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The Counsel of Wizards (The Sunset of Magic #2)

Alistair Potter (Goodreads Author)

4.20 · Rating details · 5 ratings · 4 reviews

Action, adventure, magic and more! Scholarly Grant Moy is sent by the dying Wizard Torven to a distant world in search of the Council of Wizards. Without another wizard to inherit Torven's legacy, all his vast knowledge and experience will be lost. Ahead are challenges and adventures beyond Grant's wildest imaginings.

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Kindle Edition, 259 pages

Published May 15th 2014

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Oct 02, 2017 Christian Nadeau rated it it was ok

Shelves: reviewed

I’ve sat on this review for a while now. Part of it is because my appreciation of it is pretty harsh. If I had to put a tag on The Counsel of Wizards, I’d say “serviceable but forgettable popcorn flick” nothing to make you hate it, but not much going for it either.

There are some interesting ideas and perks peppered throughout. The steampunk fantasy style seems to be in vogue, and it makes for interesting scenes and settings, but they play next to no part in this book. The duality magic vs techno I’ve sat on this review for a while now. Part of it is because my appreciation of it is pretty harsh. If I had to put a tag on The Counsel of Wizards, I’d say “serviceable but forgettable popcorn flick” nothing to make you hate it, but not much going for it either.

There are some interesting ideas and perks peppered throughout. The steampunk fantasy style seems to be in vogue, and it makes for interesting scenes and settings, but they play next to no part in this book. The duality magic vs technology isn’t exactly new (A gamer’s reference would be Shadowrun’s essence or Arcanum: Of steamworks and magick obscura), but there’s nothing wrong in being inspired by those. The problem I felt was that the concept isn’t much expanded on beyond a mention or two of worlds having given up on magic in favor of technology.

Void traveling would have presented opportunities to put the characters in a totally alien setting. Alas, the destination world is so similar to their own that no one raises an eyebrow on seeing them (Except for one of the party’s member, but he raises eyebrows even in the world he’s from, so...).
The Dunnit Sprites were fun. They felt like the most fleshed out part of the novel, though we never learn how someone who can move so fast got captured in the first place.

The villain was utterly bland and I didn’t feel as if he served any purpose. He’s an opponent by mere happenstance of wanting to collect one of the party’s members, and he’s more of a vague threat in the background than a fully fleshed menace (We don’t get to understand why he wants what puts him in conflict with the heroes). At least he avoided my main pet peeves though (No mustache twirling monologues or toying with someone until they beat you kind of crap).

Beyond that, the plot felt forced. Every single event or mishap across the heroes’ journey only drives them closer to their objective. One redeeming quality was to avoid the trope of setting the young adult protagonist as the direct heir to the responsibility to be passed on from the get go.

Plot devices. The most blatant example of this was when the heroes are faced with insurmountable odds. One of the heroes comes up with a super weapon which you’d never heard about before, you didn’t know he had it on him, and it will be usable only once because it’s so rare. For me, that screams this is a situation for which there is no logical way out, so here is this divine intervention which will be used once to defy all logic and allow the heroes to pull through. Harry potter did this often, but at least it presented the weapon in the book’s beginning to it didn’t come out of a hat when the time came to use it.

The different worlds aspect has some excellent potential, especially in an on the cusp of steampunk medieval like this, but then I fail to see the relevance of it in the novel as the second world could as well have been the first in terms of settings or technology. If there had been a major difference in terms of the race in charge, culture, technology or even attitude, it would have made for interesting interactions between the travelers and the others, but as it is, the whole plot could very well have taken place in the same world and I can’t say it would have made any difference.

Some characters were interesting. Bort was pretty much what you expect of the strong, calm guy (cooking skills aside, but then when I’m thinking character, I’m thinking what defines personality rather than skill sets: their mannerism, etc.). Grant and Calem were interesting as protagonists because they’re not the usual mold of lethal warrior. Other than she’s a woman who’s fighting like a machine, I can’t say I was much invested in Lineth. The main hiccup I had was that besides Grant’s doubts, those characters didn’t have much in the way of flaws.

For a book that avoided most of what I find to be irredeemable sins, I was hesitant to rate this one two stars. But as much as I’d like to climb up to three, I keep checking goodread’s scale and I can’t say “I liked it”. So, I rate The Counsel of Wizards two (2) stars. It was ok. Someone who likes classic stories more than I do would likely appreciate it.
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Aug 16, 2017 Carolee Croft rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

The Council of Wizards is a good old fashioned quest story with a unique mythology provided by the author's fertile imagination.

Grant the aspiring wizard is the main character, but others get their fair share of the limelight: Lineth, a hardy warrior woman, Calum, a curious young man who is a fan of magic and a healer, and Lofti, a Dunnit sprite, kind of like an elf or fairy.

Like any self-respecting fantasy novel, this one has a Really Big Strong Guy, and he's used to great effect here (bonus ...more

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Mar 28, 2019 Heena Rathore P. rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, adventure, review

The Counsel Of Wizards by Allistair Potter is the sequel to The Last Trollid , being the second book in the series Sunset Of Magic. This book is more of a magical adventure than anything else and I loved it for that. After reading author Potter’s books back to back, this one, even though being as technically detailed as it is, felt like a respite from hardcore sci-fi and gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling of a really great adventure story.

I enjoyed reading this book a lot and liked the characte ...more

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Charles Remington rated it it was amazing
Feb 03, 2017

Apr 06, 2017 Charles Remington rated it it was amazing

Grant Moy is a science student on the planet Nephus. One morning he is summoned by his father with the surprising news that a dying wizard who is the custodian of a fabled library has requested his help. Grant does not believe in wizards or magic and had thought that the library in question was a myth. But the request has arrived via an old and trusted friend of his father, and the possibility of the library being real, and the knowledge that it might contain is an irresistible lure. The Counsel ...more

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About Alistair Potter

Alistair Potter

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A writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Alistair Potter lives and works in the Scottish seaside town of Portobello, just outside of Edinburgh.

Alistair has been writing since 1993 and placing short stories, cartoons and poetry in small publications. His work has been read on the BBC Radio4, Scottish Shorts series, and he is former recipient of a Scottish Arts Council New Writer's Bursary.

"I ho ...more