3 1/2 Stars: I have read quite a bit of Lawrence Watt-Evan's stories over the years. One of my favorite tales is The Misenchanted Sword. While I liked the idea of a fantasy realm with a check and balance system and several other ideas. The story itself seemed a bit flat. The writing is descriptive, but there is a lot more talking than action in the book. Also a few of the more standard fantasy plots make an appearance in the book. So overall it was a rather straight forward fantasy romp with no real surprises or tremendous action. I liked his Dragon series a lot, this one left me wanting more.

A very stereotypical and predictable fantasy. I feel like there could have been some plot twists that would have made this more interesting, but the author did not take them. The sequel was not much better. ( )

Solid reading, with sense and logic, but also with pretty much all the elements of a traditional quest fantasy (magic items, evil magic-users, fighters, thieves, the young man growing up, etc.) done in a not super-predictable way. Good for people who enjoy traditional fantasy but who are tired of knowing the exact nature of the ending before they get twenty pages in. Maybe if I re-read it, I'll give it a 5 next time, if I'm more capable of feeling emotions at that point. ;) ( )

Solid, workmanlike, entertaining but nothing too original here. Usual Fantasy business of setting off on a quest, in this case to kill a rogue "Wizard Lord," narrated from the point of view of one of the Chosen (the eight savants who can remove a Wizard Lord). Interesting enough that I'd pick up the sequel if I saw it, but enough like everything else I seem to be reading lately that if I miss it I can't imagine I'll feel the loss. ( )