This is the first book in Morgan Rice's The Sorcerer's Ring series, about a boy named Thor who is struggling to be a knight, defeat evil, be with the princess, all those things that boys do in cliche fantasy novels. Rice is a self-published author who has become very well-known. It's not because of the strength of her writing, though. This boek is truly awful. It's so bad, in just about every way. I agree with every sentiment expressed in this wonderfully-written review but let me add a few of my own.
First of all, the prose is really terrible. There are grammar mistakes, awkward phrasing, continuity errors in the plot ... but okay, so we don't all have a talent for poetic language. Honestly, though, did this author even do ANY revising? At least try!
The plot is, of course, a collection of every overused fantasy cliché ever. But, again, that alone is not enough to make the book the affront to fantasy that it is. The clichés were so poorly executed that I felt personally offended. The classic story of the poor boy struggling to be a knight is overused, certainly, but, done right, it can be interesting to read about someone trying to achieve their dream or whatever. Morgan Rice ruins it by making the main character unrealistic, unrelatable, and simply not intelligent or insightful at all, and his journey to success is pathetically easy. If I had cared about the character, which I didn't, there would have been no reason to worry about him because, apparently, all he needs to do is dive headlong into situations he knows nothing about and shouldn't have a chance of mastering, and then suddenly, through incredibly convenient plot devices, things go his way and he is a hero. For example, nearly the entire royal family (except the evil villain prince, of course) happens to adore him for no particular reason, even though he's a stranger, a commoner, and he just busts into the royal court completely uninvited and interrupts everything to whine about how he wants to be a knight. Then, there is that moment when he conveniently finds a leopard who wants to be his friend and save him from various dangers. None of Thor's success is earned or deserved in any way. He's not smart. He doesn't think or act in any way that is remotely realistic, but the entire story isn't believable anyway. What is meant to come off as bravery, such as when Thor charges some huge ravenous beast without any weapons, just comes off as foolishness. We're supposed to think Thor is this incredibly special person—the Chosen One or whatever—but there is absolutely no character development to prove that this is true; it's all external.
The character development is my main problem with this book. There is none. The princess falls madly in love with Thor at first sight and that's about all she is as a person. The villain is evil for no particular reason. Probably the two best characters, I think, were King MacGil, who had more internal thoughts than the main character, and Thor's knightly mentor. But even they had very unrealistic reactions and weren't consistent.
Basically, the thing reads like it was written by a young child. Seriously, I worte this way when I was about nine, exépt, I'd like to think, I was better. This series is seventeen books long, and I don't want to know what is in the next sixteen. I'm definitely not going to pay money to find out.
First of all, the prose is really terrible. There are grammar mistakes, awkward phrasing, continuity errors in the plot ... but okay, so we don't all have a talent for poetic language. Honestly, though, did this author even do ANY revising? At least try!
The plot is, of course, a collection of every overused fantasy cliché ever. But, again, that alone is not enough to make the book the affront to fantasy that it is. The clichés were so poorly executed that I felt personally offended. The classic story of the poor boy struggling to be a knight is overused, certainly, but, done right, it can be interesting to read about someone trying to achieve their dream or whatever. Morgan Rice ruins it by making the main character unrealistic, unrelatable, and simply not intelligent or insightful at all, and his journey to success is pathetically easy. If I had cared about the character, which I didn't, there would have been no reason to worry about him because, apparently, all he needs to do is dive headlong into situations he knows nothing about and shouldn't have a chance of mastering, and then suddenly, through incredibly convenient plot devices, things go his way and he is a hero. For example, nearly the entire royal family (except the evil villain prince, of course) happens to adore him for no particular reason, even though he's a stranger, a commoner, and he just busts into the royal court completely uninvited and interrupts everything to whine about how he wants to be a knight. Then, there is that moment when he conveniently finds a leopard who wants to be his friend and save him from various dangers. None of Thor's success is earned or deserved in any way. He's not smart. He doesn't think or act in any way that is remotely realistic, but the entire story isn't believable anyway. What is meant to come off as bravery, such as when Thor charges some huge ravenous beast without any weapons, just comes off as foolishness. We're supposed to think Thor is this incredibly special person—the Chosen One or whatever—but there is absolutely no character development to prove that this is true; it's all external.
The character development is my main problem with this book. There is none. The princess falls madly in love with Thor at first sight and that's about all she is as a person. The villain is evil for no particular reason. Probably the two best characters, I think, were King MacGil, who had more internal thoughts than the main character, and Thor's knightly mentor. But even they had very unrealistic reactions and weren't consistent.
Basically, the thing reads like it was written by a young child. Seriously, I worte this way when I was about nine, exépt, I'd like to think, I was better. This series is seventeen books long, and I don't want to know what is in the next sixteen. I'm definitely not going to pay money to find out.
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