NetGalley Review: The Warden by Daniel M. Ford
Hey all, Sam here.
The reading and reviews just keep happening, and it honestly feels so very nice. I can feel my reading drive returning. It feels like the return of a long-lost friend, and I’ve missed wanting to read this much. I am loving it, and I think I’ve read like 15 or so books already this month, which is incredible after so many months of only reading a few books.
I can also say that I am looking forward to having the next two days off of work. I’m doing pretty well with picking up the tasks of the job, and we do seem to get a decent amount of downtime some days where I get to read at work, which is also really nice. But I’m ready to spend a couple days not going anywhere and just relaxing on the couch with a small stack of books and “Charmed” being binged on the TV across the room. Because, you know, I don’t need to fully focus on a show that I’ve already seen numerous times, so I can read at the same time.
All right, let’s jump into today’s review, which is a book that was released April 18 in the US.
My Thoughts
A Most Anticipated Book of the Year for GoodReads and FanfiAddict
A Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Editors’ Pick for Amazon
For fans who have always wanted their Twin Peaks to have some wizards, The Warden is a non-stop action adventure story from author Daniel M. Ford.
There was a plan.
She had the money, the connections, even the brains. It was become one of the only female necromancers, earn as many degrees as possible, get a post in one of the grand cities, then prove she’s capable of greatness. The funny thing about plans is that they are seldom under your control.
Now Aelis de Lenti, a daughter of a noble house and recent graduate of the esteemed Magisters’ Lyceum, finds herself in the far-removed village of Lone Pine. Mending fences, matching wits with goats, and serving people who want nothing to do with her. But, not all is well in Lone Pine, and as the villagers Aelis is reluctantly getting to know start to behave strangely, Aelis begins to suspect that there is far greater need for a Warden of her talents than she previously thought.
Old magics are restless, and an insignificant village on the farthest border of the kingdom might hold secrets far beyond what anyone expected. Aelis might be the only person standing between one of the greatest evils ever known and the rest of the world.
Rating: 4.5 stars
I’ll just say it here: I felt an immediate draw into this story. It had this sort of classic fantasy feel to it, following a wizard settling into a new position and going over old lectures and lessons. So there’s an academic aspect, but then there’s also a bit of community, as well as some magic and mystery and action and travel/adventure.
The story elements all started to weave together, with all sorts of events happening that left Aelis thinking that she needed to look into it more, but then even more dangerous or more pressing issues would arise. It made it delightfully difficult to figure out what was going to happen too easily, and I loved that.
But I will say that at times it felt like the story was coming together a bit slowly, and so that might not be something that is appealing to everyone. Even when things felt a bit slow, I was still super interested and invested, because I was growing attached to all of the characters, because there’s the whole community of Lone Pines, as well as traveling merchants and mercenaries and such. It was such an intriguing and diverse bunch of people to learn about.
Tun, Pip, Rus, and Maurenia were some of my favorite secondary characters in this story.
It really did feel a bit like a Dungeons & Dragons adventure at times. There are similarities when it comes to the different schools of wizardry. And I guess I could say that it would have been nice to have a little more description into the actual act of spellcasting, but overall it was still handled decently enough.
I realize that this story, the characters, the magic system, the writing, might not be for everyone, and that is totally fine and valid. I just know that I had an enjoyable time reading this book, and I have added the sequel to my to-read list, so we’ll see what happens with that next year.
Well, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
