The Accidental Sorcerer (Rogue Agent, #1)

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The Accidental Sorcerer (Rogue Agent #1)

3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 · rating details · 2,003 ratings · 227 reviews

Gerald Dunwoody is a wizard. Just not a particularly good one. He's blown up a factory, lost his job, and there's a chance that he's not really a Third Grade wizard after all. So it's off to New Ottosland to be the new Court Wizard for King Lional.

It's a shame that King Lional isn't the vain, self-centered young man he appeared to be. With a Princess in danger, a talking b...more

Paperback, 535 pages

Published January 1st 2009 by Orbit (first published 2008)

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Jan 30, 2010 Shanon rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, library-downloads, fantasy, 2010

I enjoyed the book, the world and some of the characters. Other characters turned me off and I found completely unbelievable. I was really annoyed by the sudden changes in one of the secondary characters towards the end and I cannot explain it further without giving away major spoilers. I also didn't understand some of the relationships between different characters.

Not only were there sudden shifts in characters there was also a shift in the tone of the book going from a funny bumbling sorcerer...more

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Mar 28, 2009 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, 2009

The Accidental Sorcerer is set in a magical fantasy world that closely resembles our own if you were to take several different periods and mash them altogether. Some people look like British tax agents, others like Elizabethan nobles. Some are dressed in flamboyant, brightly-coloured polka-dot pantaloons and ridiculous shirts, while others dress like bluestockings from the 20s. It's lots of fun. Technologically, it's also mixed: there're automobiles for driving, and magical portals for long-dist...more The Accidental Sorcerer is set in a magical fantasy world that closely resembles our own if you were to take several different periods and mash them altogether. Some people look like British tax agents, others like Elizabethan nobles. Some are dressed in flamboyant, brightly-coloured polka-dot pantaloons and ridiculous shirts, while others dress like bluestockings from the 20s. It's lots of fun. Technologically, it's also mixed: there're automobiles for driving, and magical portals for long-distance travel; carriages pulled by horses, and crystal balls for communicating. There's a touch of Harry Potter silliness and irreverence, some political knee-capping, and a deep dark sordid plot. Perhaps I should just start at the beginning?

Gerald Dunwoody is a Third Grade (re: "rate") Wizard trying to hold down his fourth job, now working as an inspector for the Ottosland government's Department of Thaumaturgy. A visit to a world-class staff factory called Stuttley's, where they make "superior" staffs for First Grade wizards, leads to utter disaster: the factory blows up and Gerald can't convince anyone that he used a First Grade staff to minimise the damage. Now he's lost his job.

In an attempt to lay low, he answers a desperate job ad for a Court Wizard in New Ottosland - a small country in the middle of the Kallarapi desert. Along with his talking bird Reg, he portals to New Ottosland and meets drab, frumpy Melissande, princess and Prime Minister; her loopy, butterfly-obsessed younger brother Rupert (he of the flamboyant trousers); and her older brother the king, Lional the Forty-third (all the kings are called Lional).

Being as unimpressive as he is, Gerald is about to lose the position before he's even started, and in desperation conducts a very rare, very difficult Level Twelve Transmogrification by turning Lional's cat into a lion. Little does he know, but this spells his doom: Lional is far from the vain, superior man he presents himself as, and his new lion has given him a wicked idea in which Gerald - or his now impressive magical gift - play a starring role. By the time Gerald realises how far gone Lional is, it's too late to save himself.

This book brings to mind - loosely - the humorous novels of Pratchett etc., and I think that's what Mills was going for. It's also quite dark at times, and serious, which creates a nice balance. The humour doesn't always hit its mark, mostly because there are a few very grating characters who are supposed to by funny in their acerbic rants, but are just irritating. There were some times when I chuckled, though.

The problem is the characters. While I'm all for inconsequential protagonists who are worse than ordinary, who aren't all that bright, who walk blindly into traps they can't extricate themselves from, who never seem to ask the right questions - well, they can work, and it's even more realistic, but they can also be incredibly annoying. Gerald was such a protagonist. I had high hopes for him, but he was just too disappointing, and very frustrating. I still liked him though.

Even worse than Gerald was Melissande, who was vocal, quick to anger, stupidly stubborn, argumentative, and brought out the worst in Reg - when those two got going at each other, the insults flying, it is sometimes funny but more often wearying. Melissande was not likeable, and I don't get that Monk would like her after such a short and unflattering meeting.

On the up side, Lional was wonderfully despicable, truly terrifying, and wholly unpredictable. I was genuinely scared of him. Incidentally, some of the really funny moments are connected to him, which is quite a gift. I also loved Zazoor, the Kallarapi sultan, who turned out to be the only "normal", rational, calm and possibly wise person in the entire book.

While the characters (some of them) were what brought this novel down for me, there was plenty to enjoy as well. It has a steady pacing and doesn't contain any needless exposition. It's light on descriptive pose passages, but tells you what you need to know to get a nice picture in your head that you can embellish yourself. I have to say though, that one of the things that nagged me was: why didn't Gerald just transmogrify the animal back to its original state? If that's not possible, that's fine, but the characters should have thrown the idea around to satisfy the reader. Because it seemed like such a simple solution to the big climax, and instead Gerald seems to make things even more complicated than they already were. Other than that, it made sense most of the time.

A fun, light read with darker undertones, set in a convincingly real and fantastical world, The Accidental Sorcerer is the first book in a new series which promises to launch Gerald into yet more life-threatening, easily-bungled situations which will change him - it's unlikely that he'll stay so naive for long.(less)

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Jan 28, 2009 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Accidental Sorcerer by K E Mills
Published by Orbit, January 2009
489 pages
ISBN: 9781841497273

One of the great things about comedic fantasy, for me, is that sometimes initial impressions can be deceiving. What reads as light can actually contain deeper thinking, and what at the outset seems to be fluffy can actually be quite harsh. However, set in the context of a Fantasy, satirical jibes can be made without being a polemic. For example, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld stories are perhaps the pin...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Dionne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian-women-writers-challenge

This book was an entertaining read. When the main character, Gerald Dunwoody, has an accident at work, his life is turned upside down. His ensuing adventure was not the typical one would expect from what borders on epic fantasy as there is no ‘super’ threat, but a more human one. I would rate this book just fantasy with no sub-genre. The characters were engaging and each had distinctly different personalities. The author’s Australian background comes through with some phrases and terms, which I...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Kat rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, fantasy, urban-fantasy

Basic Plot: Gerald Dunwoody goes from government bureaucrat to Court Wizard, and from barely a level three in power to beyond level one after an accident at a staff factory causes his potentia to fully realize itself. Now he's caught between a desert and a mad king...

I have to confess, it was the second book in the series that first caught my eye, something about witches, but I couldn't bear to read the second book in a series before the first, so I grabbed this one, despite not being entirely s...more

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Dec 24, 2011 Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-books, fantasy, mystery, reviewed

Found this review on my blog and realized it never made it to GR.

The Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills (pseudonym for Karen Miller) has strong characters that are fully part of their entirely fictional fantasy world. Which is especially interesting because I don't think the world is given a name.

I think that indicates how strong a fantasy setting it is. In this book, the first of the Rogue Agent series, three different countries are in play: or rather, primary protagonist Gerald Dunwoody moves f...more Found this review on my blog and realized it never made it to GR.

The Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills (pseudonym for Karen Miller) has strong characters that are fully part of their entirely fictional fantasy world. Which is especially interesting because I don't think the world is given a name.

I think that indicates how strong a fantasy setting it is. In this book, the first of the Rogue Agent series, three different countries are in play: or rather, primary protagonist Gerald Dunwoody moves from Ottosland to New Ottosland, the colony, which is entirely surrounded by the desert country of Kallarapi.

Never, in any of these settings, is the audience given a rundown of the political system, the laws, the culture or the population statistics. Instead, the characters move through their surroundings, and like people reflect only on what immediately impacts them. So Gerald doesn't really think about how his government operates, but as a third-grade wizard and cog of bureaucracy, we learn about out it operates on a day-to-day level, and more importantly the attitude the government has to its function. Gerald's whole story begins when, at the factory he was sent to inspect , there is an explosion as a result of lax safety standards. Instead of the illustrious company being investigated, Gerald is fired.

Because he is only a third-grade wizard, several self-important first-class wizards go out of their way to make him further miserable--a very clear class structure that is only emphasized by his absent-minded, genius-inclined best friend Monk who is so far up the social ladder that, while he cannot directly get Gerald out of trouble, he can make the others back off. However, when his own stunts go awry, he isn't immune from the consequences.

The focus of the book is Gerald's time in New Ottosland. Unlike the mother country, New Ottosland follows Tradition with the capital "T". They speak the same language, every building is an exact copy, and every king is named Lionel and every queen Melisande--as are the first male and female heir. Gerald's problem is the new King Lionel disbelieves in any need for advisors or anything other than strict obedience.

And war is brewing with Kallarapi, the desert that surrounds New Ottosland. Given descriptions of turbans, camels, and very prominent Holy Men and gods, at first glance, Kallarapi might read as the stereotypical middle-eastern backwards country. But holy man Shugat is, well, if not good, especially to our protagonists, at least right. Kallarapi is a fully independent county--it represents mostly how backwards New Ottosland has become.

The beginning the The Accidental Sorcerer is in many ways whimsical. There's a great deal of witty banter, and wry observations on the fabric of society. But the strongest part of the book, the most moving, is that there really is evil in this world, and no one can be perfectly good.

Evil is human, and there is death--and it actually affects the characters. Someone is tortured, and changed forever. Everyone is actually impacted by the end, and there is no magical healing.(less)

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Mar 16, 2011 Jacob rated it 3 of 5 stars

(Repost from my post over at Drying Ink - http://drying-ink.blogspot.com/2010/0...)
The first thing to say about The Accidental Sorcerer is than it's light fantasy - fun fantasy. It neatly bridges the divide between light and comic fantasy, so don't expect an Erikson or Martin here: there's very little grit in this world, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. It's set in a world that seems, varyingly, industrial and post-industrial: but with magic replacing a great deal of technology. For example, tele...more (Repost from my post over at Drying Ink - http://drying-ink.blogspot.com/2010/0...)
The first thing to say about The Accidental Sorcerer is than it's light fantasy - fun fantasy. It neatly bridges the divide between light and comic fantasy, so don't expect an Erikson or Martin here: there's very little grit in this world, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. It's set in a world that seems, varyingly, industrial and post-industrial: but with magic replacing a great deal of technology. For example, telephones are mostly replaced by crystal balls - you call an "etheric frequency" instead of a number.

Gerald Dunwoody is a Third-Grade wizard, working as a compliance officer for the Ottosland Department of Thaumaturgy - a far cry from his former ambitions. However, he's caught up in an accident at Stuttley's - the premier staff manufacturer in the world - and takes the blame: not only his career is in doubt, but also the premise that he's a wizard at all. Offered a dream job in New Ottosland - conveniently situated in the middle of a desert - Gerald soon finds out that working for royalty really isn't such a cushy job as he'd thought. The colony's in the middle of a trade dispute with Kallarap - the rulers of the surrounding desert, controlling all trade. The treasury is empty. And even the King seems a little strong-willed...

Actually, from the mundane description above, one certainly wouldn't guess that The Accidental Sorcerer can manage some great twists. However, it's the characters - not to mention their repartee - who drive the story. Gerald - a good-natured but slightly incompetent wizard. Reg, his constant companion - a talking bird with a concealed past and a level of tact approaching zero, especially when addressing Lionel. Melissande - a princess who is the antithesis of everything expected of royalty, and exceedingly bossy. And the side cast of characters like Rupert, (fixated on butterflies - including some that happen to be vampiric) Lionel, and Monk adds to the humour, and, as the book continues, the drama. Because The Accidental Sorcerer certainly succeeds in both drama and comedy, a rare feat.

That said, some aspects don't make sense. Why is transforming an animal a spell that sets alarms off across the globe, and one that requires a genius? How is the thaumaturgy described so advanced in some areas, but very, very ordinary in others?

It's certainly a good book, but minor flaws, and the fact that it's a fast, fun read - but not a great one - hold it back slightly. You'll quickly finish your copy, though!

7/10 (less)

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Mar 06, 2011 Thara rated it 2 of 5 stars

Not a bad book but not a great one, either, thus the two stars. My biggest gripe is that the tone was so erratic. I'm not sure what Mills intended her theme to be - a journey of self-discovery, the megalomania of despots, the supremacy of religion - it all ended up in her book. It started out as the story of a lovable but bumbling wizard, turned into political intrigue, then there was some torture, some good-guy reveals....The story was just too short to handle it all. Tolkien managed it, but th...more

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Aug 23, 2010 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Accidental Sorcerer is the tale of a likeable loser wizard who discovers, through accident, enormous powers, and then has adventures...

If that sounds a tad... unoriginal, then that's because it is. This is cheerfully shallow pulp fiction. It's energetic, fun to read, fast moving, funny in places, and well put together. It's competent, though never outstanding.

Our main hero is accompanied by an acerbic, sarcastic sidekick bird (I tend to think it is an owl), befriends an acerbic, sarcastic, p...more

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Aug 23, 2010 Tobinsfavorite rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3 stars? 4 stars? the editing, as Mike mentioned, is BAD BAD BAD! Early in the book there's a weird repeated paragraph, an extra paragraph between two previously existing paragraphs, some other bumbling, which of course I can get through easily because I know what a book like this is supposed to say, but it does not engender respect. Also, two instances of "had" for "bad" do not leave me with a settled feeling because this book is alternate-reality and uses some phrases I'm not used to, so a lit...more

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May 29, 2010 Zivan rated it 2 of 5 stars

This one was a bit of a disappointment.

It starts with a lowly third grade wizard, trying to prevent a magical accident in a wand factory that is being run into the ground out of greed. He is then blamed for the accident by the same manager who caused it.

This is where the book starts and that's how it continues. anyone in authority is a pompous bastard, and poor little third grade wizard tries to stop it all going pare shaped and despite himself actually succeeds, but is eaten by guilt for not do...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Steph rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

It's not a bad story. I enjoyed the plot and I might even read the sequel if the mood strikes me.

Then why the rating? Because every conversation that was not between the desert people or in the last 10 pages of the book was a constant barrage of characters insulting each other, getting offended about trivial things, acting beyond-stupidly obstinate, and being generally rude to each other, often without cause. Sure, everyone enjoys reading a bit of cleverly written repartee, but if your characte...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Melbourne on my mind rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, australian, fantasy

Plot summary: Gerald Dunwoody is a rather inept wizard. When he loses his job yet again due to a magical catastrophe, it seems like his career is over for good. But when his friend Monk recommends that he apply for the position of Royal Court Wizard to a far way kingdom, his life is about to change forever.

Thoughts: I loved this. Gerald Dunwoody is like a less "RUN AWAAAAAAAAY!!!!" version of Terry Pratchett's Rincewind. The supporting characters were a lot of fun, and the dialogue was entertai...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Jackie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I started this book as a light and 'fluffy' read. I had just finished an epic fantasy on a grand scale(Game of Thrones) and I needed something a little less intense for my next read.
When I began to read I was a little disappointed, it read a little like a YA book. the protagonist, Gerald Dunwoody was a junior wizard who had just lost his job through no fault of his own. he was feeling very sorry for himself and took a job as a court wizard to King Lionel( it was a sort of 'This'll show'em gestu...more

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Jun 12, 2010 Steven rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sciencefiction, novels

In The Accidental Sorcerer, K. E. Mills has written a good wizardry story with a plot that pulls you rapidly along its tale. Along the way she pokes fun at many of the conventions of such stories. There is sort of a damsel in distress. There is evil incarnate. There is that which could be done but shouldn’t. There is the breaking of minor rules. And of course there is the saving of the whole world.

For all of that, there really is the investigation, the theme of what happens when people are injur...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Jeff Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars

Maybe closer to five stars.

This novel was recommended by Maureen at "Aliens in this world"

http://suburbanbanshee.wordpress.com/...

The plot of a intelligent but somewhat bumbler that discoverers he has more magical talent than expected and goes on to his potential is certainly not a new plot. But when done right can be enjoyable. That is the case here of Gerald the third rate magician in a government job who has had problems in previous jobs not totally his fault is the setup for this novel. As t...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

Ok, so I haven't exactly read this, but I just couldn't get much farther.

While browsing at Frugal Muse I was taken with the concept, and I started reading the first few pages. The first page so delightfully merged the mundane life of the civil servant with a quirky wizarding world that I decided to give the book a try.

Ever since then I have been reading in starts and stops. Now that I'm done with grad school I wanted to start consuming books the way I used to, particularly Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Th...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Overall, I thought this was a very well written story. Although somewhat predictable, it had a reasonable pace and kept enough of the unexpected turns to keep this reader interested. I do think she is a very good author and can tell a wonderful story, and this is no different. It's still too early in the series for me to make an opinion on the series as a whole, but I do feel that the first book of her Kingmaker, Kingbreaker series was better. This is a worthwhile read though, especially for the...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Victoria rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really tried hard to like this book, but it just didn't let me. My low rating is not based on the writing, which is certainly good enough. But I just felt the author and publisher did not present the work honestly.

The first half of the book, the title, the cover and the online presentation suggested the book was light fantasy, humorous, even gentle. Almost immediately after the 50% mark, though, the tone turned very dark, including torture, murder, bodies of children in the street - almost the...more

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Mar 12, 2009 Kurt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I really had a blast reading this book. The Accidental Sorcerer is book one in the Rogue Agent series. K.E.Mills also writes as Karen Miller. Gerald Dunwoody is a Third Class Wizard. He's had a run of bad luck and is just trying to keep from screwing up another job. Needless to say, his bad luck continues and he soon is looking for a new opportunity. Will this be the break he's been hoping for or another botched chance to be a real wizard and not just a cog in the machine? Along the way Gerald a...more

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Feb 10, 2009 Gina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: action, adventure, fantasy, mystery, own, paranormal-supernatural, suspense

Can Gerald get into any more trouble?

As a compliance officer (on probation) for the Department of Thaumaturgy, Gerald Dunwoody heads to Stuttley’s Superior Staff factory for a snap inspection. Seems that the safety statements, that are supposed to be witnessed and signed, haven’t been sent in for the last two months, which is a breach of regulations. But while there, an accident occurs, and Gerald is being blamed.

Fired, he slips a little into a depression, sure that he won’t find another, not fo...more

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Nov 08, 2011 Denae rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: alternate-reality-fantasy

The world KEM constructed reminded me so much of Terry Pratchett's discworld, except modern, and there's more magic than rational thinking in the witches. Still, the humor and feel of the world (the way the countries and people interacted with each other), along with the possibility of divine forces, seemed like discworld.
That said, I wouldn't fault the book at all except for how mean and rude the characters were to each other. Even when they were in the middle of a rescue mission, the main char...more

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Sep 18, 2010 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: magic

The Accidental Sorcerer is the first book of the Rogue Agent series by K.E.Mills alias Karen Miller. A tale of magic, as the title suggests, but it is largely the magic of the characters themselves that is the strength of this book and the author. If you have read Karen Miller's the Innocent Mage and you remember Asher and his progressive transformation from a fisherman to a skilled but very likable statesman, you'll know what I mean. The main characters in the Accidental Sorcerer: Gerald, a ine...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Sbuchler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, read-in-2009, read-in-2012, re-read

Genre: Urban Fantasy? High Fantasy?

This certainly counts as High Fantasy if by high fantasy you mean dealing with Kings and Princes and international politics, and nation-saving exploits. Unlike most High Fantasy, though, the world is one with industrialized magic - the very first scene is our hero (Gerald Dunwoody) entering a Stuttley's (Magic) Staff factory to inspect if it's up to code. It's not. So, it might fall into the urban fantasy category - however, unlike most urban fantasy, the world...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Tim Hicks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half, really.

Good, complex plot. Some humour. There are some holes in it, but just keep turning the pages and don't think too hard and we'll be fine.

Deduct one for an opening that feels like a direct transposition from Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series.

One of the characters isn't what he/she/it seems, but that's telegraphed to us far too early. The good news is that you might not guess what the character actually is.

Shugat is a good character. I'm not sure Reg works, but let's...more

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Feb 04, 2009 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

One of the great things about comedic fantasy, for me, is that sometimes initial impressions can be deceiving. What reads as light can actually contain deeper thinking, and what at the outset seems to be fluffy can actually be quite harsh. However, set in the context of a Fantasy, satirical jibes can be made without being a polemic. For example, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld stories are perhaps the pinnacle of this, but I’m also thinking the biting satire of Christopher Moore and the well-mannered...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Shanna Swendson rated it 5 of 5 stars

I found this book when I was reading the publisher's blog, looking for posts by an editor I was going to meet at a conference, and saw information about upcoming releases, which included a book called Witches Incorporated. I tend to notice anything that involves something to do with magic combined with the "incorporated" concept (since I have a book called Enchanted, Inc.), so I zoomed in on it, learned it was a sequel and backtracked to learn about the first book. It took me a while to find tha...more I found this book when I was reading the publisher's blog, looking for posts by an editor I was going to meet at a conference, and saw information about upcoming releases, which included a book called Witches Incorporated. I tend to notice anything that involves something to do with magic combined with the "incorporated" concept (since I have a book called Enchanted, Inc.), so I zoomed in on it, learned it was a sequel and backtracked to learn about the first book. It took me a while to find that first book in a store, in part because I don't go to bookstores that often these days and in part because when I did go, this book was never there. But I did finally find it and yes, it was pretty much just the kind of thing I like.

This is what you could call an "otherworld" fantasy, in that it's set in some alternate world that isn't directly related to our world. But what's different is that it's a more contemporary (maybe Edwardian? certainly early 20th century) otherworld, where most of them tend to be rather medieval. This is a magical world with cars, electricity and telephones, so it fits into what I would have considered urban fantasy before I saw what the publishing world was calling urban fantasy. I really enjoyed this book, and it was the kind of thing I've been looking to read. I liked the good-guy characters -- Gerald, his genius best friend, the very practical princess, the butterfly-obsessed prince and the smart-mouthed bird. There's lots of subtle humor, though I wouldn't classify it as a comedy, but then there's also some pretty intense action. Some of the reviews I found considered this a drawback -- that it seems like a light book, but takes a dark turn. It does get pretty dark and intense in places, but I don't think anyone who's watched Joss Whedon's TV shows or the current version of Doctor Who would be shocked by the shift in tone. In fact, it does feel like a Doctor Who episode, with fun characters, a bit of silliness, and then horrible things happening(less)

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Aug 19, 2011 Luke rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first in the Rouge Agent series by KE Mills, aka Karen Miller.

Accidental Sorcerer is set in a vivid world where magic and wizardry are commonplace elements of society. Wizards are not aloof in ivory towers, but people with jobs and worries the same as everyone else.

The book follows the adventures of Gerald Dunwoody. A Third Grade wizard (lowest rank of wizardry) who works as a Thaumaturgical Inspector. (kinds like a health and safety inspector, but for magic)

After being unjustly implicated...more

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Feb 25, 2013 David Lowry rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was pretty happy with this book in general as it was a fun read and fairly engaging. It did remind me of another book series from another author but only in the comedic sense. The characters were all real defined and interesting and in some ways the support characters were stronger and more memorable than the main character.

Main character Gerald Dunwoody is a wizard of the 3rd level and seemingly incapable of any real magic or holding a job. He tramples through life until he answers an ad for...more

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Nov 15, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: magic, witch

This book really surpsised me because I didn't think it would be that good. It does get off to a slow start, where Gerald is pitying himself, but it gets better. If you're at that part now then stick with it because it gets so funny and has a good story to it.

Princess Mel and Reg are so odd characters but they've got to be the funniest "people" in the book ;)

The book is about a boring 3rd grade wizard who finds himself possessing power that is SO powerful that the 1st grade wizards would harm t...more

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About K.E. Mills

"K.E. Mills" is a pseudonym of "Karen Miller"

I was born in Vancouver, Canada, and came to Australia with my parents when I was 2. I think. Dad’s an Aussie, Mum’s English, go figure. Talk about Fate and Destiny. But three passports come in handy.

I’ve always lived in Sydney, except when I didn’t. After graduating with a BA Communications from the then Institute of Technology (now University) a few y...more "K.E. Mills" is a pseudonym of "Karen Miller"

I was born in Vancouver, Canada, and came to Australia with my parents when I was 2. I think. Dad’s an Aussie, Mum’s English, go figure. Talk about Fate and Destiny. But three passports come in handy.

I’ve always lived in Sydney, except when I didn’t. After graduating with a BA Communications from the then Institute of Technology (now University) a few years ahead of Hugh Jackman, dammit, talk about rotten timing, I headed off to England and lived there for 3 years. It was interesting. I worked for a bunch of nutters in a community health centre and got the sack because I refused to go do EST with them (you stand in the middle of a circle and thank people for hurling verbal abuse at you for your own good, they said, and then were surprised when I said no), was a customer services officer for DHL London (would you believe at one time I knew every single airport code for every single airport in the world, off by heart?!?), got roped into an extremely dubious life insurance selling scheme (I was young and broke, need I say more?) and ended up realizing a life-long dream of working professionally with horses. After 18 grueling months I woke up, and came home.

Since then I’ve done customer service in the insurance and telecommunications industries, been a training officer, PR Officer in local government, production assistant in educational publishing, taught English and Business Communication at TAFE, been a supervisor and run my own sf/fantasy/mystery bookshop. Money for jam, there! I also managed to squeeze in a Master’s Degree in Children’s Literature from Macquarie University.

I used to have horses of my own, and spent lots of time and money showing, breeding, training and judging, but then I came off one time too many and so a large part of my life ended.

When I’m not writing I’m heavily involved in the Castle Hill Players, my local community theatre group, as an actor, director, prompt, stage manager (but not all at once!) and publicity officer.

I’m a story junkie. Books, film, tv ... you name it. Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica (the new series), Stargate, Firefly, X-Men, Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, The Professionals, Forever Knight, Due South, The West Wing, The Shield, Sandbaggers, Homicide, Wiseguy, The Shield, The Closer ... and the list goes on. And that’s just the media stuff!

I love music. While writing I listen primarily to film soundtracks, because they’ve been written primarily to evoke emotional responses in the listener. This helps access emotion during tough scenes. Plus, the music is pretty. At least the stuff I listen to is. Favourite film composers include Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestri, James Horner and John Williams. Vocalists I enjoy are Josh Groban, Russell Watson, Sarah McLachlan, Simon and Garfunkel , Queen, The Moody Blues, Steeleye Span, Meatloaf, Mike Oldfield ... anyone who can carry a tune, basically.

In short, I’m an only child with an overactive imagination, 3 dogs, 2 cats and not enough hours in the day. I don’t drink, smoke, or do enough exercise. I make periodic stabs at eating properly. Chocolate is my besetting downfall.

So that’s me. You can wake up now ...(less)

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Books by K.E. Mills

The Rogue Agent: The Accidental Sorcerer, Witches Incorporated, Wizard Squared

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The Accidental Sorcerer (Rogue Agent #1)

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