The Accidental Sorcerer, K.E. Mills
Feb. 25th, 2009 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookish_dragonBook One in the Rogue Agent-series. Amazon says Book Two (Witches Incorporated) will be put out June 2009.
Amazon-blurb: 'Gerald Dunwoody is a wizard. Just not a particularly good one. He's blown up a factory, lost his job, and there's a chance that he's not really a Third Grade wizard after all. So it's off to New Ottosland to be the new Court Wizard for King Lional.
It's a shame that King Lional isn't the vain, self-centered young man he appeared to be. With a Princess in danger, a talking bird who can't stay out of trouble, and a kingdom to save, Gerald soon suspects that he might be out of his depth. And if he can't keep this job, how will he ever become the wizard he was destined to be...'
Mainly, I bought the book because of the dedication:
The impression I still have of the book, a couple of weeks after I've read it? Gerald's a whiner. A huge big whiner. No, I didn't like him much in the end. He finds out quite early that he has more magical talent than the entire Department put together, but then doesn't do anything with it. Not until the end. Ok, Lional (who is stark raving bonkers, couldn't touch sanity with a ten-foot-pole) tortures the hell out of him, so that Gerald'll make him a dragon. A great bloody big dragon so Lional can take out over the world. That bonkers. His immediate family have shot into protective colouring the moment they could string two thoughts together, to avoid getting killed by him. ( I would have liked some indication that the younger brother, Rupert, was smarter than he appeared to be before he showed off he was smarter than he appeared to be. I suspected as much, because I am a Suspicious Bastard like that. I wouldn't have minded being proved wrong.
Kept thinking about Simon R. Green, his Blue Moon-series. Mills's book has the same feel to it. Same feel of poking fun at the genre; the characters occasionally showing off their smart-alecky tendencies. It's a fast read, but as I said, I got a bit bogged down by Gerald's lack of a spine.
Amazon-blurb: 'Gerald Dunwoody is a wizard. Just not a particularly good one. He's blown up a factory, lost his job, and there's a chance that he's not really a Third Grade wizard after all. So it's off to New Ottosland to be the new Court Wizard for King Lional.
It's a shame that King Lional isn't the vain, self-centered young man he appeared to be. With a Princess in danger, a talking bird who can't stay out of trouble, and a kingdom to save, Gerald soon suspects that he might be out of his depth. And if he can't keep this job, how will he ever become the wizard he was destined to be...'
Mainly, I bought the book because of the dedication:
With many many thanks to Russell T Davies,
who helped me rediscover my inner fangirl
and
David Tennant, the 10th Doctor, because
he rocks and also, y'know...phwoar!
The impression I still have of the book, a couple of weeks after I've read it? Gerald's a whiner. A huge big whiner. No, I didn't like him much in the end. He finds out quite early that he has more magical talent than the entire Department put together, but then doesn't do anything with it. Not until the end. Ok, Lional (who is stark raving bonkers, couldn't touch sanity with a ten-foot-pole) tortures the hell out of him, so that Gerald'll make him a dragon. A great bloody big dragon so Lional can take out over the world. That bonkers. His immediate family have shot into protective colouring the moment they could string two thoughts together, to avoid getting killed by him. ( I would have liked some indication that the younger brother, Rupert, was smarter than he appeared to be before he showed off he was smarter than he appeared to be. I suspected as much, because I am a Suspicious Bastard like that. I wouldn't have minded being proved wrong.
Kept thinking about Simon R. Green, his Blue Moon-series. Mills's book has the same feel to it. Same feel of poking fun at the genre; the characters occasionally showing off their smart-alecky tendencies. It's a fast read, but as I said, I got a bit bogged down by Gerald's lack of a spine.
