May 29 #BookReview The Last Swordmage by Martin Hengst #amreading #books

The Last Swordmage by Martin Hengst

I thought this book was edited and formatted for kindle well. I only came across a few copy editing issues, nothing that would annoy me and make me stop reading. The formatting for kindle was excellent and set up the way a book should be set up. I also enjoyed the writing style, one of the best I’ve come across in a while which is why I’m surprised some of the reviews are negative on the writing style. To each their own. I liked it and found it easy to follow and picture. I also liked that there was no head hopping, point of view changes were clear. Either the whole chapter followed one character or there was a break letting the reader know a change was about to happen.

I enjoyed the characters Tiadaria and Royce. I felt they had well defined arcs and they stayed in character and reacted as they should in the situations they were tossed in. Tiadaria definitely changes from the beginning to the end and Royce made an excellent mentor type character. I wish everyone else had been developed more especially our “bad guy” werewolf. More from his point of view from the beginning would have been nice.

I thought the story had a strong beginning. Right away conflict occurs as Tiadaria’s father sales her into slavery. We are in the scene with the main character experiencing it right along with her. The reader is never drowned in the beginning in flashbacks, exposition, or long passages of narrative explaining the character’s past or the world’s past, one of the first things that turns me off from reading a book.

There was also a good balance between action, narrative, and dialogue. I would have liked a little more background on the characters as the story went along, but I felt there was just enough to keep me interested and this is just the first part so more may come in later books. More dialogue between the characters Tiadaria and Royce would have been nice, especially during the time they are training together. It would have been a great time to set up the character’s pasts more and to show them getting to know each other. This part of the book felt a bit rushed, but just enough was there to make it still work.

The parts from the werewolves point of view also felt rushed and undeveloped. It felt like a couple of chapters from their point of view were thrown in at the end to set up the battle. I would have liked to have seen this part of the novel developed throughout the work slowly so when the battle comes at the end it doesn’t feel like it happened so suddenly out of no where.

I also enjoyed the back backstory of the world in which the characters live in. I hope this gets developed more in the later books. The story of the brothers and the dragons was simple but effective.

Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading fantasy in a medieval setting with magical creatures. I found it enjoyable and worth the time. I wish it had been longer and developed more.

About the Author