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A review by malexmave
The Final Warden by Thomas Cardin
4.0
I guess it is mean to compare this book with the "Triple-A" titles in Fantasy, since they are usually written over several years with the help of editors and assistants, while this is an "independent" book written by one guy, but I cannot really help it.
I was actually surprised how much the story pulled me in. In the beginning, I was expecting a piece of "generic" fantasy with perhaps one cool idea to distinguish it from the other fantasy books. I also expected it to be predictable in large parts. Well, I'm glad to say that both fears were unfounded. The story is interesting and well written, and while it objectively cannot hold up against the likes of Sanderson's [b:The Way of Kings|7235533|The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316131688s/7235533.jpg|8134945] (my reference in High / Epic Fantasy against which all others are measured) it was still very enjoyable to read.
The characters are interesting, and while some of the "usual" Fantasy tricks of lost memories and mysterious abilities are employed, I still found it refreshing that Lorace (the hero of the book) always immediately began testing out what he could do with his abilities (something which I personally would always do with a cool new magic skill I just found out I posessed, and something I want to scream to do at all the fantasy characters who only ever find new ways to use their skills in the most dire of situations).
The lore of the book is also well written, and explains enough to make us understand what is going on while still leaving enough mystery for us to wonder about. The same goes for the magic, or the gifts, as they are called here.
A special commendation needs to be given for the fact that this eBook is not only available on amazon.de, but also part of the currently rather lacking lineup of eBooks in amazon.de's Kindle Lending Library. Thomas, thank you! I was beginning to think that I would never be able to make use of that library.
Now, to mention the one thing I found rather irritating: I found several typos and grammatically questionable sentences in the book. I understand that Thomas is an independent author, but some of the worse ones should have been found by any decent spell check program, be it Word, OpenOffice Writer or the integrated Spell Check of Scrivener. It's a small thing, but I found it irritating. Sadly, I neglected to mark them in my ebook, so I cannot report them to the author (sorry, Thomas). I promise to do this for the next part of the series, which I will begin to read now.
4 of 5 stars, but don't let that discourage you. I still recommend this book, and it is neither expensive nor does it take too long to read. I am always in favour of helping new authors earn some money from their hard work.
I was actually surprised how much the story pulled me in. In the beginning, I was expecting a piece of "generic" fantasy with perhaps one cool idea to distinguish it from the other fantasy books. I also expected it to be predictable in large parts. Well, I'm glad to say that both fears were unfounded. The story is interesting and well written, and while it objectively cannot hold up against the likes of Sanderson's [b:The Way of Kings|7235533|The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316131688s/7235533.jpg|8134945] (my reference in High / Epic Fantasy against which all others are measured) it was still very enjoyable to read.
The characters are interesting, and while some of the "usual" Fantasy tricks of lost memories and mysterious abilities are employed, I still found it refreshing that Lorace (the hero of the book) always immediately began testing out what he could do with his abilities (something which I personally would always do with a cool new magic skill I just found out I posessed, and something I want to scream to do at all the fantasy characters who only ever find new ways to use their skills in the most dire of situations).
The lore of the book is also well written, and explains enough to make us understand what is going on while still leaving enough mystery for us to wonder about. The same goes for the magic, or the gifts, as they are called here.
A special commendation needs to be given for the fact that this eBook is not only available on amazon.de, but also part of the currently rather lacking lineup of eBooks in amazon.de's Kindle Lending Library. Thomas, thank you! I was beginning to think that I would never be able to make use of that library.
Now, to mention the one thing I found rather irritating: I found several typos and grammatically questionable sentences in the book. I understand that Thomas is an independent author, but some of the worse ones should have been found by any decent spell check program, be it Word, OpenOffice Writer or the integrated Spell Check of Scrivener. It's a small thing, but I found it irritating. Sadly, I neglected to mark them in my ebook, so I cannot report them to the author (sorry, Thomas). I promise to do this for the next part of the series, which I will begin to read now.
4 of 5 stars, but don't let that discourage you. I still recommend this book, and it is neither expensive nor does it take too long to read. I am always in favour of helping new authors earn some money from their hard work.