Michael G. Manning

The Choice of Magic by indie writer Michael G. Manning is a straightforward coming-of-age fantasy with some redeeming details. Village boy Will Cartwright has an unsuspected magical heritage. Apprenticed to a curmudgeonly old man who may be his grandfather, he learns wizardry and eventually joins the army. I also enjoy the animal who seems to own the wizard’s house, protects them from the Fae, and is known unaffectionately as “the goddamn cat.” Manning creates a nicely complicated show more system of magic that distinguishes between the Fare, warlocks, sorcerers, and wizards. The plot moves along well, but I will just say that I hate in medias res endings that are a cheater’s way to make you read the next book in the series. 3.5 stars. show less

Started out very well, but somewhat let down by an uncontrolled magic system towards the end.

Gram is the son of a famous Knight, mollycoddled by his mother who doesn't want to lose him. However nothing can stop teenagers from growing up, and so he learns to fight and to love. THis occupies the first two thirds of the book and is generally very well written and enjoyably plotted. There's a lot of unexplained back story that is referenced but not detailed, which some readers might find show more annoying, but I was generally ok with it, even if it isn't exactly clear who fought whom or why. I hope the author's kept careful notes because continuity errors later in the series would be very irritating. And these backstory references lead onto the part that the book doesn't do very well at all: Magic. Gram's friends include the two children of the Count. He's apparently a super powerful magician, and they've inherited all his genius. And so the magic seems to be completely uncontrolled in ability, and unexplained in it's process or world building. There's a general feeling of wow what can I do with this, and again a common error of lacking in proportion and scale, out of balance with the physics of the world which haven't altered. However the magical teddy bear is cute.

Needs better integration and the magic could be deleted entirely leaving a well rounded and interesting tale about growing up. show less

While I like this book, there were a few things in it that were jarring. I didn't like the modern speech mixed with the old world. They used expressions like 'jerk' and 'gonna' just didn't sit well in the world, IMO.

I also felt that the characterization was a bit juvenile in places. This is going to sound harsh, but this book really could have used a good editor. That doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it, but with a little polishing this could have gone from a C to a solid B.

Really like aspects of this. Trees are ancestors. Magic is intertwined with genetics and a post-apocalyptic earth and an advanced alien race. I like that this race is neither evil nor beneficent.

The magic is explained slightly. It seems like an iceberg though where we can see just the tip of a potentially massive magic system.

The action scenes drag on. There's a series of fights that don't push the plot forward or reveal any great extra depth. I feel like there is a better way to pass that show more time rather than detailing a series of nearly identical fights.

I think I'll buy the next book. I hope the slow aspects speed up. show less