Book Review: Mage's Apprentice (Mages of New York - Book 1)
Mage’s Apprentice (Mages of New York – Book 1) by Sean Fletcher
4 stars
Category: Young Adult
Note: Free on Amazon!
Summary: Aspen has always lived in the magical boroughs of New York City even though she is a normal non-magical person. And because of that, the magical community has always looked upon her like a roach or a plague, even before the murder of her parents when she was just a kid. But it has just made her tougher and more stubborn to live there. So, over the years she has become a thief-for-hire armed with an arsenal of weaponry, gadgets, and magical tricks. But one night, she tries to rob from the wrong person. And finds herself caught in a deal with High Council mage Lucien to compete in the contest for the open council seat as his apprentice, even though she doesn’t have any magic herself.
Comments: Even though the contest is a major plot point, not much time is actually spent on it. But then, the contest didn’t seem like all that much of a challenge anyway. The heart of this book was mainly fleshing out the magical world of New York City and all the main players inside it, from the flashy mages, to the criminal underbelly (reminded me a lot of Chicago in the Harry Dresden books). It is a fascinating world and all of the characters were interesting. The least interesting character though was Aspen herself. She had an interesting background and things to discover about her, and she excelled at action scenes (which there were plenty of), but she was rather focused on the one guy who screwed her (even though she really didn’t have any evidence that pointed to him, and she knew another certain character was bad, which didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense). But with being a cliché tough chick in black leather (I gripe about those regularly since they all seem to be clones of Black Widow), she considers showing emotion as a weakness. And because of her being emotionally distant, I’m not feeling emotionally attached to the story. Lucien reminded me mostly of Doctor Strange from the Marvel movies, complete with the cape that could move on its own and Chinese training facilities (okay, so the one in this book was Japanese, but you get my point). He was also a lot like Harry Dresden. He had the same scorn, cavalier regard for, and itch to screw with the High Council that Harry had, and the same reputation as a loose-cannon (come to think of it, the High Council itself felt very borrowed as well from the Harry Dresden books or even the Star Wars prequels). He also used a lot of the same rune powered rings and shield bracelets. Isak was interesting that I couldn’t pick out who his character was borrowed from and he had a lot of depth to him and loyalty, even though he was hiding behind the same emotionally distant wall that Aspen was hiding behind and I liked that they had similar backgrounds and were able to bond over it. I was a bit annoyed that the elven borough was named Rivendell, without even bothering to acknowledge that it was borrowed from Tolkien. I did like Aspen and Lucien’s relationship, the little I saw of it. And also like the Harry Dresden books, this world also has plenty of diverse supernatural/paranormal creatures residing within the city (from mages, and druids, to necromancers, and ghouls, and ghosts, and vampires, and fairies and elves, giants, and even primordial gods). Fans of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden books might find this an action-filled read with their vein of fantasy.
4 stars
Category: Young Adult
Note: Free on Amazon!
Summary: Aspen has always lived in the magical boroughs of New York City even though she is a normal non-magical person. And because of that, the magical community has always looked upon her like a roach or a plague, even before the murder of her parents when she was just a kid. But it has just made her tougher and more stubborn to live there. So, over the years she has become a thief-for-hire armed with an arsenal of weaponry, gadgets, and magical tricks. But one night, she tries to rob from the wrong person. And finds herself caught in a deal with High Council mage Lucien to compete in the contest for the open council seat as his apprentice, even though she doesn’t have any magic herself.
Comments: Even though the contest is a major plot point, not much time is actually spent on it. But then, the contest didn’t seem like all that much of a challenge anyway. The heart of this book was mainly fleshing out the magical world of New York City and all the main players inside it, from the flashy mages, to the criminal underbelly (reminded me a lot of Chicago in the Harry Dresden books). It is a fascinating world and all of the characters were interesting. The least interesting character though was Aspen herself. She had an interesting background and things to discover about her, and she excelled at action scenes (which there were plenty of), but she was rather focused on the one guy who screwed her (even though she really didn’t have any evidence that pointed to him, and she knew another certain character was bad, which didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense). But with being a cliché tough chick in black leather (I gripe about those regularly since they all seem to be clones of Black Widow), she considers showing emotion as a weakness. And because of her being emotionally distant, I’m not feeling emotionally attached to the story. Lucien reminded me mostly of Doctor Strange from the Marvel movies, complete with the cape that could move on its own and Chinese training facilities (okay, so the one in this book was Japanese, but you get my point). He was also a lot like Harry Dresden. He had the same scorn, cavalier regard for, and itch to screw with the High Council that Harry had, and the same reputation as a loose-cannon (come to think of it, the High Council itself felt very borrowed as well from the Harry Dresden books or even the Star Wars prequels). He also used a lot of the same rune powered rings and shield bracelets. Isak was interesting that I couldn’t pick out who his character was borrowed from and he had a lot of depth to him and loyalty, even though he was hiding behind the same emotionally distant wall that Aspen was hiding behind and I liked that they had similar backgrounds and were able to bond over it. I was a bit annoyed that the elven borough was named Rivendell, without even bothering to acknowledge that it was borrowed from Tolkien. I did like Aspen and Lucien’s relationship, the little I saw of it. And also like the Harry Dresden books, this world also has plenty of diverse supernatural/paranormal creatures residing within the city (from mages, and druids, to necromancers, and ghouls, and ghosts, and vampires, and fairies and elves, giants, and even primordial gods). Fans of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden books might find this an action-filled read with their vein of fantasy.
No comments have been added yet.
