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Servants of Ark #1
The First Named
A powerful warlord and violet-eyed enchantress Amarino usurp King Ather and enslave people of Ark to an ancient power. In the distant forest hideaway of the court wizard, the three princes plot vengeance. An ancient tome prophesies only one prince can triumph. The 200-year old wizard, his young apprentice, and his telepathic cat quest for victory.
281 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1987
4 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Wylie
29 books22 followersJonathan Wylie is the pseudonym of Mark and Julia Smith, a married couple who live and work in Norfolk. Having met while they were both working for a major London publishing house, they sparked each other into creative life, and began writing as a team a few months after setting up home together. They have been writing full time since 1991. The pen-name they have used most recently is Julia Gray, author of Ice Mage, Fire Music, Isle of the Dead and the popular 'Guardian' Cycle.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 20, 2017
Very readable as a teen, does not hold up well as an adult reader. Primitive storyline, predictable scenarios and superficial characters. The sequels are a rehash of the same themes, all rather disappointing.
July 18, 2016
The school library was giving away some books so I went to have a look. I looked through some of them and found only one battered fantasy book before I found the two sequels to it. I took them home and left them under my bed for about two months.
One day during the school holidays, when I was bored, I looked under my bed and found the books. As I had nothing else to do I started reading them and after about ten pages I couldn't stop. The book was absolutely amazing and I couldn't wait to read the next.
The book is set in an island world. There are about seven islands, each with their own monarchy. The king of Ark, an island, is overthrown but his three sons escape with their magician and the oldest son's fiance.
One day during the school holidays, when I was bored, I looked under my bed and found the books. As I had nothing else to do I started reading them and after about ten pages I couldn't stop. The book was absolutely amazing and I couldn't wait to read the next.
The book is set in an island world. There are about seven islands, each with their own monarchy. The king of Ark, an island, is overthrown but his three sons escape with their magician and the oldest son's fiance.
October 29, 2013
Piacevole.
Il Mago di Ark è un romanzo del 1987 e risente, nello stile, della sua età. Scritto in anni in cui l'avventura la faceva da padrone e l'introspezione dei personaggi era cosa poco diffusa, fa fatica a carburare.
Nella prima parte infatti incontriamo una serie di personaggi abbastanza comuni in un fantasy, mago con famiglio gufo, mago potenziale/eroe in erba/principe, principessa capricciosa e aiutanti vari.
Ma dalla seconda metà in poi la storia comincia a incuriosire e appassionare, e i gli attori della vicenda acquistano spessore e di conseguenza suscitano interesse.
In conclusione un romanzo piacevole e autoconclusivo anche se appartiene a una trilogia.
Grazie alla seconda parte leggerò volentieri il seguito.
Il Mago di Ark è un romanzo del 1987 e risente, nello stile, della sua età. Scritto in anni in cui l'avventura la faceva da padrone e l'introspezione dei personaggi era cosa poco diffusa, fa fatica a carburare.
Nella prima parte infatti incontriamo una serie di personaggi abbastanza comuni in un fantasy, mago con famiglio gufo, mago potenziale/eroe in erba/principe, principessa capricciosa e aiutanti vari.
Ma dalla seconda metà in poi la storia comincia a incuriosire e appassionare, e i gli attori della vicenda acquistano spessore e di conseguenza suscitano interesse.
In conclusione un romanzo piacevole e autoconclusivo anche se appartiene a una trilogia.
Grazie alla seconda parte leggerò volentieri il seguito.
March 2, 2011
Another gentle read from Mr Wylie.
November 3, 2019
This story is based on a prophecy, which unfortunately I never understood. I read through the book, still puzzled as to the reason certain actions took place.
May 4, 2013
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11837025
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11837025
July 27, 2020
I loved this series of books a lot of years ago, I read and re-read them until they literally fell to bits. I have just been reminded about them and wondered if they had been republished as Ebooks, at the moment unfortuantely not.
However the review, although the plot is, in general, a generic Kingdon usurped, youngest son must save the day type of affair it was so well written and crafted. We have a wizardly advisor, female companion, cat familiar and a wizard who ate too many moonberries and went a bit crazy. These were all excellently crafted, not perfect but good people trying their best. My favourite character of all was the cat, Longfur Mousebane, who can converse with the our hero, as many will suspect the cat is arrogant, intelligent and a little snooty (aren't they all) but provides a great foil to our young hero.
While I can't point to these books and say groundbreaking new fantasy, they were fantastic adn so well written. Like having your mums sponge cake, there are many like it but no other cake tastes as good? These were like a cosy blanket of fantasy, easy to read but exceptionally hard to put down. I hope that they are released in digital format soon as i would be buying them again.
However the review, although the plot is, in general, a generic Kingdon usurped, youngest son must save the day type of affair it was so well written and crafted. We have a wizardly advisor, female companion, cat familiar and a wizard who ate too many moonberries and went a bit crazy. These were all excellently crafted, not perfect but good people trying their best. My favourite character of all was the cat, Longfur Mousebane, who can converse with the our hero, as many will suspect the cat is arrogant, intelligent and a little snooty (aren't they all) but provides a great foil to our young hero.
While I can't point to these books and say groundbreaking new fantasy, they were fantastic adn so well written. Like having your mums sponge cake, there are many like it but no other cake tastes as good? These were like a cosy blanket of fantasy, easy to read but exceptionally hard to put down. I hope that they are released in digital format soon as i would be buying them again.
June 26, 2022
The Servants of Ark trilogy is not widely known, but I suspect if it had a roleplaying game tie-in or got optioned as a television series or movie it would do massively well for a YA audience. This is traditional fantasy replete with wizards and warriors, and royalty on the run. The violet-eyes of certain characters has stayed with me in the same way that Dune spice addiction lodged in my mind. Fundamentally there is nothing particularly "new" about the plot, but it is very readable. Although I read it when I was much, much younger, it is still an enjoyable light breeze to read through nowadays as well.
September 12, 2019
Very YA. Simple storyline. Instead of living the action, the action is being told to the reader (and then this happened, and then that happened). No suspense, no climax. There was the potential with several armies marching on the castle, but the strategy is obscure and just not exposed in a way for the reader to get involved.
June 10, 2023
I had high hopes for this book. Those hopes were dashed to pieces after the first chapter. It took over half the book to get even remotely interesting, and it felt so rushed. The characters didn't have much personality, the dialogue was weird, and there wasn't a whole lot of character development. All in all, this book was terrible.
April 6, 2020
Definitely intend to read rest of series.
July 18, 2023
This is by no means a good book. It's pretty terrible but it's also a lot of fun to read. Mostly. The ending was really bad and soured me a little on the whole thing.
July 16, 2024
I couldn't get past 30 pages. This is the first of a series but it reads like it's later in her series. It's way too jumpy for me.
December 11, 2024
Good book! A little confusing at times, but overall it was a comfortable book to read with interesting plot twists.
February 17, 2023
un buon fantasy. Il solito fantasy.
April 18, 2015
Yep, the beginning of another trilogy
5 July 2013
One of the reasons that I remembered reading this book was because I was in a second hand bookshop in Adelaide and I saw it sitting on the shelf. Personally I don't remember all that much of it beyond the cover, and the fact that there were two other books in the trilogy (which I also read) and that I read it way back in my teenage years. I am not sure why I actually read it because it wasn't connected with any Dungeons and Dragons world, and in fact it had nothing to do with Dungeons and Dragons whatsoever.
The thing about these fantasy books is that they generally did not have a lot of monsters in them like Dungeons and Dragons had, and even if they did they were few and far between. It was not until I had reached my mid-twenties that I realised that you cannot write a book where the main characters simply run around killing monsters and not actually have a plot, and even if they did have a plot, the type of story that involves the heroes killing a bunch of minions, and then confronting the big bad guy at the end in an epic battle, does not really make for good literature.
Okay, I do admit that when it comes of Hollywood I do enjoy the films where the hero battles their way through a heap of minions and then fights the bad guy at the end in an epic battle, but then again there are so many movies out there like that that they end up becoming really boring. Therefore, if a movie like that is boring, then to me, a book like that is probably going to be even more boring.
Anyway, I have hit my goal, this weekend at least, of reaching 800 commentaries on Goodreads, that I think I can finish this one off (not that I actually said anything about the book, but then again I have read the book, and I don't like marking a book as read without actually writing something in the comment section, despite this commentary telling you absolutely nothing about this book, so my apologies to Jonathon Wylie for not giving the potential reader of this commentary the desire to read his book, but then again, he is among the thousands of would be authors out there that, well, nothing in his books have really stood out beyond it being just another fantasy trilogy).
5 July 2013
One of the reasons that I remembered reading this book was because I was in a second hand bookshop in Adelaide and I saw it sitting on the shelf. Personally I don't remember all that much of it beyond the cover, and the fact that there were two other books in the trilogy (which I also read) and that I read it way back in my teenage years. I am not sure why I actually read it because it wasn't connected with any Dungeons and Dragons world, and in fact it had nothing to do with Dungeons and Dragons whatsoever.
The thing about these fantasy books is that they generally did not have a lot of monsters in them like Dungeons and Dragons had, and even if they did they were few and far between. It was not until I had reached my mid-twenties that I realised that you cannot write a book where the main characters simply run around killing monsters and not actually have a plot, and even if they did have a plot, the type of story that involves the heroes killing a bunch of minions, and then confronting the big bad guy at the end in an epic battle, does not really make for good literature.
Okay, I do admit that when it comes of Hollywood I do enjoy the films where the hero battles their way through a heap of minions and then fights the bad guy at the end in an epic battle, but then again there are so many movies out there like that that they end up becoming really boring. Therefore, if a movie like that is boring, then to me, a book like that is probably going to be even more boring.
Anyway, I have hit my goal, this weekend at least, of reaching 800 commentaries on Goodreads, that I think I can finish this one off (not that I actually said anything about the book, but then again I have read the book, and I don't like marking a book as read without actually writing something in the comment section, despite this commentary telling you absolutely nothing about this book, so my apologies to Jonathon Wylie for not giving the potential reader of this commentary the desire to read his book, but then again, he is among the thousands of would be authors out there that, well, nothing in his books have really stood out beyond it being just another fantasy trilogy).
September 27, 2013
It's got princes, a good wizard, a prophecy, a feisty princess, a mystical sword, outlaws, and an evil sorceress who takes over the kingdom.
Need I say more?
It's a quick read, fairly inoffensive, even mildly entertaining. But there are absolutely no original twists to the basic 'fantasy' story here. And the authors' (Wylie is a pseudonym for a husband/wife team) insistence on being relentlessly lighthearted in tone is occasionally disturbing. (Normally, people don't keep on merrily trucking along, cracking jokes and saying, "well, we've got to move on" directly after their betrothed/brother/friend/etc is killed.) The characters have no depth of emotional involvement - and neither will the reader. I probably won't remember anything that happened in this book shortly.
Need I say more?
It's a quick read, fairly inoffensive, even mildly entertaining. But there are absolutely no original twists to the basic 'fantasy' story here. And the authors' (Wylie is a pseudonym for a husband/wife team) insistence on being relentlessly lighthearted in tone is occasionally disturbing. (Normally, people don't keep on merrily trucking along, cracking jokes and saying, "well, we've got to move on" directly after their betrothed/brother/friend/etc is killed.) The characters have no depth of emotional involvement - and neither will the reader. I probably won't remember anything that happened in this book shortly.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews