All the Paths of Shadow

Paths of Shadow #1

by Frank Tuttle

“Walk warily, walk swiftly, walk away.”

The king’s orders were clear enough. “Move the tower’s shadow,” he bellowed. “I refuse to deliver my commencement speech from the dark.”

As the newly appointed mage to the Crown of Tirlin, Meralda Ovis has no choice but to undertake King Yvin’s ill-conceived task. Tirlin’s first female mage, and the youngest person to ever don the robes of office, Meralda is determined to prove once and for all that she deserves the title. The Tower, though, holds ancient secrets all its own. Secrets that will soon spell destruction for all of Tirlin—unless Meralda can unravel a monstrous curse laid by a legendary villain seven centuries before she was born.

An ancient curse. A haunted tower. A clamorous gathering of nobles, mages, and kings from the Five Realms come together in Tirlin for the fifth-year Accords. Meralda finds herself facing far darker foes than any mere shadow of the tower.

Genres: Fantasy, Steampunk, Young Adult, Magic, Romance, Mystery, Fiction

484 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2011

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ice cream sundae of fantasy reads; sweet, flavored with familiarity, a variety of pleasing textures. Tuttle has created a heroine I wish I could have found at fourteen, a more self-reliant one than Aerin in The Blue Sword--no kidnapping or aging paramour warrior kings necessary. Meralda is an eighteen-year-old mage who uses logic, math, courage and persistence when confronting an array of challenges, both human and occult.

Meralda is the youngest mage and the first woman to be appointed to the post of Royal Thaumaturge in the kingdom of Tirlin. The king has given her an almost impossible job, to (re)move the shadow of the seven-hundred year-old mages' Tower that will be shading his historic speech to the Accords. This is the year the Accords are held in Tirlin, a ceremonial and political event that occurs every five years. Unfortunately, there's a number of life-changing surprises in store.

As usual, I enjoyed the writing style. Tuttle builds an interesting world without information overload, allowing plotting and characterization to flourish over lengthy descriptions of scenery or sewerworks. I particularly enjoy his subtle development of atmosphere, ranging from exhausting marathon research sessions to sunny days in the park, to the intimidating puzzle of the Tower. Initial scenes in the Tower were particularly ominous:

"But here, in the windowless belly of the Tower, she felt as if it were the smallest hour of the longest, darkest night. 'It's quiet, all of a sudden,' said Tervis, in a whisper. 'Isn't it?'"

"Meralda played the lamp around the hall. Shadows flew. Some, she thought, more slowly than others."

The humor is delightful, varying from absurd (the plant's epithets are fun), to overt banter, to subtle world details (such as mention of a former history text "Trout and Windig's A History of Tirlin and Erya and Environs, With Generous Illustrations Throughout.") Meralda's wizardly familiar is a potted dandyleaf plant who provides sarcasm and concern in equal amounts:
"I'll stay right where I am. It's a good place in which to worry oneself sick. Lots of room to drop leaves and shrivel."

The Guards' Captain also has a number of fun lines, particularly in his wry assessment of character:
"'You do love surprises, as I recall.' Meralda half-turned as she climbed and lifted an eyebrow at the captain. 'I detest surprises,' she said. 'Quite right,' said the captain. 'My mistake.'"

Characters are nicely done and have individuality even in brief appearances. There's the honorable, fatherly Captain, a coachman with a tendency to swear, a pair of former mentors and court wizards pretending to dodder around in the background, a pair of twin guardsmen assigned to Meralda and more. I appreciate--oh, how do I appreciate--that Tuttle doesn't describe Meralda's body anywhere in the first third of the book. Pardon me, but as I've read several otherwise decent writers making this mistake (Daniel O'Malley, The Rook), I think it's also worth noting when one gets it right. Although he mentions her brown eyes and fly-away hair, we really have limited physical description, with a similar minimal time spent on clothes. Don't misunderstand; Tuttle gives enough description to build a sense of a Victorian-like time period with slightly less cumbersome fashion (my historian friends, correct me if needed), but it is not chick-lit-esque with detailed descriptions of her boots, bodice or speshul necklace/hairpiece with mystical powers. She does, in fact, have a black bag:
"She frowned suddenly. 'I've got a bagful of sorcerous implements sufficient to fell the west wing, but I don't have a hairbrush.'"

You have to love a fantasy heroine that wields fierce math skills:
"'Mathematics,' she said, rising. 'The biggest part of magic. Not the stuff of epic legends, I know, but the stuff of magic nonetheless.'" Can you believe she mentions trigonometry?

Perhaps my one quibble--because there's always one, that's just the kind of person I am--is that despite being a fantasy world, the Yang seem oh-so-very Chinese-based, which creates a dissonance between comparing the fantasy version with the real one and testing for accuracy. My world of advice would have been to pick one; either make it rooted in real or not, because otherwise world building comes into question and distances the reader from story.

Despite that, the second read held up very well. I was no less captivated by the story, wanting to finish again before writing the review. Had I been fifteen, I would have loved this unreservedly. It reminds me of The Raven Ring in its focused, independent heroine armed with common sense, determination and fearlessness. But despite a mildly jaundiced eye, this was an extremely enjoyable read. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a straightforward fantasy complete with happy ending, and wouldn't hesitate to gift this to my niece, and when the next Meralda book is released, I'll be buying it as well.

Four and a half stars.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/0...

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the Paths of Shadow is kind of a whimsical fantasy that stands well on its own even though it's part of a series. I've seen it referred to as Steampunk, and there are some very slight Steampunk elements - dirigibles in the sky, and a more scientific approach to magical gadgets. But, it was just a slight Steampunkish flavor.

I think what I enjoyed most about this was actually the non-human characters. Meralda is a court mage, and has the most unique familiar I've ever heard of - a plant! He was one of my favorite characters, and the difficulties of him being a plant familiar kept me entertained. Then there are all sorts of magical gadgets in her laboratory, some of them taking on character status as well. There are a couple of human side characters that I also found entertaining, although I wouldn't say any of them were very deep. I felt a very low-key amusement at this strange conglomeration of characters and magic and the daily life of a court mage, and I enjoyed how they all bumbled together to win the day in the end.

The world-building and magic-building are a bit sparse, and there's not a lot of action. At the beginning, there is a lot of activity, but it's not the kind that really furthers the plot. It just made me feel how busy Meralda is. The king is very demanding and unreasonable in his expectations. So there's lots of Meralda running around trying to get ready for the upcoming Accord between nations. The king is planning to give a speech at the big tower, and wants her to move the shadow for it. I felt really sorry for how much the king was making her do meaningless magic for entertainment when there was real work to be done.

So the plot moved really slowly at first, but once the representatives began to arrive for the Accord, it finally caught my interest. Sinister plots were revealed, and the magic of moving the tower's shadow also became more complicated and dangerous. The thing is, the tower is believed to be haunted, and what Meralda discovers when she tries to attach her magic to it endangers the entire city and the future of all the nations at the Accords. Now we're talking!

I ended up really enjoying it, although I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. The slow start and meandering pace would bore some people to tears. But, this might work for you if you're in the mood for something lighter and whimsical and you're not so picky about intricate world-building. I thought it was imaginative and fun, and plan to pick up the sequel.

[Olga Godim · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable light fantasy, this novel blends steampunk and magic, dirigibles and talking plants into a charming, seamless tale. The protagonist Meralda is the new Thaumaturge of Tirlin. Despite being only eighteen, she is the smartest mage the kingdom has known for centuries, a brilliant girl genius – a refreshingly original concept in fantasy fiction. She fights no battles; she embarks on no quests. Instead, moving between her home and her laboratory, she solves problems, using magic, mathematics, and her formidable intellect.
Her newest problem seems unsolvable: for the king’s upcoming speech at the congregation of five nations, he ordered her to move the ancient Tower’s shadow. As the story progresses, the shadow moving project becomes the least of Meralda’s concerns. There is a villainous mage on the loose in Tirlin, and he is determined to inflict disaster on Meralda’s beloved homeland. Stopping the evil mage ranks highest on her list of priorities.
Besides, the Tower itself doesn’t seem happy that Meralda is tinkling with its shadow. According to the rumors, the Tower is haunted. Although Meralda is an enlightened thaumaturge and doesn’t believe in ghosts, the Tower’s ghost has other ideas. He does all in his power to frighten her away.
But Meralda is an amazingly resourceful young lady. She thwarts the vile mage’s sinister plans, tames the recalcitrant ghost of the Tower, fixes the ancient curse, and handles the two retired mages, her former mentors, set on mischief. And she moves the Tower’s shadow in time for the king’s speech.
The plotline runs very fast, twisting constantly in unexpected directions, but no matter how many obstacles the author heaps in his heroine’s way, Meralda is always up to snuff. She also has a knack of attracting friends. A number of secondary characters, colorful and three-dimensional, help Meralda in her most arduous tasks. Her former teachers, the old magicians, are always on the periphery of the story, always ready with an impish piece of magic. Her clever pet Mug – a talking houseplant with twenty-nine eyes – invariably entertains readers with his sarcastic observations and no-nonsense advices to his mistress. A bit of romance with a handsome young foreigner doesn’t hurt the story either.
Although Meralda often doubts herself, like any girl of eighteen, she emerges the winner out of every encounter in this irreverent and humorous story. The only problem of this novel: it’s a bit too long. Otherwise, a great read. Recommended to any fantasy fan.

I learned about this author from Carol’s reviews of his Markhat stories. Thank you, Carol.

[Mr. Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meralda Ovis is a woman with a very big problem. Mainly the fact that the king wants her to move the shadow of an extremely ancient and reputedly haunted tower. Things only get worse from there. She's assigned two guards that she doesn't need or want. The rival kingdoms are coming together to renew their fractious peace and someone appears dead set on trying to stop that renewal. The mysterious people from across the sea decide to show up as well. Oh, and Meralda is first female royal Mage and many people don't think she can cut it.

I liked the premise of this book a great deal. It has everything that I like: interesting characters (I absolutely loved Mug), lots of unexpected twists and turns, and an intriguing mystery at its heart. From the very start, I knew that there was much, much more to the tower than initially meets the eye. And I like the author's works. The Markhat books are a pleasure to read - nice crisp stories.

The best parts of the books were the characters themselves. First among those is Mug. What is not to love about a very wise, very happy little talking dandelion? He's Meralda's familiar and really is worth his weight in gold. He helps Meralda in her research and is, at times, really funny. Meralda, too, is a great character. She is intelligent, sincere and motivated. She uses her wits and logic to overcome the mystery of the tower and hold everything together. She saves the day because she's smart and moral, not because she wields the Sword of a Thousand Truths.

Unfortunately, in a book that emphasizes smarts and logic, the action can be a little light at times. The characters, story and writing were great. It was just a little long. I felt myself growing impatient with the pacing of the story - wanting it to get to the end. And that is never a good sign. The book does kick it into high gear in the last chunk of the book, but it was a case of too little too late for me.

A solid three and a half stars rounded down to three.

[Amy (I'd Rather Be Sleeping)]

I can't do it any more. I just cannot keep reading books in the hope that they will get better when it's quite obvious to me that they won't. It took me ten weeks to make it halfway through this book. I can't even begin to tell you how many other books I had started and finished in that time. (Actually, after looking it up on Goodreads, I can. Ten books.)

So, what's wrong with this book? Ugh, what isn't?

Setting: The setting makes no sense. You get take-out coffee and donuts along with newspapers (I think one was called the Times) existing alongside kings that rule from castles, scrying mirrors, talking plants and ships that vanish after they leave port, never to be heard from again. Is this supposed to be a future version of earth? An alternate reality? Another world? You cannot drop things that don't belong together together without an explanation. Which was sadly lacking.

Yang: The Yang (I might be wrong about this, I thought they were the Huang, but another reader called the Yang, so I'm going with someone whose memory of this book isn't as fuzzy as mine) are a people that come from far across the sea. (Where all those ships that kept disappearing were headed.) They are the only people able to circumnavigate the planet (which is still called, incongruously, 'earth') which, I thought was great. I love it when everyone is not on the same level technologically. However, the Yang are demons, evil, vile, bloodthirsty beasts. At least, that's what everyone thinks because no one has ever actually met the Yang. When you finally see them in the story, you find out that they are a culture reminiscent and physical descriptions practically ripped right from the Chinese. Ugh. Was that really necessary?

Meralda: Our main character. She has a job working for the king as his thaumaturge (yeah, I might not be spelling that right) which is basically a cross between a Royal Alchemist and a Royal Wizard. She worked hard to get this job, as she is both the first woman to hold this office and the youngest. And she, apparently, hates it. She complains about the king and belittles him behind his back. She talks about him as though he's an idiot. She has decided he doesn't trust her or like her because she is a woman. She hates the students she went to classes with because while she has the thankless job of working for the king, they didn't apply themselves as much and have jobs with merchants - which she's sure they are laughing about her lucklessness, even now. Honestly, she's bitter. She's bitter about her life, her job and pretty much everything else that was even vaguely touched on. She thinks everything revolves around her and, once you meet her, you can never forget her. She's miserable. She's a woman. She's the only woman I recall reading about in the first half of the book and she seems to hate women. (Ooh, excellent role model there!) She also has no sense of humor.

In the interest of being fair, (and at the danger of making an already long review unreadable) I'm now going to mention what I liked about the book.

Mug: The talking houseplant. He's got a great sense of humor. Pity that he cannot play off Meralda at all. I really did get a kick out of him and was waiting excitedly for his meeting with the twins. (Unfortunately, that was something that the author decided to completely leave out.

Those two old men: (I do apologize for not being able to remember their names.) I'm sure though that if you've read the book, you know exactly who I mean. They were funny and had a wonderful antagonistic friendship.

Now, I must say, I love the self-publishing industry. I love how more authors get published. I love the unusual books that some of those people write. I just love the industry. But there are some bad things about it. Like how very few authors get critical editors/beta readers. I don't know who they ask to read their books. I don't know if they go up to their significant other and say 'honey, read my book'. Or if they ask their parents to read it. Or their children. Or their best friend. It seems like every other review for self-published books that I write, I'm saying 'I wish they had a better editor'.

This book didn't actually make any obvious mistakes. There were no capitalization errors. There were not any glaringly obvious grammar errors (can't speak for the none obvious ones, as I probably wouldn't have noticed them). However, I was truly surprised when I discovered that this was not the author's first book. It felt like a first book. It felt like the author was trying to give you every minute detail (just how many times did Meralda go to the 'wash closet' anyway?) of Meralda's life. (Except that scene between Mug and the twins that I desperately wanted to see.)

And I think that is the danger of self-publishing. That the author's craft never grows, they never develop past where they start. Honestly, I think that with tighter writing (and a different main character) this could have been a solid fantasy novel. Ultimately though, thanks to Meralda and the ponderousness of the book, it wasn't for me.

[Hallie]

I enjoyed this book so much more than I think perhaps I *should* have, given certain quibbles, that I'm going to explain how bad the reading circumstances were before saying anything about the book itself. The next paragraph entirely skippable, so!

I got this all downloaded on my phone ready to spend the day in hospital with my mother, who was having the battery on her pacemaker changed. Theoretically a lot of sitting around with her dozy or being proceded upon, after I'd done all the sitting around with her wide awake and somewhat apprehensive. (Also very impatient.) In practice, I had a bit of time to grab something to eat and read, and then a nurse came down and told me that my mother had become "quite unwell" after the procedure. "Quite unwell" turned out to mean "blood pressure shot up, breathing laboured, and unresponsive". Reading, obviously, did not happen after that. However, a brain scan and all the heart tests repeated showed it to have been nothing more than an extreme reaction to the sedative. By the next day they wanted to send her home, but had to wait till she was safe on stairs again, which meant one more night in hospital and now four nights in a nursing home. The point of all this rambling being that a) stress to the max; b) I was only getting to read for a few minutes during the day, in whatever facility, and a bit at night, when I could stay awake and alert enough ; and c) I was reading on my phone in the hospital/nursing home but on iPad at night in bed, and the two did *not* always sync properly. I discovered about halfway through that I'd managed to miss a chunk, and spent quite a bit of time trying to find where that chunk started and ended, which probably contributed to a feeling that the magic was quite complicated.

Anyway! There was something Patricia McKillip-ish about the book, which I hadn't expected at all (and which I hope nobody else expects after my saying it!), and which I'm finding hard to pinpoint exactly. It might have been something about the relationship between Meralda and her two teachers, who were delightful old men. It definitely might have been something about the Tower (whose shadow Meralda must prevent from shading the King as he opens the very important talks between the nations of this world), and the way it's such a mysterious ancient magical place. And it might have had to do with the way Meralda has to work her backside off to figure out the spells required to -- well, to do any of the things she has to do -- her abilities are a wonderful combination of creative thinking, *mathematics* and sheer bloody-minded hard slog. It's not the prose, as although there's nothing wrong with Tuttle's, it's not McKillip-level prose.

My main criticism was the way we were brought into the plot; King Yvin was an absolute idiot to have ordered Meralda to do something so drastic to such an important relic for so vain a reason (and initially at least, she seemed less than bright not to have tried harder to get out of accepting the task). And that would have been fine except that later on in the book it becomes clear that he isn't actually an idiot - or nothing like as idiotic as he seemed earlier - making the whole get-the-plot-rolling point look more than a bit shaky.

Second was the fact that the mysterious Hang, who come across the Great Sea at infrequent intervals, and who turn up at the start of the Accords, are so completely made to sound like the Chinese. Seriously - the names, the physical descriptions, their titles, and then Donchen cooks egg rolls and fried rice? And they eat with chopsticks, of course. It's just odd to have one group of peoples in a fantasy world likened so strongly to peoples in this world while the rest remain fantasy world. (Again, my reading was not a fully-brained one, and I could be making some very thick observation here.)

I only noticed when I was thinking about it afterwards that Meralda has no female friends, or non-friends for that matter, and in fact there are only two other female characters of note in the book, both queens - one in her own right, the other King Yvin's wife. It isn't a big problem, as much is made of the fact that Meralda is the youngest person ever appointed mage to the Crown and - much more of a challenge - the first female mage, and if she fails, there'll be many blaming it on her being a woman trying to do a man's job. All the same, it would be nice to have evidence of sisters back home she was close to or something. There is, however, a lovely twist about Meralda's appointment when she talks to a long-dead mage and finds out she actually is NOT the first female mage - just the first openly female one. When a thoroughly nasty foreign mage throws her being female at her, her response is a lot of fun, too.

As well as the pleasures of the story described above, there was a talking, many-eyed dandyleaf plant named Mug, of delightful sarcasm. For all the nit-picking I've done, I enjoyed the book thoroughly and will have to check out the Markhat series, while hoping there's more Meralda planned at some stage.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. By the end of All the Paths of Shadow, I can happily say that it was quite an enjoyable light fantasy read... which is not something that I would have said had you asked me how I felt about this book at the halfway point. There is good characterization here and the dialogue is zippy, the prose flowing and easy to read, but the world-building and plodding pace of the first half made for a rather uneven result.

A major reason for the gap in quality between the first and second halves of this book was the world-building (so crucial to fantasy stories such as this!) or lack thereof. I repeatedly had the feeling that the author had made detailed notes on the world that he's created - different countries, their customs, dress, appearances, perhaps even with maps - but completely forgot to tell us about any of it by including this information in the actual text. Instead, we had names tossed at us: there are the Vonats, the Hang, the Eryans, the Alons and Tirlish people, famous mages like Tim the Horsehead and Otrinvion the Black, the Tower, thaumaturges, etc. By the 20% mark, I was ready to welcome even an infodump. We do eventually figure out over the course of the novel what these names actually refer to, but no reader wants to hit the 20-30% mark in a book and still have no real idea what these various races of people are like aside from differing labels. It only becomes clear around midway that the Hang, at least, are not-so-subtly based on the Chinese and Tirlin is most likely the British Isles - the rest is very much like Earth geography. It's particularly confusing to have the heroine repeatedly refer to Otrinvion the Black or her hero, the mage Tim the Horsehead, and have NO CLUE what they were supposed to have done other than vaguely dropped hints.

The plodding pace and excess of unnecessary detail in the first half were the other major problems with this book. The first half reads like the Daily Life of Mage Meralda - nothing happens for the first 35-40% except following Meralda as she checks on the ominous Tower, complains about King Yvin's tasks, stressing about the mission to move the tower shadow and worrying about tower hauntings. She doesn't even make any headway with her assigned task until the halfway point; I found myself desperately hoping things will go wrong as promised, just so that something would happen. The second half improves markedly; the pace quickens, we finally move from Meralda's daily musings to the mystery at hand, become acquainted with all the players in the intrigue and see Meralda begin to take real action.

The characterization, on the other hand, was great. I liked Meralda despite not feeling any deep connection with her, and Mug the sarcastic talking plant, Donchen, the two meddling old mages and even Meralda's two bodyguards were fun characters that jumped off the page. Some readers may find that Meralda reads far older than her apparent 18 years, but I found that a welcome change - she's calm, intelligent, practical and wise beyond her years. This is a strong girl who fights her battles with her brain! Her romance with the mysterious young Hang cook was light and cute, if severely underdeveloped (they seemed to move suddenly from polite banter and subtle interest to full-fledged attachment).

Most importantly, however, the characters and second half sufficiently makes up for the slow first half and I finished the book pleased. Not a bad read, in the end, if one is prepared for the lack of action and fantasy flash. I'll be curious to see what the sequel will bring for Meralda and her Hang cook.

[♥ Ashleigh ♥ Contrary to popular belief I'm not actually mad! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ugh i hate writing a review when its been a while. I'll give it a go and hope for the best.

So All the Paths Of Shadow is an interesting book. Its set in a different world to what we live in but not by much, there are quite a few similarities, For one its kind of set in a relaxed Victorian era, you also have the Alon's who sound Scottish in dress and attitude. The Hang who sound Asian, possibly China or Japan. then there's the Tirlin, Eryans and the Vonats. Now I'm thinking Tirlin is more like England, Eryans may be kind of Turkish? though i may also be way off with that one and i have no clue about the Vonats. let just go with Russia.
So you have this massive group of interesting cultures all smooshed together into Tirlin for the Accords, which is where they get together every, i dono 20 years and make a piece treaty. Of course not everyone is interested in having piece across the lands, and the king enjoys making unreasonable demands, add some crazy mages, and that is where we start our adventure with Meralda and Mug.

Now as you guys are probably well aware, i adored the pants off of Mug, not that he wears any cause he's a plant..... but you get the point. this guy as just so incredible. funny, kind, selfless, you know, all the good stuff. also he's a talking plant! with many many eyes. he's what made this particular story stand out for me. My other two favorite characters where the two old Wizards, Shingvere and Fromarch. These's guy's where hilarious together, and really complimented each other in their extreme opposites. Then of course after that the next few characters who stood out where, Tower, Meralda, The Twins and the Captain oh and of course Donchen. for various reasons, i wont go into them otherwise we'll be here forever. Though i did like Donchen for his interesting Status as the Ghost.

Now i did feel like there where some holes in the story (obviously otherwise it would of had 5 stars) for one, i thought Meralda just made out the king was a pain to add in some extra tension, really as Kings go he was a pretty good dude, i dont see why she complained so much. also where is her family? she mentioned her childhood briefly once or twice and thats it, I'm fairly positive their still in Tirlin, so were where they? did she have a falling out with them? are they dead? whats the deal?
The magic could also be confusing at times, it was interesting and i still enjoyed it but in a vague way, without actually understanding most of what and how it was happening. apparently in this world unless your will/power is beyond incredible, there's a limit to magic, and how most mages get it to work is with maths. now im terrible at maths, also i think it could of been explained better. another thing lacking from the story was excellent descriptions. they where decent, but not so good as i could easily picture the characters or surroundings in my head while reading, actually i did a bit of a drawing with the information i have been given in an attempt to figure out what Mug looked liked (he was by far the most interesting looking) and i wasnt far off apparently. Grim was wonderful enough to actual find one already done on the net for me ^_^
Which so you know is this:


Isnt he just great?!

So yea overall i highly enjoyed this book and would recommend people give it a shot if mages are your thing. Its also slightly Steampunk-y which is a nice touch.

rating 4 stars. looking forward to the next book, and more Mug!

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantasy Review Barn

There is an old story that this reviewer is much too lazy to do any research that would verify or debunk. The story says that a man who went by Dr. Suess wrote Green Eggs and Ham on a dare based on only using a hundred distinct words. I bring this up only because I wonder if there was a dare behind ‘All the Paths of Shadow.’

“Mr. Tuttle,” I imagine a smug friend of the author saying (though he probably wouldn’t use the impersonal Mr., but rather a more friendly Frank). “I dare, no, I double-dog dare you to write a book within which the protagonist spends at least seventy five percent of the page count doing math in her lab. You must also find a way to incorporate a talking houseplant.”

“Easily done,” the author may have replied. “I accept your laughable simple challenge.”

“Not so fast!” Our imaginary smug friend decides to up the ante on the game. “I also want to see the most ludicrous use of a magic user’s power ordered by a king, without making the king himself look like an idiot.”

“Ideas are already forming in my head, are there any more caveats to be added?” The imaginary conversation continues, and for the first time the spell checker comes out because who knew that was how to spell caveat?

“Only one more, at least one character must be an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, who no one knows the trustworthiness of. And that character must be a damn good cook.”

And thus is how I imagine the geneses of All the Path of Shadow came about. Mr. Author, will you verify this story for me? And while you’re at it, feel free to fact check that Dr. Seuss one as well.

Anyway.

The land of Tirlin is about to hold an accord in which each of the kingdoms attends. The king orders the books protagonist, young mage Meralda Ovis to find a way to move the shadow from the lands ancient, mysterious tower so he can give a speech at its base. Seemingly the request of a mad king, in reality the speech may be the final point of a new era as the mysterious Hang are coming across the sea to join the process. As could be expected, tampering with an ancient mysterious tower causes its own problems. Meralda soon finds herself responsible for saving the kingdom from an ancient curse, watching the land’s back with other dangerous mages around, and when she finds time for it, getting the darn shadow to move.

Pacing in the book is surprisingly a strong point as I wasn’t kidding about the kind of time spend doing math in a lab. The magic Meralda uses is heavily based on math, but still mystical enough to be considered magic and not science. Thankfully the author keeps the math in Meralda’s head; we don’t see pages of figures, only the results. The time spent in the lab is usually heavy on entertaining dialog; either in the form of brainstorming sessions or banter with the talking house plant. Light humor also helps the flow in spots that could have become tedious. While not action heavy there are a couple entertaining spots where danger lurks around the corner (or right in front of everything).

Meralda is a wonderful character to follow. The youngest mage to hold the top title, and first woman, she was put through advanced training when she turned Mug into a sentient plant with no training at all. While often overwhelmed she does everything possible to keep a straight head; this is not a character that breaks down and whines until someone fixes her problems. It was obvious that despite the gender politics Meralda had earned the respect of many in the land, especially the other magic users. She works through the problems the way people really do; some help from friends, occasional lucky breaks, and a whole lot of hard work.

The rest of the cast was enjoyable, though almost everyone fades into the background; this is assuredly Meralda’s story. Mug the talking plant was entertaining, though like most familiars got a bit Disney cartoon at times. The guards assigned to Meralda were sweet and endearing, obviously smitten with their keep but never annoying. Meralda’s mentors were great. Villains went both ways. One was too obviously evil for my liking; luckily his screen time was low. But I did like that his co-conspirators were a few bad seeds from several countries, rather than all cut from the same cloth.

Yes I enjoyed this book. Meralda is a great character, and I am glad a few loose ends were left so I can hope for a sequel. Recommended for fantasy fans looking for something light and fun with a likable main character.

4 Stars

[Pauline Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that ticks all the right boxes for me. Spunky female lead – check. Detailed world building – check. Interesting magic system – check. Humour – check. A bit of a romance – check. Talking plant – check. Wait, what? A talking plant? OK, whatever. And yet, somehow... it doesn't quite work.

The premise is a good one. The kingdom's first female royal sorcerer (called a thaumaturge here) is given an unusual challenge by the king: ensure that his speech to the coming Accords (a sort of international summit meeting) is not shadowed by the massive bulk of the centuries-old tower looming nearby. It's a bit of a tricky one: can Meralda either move the tower (no) or move the sun (no again) or bend light to shift the shadow (possibly...). She sets to work with her calculations and research to come up with a way in the impossibly short time she has.

And here's the first problem. Why is there only one royal thaumaturge? Why can't the king call upon the combined skills of all his kingdom's thaumaturges? Because it wouldn't be nearly so interesting a story if he could, that's why. So already I'm seeing contrivance at work.

The world-building is hugely detailed. As Meralda walks through the capital in the opening chapter, every street and shop and type of transportation and occupation is name-checked in an endless stream of trivia that a) I'll never, ever remember, and b) probably won't even need. This smacks of an author trying too hard, or possibly just showing off. Look at me! I know all the shops at every intersection! It's all a little too over-the-top for my taste, but it would win every world-building contest hands down.

And another niggle. The out-of-the-blue foreigners who seem so mysterious and alien when they first arrive, turn out to be very familiar indeed. In fact, they place this otherwise interesting setting right here on mother earth, and frankly that's far less appealing to me than a fully realised secondary world. Bah humbug.

The magic system is another aspect that ought to appeal to me, but in reality falls a bit flat. I loved the idea of working out the principles of a spell mathematically first, then setting it up in situ (a process known as 'latching') and only releasing it later, as needed. There's so much potential to that, and I really enjoyed how it was used. Unfortunately, when things get tricky towards the end, all pretence at a rational magic system is thrown away, and a variety of magical objects are dredged up out of nowhere to provide a solution. At times, it seemed that Meralda had only to walk down her laboratory to find another device which was just what was needed. Gah. Can we say deus ex machina?

So what did work well? The talking plant, believe it or not. Mug was both cute and smart at the same time, providing most of the humour and a lot of the common sense. For instance, the love interest is handsome and charming, and Meralda trusts him implicitly from the start. Mug's the one who voiced the note of caution that the oh-so-intelligent Meralda was too weak at the knees swooning over her new love to think of. And the tower was completely awesome, right from the start, when it's just a creepy tower, and later, as all its little secrets are gradually revealed. I do love a magical building.

This sounds like a fairly critical evaluation, but actually this is pretty good book. My issues are nitpicky, rather than substantive, and the plot rolls along merrily to its dramatic climax. It's not mind-blowingly awesome stuff, the author tries too hard and crams in too many melodramatic and humorous touches, and there are way too many moments that are perilously close to deus ex machina. But it's funny and readable and I can recommend it to anyone less picky than me (which is almost everyone). Three stars, and a merit award for the talking plant (I adore sentient greenery – there should be far more of it in fantasy).

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really good. Amazon suggests this book as Young Adult Literature, but it was just a rousing good fantasy for any age. I'm looking forward to the sequel and many more in the series. I got it as a free download ebook from amazon and have now bought several of the author's other books.

UPDATE: Passed this along to my 13 year old son for a school project. The teacher thought it might be too long, as he has a learning disability and has a hard time with reading. He LOVED it, and is bugging me to get the next book in the series. He wants to know "what happens next!" That is a huge accomplishment for an author... to hook a kid like my son :)

[Eric Mesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book as part of a StoryBundle bundle, so I didn't specifically buy this book because I wanted to read it. It turned out to be a nice book in a steampunk-lite second world. (Steampunk-lite in that there are dirigibles. And it's a Victorian setting. But deep into the book you find out that most of the stuff that would traditionally be explained to run on steam are actually running on mundane magic spells)

The story revolves around a world in which each country has a court mage and our protagonist is the first female court mage in Not-England. It's time for Not-England, Not-Scotland, Not-Ireland, and Not-Germany to renew their treaty. The King wants to give a speech in the park, but there's an ancient tower that would cast a shadow over him. So he assigns the court mage to make sure he's not in shadow. Very early in the book, it's revealed that Not-China will be journeying to Not-England for the first time in hundreds of years.

Our protagonist is very likable. She's witty and sarcastic and determined. The side characters, including the prior court mage are also very fun people to spend time with. Our protagonist has some concerns about not failing as the first female mage, but it's not the main point of the book. For the most part all the doubts relating to her gender are in the past, it's more of a bit of extra motivation not to screw up.

Overall, just like the Becky Chambers books I've been reading recently, it's nice to have a situation where the main character is surrounded by people who care for her and trust her and are trying to be helpful and encouraging. Her only worries are from outside the group.

The only knock I have against the book is that the conflicts almost veer into the realm of MacGuffins. and they are almost beside the point. It almost reads as though this is a novel to set up a world in which Tuttle will eventually tell more substantial stories.

It's a fun, relatively easy read that I recommend to anyone who wants a magical fantasy in a Victorian England setting.

[Férial · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been for me. Unfortunately, I realized something was amiss when I started to skip whole chunks of this book. How many times do I have to climb the stairs up the Tower, pray tell ?

Anyway.

Meralda. Ah Meralda. Youngest Mage/Thaumaturge ever and first female to boot. You'd think she'd be happy with her job. Well, it doesn't seem that she is. She keeps complaining about the "impossible tasks" she is given by the (decent, imo) King whom she doesn't even respect.

Mug (the genius dandelion) is one of the redeeming factors. The two old sorcerers are another. And the pretty good writing/editing a third. Hence the 2.5 stars.

I just wish I didn't have that much stairs to climb and that much maths-physics explanations ... way too boring for me.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lately I've been reading some steampunk-ish novels, and most of them had been a disappointment: Unnecesarily complex setups, non-plausible plots or too plain ones in which the focus seems to be the fancy gibberish they use.
This one is completely different though.

Tuttle creates a very well rounded story.
Something is happenning in every chapter, the story moves at a good pace but the reader is not overwhelmed. Really good.

I personally did not like Meralda Ovis. She's some sort of Mary Sue: genius young woman who is soooooo much smarter than everyone else - and she knows it. Her superiority complex makes her a bit boring.
I did not like her love interest either, he was meant to be mysterious but also felt a bit marysue-ish.
I don't think they ruin the novel at all, but I would have liked it all better if these characters were a bit less silly.

But I really did love Mug.
Mug is such a great counterpart! His dialogues are some sort of glue for this story - no, he does not play an important role, but he makes you want to keep reading from one chapter to the next one. Lovely creature.

I think I'll be reading more by this author.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first impression of the opening was that it was somewhat... lackluster?

The first chapter opens up by telling (not showing; why can so many authors never seem to learn this?) us all about how the arrogant king has just ordered our plucky heroine to perform an impossible task so he won't have to give his speech in the dark, and how she has to do it even though she knows it'll be a bad idea. Okay, I already read all of that in the synopsis... so why did it seem so much more compelling in the synopsis than it does in the actual book?

Meralda's Exceptional Woman status, I'm not going to complain about, for a couple of reasons - sure she's the only woman ever to hold the position of High Thaumaturge, but somebody had to be first, and I'd much rather see one lone woman challenging the established gender norms than nothing at all, especially if the focus is on the sorts of challenges that always face the first generation to bring about a massive social change. On account of her completing all the courses in record time and reaching important milestones at an unheard-of young age, well, that makes sense too, given that she'd likely never even have been considered for the position if she hadn't been exceptional in some way above and beyond her male peers. So yeah, as long as the narrative isn't putting down other women who choose to do something else with their lives, and as long as it looks as if Meralda's accomplishments will pave the way for other young girls and women to have more options in the future, I'm down with her being the "first and only" for the time being at least.

What I'm not so down with is Meralda being so confident and savvy in some ways (a young, skilled-but-inexperienced sorceress doing a stupid thing because she's under a lot of pressure and still has a burning need to prove herself is a whole lot more forgiveable than someone who was introduced to us as a mature, well-established adult who should have known better) and so pigheaded in others (being unwilling to believe some musty old tower was haunted and shouldn't be messed with is an attitude I'd buy from a science-minded character in a world where the magic is all underground, but not from a professional sorceress in a world where magic is an everyday occurrence!).

Come to think of it, having the Flat Earth Atheist role being filled by the character who literally does magic for a living was a really strange choice to make. Do we ever find out why Meralda is so firm in her convictions that the Tower isn't haunted? Nope, she just thinks what she thinks and that's the way it is, Because Reasons. Never mind that she's perfectly willing to accept the notion of different types of magic that she may or may not understand, right up until someone uses the H-word, at which point her logic and reason promptly fly straight out the window. Never mind that everyone from her mentors to her familiar to her own instruments are warning her that the Tower is dangerous. There's absolutely no problem and she's going to stick her fingers in her ears and bury her head in the sand for as long as it takes to make that true!

Overall, my main problem with this book was similar to the one I had with The Watchmaker's Daughter, if to a lesser extent: all of the characters seemed somewhat... flat. There's very little by way of meaningful character building or meaningful relationship building, nor indeed motivations behind why the characters think and act as they do. The synopsis told us that Meralda is going to end up messing with things she shouldn't because she feels insecure in her position and has a desperate thirst to prove herself, but I'm not seeing that premise anywhere within the actual story. Sure, she's the first woman to hold the position of Thaumaturge, but the way that situation is actually presented, that means she suffers a bit of unwanted attention from the press and is considered something of a novelty rather than having to deal with any actual hardship - the one and only instance of legitimate sexism comes from the villains. She has not one but two incredibly supportive mentors, there's no mention anywhere of her appointment causing any kind of scandal or backlash, and not one of the many people she interacts with professionally, from her fellow mages to the guard captain to her personal bodyguards to the king himself, ever once questions her competence, at all. Neither her age nor her gender is ever even mentioned as any sort of factor in her ability to do her job. Sure, the king routinely makes unreasonable demands of her, but it's pretty heavily implied that he does this to all of his mages and that it's just another downside of the job itself rather than anything to do with Meralda personally. The one thing she explicitly worries about is being consigned to a footnote in history... just like every other mage who's held this position before her. Such an awful fate, never becoming a big name who's forever remembered for some world-shaking accomplishment, poor her. So... Meralda is a professional success story, she landed her dream job 100% on her own merits even if it isn't all it's cracked up to be, all of the people she works with treat her with all the respect that's due her position and skills, and Meralda herself never questions her right to be where she is, yet we're somehow expected to believe that she feels insecure?

Look, I'm all for stories that confront sexism head on and explore the ramifications experienced by a woman who's trying to break into a field traditionally reserved for men. I'm also all for stories in which women are free to pick any career path they want and are judged according to their merits rather than their gender, especially in genres that are traditionally very sexist. Here's the thing, though: these two types of stories are mutually exclusive. You can't have your sexism and eat it too, and if you're trying to sell a character who's supposedly struggling in her career due to her age and gender, the least you can do is take those struggles seriously.

And hey, if all that's required is that your heroine has a burning need to prove herself worthy of her position, there are plenty of ways to do that that don't default to sexism. She could have unsupportive parents who wanted her to go into the family business instead, or a rival who keeps showing her up without any apparent effort, or a previous screw-up that made her doubt her own abilities, or some lingering doubts about her background having come from a family of pig farmers... or sure, if you really want to write about sexism, go ahead and write about sexism. Just something, anything, that'll actually make me believe the central premise of the story: that the heroine makes a bad mistake because she's desperate to prove herself rather than because she's overconfident and willfully blind and jumps straight to sexism to avoid taking any responsibility for her own actions.

Meralda glared. He didn't tell because he doesn't trust, she thought. And he doesn't trust, said a voice within her, because I'm a woman.

Where is your evidence for this? For someone who prides herself so much on her logical thinking and no-nonsense worldview, Meralda sure is fond of jumping to conclusions. We're talking the same king who's joked with Meralda, who's provided her with all of the resources she needs to do her job without reservation, who promised to have her back even if it would cause a diplomatic incident, who threw a feast in her honor in return for a job well done, who bribed the bloody newspapers not to print a story on the off-chance that it might harm her; WTF more does she want from him??? Sure, he works her to the bone and will casually assign her to fulfill whatever unreasonable whim pops into his head, but that's absolutely nothing he hasn't done to any of the male sorcerers who've worked for him in the past; Meralda knew all along what she was getting into and still took the job, a job she seems to be profoundly ungrateful for, given that she constantly complains, blows off important meetings because she doesn't feel like going, and insults her employer behind his back! Any man who behaved the way that she does would have been fired several times over, so how come Meralda is getting a pass?

Meralda nodded, her jaw clamped too tight to speak. They mean to kill a great many people as Yvin gives his speech, she thought. The Hang delegation among them. Ruin the Accords, infuriate the Hang, leave the Realms divided and weak. And all of it blamed squarely on her. On the female Tirlish mage, who had no business ever donning the robes in the first place.

Oh, for— They're not trying to pin the blame on Meralda because she's a woman, they're trying to pin the blame on Meralda because she's in exactly the right position to make a convenient scapegoat. Is there anything - anything at all - to indicate that the Vonats would have up and canceled their nefarious plans to cause chaos and prevent a diplomatic allegiance if instead the Thaumaturge had been a man? No, no they wouldn't - because not even the most cliche of villains is stupid enough to set in motion an evil plan that hinges entirely on the fall guy's gender. The Accords just so happen to be scheduled for this moment, the Hang just so happened to have made contact at this moment, and Meralda just so happens to be the person who's in a position to take the fall. She cannot be so self-centered as to think that they wouldn't have tried something similar if Fromarch had been the one trying to move the shadow rather than her.

As a matter of fact, if there's anyone who's suffering from unfair prejudice in this story, it's the Vonats. Yeah, you read that right: the evil country full of evil people who want to do nothing but sow chaos and ruin lives because they're evil. Well, if you paint every last person from a given country as rotten by default for the high crime of having been born on the wroung patch of soil, if you meet them with immediate distrust and suspicion every time they set foot on your shores, if you refuse to pay even their diplomats even the barest modicum of common courtesy, well, how do you expect them to react? The Vonats' ~evil plan~ to rain fire and fury down on the Realms struck me as much less of a power grab For the Evulz, and a whole lot more of a long-overdue backlash against Tirlish prejudice.

As she spread out her coat on the floor, another peal of thunder rang out, so loud and lingering Meralda wondered if it had struck the Tower. Park lore claimed such a thing had never happened, and immediately Meralda wondered if this, too, was another indication that her shadow latch had damaged some ancient Tower spellwork.

"Nonsense," she said aloud, as the echoes of the thunder clap died. "I can't be blamed for everything."

You have yet to be blamed for anything! Nor, for that matter, to admit that anything is your fault!

"No. But you are Meralda Ovis. You enchanted Mug to life when you were thirteen. You entered college that same year. [The hell did Dongchen know about this, anyway? He's only been in the country for a couple of weeks, much less had time to learn Meralda's life story!] You alone, of all Tirlin's mages, found the Tower's secret. We believe in you, Mage Ovis. Now you must only find a belief in yourself."

Except she's never given any indication that believing in herself has ever been a problem for her! All throughout the narrative, she's presented with a problem, she rolls up her sleeves and gets to work figuring out what she needs to do to solve it - and she does solve it, every single time! Sure, it's not easy, and she misses a whole lot of sleep and meals, but she never once sits down and wails that it's too hard and she just can't. If she couldn't do difficult, she wouldn't have lasted long in this career.

It's pretty clear that the author intended for Meralda to be a sympathetic underdog. Instead, she veers perilously close to exactly the sort of nutjob that a lot of so-called "men's rights" groups think that feminists are like: a spoiled, entitled child with a persecution complex who cries sexism every time she doesn't get what she wants or is expected to do her fair share. I don't believe for one second that she got pushed into doing any questionable magic by an arrogant king who wouldn't listen to reason; that's just the excuse she's giving because she couldn't swallow her pride for five minutes and find the spine to tell him she had some safety concerns and didn't have enough time to do the thing to her satisfaction and that it would be a lot easier for everyone if he could just give his speech from the other side of the damn tower. I don't believe for one second that any of the struggles she's facing are due to either her gender or her age; more likely than not she's projecting onto everyone around her because she doesn't want to admit that maybe, just maybe, it might be on her to set her own limits and take some responsibility for her own life.

If I can say one thing in Meralda's favor, it's that she is, if nothing else, legitimately competent; she both knows her job and puts enough effort into it that it's clear she worked hard to get where she is. Whatever skills, respect, or influence she has, she definitely earned it. I'll also give her that, whatever her issues with taking commonsense precautions and setting boundaries that would prevent problems before they got out of hand, she does at least take the initiative in fixing her own mistakes, and actually had the foresight to attempt to work with the entity in the Tower rather than just charging in guns blazing. If only her characterization had been handled a little better, I think I would have genuinely liked her.

The problem with this story is that it keeps simultaneously trying to do two things that aren't compatible with each other. If we'd been given a story of a young woman who'd had to do twice as well as her male peers to get half the respect, who'd clawed her way to a prestigious job only to find that she was still regularly treated like a piece of furniture, who'd been subjected to a constant barrage of lewd comments from her fellow students and encountered teacher after teacher who'd threatened to mark her down unless she did him some sort of sexual favor, who regularly got asked why she didn't just get married and have babies already, who struggled to find a job because every potential employer thought she'd just get pregnant and leave in a few years anyway, and who finally snapped and tried to do an incredibly reckless thing to prove once and for all, to the world and to herself, that she was worthy of her position... that actually could have been a really compelling story. If instead we'd been given a story of a confident, outgoing (if overworked) sorceress who was so good she'd never truly learned her limits, and got herself into trouble because she didn't recognize the obvious warning signs... that also could have been a really compelling story. What we got instead was an incredibly confused Scenario 2 constantly trying to dress itself up as Scenario 1. Interpreted generously, the author wanted to portray a sympathetic character fighting against sexism, but had very little idea of what career sexism actually entails. Interpreted not-so-generously, he kept pressing the sexism button to generate automatic outrage in lieu of putting the time or effort into building a character who was legitimately sympathetic.

[Jamee Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is exceptionally well written, full of intricate detail and a polished style of writing. Author Frank Tuttle does a superb job in showing his reader the specific elements of the story instead of just telling. His world of Tirlin is quite imaginative yet reminiscent of our own society.

His story centers around Mage Meralda Ovis and her difficult task of moving the shadow from the tallest tower in the kingdom by order of the king in time for the Accords, the peaceful meeting of five nations from around the globe. Of course, Meralda’s task is not as straight forward as it should be. She must battle scheming nations, a haunted tower, and mysterious magic.

Tuttle does a good job at explaining the spells in his story through both magical means and science. His character development is on point, my favorite character being Mug, the talking plant. The pace of the book is extremely slow. I felt as if a few chapters of the book were irrelevant to the forward motion of the story line. Though there was a specific sense of intrigue in those slow scenes, there was no build-up to connect them to the forthcoming action. The plot seemed to be at a standstill right in the middle of the book.

For me, the best part of the book was the second half. The pace was steady and the action enjoyable. There was so much suspense in the second half that it made up for the slow middle. I was definitely pleased with the ending. I am curious to read what’s next for Mage Meralda in the next book in the series.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to start by saying that I think the cover very much misrepresents Meralda. The lady on the cover looks like she is perfectly coiffed... Meralda wasn't at any point in this book. She came across as a brilliant mathematician who cared more for her enchanted dandyleaf plant, science, and numbers than about her appearance. And those are the very reasons I fell in love with her story! She's incredibly headstrong and independent. Always my favorite type of heroine.

The story itself is mostly predictable and cliche. I still loved the steam punk aspects. Not too much on the airships but tons about cool gadgets and trinkets that do amazing things. Such a wonderful world to be an inventor and live in! I also fell in love with all of the "fatherly" types she has in her life that are looking out for her and meddling. It's very endearing.

Overall while this is a fun read with very good world building and political structure, I didn't care for the stereotypical "nations" that the author chose to portray. He did such a fantastic job building the world and exposing the undercurrent of magic, that I wish he would've been just as fantastic at creating the groups of people that made up the "realm". That would be my only criticism of this book though. I would recommend to people looking for a cool, fun read.

[Elyse Salpeter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished reading All the Paths of Shadow and can't stop thinking about the main character, Meralda Ovis. As mage to the Crown of Tirlin, she presents exactly the type of young strong female protagonist we love and need to see more of. She's independant and strong and brilliant, using wits, skills, and hard work to solve problems. She's wise beyond her years and possesses a grace, bravery and intellect that you don't normally see in YA books today. She must rely on her own devices to solve problems and even with the weight of her realm on her shoulders, she is extremely up to the task and never gives up. A character like this is always refreshing to see and you can't help but root for her the entire novel.

I love how Frank Tuttle weaved real world scenarios with the fantastical elements of magic. As I read, there were so many times I just stopped, floored at the very ideas and creations he came up with. His characters were all compelling, extremely vivid and I simply can't wait to read the next book in the series. Excellent, excellent book.

[Lonleypurplecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doe this book have a strong independent female character?
Yes.
Good, then that's all I need to know.
No seriously, Meralda is now one of my favourite heroines. She's super kick ass and knows complicated maths stuff and can do magic and she doesn't get moon-eyed, flirty or stupid over random good looking guys (of which there are some in this book).

This book was really good, but the magic system that Tuttle created made my head hurt a little bit, but that's probably because a lot of the magic relied on maths. *shiver* There was this one scene where Meralda used trigonometry to do something magical (like I said, the magic confused the heck out of me) and I though, wow, if only maths in high school was this awesome. But alas, I'm afraid secondary education had scared me for life and I will forever view maths as the enemy.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: https://derailmentsofthought.com/2017...

[Angela]

20 November 2014: $0.00 FREE on Kindle

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few passers-by recognized Meralda. The sorceress, both the first woman and the youngest mage to ever occupy the seat of Thaumaturge in the long history of Tirlin, had briefly been the subject of notoriety in the papers.

My reaction when I read that?



Noooooooooooooo! Not another Mary Sue, please!



I mean, all the checkboxes are ticked. There are no mentions of her parents. She is the youngest. She is the first. All the signs point toward a Mary Sue. But, thankfully, somehow, the author still manages to avoid the trope.



This is my first book by Frank Tuttle, and I have to say, he writes great characters. At first, I was going to pick my favourite and expound on him/her/it, but then when the time came, my choice kept changing until I suddenly realised:





So here it is. My favourite characters are, in no particular order: Shingreve, Fromarch, Mug, and the Alon Mages.

Shingvere gently laid the latch across Fromarch’s knees and snatched his hand away. “This is your secret weapon?” he asked. “‘An ancient instrument of great power’,” he said, mocking Fromarch’s baritone. “‘Forgotten, by all but me’.” The Eryan shook his head. “Simply marvellous. When the trouble starts, you can explode with the latch, and I’ll set fire to my robes, and perhaps the Vonats will be so embarrassed they’ll call in all their spies and go home to take up apple ranching.”

I would love to have teachers like Shingreve & Fromarch. Teachers who guide you when you need help, but never try to overwhelm or dominate your work. Teachers who you can joke with and, occasionally, drink beer with. And, mostly importantly, teachers with a sense of humour.

Fromarch withdrew his pipe from his mouth. “We buy some Nolbit’s,” he said. “And we go back to my basement, and we spread out our tools, and we latch every spell we know to this,” he said, shaking the latch, “and then we just wait for that—”

“Language,” warned the Eryan, with a grin. “Profanity is the footstool of lazy intellect.”

“—for that unwashed hedge conjurer to lift a paw toward the thaumaturge,” said Fromarch. “At that moment, I’ll start unlatching, and I’ll stop when there’s a pair of empty Vonat boots on the floor and a sooty spot on the ceiling.”

And then there’s Mug, the enchanted construct, in all his sarcastic glory.

Meralda laughed and executed a curtsey. “Why thank you, kind sir. I do hope you’ll join me?”

Donchen smiled. “After I see us served, of course,” he said. “Pray be seated, while I prepare the table.”

Mug groaned from across the room. “I’m still trying to heal over here, you two,” he cried. “This isn’t helping.”

If ever I manage to enchant my houseplant (and mark my words, it’s only a matter of time. I’M A WITCH, HOGWARTS, I SWEAR – MY POWERS ARE JUST LATE IN MANIFESTING!) I would want it to be just like him.

“Mistress,” said Mug. “Respectfully, that’s the single least appealing idea you’ve ever espoused.” Mug waved his leaves at Donchen, who stood frowning by Meralda’s desk. “Mr. Ghost. Help me here. Tell the mage why holding ancient evil staves while they fly through Goboy’s brittle old mirror is a monumentally bad idea.”

I mean, wouldn’t you love him too?

As for the Alon mages, I probably would have grown weary of their incompetent & clownish ways if they had been prominent characters, but seeing as they were only there for a short period of time, their antics amused me no end.

The Alon mages glared at each other, and began to warily circle the room, each brandishing his respective bone and muttering to it. Red Mawb’s skull twitched and jerked. Dorn Mukirk’s leg bone emitted brief tongues of pale, cold flame. Both wizards circled and chanted and, at one point, bumped into each other and broke into a fresh fit of shouting and fist-waving.

Picture that scenario. Seriously. Close your eyes for a minute and picture two red-faced, burly men each clutching a bone and muttering seriously to themselves. I dare you to tell me that doesn’t make you laugh.

Surprisingly, though, I didn’t fall in love with Meralda or Donchen as much as I expected to.

Donchen, despite being the love interest, remains a very solidly secondary character. Perhaps it’s because this book isn’t romance-heavy, but Donchen felt more like an endless fountain of information than a fully-fleshed out character, especially when compared to, say, Mug.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, there is no depth to him. He is not complex. You never have to guess if he’s using her for his own nefarious purposes, or why he is providing her with everything he provides her with. It’s dues ex machina in a sense. He just fell flat for me, and, when juxtaposed to all the other vivid characters, that resulted in him becoming wallpaper.



The same, however, cannot be said for Meralda.

“I am the mage to Tirlin,” she said. “I appreciate your concern. I do, really. But I’m neither helpless nor foolish.”

Logically speaking, she should have been my favourite character. She is a strong female character who, whilst acknowledging that she can’t achieve impossible things, is fully aware of what she can achieve, and is no shrinking violet. She is also cool-headed enough to realise it’s not the time for a romance to occur, to boot.

“Mistress, I may be a bit vegetative, but I’ve lived with you mobile folk long enough to know a few things. About gentlemen and ladies…”

“Mugglewort Ovis. That is quite enough.” Meralda rose and stalked away. “The very existence of Tirlin hangs by a thread. The Vonats are aiming spells who knows where this very moment. The Accords may see an epic disaster born. Do you really think I have time to behave like some…” she fought for words “…moon-eyed schoolgirl?”

What’s not to love?



And yet, I never really connected to her. Again, maybe it’s only because of the juxtaposition to all the other characters. She is a very studious, hard-working person, and, as in the real world, whilst I respect her tremendously as a person (or a character, in this case), I would much prefer the company of her sarcastic houseplant.

But, despite not loving the MC or her love interest, the characters remain my favourite thing about the book. Good thing, too, because the plot & world-building aren’t terribly well done.

There were no plot twists. I kept expecting Donchen to pull something because, hello? He’s too good to be true. A guy who suddenly appears and supplies you with all the information you want? Personally, I would’ve been like:



But Meralda didn’t. Thus, I expected it to backfire. I thought the final tethering was done by Donchen, or that the information would somehow backfire, but nothing happened.





Also, even now, I’m not quite sure how spells work. There seems to be an awful lot of copper-welding going on, and the business of spell-latching is never really described in full. I thought that providing Meralda with the Bellrings would allow her to explain everything going on, but the author didn’t do that, and, as a result:



My verdict? This book isn’t without its flaws, but it’s eminently enjoyable nonetheless. Definitely read this if you’re tired of everything taking the backseat so romance can shine in the limelight, or if you just want a strong female protagonist in a high-fantasy setting.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first part of this book but then the book quickly got bogged down in the complicated politics of this fantasy world. Around page 40 I started to struggle with the story and paying attention, by page 107 I gave up. I have read other books by Tuttle and enjoyed them but this one just didn’t hold my interest.

There just wasn’t enough story here to hook my interest. I did enjoy the heroine somewhat but I was a bit frustrated with her willingness to take on problems that didn’t seem all that important in the larger scheme of this world.

There are a lot of characters introduced rather rapidly, which I am never a fan of. Additionally what started off looking like an interesting book about magic quickly changed to a book about politics and war; again not my favorite topics.

Overall this book isn’t poorly written and it is somewhat humorous, but the subject matter just didn’t hold my interest.

[Nenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept having to start and stop this
The plot is a slow build the characters are good but not engaging enough to make you not put the book down. I don't know how I feel about the romance to be honest. The world goes a bit hazy sometimes feels medieval sometimes almost Victorian or something of a blend

Side note though I'm just happy to read a book that isn't shoving the feminist agenda down my throat and beat me over the head with it.

[Leonie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original and captivating, funny and darkly mysterious

Is it steampunk or is it fantasy magic?
It doesn't matter - Tuttle writes with pace and style, giving his heroine true strength without compromising on intelligence or grace. A female lead worth following into her next adventures.

[David E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another great Frank Tuttle book!

This is an imaginative, witty story of a resourceful mage heroine who will steal your heart early-on, and will lead you through a page-turner novel filled with dangers and discoveries. Reward yourselves by also enjoying Tuttle’s satisfying Markhat series.

[Naticia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting steampunk fantasy with a strong female lead and all the things I like about good YA fantasy - developing characters, exciting plot, light romance, and the fate of the world in the balance.

[Phyllis E. Strode · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining!

I had fun reading this book. The characters are interesting (especially Mug!) With a unique story line.

I suppose there will be a second book to look forward to?

[Swan Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a rich read full of magic, humor, humanity and characters I wanted to spend more time with. I was delighted to find myself indulging in one more great author with one more series to follow. I cannot wait to see what other titles this author has available for me

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. The jumping of time without a new paragraph was painfully annoying.