An amusing fantasy, in the old-fashioned tradition of Lord Dunsany. The young Relian Kru, pursued by ill luck and by the resourceful and implacable High Court Assassin, Scrivvulch the Stick, is obliged to become apprentice to the repellent sorceror Keprose Gavyne, the enforced servitude being both a danger and a security. The style is verbose, though not impenetrably so, with the Seigneur Gavyne and the Assassin particularly grandiloquent; some of the scenarios are certainly imaginative. The author boldly dispatches one of the apparently main characters messily on page 19. More gory (in a matter-of-fact sort of way) and less deliberately funny (or satirical) than Pratchett, but this is a pleasant and entertaining tale.

MB 28-xi-2012 ( )

A decent fantasy book with persecution, wizardry, and mind tricks as the main subjects. Does not take itself too seriously, is competently written, and was altogether worth reading. ( )

NIL