Review: Power hungry wizards beware
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 6, 2011
Hemlock and the Wizard Tower follow Hemlock a former thief with a certain sensitivity to magic who has turned vigilante.  The story takes place in a magical city that actually moves from realm to realm having only a few regions permanently attached to it.  Hemlock lives in the Warrens, which is the run down part of town.  She spent most of her life being a thief until she tried to steal from Safreon, the original vigilante.  These two team up to help keep the Warrens safe for normal people to live.Magic permeates the city all of it rigorously controlled by the Wizards Guild (headquartered in the Wizards Tower).  Hemlock's sister is sick and will die without magical aid.  However the magic of the Warrens is on the decline very quickly.  Thinking that the wizards are somehow siphoning off the power from the Warrens for their own terrible plots Hemlock decides to break into their tower and do something about it.  Using her special power she actually manages to succeed where no one has and penetrates the terrible defenses of the tower.  Once inside she meed Merit (who for some reason is my favorite) a mechanical and magical blend clockwork gnome.  Merit gives her some information and she uses it to get further into the tower.  I will leave off saying that thing do not go as planned at all.If you check out the sample of this book it almost seems like the story is finished when the sample ends.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I was surprised and pleased with the way the book developed especially how italicized flashbacks were used to really explain where the characters came from.  The only thing I did not really enjoy was Falignus head of the Wizards Guild.  His personality jumped from compassionate and understanding to crazy power hungry derangement several times and I never really understood why.  That being a minor issue in what is a very good story overall.This book is well worth the .99 that it is selling for, and there is a second book planned for sometime in 2012.  A great story with some fantastic characters well done all around.