A cautionary tale of what happens when you turn incompletely trained magic users loose in the world. ( )

I've finished reading this delightful book. It's part adventure, part fantasy and part muder-mystery. Give the book until page 50 for the story to really get started. The first 49 pages are mostly back story and world building. Once you're at page 50: PAY ATTENTION to all the details if you want to solve the mystery. ( )

Normally I don't much like and don't usually read the magic/sorcery or sentient animal species variety of fantasy. (The exception, of course, being Tolkien.) Since this novel combined both, it wasn't something I would have ever chosen for myself. The best thing about BookCrossing, however, is being exposed to books outside one's normal comfort zones. And when a fellow BookCrosser sent me this as a surprise, well, naturally, I read it.

This book surprised me. I actually enjoyed it. And although I'm not overwhelmed with appreciation for nor am I inclined to pursue more of Ms. Forward's work, she writes with an engaging, entertaining style - her scenes are well-detailed, her characters well-realized, and her plotting, while confusing from time to time, moves along at a brisk pace. I liked Alex and his Anim, Mote, a great deal, and gasped out loud at one scene near the middle of the book, when Mote and Alex are dueling with a powerful magician with apparently tragic consequences. ( )

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?ID=228 ( )