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The Hedge Wizard
A Dungeons and Dragons inspired adventure with a realism-focused spin on gamelit.
Hump grew up believing his master was nothing but an ordinary hedge wizard. However when the old man unexpectedly dies, his book of spells binds to Hump’s soul. Now without a master, Hump sets off to find his place in the world, to discover the secrets of magic, and to understand the Book of Infinite Pages.
Book 1 - Crypt of the Wolf Dragon
Hump grew up believing his master was nothing but an ordinary hedge wizard. However when the old man unexpectedly dies, his book of spells binds to Hump’s soul. Now without a master, Hump sets off to find his place in the world, to discover the secrets of magic, and to understand the Book of Infinite Pages.
Book 1 - Crypt of the Wolf Dragon
- GenresFantasy
web serial
Published May 14, 2021
About the author
Alex Maher
8 books92 followersAlex is an avid fantasy fan from the UK, where he lives with his girlfriend and three cats. He started writing shortly after finishing school, and 8 years later, has never stopped.
If you'd like to get in touch with Alex and other fans, he is most active on Discord: https://discord.gg/8nqQ9SfRyf
If you'd like to get in touch with Alex and other fans, he is most active on Discord: https://discord.gg/8nqQ9SfRyf
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 21, 2022
I have to say that I absolutely love this book. This is a D&D adventure that emphasizes action without sacrificing plot or character building. The story flows naturally and the actions of the characters are true to form and feel real.
The main character, Hump, is young but pragmatic. He's just trying to make a living as a novice hedge wizard after the death of his master. With an inherited magic artifact, his master's Adventurer's Guild token, and a tight belt, Hump's quest is his next meal and a few potions to keep himself alive. Yet he finds himself deep in a dungeon where the real adventure begins.
I can't emphasize enough how entertaining the story is, when a snarky, pragmatic wizard finds himself tied up in the heroics of his erstwhile companions while just trying to do his day job. He's not some Chosen, but he has to figure out how to keep up with them if he wants to stay alive.
If you enjoy strong action sequences, strong plot lines and an intriguing magic system, this book is definitely for you!
The main character, Hump, is young but pragmatic. He's just trying to make a living as a novice hedge wizard after the death of his master. With an inherited magic artifact, his master's Adventurer's Guild token, and a tight belt, Hump's quest is his next meal and a few potions to keep himself alive. Yet he finds himself deep in a dungeon where the real adventure begins.
I can't emphasize enough how entertaining the story is, when a snarky, pragmatic wizard finds himself tied up in the heroics of his erstwhile companions while just trying to do his day job. He's not some Chosen, but he has to figure out how to keep up with them if he wants to stay alive.
If you enjoy strong action sequences, strong plot lines and an intriguing magic system, this book is definitely for you!
April 14, 2025
The hedge wizard felt like really fun old school fantasy story of the likes I haven't read in a while. It's an old-fashioned dungeons and dragons style adventure that was light easy reading and a lot of fun.
The biggest stand out for me were the characters. They were well written and well-rounded, but more importantly, they had great chemistry. I really enjoyed the relationships in this book as it felt like the origins of an adventuring team and in no way felt forced. The characters work well together and when the characters work well it's easy for the reader to get invested.
That is doubly true when you have a great protagonist, and you definitely have a good one here. Hump feels like curmudgeonly old man trapped in a teenager's body. It was fun reading about someone who was so jaded with the world at such a young age, and it made Hump a very interesting character to follow.
This book only loses a star because I zoned out a little bit during the action scenes. I think the main reason for this is that most of the interesting stuff that genuinely moves the plot forward happens between the action scenes, and therefore, the action scenes felt like an addition to the story rather than an integral part of it. This wasn't always the case or this book would have a much lower score, but it was often enough to be a problem.
Overall, though, I had a really good time reading this one, and I look forward to the next book in the series.
The biggest stand out for me were the characters. They were well written and well-rounded, but more importantly, they had great chemistry. I really enjoyed the relationships in this book as it felt like the origins of an adventuring team and in no way felt forced. The characters work well together and when the characters work well it's easy for the reader to get invested.
That is doubly true when you have a great protagonist, and you definitely have a good one here. Hump feels like curmudgeonly old man trapped in a teenager's body. It was fun reading about someone who was so jaded with the world at such a young age, and it made Hump a very interesting character to follow.
This book only loses a star because I zoned out a little bit during the action scenes. I think the main reason for this is that most of the interesting stuff that genuinely moves the plot forward happens between the action scenes, and therefore, the action scenes felt like an addition to the story rather than an integral part of it. This wasn't always the case or this book would have a much lower score, but it was often enough to be a problem.
Overall, though, I had a really good time reading this one, and I look forward to the next book in the series.
June 1, 2022
As of Chapter 68 / 2022-June-01:
A fairly enjoyable standard D&D inspired gamelit progression fantasy. The Hedge Wizard doesn't attempt to do anything new but what it does, it does very well. We begin with a budding wizard who just finished burying their master and are soon introduced to the gamelit progression fantasy element in the form of our protagonist, Hump's, inherited spellbook that describes spells like you find in a D&D compendium.
Further elements such as spell tiers and classes plus blessing circle (levels) are also introduced later on which add to the future goals for our cast. Speaking of, the author has put care and thought into fleshing out how the characters carry themselves and it pays off in dividends; each is memorable and unique with ideological conflicts even among party members.
Where it falls short though only IMO, is that the story doesn't seem to have a particularly strong throughline beyond the standard fantasy helping those in need and the more modern, things are more brutal and grim in (ficitonal) reality but we must keep strong, etc. Still, this is likely the author's intention as there is no particular overarching goal for our main character beyond increasing in power and surviving, though we do get a more clear objective by the end of book 1 but it's stakes are mostly personal.
The magic and setting will be familiar to anyone who has interacted with D&D though it's written to be very approachable and anyone new to fantasy can quickly pick it up. Which leads to me recommend this to anyone who is new to fantasy or gamelit (LITRPGs as well), this is well written fantasy piece that knows what it wants to be and for all the parts that matter, achieves it.
A fairly enjoyable standard D&D inspired gamelit progression fantasy. The Hedge Wizard doesn't attempt to do anything new but what it does, it does very well. We begin with a budding wizard who just finished burying their master and are soon introduced to the gamelit progression fantasy element in the form of our protagonist, Hump's, inherited spellbook that describes spells like you find in a D&D compendium.
Further elements such as spell tiers and classes plus blessing circle (levels) are also introduced later on which add to the future goals for our cast. Speaking of, the author has put care and thought into fleshing out how the characters carry themselves and it pays off in dividends; each is memorable and unique with ideological conflicts even among party members.
Where it falls short though only IMO, is that the story doesn't seem to have a particularly strong throughline beyond the standard fantasy helping those in need and the more modern, things are more brutal and grim in (ficitonal) reality but we must keep strong, etc. Still, this is likely the author's intention as there is no particular overarching goal for our main character beyond increasing in power and surviving, though we do get a more clear objective by the end of book 1 but it's stakes are mostly personal.
The magic and setting will be familiar to anyone who has interacted with D&D though it's written to be very approachable and anyone new to fantasy can quickly pick it up. Which leads to me recommend this to anyone who is new to fantasy or gamelit (LITRPGs as well), this is well written fantasy piece that knows what it wants to be and for all the parts that matter, achieves it.
June 23, 2022
What an amazing experience Hedge Wizard was. Reviews have mentioned that this book is like a traditional tabletop D&D and although it might seem strange I admit I've never played it, or any RPG's. But be that as it's may. I found this story to have a great magic system and plot with lotsa action. Which makes my heart sing.
But, that ending was just Wow! Not a cliffhanger, but Wow! It turned up what would have been a great story, a dungeon crawl, to a whole new level and I've found myself fixated on it! Saying anything about that would be wrong as I would be plunging deep, Deep into Spoiler Territory!!! And I wouldn't do that. But now all I can think about is what happened and all the possibilities of what's gonna happen next! It's a sure bet that I'll be first in line to pick-up the next book when it's released!
And of course I'll be getting the audio version because Tim Gerard Reynolds the narrator is awesome!
But, that ending was just Wow! Not a cliffhanger, but Wow! It turned up what would have been a great story, a dungeon crawl, to a whole new level and I've found myself fixated on it! Saying anything about that would be wrong as I would be plunging deep, Deep into Spoiler Territory!!! And I wouldn't do that. But now all I can think about is what happened and all the possibilities of what's gonna happen next! It's a sure bet that I'll be first in line to pick-up the next book when it's released!
And of course I'll be getting the audio version because Tim Gerard Reynolds the narrator is awesome!
July 22, 2022
A surprisingly good book!
Initially, I didn't expect anything from this book, but it captivated me quickly.
I wouldn't call it litrpg, as there is only one small element of it.
There were two questionable things for me.
The first is that Hump is supposed to be an almost inexperienced apprentice but was able to defeat much stronger enemies. But this is a staple of progression fantasy, but nothing can be done about it.
The second is that many times through the story he thinks about running but stays. At first, it was irritating, but later I realized that this is very realistic.
Other than that the characters are exciting and fun, and the story is okay, so I liked the book and will look forward to the second one.
Initially, I didn't expect anything from this book, but it captivated me quickly.
I wouldn't call it litrpg, as there is only one small element of it.
There were two questionable things for me.
The first is that Hump is supposed to be an almost inexperienced apprentice but was able to defeat much stronger enemies. But this is a staple of progression fantasy, but nothing can be done about it.
The second is that many times through the story he thinks about running but stays. At first, it was irritating, but later I realized that this is very realistic.
Other than that the characters are exciting and fun, and the story is okay, so I liked the book and will look forward to the second one.
May 8, 2022
This is far more of a standard fantasy "what if d&d were real" sort of story, but with levels. I have read book one so far and enjoyed it. Didn't finish book one today, but I'm trying to get the royal road stories into here.
July 8, 2022
this was actually pretty good!! looking forward to the next books
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews