, I find it extremely annoying when two otherwise intelligent characters seem fundamentally incapable of being more than civil toward one another, when both are patently attracted to the other. Some of this is fine, but it feels excessive, to me.Ironically, Cooper inserts a prelude stating that he's an English author, and there are multiple acceptable spellings for certain words. I wonder who he thought his audience would be. Most readers of fantasy have undoubtedly read material from both American and Commonwealth authors (and one would hope they had sought out and read fantasy by authors from other countries, as well!). I wish he had taken the time to review basic punctuation, though. The lack of commas throughout the story forced me to re-read numerous passages.I find this highly annoying, since it's a basic grammar skill I learned toward the end of elementary school and reinforced in later English classes, but if you are willing to overlook this, this is generally an interesting and fun fantasy read. I have not read later books in the series, but it sounds like they continue the story in an interesting way. Book five seems to be due soon. I will keep reading, as several reviewers say the second book is much better than the first.