The Western Wizard

ok, mickey, way to kill off characters without any sense of foreshadowing.

actually, i kind of liked that. it made the book feel a lot more believable and real than most other fantasy novels of the same time period.

i thought this was a great continuation in the series. i'm reading through the final book of the trilogy right now and i'm eager to learn more. i'll probably read the next trilogy before too long as well.

:) good work, mickey. ( )

After reading the first book in the Renshai series, The Last of the Renshai, I knew I’d be diving into the second book in short order. I was no longer cowed by the enormous size of the books (600+ paperbacks? Sure.. I didn’t need those hand muscles), and anxious to see what the world held in store for characters like Colbey, Mitrian, Garn, and more. I needed to know – plus I knew at this point that Reichert wouldn’t disappoint me in the action sequences.

I wasn’t wrong.

I wasn’t sure where the story would go after the deaths that occurred in the end of The Last of the Renshai, but what I began to appreciate as I read this book is just how much ground the “grey” area between good and evil covers. Reichert moves her story away from a prominent good and evil bent and throws in chaos and law – just for the fun of it. All I have to say is.. WOW.

I think this is the first series I’ve read that deals actively with chaos and law in addition to good and evil. (When I say evil, by the way, don’t be thinking “evil” as in evil bad guy – there’s a difference in this series.)

I really have come to respect this series. It’s a solid story, solid characters, interesting lore (even though Mickey borrows quite liberally from Norse mythology) and the world is one that immediately gives the reader an awe-inspiring sense of just how vast it is.

The third book blew me away even more… but more on that when I write and publish my review of it.

I cannot stress how much I recommend checking this series out. The descriptions of sword-fighting alone make it a series worth looking at, but there is oh-so-much-more than that. ( )