Fulcrum
11th June 2008, 01:30 AM
This is the first book of "Rogue Agent" series by K.E. Mills (who is also known as Karen Miller, author of "Kingmaker, Kingbreaker" series - which I've never heard of or read).
For some reason the wrong author has been linked to this. Don't ask me why - I typed in the right one.
It is a jaunty read - there is a sassy ensorcelled bird who sits on the hero's shoulder mouthing off, plus a princess and another wizard who both have witty one-liners in spades. Light and breezy is the phrase that comes to mind.
It has a basic plot: Gerald, a third-grade wizard, gets a job in a small remote Kingdom as Court Wizard to King Lionel (basically because there is no-one else to take the job). Melissande is Lionel's sister and the Prime Minister. There is a neighbouring Kingdom threatening war, but Lionel has a plan to use Gerald as a secret weapon. In the background is Reg, Gerald's talking bird, Monk Markham, his genius wizard friend, and Rupert who is Lionel and Melissande's dotty brother who is obsessed with butterflies.
Here's an example of the writing style:
Reg jumped over to the seat beside the weeping princess and poked her in the behind with her beak. There was an erupition of cushions as Melissande wrenched herself upright. "How dare you? You are the most repulsive creature I've ever met!'
'In that case you need to get out more,' Reg retorted. 'Now just you get a grip of yourself, Madam Watering-Pot. Yours aren't the kind of looks that are improved by blubbering. Besides, this isn't the behaviour I expect from a princess. Or a prime minisster. You've got to walk the walk, ducky, not just talk the talk.'
As Melissande gaped, speechless, Gerald fished out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. 'She means well, you know. And she's right.'
'Really?' said Melissande, snatching the handerkerchief and pressing it to her wet face. "What about? The fact I'm a frump or that I'm a failure?'
Hello, my name is Gerald and I'm between a rock and a hard place...
'You're not a failutre,' he said after a difficlut pause.
And the first three quarters of the book goes along pretty much in that vein. Relentlessly - there are lots of exclamation marks, people sniffing their retorts, princess prime ministers crying on a hairpin, and a stereotypically mad King.
But like I said - easy to read. Unfortunately, not much substance. When the substance does come along (you know the stuff - torture, fire breathing dragons, death and destruction) the change from light-hearted wittiness to serious angst is a strange shift. Then it gets predictable and everything happens too quickly (Gerald literally arrives in the Kingdom and a week later all hell breaks loose).
It is well written (well, besides a sentence here and there where the laws of grammar are studiously ignored, and I wondered why an editor didn't red pencil them out), and I did enjoy it on a simple level. It is probably targeting the mid-teen Harry Potter crowd. However, I tired of the female characters quickly (they were just annoying) and found Gerald too whiny to be a hero I'd care about.
In other words, it was enjoyable but not enough to make me want to read the next book in the series.
For some reason the wrong author has been linked to this. Don't ask me why - I typed in the right one.
It is a jaunty read - there is a sassy ensorcelled bird who sits on the hero's shoulder mouthing off, plus a princess and another wizard who both have witty one-liners in spades. Light and breezy is the phrase that comes to mind.
It has a basic plot: Gerald, a third-grade wizard, gets a job in a small remote Kingdom as Court Wizard to King Lionel (basically because there is no-one else to take the job). Melissande is Lionel's sister and the Prime Minister. There is a neighbouring Kingdom threatening war, but Lionel has a plan to use Gerald as a secret weapon. In the background is Reg, Gerald's talking bird, Monk Markham, his genius wizard friend, and Rupert who is Lionel and Melissande's dotty brother who is obsessed with butterflies.
Here's an example of the writing style:
Reg jumped over to the seat beside the weeping princess and poked her in the behind with her beak. There was an erupition of cushions as Melissande wrenched herself upright. "How dare you? You are the most repulsive creature I've ever met!'
'In that case you need to get out more,' Reg retorted. 'Now just you get a grip of yourself, Madam Watering-Pot. Yours aren't the kind of looks that are improved by blubbering. Besides, this isn't the behaviour I expect from a princess. Or a prime minisster. You've got to walk the walk, ducky, not just talk the talk.'
As Melissande gaped, speechless, Gerald fished out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. 'She means well, you know. And she's right.'
'Really?' said Melissande, snatching the handerkerchief and pressing it to her wet face. "What about? The fact I'm a frump or that I'm a failure?'
Hello, my name is Gerald and I'm between a rock and a hard place...
'You're not a failutre,' he said after a difficlut pause.
And the first three quarters of the book goes along pretty much in that vein. Relentlessly - there are lots of exclamation marks, people sniffing their retorts, princess prime ministers crying on a hairpin, and a stereotypically mad King.
But like I said - easy to read. Unfortunately, not much substance. When the substance does come along (you know the stuff - torture, fire breathing dragons, death and destruction) the change from light-hearted wittiness to serious angst is a strange shift. Then it gets predictable and everything happens too quickly (Gerald literally arrives in the Kingdom and a week later all hell breaks loose).
It is well written (well, besides a sentence here and there where the laws of grammar are studiously ignored, and I wondered why an editor didn't red pencil them out), and I did enjoy it on a simple level. It is probably targeting the mid-teen Harry Potter crowd. However, I tired of the female characters quickly (they were just annoying) and found Gerald too whiny to be a hero I'd care about.
In other words, it was enjoyable but not enough to make me want to read the next book in the series.