The Way of the Wandering Wizard by Michael E Novak and John Paul Addis {REVIEW}

Book Title: The Way of the Wandering Wizard
Author: Michael E Novak and John Paul Addis (Editor)
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 1612961517
Publication Date: November 29th 2012
Edition Language: English

*Received from NetGalley Giveaway.*

Blurb:

Gentle wizard Mikal Novastar's life is complacent and secure as a mystic instructor at the School of the Three Moons in the Great City of Addis.This changes, however, when an extraordinary prophecy urges him to embark upon a heroic and dangerous adventure. Armed with a staff of light and joined by his summoned feline Majam, and an inscrutable thief, and a very young half-elf, Mikal must overcome vicious wererats, ghastly blood goblins, horrific gloomhounds, savage slavers, an exceptional and mysterious Stone Mage, and the enigmatic dragon Em-Le. Nothing could have prepared him, however, for dealing with the calculating evil of Path Bloodhue and his powerful Red Robed Wizards. And against the legion of the perfidious Black Robed Wizards, with their lethal dark assassins and brutal black blades, how can he possibly hope to triumph or even survive? And then there are the squirrels. 

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

My Review:

Umm...I'm actually a bit confused about how should I write the review of this book. At times I felt like I should give it no more than 2.5, but then again I felt 2.5 would be much less (in which case I wouldn't have posted the review at all)..and then finally I decided to rate it 3 stars. There were things I liked and things I didn't like. So it was a mix of both.

First the names in the book. I kind of liked the names given to the characters. Names like Mikal, Majam, Talon and others seemed peculiar at first but once I got used to it I kept looking for more. Even the names of the places were interesting (like the Callous Hills).

Second, the time and style of narration. I like when stories are narrated in present tense, gives me a sense of attachment. I liked it here too. But what somehow spoiled the fun here was the way it was used. The author could have made the story more interesting if he had been a little careful.

Third, one of the things I actually liked was that the whole book sounded like a RPG. I am not a big fan of role playing games but I like to watch when others play. It seemed that I am in a game, inside the world of wizards and magic stuff; the only difference was that it's being written rather than seen. But everyone, like RPGs, have a part to play.

"Everyone in this group has an important part to play; yours no less than anyone else's."

That's the fun of  role playing games...or here, role playing stories.

Fourth and last, and this is wholly a con according to me, is that the characters lacked proper development. I would have loved to see some strong back stories and evolving characters but never got the chance. Every story relies a lot on the characters and without the proper development of them, it's like a headless ram! 

Not a too-bad read after all. If you like role playing games and are into wizard things a lot, then I suggest you read this. But there are some things you may face trouble with like I did and you should be ready for that.