Did not stick the landing
There were no maps. The maps in the previous books weren’t great quality, but at least it was something. Since Krys was going into new territory, I couldn’t even refer to a previous book’s map. A map IS included in The Lost Mage, so that was some help. But I followed the author’s advice and read this book first, so I went through the whole book without really understanding where things were in relation to each other.
At one point, a group of mages come to help Krys with a little problem. I consider this entire section of the book pointless. It was simply an excuse to bring in some of the characters from the other books. And while Cora and Helen got a little attention, it was really about Trev’nor and Nolan. Helen was set up to be a great friend of Krys’, since they were rescued at the same time. But he interacted more with Cora because she was more of a presence in the previous books (and Helen never really developed a personality). The entire debacle was a waste of time, made zero sense, and was a pathetic excuse for why the firefighters in town couldn’t do their job weeks later. I lost a lot of respect for the author because of this.
Krys is young, but he’s serious. He is a classic example of a fire mage, meaning extremely controlled. He was raised to be a blacksmith. Blacksmiths respect tools. Not just because they rely on them, but because they make them, as well. So, explain to me why it is that Krys realizes he needs tools – like googles and a breathing apparatus – but then he makes zero effort to secure them. He could order them via magical communication, but he waits until he’s face-to-face with a wizard before he takes care of it. Ok, ok. I’ll let that go. But then WHY does he run into a burning building without said tools when they are in his saddlebag? And there is ZERO excuse for his highly experienced partner to make the same mistake. Impetuous is one thing. Incompetent is something else. And don’t even get me started on him exhaling smoke and having a sore throat even when he DID use the magical breathing apparatus! What was the point?! You paid money for that shoddy crap?
There were a lot of examples of inconsistencies in this book. (1) I’m pretty sure Trev’nor’s parents died when he was 3 and he was found by Garth at age 4. This book says Trev was raised by the Tonkowacon tribe “till I was five”. (2) We don’t know when Krys’ magic awakened because he was unconsciously using it every day at the forge. However, he found out he was a mage when Garth told him and he was was 17 at that time, not 16. (3) In chapter 17, Mari says she didn’t know how long Krys’ hair was, even though she previously saw it unbound when he responded to an emergency at night. They even talked about him braiding his hair before bed. Which begs the question of why it’s unbraided in chapter 17. (4) This one’s my favorite. First sentence of chapter 22, “I wasn’t usually an active thinker but that evening, I felt restless.” Now I’ll direct your attention to chapter 2, “I’m a pretty active thinker—I like to pace when I’m mulling something over.” Just the be clean, both sentences were narrated by Krys.
I could keep going. If that sounds ominous, it was meant to.
But suffice it to say, this plot was poorly executed. The overall idea wasn’t bad, but the characters made too many boneheaded moves and it hurt their charisma. They spent a lot of time just chasing after the arsonist. I feel like there was room to add intrigue, tease his motivation, something. This story probably should have leaned more towards cop drama than…. whatever it was.