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Wielder Trilogy #1
Wielder's Awakening
A powerful wielder of magic is preparing to conquer a world whose people only remember magic in legends of the past. A king grappling with personal tragedy prepares his army to save his kingdom. A restless princess seeks love and adventure. In the middle of it all is Traven, a poor, ambitious peasant who dreams of being more than a simple woodcutter and unknowingly holds the key to saving the world.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 7, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
December 10, 2012
I cannot comprehend how this book has almost 4 stars as rating. The writing looks like it's from the hand of a grade school student, characters are 2 dimensional at best, and the dialogue between characters is obtuse and contrived.
The IDEA of the plot is OK, but how it's constructed in writing is just appalling. The writing is SO rigid, tedious and naive that it took me some serious mental wrestling to get from about 10% read to the last page.
I truly cannot understand how this kind of wretch of a book has been published. If this truly was proofread, the reader must have non-existent standards.
The quality of writing is an insult to anyone over 5 years of age.
The IDEA of the plot is OK, but how it's constructed in writing is just appalling. The writing is SO rigid, tedious and naive that it took me some serious mental wrestling to get from about 10% read to the last page.
I truly cannot understand how this kind of wretch of a book has been published. If this truly was proofread, the reader must have non-existent standards.
The quality of writing is an insult to anyone over 5 years of age.
July 14, 2013
The story was good, but the writing was terrible. There were a ton of grammatical errors, and the author would repeat himself a lot. The story changed viewpoints between different characters only to describe the same scene again. Most of the time these extra viewpoints did not add anything to the story; there isn't anything wrong with letting the reader have to figure out what someone else is thinking. Reading the book made me wonder if the author proof read his own book. If he had an editor then that person should be fired.
With all of that said, I did enjoy the story as a whole. Some of it was predictable, but not all of it.
With all of that said, I did enjoy the story as a whole. Some of it was predictable, but not all of it.
July 8, 2015
No. No No No No No NNNOOOOOOO!!!!!
This was the worst book I have ever read. I didn't even finish this monstrosity of a novel. I ended it at 40 percent, and for anyone who did finish this: I am so sorry.
I read the description on kindle, saw it was cheap and bought it because, hey, I'm always up for a short entertaining fantasy novel. I wanted to throw it up against the wall in the first chapter.
Here are some things missing or wrong with this (turdblossom) (cough) book.
1: Plot
2: Dialogue
3: Descriptions.
1: The Plot. Oh dear lord the plot. Let me start with the fact that a boy that has had a stone for YYYEAAARRRSSS and wakes up one day to discover that it has changed color. Instead of thinking anything of it, the main character decides to do absolutely nothing about the stone, and go on with his normal day. REALLY? He doesn't even THINK that's a little bit odd. I mean come on!
2:The dialogue Let me just say that the way these so called "characters" talk is ridiculous. They talk like they're reading a contact list. If you switched out all of the dialogue with random list of names, it wouldn't be any less entertaining.
3: Descriptions. Well, here's the thing, there just aren't descriptions. Of anything. ever.
My Mom: G, I think you're missing something...
Me: What?
My Mom: You know, the bandits...
Me: OH RIGHT!
As my mom so nicely reminded me, there is ONE part with descriptions. When the bandits are raiding the camp, killing people and chopping limbs off. Then the author really gets into those descriptions. But entering a bar and... What does it look like? We shall never know.
Thanks for reading my review, I hope that you enjoyed.
This was the worst book I have ever read. I didn't even finish this monstrosity of a novel. I ended it at 40 percent, and for anyone who did finish this: I am so sorry.
I read the description on kindle, saw it was cheap and bought it because, hey, I'm always up for a short entertaining fantasy novel. I wanted to throw it up against the wall in the first chapter.
Here are some things missing or wrong with this (turdblossom) (cough) book.
1: Plot
2: Dialogue
3: Descriptions.
1: The Plot. Oh dear lord the plot. Let me start with the fact that a boy that has had a stone for YYYEAAARRRSSS and wakes up one day to discover that it has changed color. Instead of thinking anything of it, the main character decides to do absolutely nothing about the stone, and go on with his normal day. REALLY? He doesn't even THINK that's a little bit odd. I mean come on!
2:The dialogue Let me just say that the way these so called "characters" talk is ridiculous. They talk like they're reading a contact list. If you switched out all of the dialogue with random list of names, it wouldn't be any less entertaining.
3: Descriptions. Well, here's the thing, there just aren't descriptions. Of anything. ever.
My Mom: G, I think you're missing something...
Me: What?
My Mom: You know, the bandits...
Me: OH RIGHT!
As my mom so nicely reminded me, there is ONE part with descriptions. When the bandits are raiding the camp, killing people and chopping limbs off. Then the author really gets into those descriptions. But entering a bar and... What does it look like? We shall never know.
Thanks for reading my review, I hope that you enjoyed.
June 19, 2014
OH. MY. GGGGGGOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHH!!!
It is a rare I do not finish a book. I put this sucker down half way. I think is it. This is the WORST book I have ever read. It is absalutley official. It has three really bad things about it.
1: The plot
2: The descriptions ( Unless body parts are being chopped off)
3: The characters.
I started this book because I like fantasy and after reading an exciting description I though "hmm. I will give this a try. What could go wrong?"
Note to Former self - A lot could go wrong.
Let's start off with the plot. So this kid named Traven has had this rock or stone or whatever for YEARS. Let me repeat. YEARS!!!! Suddenly one day it changes color but he just IGNORES IT and is like,
"Oh whatever. Rock I have had for years changes color. That isn't suspicous at all. On with my day!"
Come on. No actual person would do that. Any actual person would think that it was wierd and that maybe the stone was important! That was the first thing I was like "ok........." about in this book.
Now onto the description, well, I can sum up the descriptions like this. There aren't any. Oh wait, when the camp is on fire and everyone is being hacked to peices by bandits, well that is descriptive. My dad was reading it and he was like I QOUTE "Is this stuff supposed to be in a kids book?" UNQOUTE
The Characters. Wow. This sort of relates to what I said earlier but this was so bad I have to say it again. These characters do not act like real people at all. The worst part about them is the way they talk. This sound like robots reciting the phonebook. Switch the two and youw wouldn't recognize the differece.
So, there you go. if you like this book good for you. I don't get why you like it but ok, great for you. Just my opinion. Don't hate me.
It is a rare I do not finish a book. I put this sucker down half way. I think is it. This is the WORST book I have ever read. It is absalutley official. It has three really bad things about it.
1: The plot
2: The descriptions ( Unless body parts are being chopped off)
3: The characters.
I started this book because I like fantasy and after reading an exciting description I though "hmm. I will give this a try. What could go wrong?"
Note to Former self - A lot could go wrong.
Let's start off with the plot. So this kid named Traven has had this rock or stone or whatever for YEARS. Let me repeat. YEARS!!!! Suddenly one day it changes color but he just IGNORES IT and is like,
"Oh whatever. Rock I have had for years changes color. That isn't suspicous at all. On with my day!"
Come on. No actual person would do that. Any actual person would think that it was wierd and that maybe the stone was important! That was the first thing I was like "ok........." about in this book.
Now onto the description, well, I can sum up the descriptions like this. There aren't any. Oh wait, when the camp is on fire and everyone is being hacked to peices by bandits, well that is descriptive. My dad was reading it and he was like I QOUTE "Is this stuff supposed to be in a kids book?" UNQOUTE
The Characters. Wow. This sort of relates to what I said earlier but this was so bad I have to say it again. These characters do not act like real people at all. The worst part about them is the way they talk. This sound like robots reciting the phonebook. Switch the two and youw wouldn't recognize the differece.
So, there you go. if you like this book good for you. I don't get why you like it but ok, great for you. Just my opinion. Don't hate me.
June 22, 2012
This book gets off to a long rough start. The authors immaturity as a writer is immediately apparent, and the "simplistic" exposition and dialogue made the story seem stilted and the characters shallow. Honestly, a third of the way through I considered abandoning it, but I've stuck it out with worse books, and for some reason just have a hard time giving up on a story once started. While this proclivity has lead to some literary suffering on my part in the past, as it turns out, I'm glad I stuck with this one.
I'm not saying that it turns into a beautifully written masterpiece half way through, but the author definitely has some talent in the story telling department, and though there is obvious room for improvement in the finer details of the craft, his story is engaging. Once the pace picked up and it smoothed out slightly, I was able to invest in the characters and conflicts a little more readily. In fact by the end I was eager to read the next installment, which was the farthest thing from my mind while slogging through the beginning.
I feel like this book was ok the way it is, but it could have been pretty darn good with more time and polish. I know that's probably a horrible thing to say about something that someone probably spent years working on before I picked it up for a buck, but lets face it, if you want to compete in the huge fiction market, or even just fantasy, you have to bring pretty good game. Still, while I wouldn't recommend this piece to any book snobs, for those of us that can read and enjoy a story with a little more perspective, this is a pretty good buy.
I'm not saying that it turns into a beautifully written masterpiece half way through, but the author definitely has some talent in the story telling department, and though there is obvious room for improvement in the finer details of the craft, his story is engaging. Once the pace picked up and it smoothed out slightly, I was able to invest in the characters and conflicts a little more readily. In fact by the end I was eager to read the next installment, which was the farthest thing from my mind while slogging through the beginning.
I feel like this book was ok the way it is, but it could have been pretty darn good with more time and polish. I know that's probably a horrible thing to say about something that someone probably spent years working on before I picked it up for a buck, but lets face it, if you want to compete in the huge fiction market, or even just fantasy, you have to bring pretty good game. Still, while I wouldn't recommend this piece to any book snobs, for those of us that can read and enjoy a story with a little more perspective, this is a pretty good buy.
April 24, 2013
The Wielders Awakening was a book I picked up in the kindle store fairly randomly. Saw it was a dollar, thought description seemed mildly promising, and figured it was worth a shot. As is usually the case with such books, I went in with low expectations and modest hopes; and was pleasantly surprised as I read through it.
What I found was a highly enjoyable coming of age light fantasy story. Nothing about the tale reinvents the wheel as far as such stories go, nor does it really try to; and for me that worked in the story's favor. It was a perfect read for a quiet evening.
Contrary to the impression the plot description gives, this book is largely about a single point of view and that's Traven's. Perspectives do change now and again, but the split is 80/20 in favor of Traven. It is guilty of starting a bit slow, starting with about a hundred pages of fairly awkward innocent young woodcutter-ness and little indication of where the story is going. But things do pick up after that and, from that point on, it's a pretty hard book to put down. And when I finally did put it down I was pretty eager to pick up the next installment.
I have read the entire Wielder series now and can say that the books after this are as good, if not better, than this one was.
So if you are looking for a fantasy read in the vein of Edding's Belgariad series or maybe Feist's Riftwar Saga, I recommend the Wielders Awakening and along with the rest Wielder series.
What I found was a highly enjoyable coming of age light fantasy story. Nothing about the tale reinvents the wheel as far as such stories go, nor does it really try to; and for me that worked in the story's favor. It was a perfect read for a quiet evening.
Contrary to the impression the plot description gives, this book is largely about a single point of view and that's Traven's. Perspectives do change now and again, but the split is 80/20 in favor of Traven. It is guilty of starting a bit slow, starting with about a hundred pages of fairly awkward innocent young woodcutter-ness and little indication of where the story is going. But things do pick up after that and, from that point on, it's a pretty hard book to put down. And when I finally did put it down I was pretty eager to pick up the next installment.
I have read the entire Wielder series now and can say that the books after this are as good, if not better, than this one was.
So if you are looking for a fantasy read in the vein of Edding's Belgariad series or maybe Feist's Riftwar Saga, I recommend the Wielders Awakening and along with the rest Wielder series.
May 29, 2013
This was offered free on amazon and I really needed a book to read, so I said what the heck, I'll give it a try. I absolutely loved it! The main character is so cute and you love him right from the very beginning. This is truly a character you want to win and get everything he wants. I thought this book was written fairly well and was a great read! I immediately bought the next two books in the trilogy even though at the time they were kind of up there in price for ebooks.
June 11, 2014
Ehrlich gesagt, am Anfang dachte ich nicht, dass ich das Buch mögen würde, beginnt "Wielder's Awakening" - auf Deutsch "Das Erwachen des Magiers" - doch eher gemächlich und nicht besonders spannend: Ein dunkler Magier bedroht die Welt mit seinem Machthunger, elimiert die wenige magische Konkurrenz und plant seinen Eroberungsfeldzug, während sich der ahnungslose junge Held am Ende der Welt sich eher unbedeutenden Angelegenheiten widmet und sich auf den Besuch der Handelsschule in der weit entfernten Hauptstadt vorbereitet.
So weit okay, nach dem 1. Drittel beginnt es dann aber zum Glück langsam spannend zu werden. Mit Blaize, einerm erfahrenen Krieger und Schwertkämpfer, wird dem jungen Helden Traven ein spannender Charakter zur Seite gestellt. Später kommt dann noch Kalista, die Prinzessin des Landes, hinzu, und der Roman beginnt richtig spannend zu werden, als das Leben der Prinzessin bedroht wird. Und spätestens da hatte mich die Geschichte voll gepackt.
Spoiler: Lediglich den Titel finde ich ein bisschen unglücklich: Gezaubert wird in diesem Roman nämlich relativ wenig, denn Traven ist sich seiner magischen Fähigkeiten bis zum Ende nicht wirklich bewusst, selbst als er Magie einsetzt. Nichtsdestotrotz kann ich verstehen, warum der Titel so gewählt wurde, denn Travens magische Kräfte erwachen am Ende des Romans. Und im 2. Band der Trilogie dürfen wir dann sehen, wie Traven endlich zum Magier wird. Band 2 liegt bereits ganz oben auf meinem Lesestapel. :-)
So weit okay, nach dem 1. Drittel beginnt es dann aber zum Glück langsam spannend zu werden. Mit Blaize, einerm erfahrenen Krieger und Schwertkämpfer, wird dem jungen Helden Traven ein spannender Charakter zur Seite gestellt. Später kommt dann noch Kalista, die Prinzessin des Landes, hinzu, und der Roman beginnt richtig spannend zu werden, als das Leben der Prinzessin bedroht wird. Und spätestens da hatte mich die Geschichte voll gepackt.
Spoiler: Lediglich den Titel finde ich ein bisschen unglücklich: Gezaubert wird in diesem Roman nämlich relativ wenig, denn Traven ist sich seiner magischen Fähigkeiten bis zum Ende nicht wirklich bewusst, selbst als er Magie einsetzt. Nichtsdestotrotz kann ich verstehen, warum der Titel so gewählt wurde, denn Travens magische Kräfte erwachen am Ende des Romans. Und im 2. Band der Trilogie dürfen wir dann sehen, wie Traven endlich zum Magier wird. Band 2 liegt bereits ganz oben auf meinem Lesestapel. :-)
August 9, 2013
The author is talented at creating a story, but needs practice at storytelling. To be fair, he wrote this particular book as a teenager, so I'm interested to read the sequels to see how his writing matures.
The story itself is interesting, and I like how he created the world. It gets off to a slow start, but I don't mind that. The majority of the book is building characters. It's not until once in the middle and the ending that you see any real action/tension. There's one spot in the late middle that I think was supposed to create tension in the reader, but I figured had to happen, so it didn't grip me.
The potential love triangle is interesting to me. It doesn't quite fit the normal fantasy love triangle stereotype, so I really don't know where it will go. I like that.
Overall, I think the author has a lot of potential, so I'm excited to see how he grows.
The story itself is interesting, and I like how he created the world. It gets off to a slow start, but I don't mind that. The majority of the book is building characters. It's not until once in the middle and the ending that you see any real action/tension. There's one spot in the late middle that I think was supposed to create tension in the reader, but I figured had to happen, so it didn't grip me.
The potential love triangle is interesting to me. It doesn't quite fit the normal fantasy love triangle stereotype, so I really don't know where it will go. I like that.
Overall, I think the author has a lot of potential, so I'm excited to see how he grows.
April 2, 2013
Let me start off by saying the basics of the story is the same as others in this genre for the most part. Boy is introduced; boy matures; boy becomes the world's hero. However, the author does a great job at the storytelling and the building of the characters. I enjoyed the descriptive storytelling that some seem to have found badly done. I was able to "get to know" the characters and their reasoning and have read the entire series and liked every one of them. I was saddened to find that the author ended the series. I would have liked to find out more information about Traven's past and that of the ancient Wielders.
December 19, 2012
The story is compelling and the character development helps to overcome the amateur writing issues. The author is clearly inexperienced as evidenced by the poor and repetitive word choices, grammar errors, and descriptive passages that feel like he's trying too hard. I found it worth reading and look forward to reading the other books in the trilogy.
November 29, 2011
This was a fun book to read, I enjoyed it. There were many twists that I did not expect, and I enjoyed the surprises. Many parts are real page-turners, forcing me to stay up late reading them. I would recommend it to any fantasy lovers.
March 7, 2013
Great fantasy/magic book. I'm pleased to have found another author whose writing style I really enjoy. I'm impatient to finish some of my other reading projects so I can continue reading this trilogy.
February 1, 2014
My friend's husband wrote this book so I thought I would give it a try. I really enjoyed it. Sometimes adult fantasy books can be a bit dark, but this isn't at all. It was very detailed in parts, but it was still a real page turner filled with adventure.
January 28, 2015
An Enjoyable Read
A little magic, a young man, a beautiful princess and a mighty warrior, all the ingredients for a fun few hours, There's not a lot of depth to this book, but still, I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.
A little magic, a young man, a beautiful princess and a mighty warrior, all the ingredients for a fun few hours, There's not a lot of depth to this book, but still, I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.
July 12, 2020
For an independently published book. This was really good. I have read many indi books due to plot holes and ridiculous dialogue, but this book held my attention till the end. I will certainly be continuing the tale.
April 3, 2012
Good story, poor grammar. The second book is better - it seems like he had someone proofread it. The first one was difficult to complete due to the bad grammar.
August 26, 2013
A good start to the series, i thought the writing seemed that the author was new to this, but as the book and series progress you can see the growth in the author.
March 12, 2013
Good first book, a little slow to start but picks up very quickly. overall enjoyed the story plot and character development.
May 15, 2013
Good story and somewhat original however, pacing leaves something to be desired. Very enjoyable though!
June 19, 2014
Builder's Awakening
This was an engrossing story, held my interest throughout the book. I'm looking forward to the rest of this trilogy.
This was an engrossing story, held my interest throughout the book. I'm looking forward to the rest of this trilogy.
March 15, 2015
I loved it!!! i was hooked by the characters, the storyline, all of it flowed in a Literary greatness.. will for sure being reading the other two and anything else this Author writes in the future
December 17, 2015
Awesome story line. Interesting characters, and events. Very well descriptive. Really enjoyed reading this.
March 1, 2016
Engrossing and fun
Very fun story with great characters. Masterful fantasy with surprises at every turn. Worth the time to read. Hero's and villains aplenty
Very fun story with great characters. Masterful fantasy with surprises at every turn. Worth the time to read. Hero's and villains aplenty
November 8, 2019
Enjoyable Popcorn Fantasy
The title pretty much summaries my thoughts on this book. It isn't a mentally stimulating or avant-garde by any means and it isn't trying to be. That's honestly what I find refreshing about this book. It's so hard these days to find good hero's journey novels that aren't tainted by modern writing tropes.
Writing
From what you can glean from other reviews, you'd probably learn that the writing in this book isn't up to scratch. The descriptions of places are scarce to none-existent at points and the dialogue is stilted and feels like the author is speaking to us as readers rather than two characters having a conversation. Depending on your preference of minimum writing proficiency, it might be better to decide not to read this book now before you become frustrated with it later on. If you can stomach it however, there is a fun book ahead for you. FYI, this is closer to traditional bad writing rather than the "writing" seen in almost all harem and LitRPG "novels".
Plot
The standard fantasy "farm boy becomes someone special" plot trope done to a competent degree. The antagonists and protagonist are set to ram heads, but how they do so is left unknown. So each twist and turn in Traven's life is just as surprising to us as it is to him.
World Building
Nothing to out of the ordinary here. If you were placed randomly in this world you could probably navigate it solely on your knowledge of typical fantasy world tropes.
Characters
Traven is the protagonist and the other POVs serve to highlight important characters that mould his life's story. As such the characters are enjoyable enough. They are given their own space to breath and given enough time to endear them to the readers. Morality however is pretty black and white and there seems to be a lack of more nuanced characterisation.
Conclusion
Read it if you want a passively enjoyable novel. Look elsewhere if you want something stimulating and challenging.
The title pretty much summaries my thoughts on this book. It isn't a mentally stimulating or avant-garde by any means and it isn't trying to be. That's honestly what I find refreshing about this book. It's so hard these days to find good hero's journey novels that aren't tainted by modern writing tropes.
Writing
From what you can glean from other reviews, you'd probably learn that the writing in this book isn't up to scratch. The descriptions of places are scarce to none-existent at points and the dialogue is stilted and feels like the author is speaking to us as readers rather than two characters having a conversation. Depending on your preference of minimum writing proficiency, it might be better to decide not to read this book now before you become frustrated with it later on. If you can stomach it however, there is a fun book ahead for you. FYI, this is closer to traditional bad writing rather than the "writing" seen in almost all harem and LitRPG "novels".
Plot
The standard fantasy "farm boy becomes someone special" plot trope done to a competent degree. The antagonists and protagonist are set to ram heads, but how they do so is left unknown. So each twist and turn in Traven's life is just as surprising to us as it is to him.
World Building
Nothing to out of the ordinary here. If you were placed randomly in this world you could probably navigate it solely on your knowledge of typical fantasy world tropes.
Characters
Traven is the protagonist and the other POVs serve to highlight important characters that mould his life's story. As such the characters are enjoyable enough. They are given their own space to breath and given enough time to endear them to the readers. Morality however is pretty black and white and there seems to be a lack of more nuanced characterisation.
Conclusion
Read it if you want a passively enjoyable novel. Look elsewhere if you want something stimulating and challenging.
April 28, 2019
A little bit too descriptive for me. Too many words mozart.
February 21, 2020
Pretty conventional coming-of-age wizard fantasy. The writing is a bit amateurish, but there were few really distracting mistakes. The magic system isn't well developed, but Traven, the young wielder (wizard) very gradually discovers his talents. There is just the beginning of a hopeless romance. I've read it twice now, so clearly it managed to keep my interest.
November 27, 2011
Fantasy. Worth reading once, and odds are I'll buy the sequel when it is available, but not great. The plot is rather contrived in places and it could stand to have a good editor apply blue pencil liberally. ;)
April 18, 2012
I thought the writing was unimpressive but the story kept me interested enough to finish. Good buy for .99 cents.
April 14, 2012
I suspect there's a decent story here, but the writing feels amateurish: Too much telling, not enough showing. Grabbed the free sample for Kindle, but didn't finish.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews