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A review by braydin
Servant of a Dark God by John D. Brown
4.0
The beginnings of a new epic fantasy series by John Brown. I've wanted to read this for some time after seeing favorable reviews and just now have finally gotten around to it.
First with the good:
There was an interesting magic system that follows a very specific set of rules. Think Brandon Sanderson style. I much prefer this type of system to the more traditional hand-waving as it reinforces that actions have consequences and some interesting decisions usually arise as a result.
The action is confined to a relatively small geographical area. Sometimes in epic fantasy there is a bit of informational overload as you try to determine where things are in relation to eachother. By keeping the first installment of the series local you avoid some of that confusion.
There were a number of well drawn an interesting characters that made this a pleasure to read.
The was really a single element to me: Talen. As the main character in the story, Brown uses the initially oblivious Talen as a device to explain the magic of the world. However, the main problem I have is that Talen just wasn't very likable. I understand some of the reasons, as his obstinateness drives some of the tension of the story, but it is difficult to read a story with such a main character. By the end he comes around, but it can make for some awkward and sometimes infuriating reading along the way.
Definitely looking forward to the rest of the series as the goods outweigh the bads by quite a large margin.
First with the good:
There was an interesting magic system that follows a very specific set of rules. Think Brandon Sanderson style. I much prefer this type of system to the more traditional hand-waving as it reinforces that actions have consequences and some interesting decisions usually arise as a result.
The action is confined to a relatively small geographical area. Sometimes in epic fantasy there is a bit of informational overload as you try to determine where things are in relation to eachother. By keeping the first installment of the series local you avoid some of that confusion.
There were a number of well drawn an interesting characters that made this a pleasure to read.
The was really a single element to me: Talen. As the main character in the story, Brown uses the initially oblivious Talen as a device to explain the magic of the world. However, the main problem I have is that Talen just wasn't very likable. I understand some of the reasons, as his obstinateness drives some of the tension of the story, but it is difficult to read a story with such a main character. By the end he comes around, but it can make for some awkward and sometimes infuriating reading along the way.
Definitely looking forward to the rest of the series as the goods outweigh the bads by quite a large margin.