Review: while I agree with much of the criticism...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 13, 2011
UPDATE: Warning to other reviewers of this work:Among books I've reviewed, the helpful/unhelpful ratings of reviews of this book seem unusually tied to the number of stars in the rating.  My review here doesn't particularly stand out as biased or unfair in comparison with my other reviews, yet it's garnered an unusually large number of 'unhelpful' votes.  No comments have been left regarding the deficiency of the review, which is also suspicious.ORIGINAL REVIEW:----... regarding the author's long-winded, detailed descriptions, as described by other reviewers here. I do think it's a worthy book nonetheless.For a particular example of the tediously descriptive nature of the writing, very early in the book the author spends a couple pages on describing the main character's clothing, which serves absolutely no plot purpose.  And even though his clothing is obviously mended/repaired/replaced again and again, it is never subsequently described.I can also sympathize with the 'Harry Potter-ish' nature of the plot.I would give this a 4-star if the main character didn't annoy me through the whole first half of the book whining about his self doubts and obviously flawed arguments regarding a lack of worthiness.I think there's a lot of potential in the author... but like most authors, I imagine if he read his own early work (presumably such as this), he's say "ugg.. I wrote this?"So on to the good parts... after the main character stops whining, the plot becomes reasonable.  The interpersonal relationships/interactions are quite good and consistent, particularly in the second half of the book.  The writing flows fairly well, with relatively little awkward phrasing.I'm not unhappy having paid $0.99 for it... I'm not sure I want to pay $3 for the sequel when I have a lot of other $0.99 stuff to read.  (If you note my purchase/review history, I obviously do follow up for many $3 sequels in various series, I'm just not convinced on this one at this point.)