A Sorcerer Seeking Vengeance

There’s something about stories about young people seeking to avenge family members that appeals to quite a few people. Perhaps it’s that our consciences rebel against the idea of someone doing evil and getting away with it.

In that vein, the independently-published Sorcerer’s Path series (currently 5 books, the author says he’s writing #6 now) is off to a good start with The Sorcerer’s Ascension. In this book, we’re introduced to Azerick, whose father is killed as part of a plot to usurp the throne, and whose mother is killed by a customer in a tavern after she takes a job to keep herself and Azerick fed. The young man must learn the ways of the streets, until he comes to the attention of one of the masters of the Academy, who bends the rules to admit Azerick.

Anyone who’s played Dungeons and Dragons (either live or in computer games) will find the system of magic fairly familiar, and one of the side stories definitely has a D&D feel to it, but that’s far from a detriment to the book. It gives fantasy fans a familiar base for the story, not that new and different systems of magic are a bad thing, they’re just one more thing the reader has to absorb.

At the center of the story is a king who’s, shall we say, not of strictly legitimate birth, and a duke who wants to take the throne for himself. They’re both after a legendary suit of armor that traditionally bestows the right of kingship on whoever possesses it. The problem is, it’s been broken into its component pieces, and scattered around the world, so both sides are in what amounts to a scavenger hunt. What part Azerick will play in this hunt isn’t revealed in the first book, but it’s pretty clear he’ll be involved in some way.

Overall, while the book could have used the services of a good proofreader and editor (grammatical errors are unfortunately fairly common), if you can read past those, the story itself is fairly engrossing. I do hope that the later books in the series are edited better, because I certainly plan on reading them, because I am definitely enjoying the story.

If you can handle a book where you have to stop occasionally to work out what the author meant to say, The Sorcerer’s Ascension is a good value.