Bob Masingale The Wizard

Review: The Wizard

My book review for April is The Wizard, by Bob Masingale. I came across Bob on Twitter while looking for a book to review this month. I purchased his book and now after reading it, I’m glad I did, and I look forward to his next book.

An Enjoyable Story

The Wizard, by Bob Masingale, is a pretty good story. It follows the quest of Boggs, the King’s Wizard, as he encounters a mysterious stranger who just may be a threat to the kingdom. In this review I’ll look at writing style, characters, and storyline.

 

The strongest of these three elements is the story. The pacing was pretty good and it was easy enough to follow along. There were several surprises in the story that I didn’t expect, along with a couple places that made my heart leap in exultation. One of my favorite chapters was an almost journal-like account of Morgan’s combat training. It was able to strike a wide range of emotions from empathy to laughter to justice. The book’s ending was also breathtaking.

 

The next element I want to talk about is the characters. The main characters had good variety between them and a wide range of skills and personalities. The banter between Boggs and Morgan was fun, expressive, painful, as their conversations ranged across different topics and situations. Finn was arrogant but I suppose she had to talk the talk to be taken seriously by the other characters. I especially appreciated the contrast between the two Shadow Sisters but I didn’t feel there was enough time for them to really develop.

 

Finally, the writing style. This was the hardest part for me to get into. Although the pacing was good and there was a nice mix between fast-paced writing and leisurely, there was something that distracted me from enjoying it more. Unfortunately there were a lot of verb-tense conflicts. Whether in the same sentence or one sentence later the verb tenses shift unnecessarily. When I was reading, it felt like the book was full of this but going back to look for examples I’m only finding a few. But those few were enough to make it feel more prevalent.

 

All in all, it’s an enjoyable story with a magic system that is refreshing, a satisfying ending, and enough twists to make you want to keep reading. I plan to give the next book a chance in the future to see both how Bob develops as an author and to see where the story goes from here. If you want to read a decent story, give The Wizard a read.

 

Star Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Recommended: Yes

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