Take a photo of a barcode or cover
wordmaster 's review for:
Serpent Mage
by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman
This should have been Book 2 of 4. They might have skipped the "four elements" gimmick and just told the story of the godlike Sartan locking the magic-using Patryns away in the Labyrinth for rehabilitation and then mysteriously disappearing for eons while their prison turned malicious... Because that idea is very cool, and the sections that focus there show promise, while the "water world experiencing slow element-centric decline into ruin" stuff is tired and sluggish and for some reason they try forcing a love interest, which just - no, thank you. By the time the threads of the preceding books begin to tie together it's too late - there's not enough momentum left to thrill anybody.
1.5 stars. Again, big interesting worldbuilding but it's anchored to tepid characters engaged in a lethargic and extremely repetitive plot. Nothing in this sparked the same excitement for me at age 35 as it did at 15.
1.5 stars. Again, big interesting worldbuilding but it's anchored to tepid characters engaged in a lethargic and extremely repetitive plot. Nothing in this sparked the same excitement for me at age 35 as it did at 15.