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illusie's review against another edition
2.0
This is about Asher who is a fisherman and wants to move to the city to earn big money. He is unaware that he is at the center of a prophecy. The world building was okay. I would have preferred a more detailed description. I like the idea of an anti-hero, but think Asher is too grumpy and unlikeable. Overall the book was okay, but it didn't sparkle. I won't continue with the rest of the series.
sandnort's review against another edition
4.0
This is a weird book, there's no other way to say it. You read the title and think your in for a magical adventure but in reality you get a great political fantasy that had me hooked. The rest of the books pale in comparison and never come close to the heights of the first, but that doesn't lessen my love for this amazing beginning to a failed story.
melanie852's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
subparcupcake's review against another edition
4.0
This was refreshing. Finally, some traditional fantasy done right! It's been so long that I picked up a traditional type series and actually really really got into it. But Innocent Mage sucked me right in, and there was never a point where it lost my attention. That's not to say it was jam packed with action.. It was just good. Good character development, a super intriguing world.. It was the full package when it comes to traditional epic fantasy.
Just a quick warning though... Big time cliff hanger ending. I knew this in advance, so I have the second book ready and willing to go. If I hadn't known.. Oh man. I'd be dying right now.
Overall, 4.5 stars. I can't wait to read the conclusion of the story. Highly recommended!
Just a quick warning though... Big time cliff hanger ending. I knew this in advance, so I have the second book ready and willing to go. If I hadn't known.. Oh man. I'd be dying right now.
Overall, 4.5 stars. I can't wait to read the conclusion of the story. Highly recommended!
eroviana's review against another edition
2.0
I picked this one up because I had read the Godspeaker trilogy which I actually enjoyed and would recommend to fantasy fans without a second thought. The Innocent Mage, on the other hand, is a tale that you struggle through. I wasn't even interested when the book ended in a cliffhanger; I mean, who cares? These characters are not in the least interesting!
I don't even know if I'll continue with the second one. Probably not, I'm really bored.
I don't even know if I'll continue with the second one. Probably not, I'm really bored.
capincus's review against another edition
4.0
The main character is a bit of a prick, and it took me a good 200 pages to like him at all. There's minimal action, ie: one combat scene and no one even dies. I really shouldn't have liked this book, but I did. Enough to finish it without even starting another book (a rare occurrence) and to pick up the sequel.
winterscape's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars
I don't know if this was a case of the "right book at the right time," but I thought The Innocent Mage was fantastic. It's full of tropes, but they work. I've been so dead tired with fantasy novels that contain two hundred action/battle/fight scenes and a body count of over ten thousand. The Innocent Mage is about how two people become unlikely friends. It's about Andy Bernard's joke from The Office ("His birth name was Walter Bernard Jr., but after his younger brother was born, his parents decided that the new baby better embodied that name."), but not played for laughs. It's about family, and dealing with the mortality of your parents, and sibling relationships, and how being an outcast can manifest differently in different people. But, it's also rife with magic (soft, not overly explained, easy to digest old-school magic) and political machinations against the backdrop of a pseudo-medieval Western Europe-esque countryside, which to be honest, I was missing and was nice to revisit. One of my favourite little touches was the written accents and how it's shown through dialogue over time as a character begins to lose it.
It would have been a 5 stars from me, but the ending gets a little bit away from itself and starts to focus on the ramp up to world destruction, which is fine, just not what I'd been savouring.
All in all, love it, will definitely be buying Karen Miller's other books.
I don't know if this was a case of the "right book at the right time," but I thought The Innocent Mage was fantastic. It's full of tropes, but they work. I've been so dead tired with fantasy novels that contain two hundred action/battle/fight scenes and a body count of over ten thousand. The Innocent Mage is about how two people become unlikely friends. It's about Andy Bernard's joke from The Office ("His birth name was Walter Bernard Jr., but after his younger brother was born, his parents decided that the new baby better embodied that name."), but not played for laughs. It's about family, and dealing with the mortality of your parents, and sibling relationships, and how being an outcast can manifest differently in different people. But, it's also rife with magic (soft, not overly explained, easy to digest old-school magic) and political machinations against the backdrop of a pseudo-medieval Western Europe-esque countryside, which to be honest, I was missing and was nice to revisit. One of my favourite little touches was the written accents and how it's shown through dialogue over time as a character begins to lose it.
It would have been a 5 stars from me, but the ending gets a little bit away from itself and starts to focus on the ramp up to world destruction, which is fine, just not what I'd been savouring.
All in all, love it, will definitely be buying Karen Miller's other books.