Michael Pryor

Full of fun and interest, but just a little bit too glib and easy for my tastes - or perhaps a little too smugly boys-own British. Our hero, Aubrey Fitzwilliam, is a child of privilege - son of a politician and former peer, talented in multiple areas, and enjoying the stalwart support of a best friend with complementary skills. While his life is made slightly troublesome by a small matter of being dead (not a spoiler: that's revealed in the first line of the book) his derring-do adventures show more are otherwise uncomplicated by personal conflicts or self-created challenges. This was probably my only dissatisfaction with the book, which was otherwise thoroughly entertaining. But Aubrey takes his loyal Sam George for granted, blithely excels all over the place in a manner irritatingly reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, and generally sails through his adventures, and it all leaves me wishing that I could really see his mettle through him being knocked off his high horse and having to struggle along on foot for a while. show less

DNF @ 41%
(book is 1st person pov btw)

I hate the protagonist.
Feelings solidified around 16% mark where I became convinced Anton's skull is like an abandoned hangar with nothing but occasional wind roaring through. He lacks brain-to-mouth filter, cannot shut up to save his life and is incapable of being serious. He is infuriatingly flippant about his occupation, even though the dangers were drilled into him from young age. He makes me want to reach through the pages, strangle him, burn his show more corpse on a pyre and salt the ground.

I can see what the author was going for, but he did not manage to actually pull it off. The writing needs a lot of work and should have been condensed. Also - too much dialogue for something supposedly action-packed. Really, it feels like the only thing they do is talk trying to sound smart.

There is actually a plot! Which drags and drags, and just doesn't seem to happen? They are busy but it does not feel like anything is being done. Personally, I felt no urgency. When things were actually happening writing dragged and got bogged down by overflowing descriptions.

Sadly, not even awesomeness of Rani and Bec combined (plus an actively present parent!) was enough to help the book along. This was not spooky or engaging or thrilling.
The idea was interesting, the execution suffers most terribly.

VERDICT : AVOID. CANNOT RECOMMEND show less

Review by Trishe Leong

I read the first two books in Michael Pryor's Laws of Magic series over the course of a weekend, fired off an email on Monday to a friend saying, "Why isn't this guy famous?", and by Tuesday had agreed to write a review of the third book, because it was the fastest way I could get hold of a copy.
The series is utterly addictive. Word of Honour continues the world-saving activities of Aubery Fitzwilliam, Prime Minister’s son and magical prodigy, and should thoroughly show more satisfy any cravings for a rollicking good adventure that combines action, humour, magic and intrigue in the best "Boy’s Own" tradition.
Pryor’s writing is fluid and richly detailed and he credits his readers with intelligence, not hesitating to introduce linguistics, history & politics, and a fascinating and believable magical system, disguising it all in the breezy charm of pre-war upper class England (or rather, Albion).
Word of Honour sees Aubery Fitzwilliam moving on to university and taking further steps into the adult world, juggling the professional and the personal. Can he simultaneously save Albion from the machinations of the sinister Dr Tremaine, prevent his soul from permanently separating from his body, and more importantly, delicately repair his tenuous relations with the frighteningly competent and beautiful Caroline? As always, the story is both delightful and enthralling and I wholeheartedly recommend Word of Honour to lovers of mystery, magic and adventure of any age.
Really—why isn’t this guy famous? show less

Opens with Kingsley Ward about to gives his first performance as an escape artist ( like Houdini) on stage in 1908. Pryor had me completely fooled at the beginning with Kingsley's fight to control his "wolf side" as I was thinking it was another werewolf trying to live among us story....which it isn't! Spoiler alert: Think Tarazan and the fact that Kingsley is befrrended by Rudyard Kipling, the author of The Jungle Book, and you are on the right track. After a disastrous first performance show more where he is rescued by the theatre's juggler and albino Evadne Stephens. Kinglsley discovers that his guardian, Dr Ward has been abducted, and that he is in the middle of a war in the seedier side of London called the Demimonde, between some hideous child-like Immortals (who steal people to keep themselves Immortal) and have creepy Death-looking servants to do their bidding, and the last of the Neanderthals who have been forced by current man to retreat underground. This is a book with lots of nifty gadgets ; Evadne is a very accomplished inventor of robots and weapons and the Neanderthals are trying to perfect a time machine that will allow them to go back and wipe out the Homo Sapiens before they take over the world. Both the Immortals and the Neanderthals power revolves around a mysterious substance called Phlogiston which powers everything and is worth a fortune ( an "essence of life" substance that comes in test -tube like glowing vials. Its an exciting story that veers off from Kingsley and Evadne at times to dwell with the eldest of the Neanderthals Damona and her point of view, and also the underworld gangster Soames who is betraying everyone to get rich quick. There is also a side step in time from 1908 to 1666 and the Great Fire of London. The first in a series, the book ends in resolution, so you are not left hanging for the next one. Will appeal to people who like a darker, more scientific Harry Potter. show less