Wistril Compleat

by Frank Tuttle

All three of Wistril's magical misadventures are included in this complete compilation of cantrips and catastrophes! Wistril Besieged -- Wizard Wistril's wants are simple -- four meals a day, a steady supply of honey-gold Upland beer, and above all else, peace and quiet. All but the latter are in plentiful supply at Castle Kauph. Despite secreting himself on the edge of the Wild, Wistril finds himself battling an army of relentless mercenaries while the entire population of the nearest village takes refuge in his home. Even Kern, Wistril's long-suffering, sharp-tongued apprentice, isn't sure whether the army or the houseguests will prove to be Wistril's undoing! Wistril Afloat -- Wistril doesn't believe in lake monsters -- until they invade the lake that just happens to provide Wistril's favorite fish dinners. Faced with the choice of adjusting his menus or daring the wilderness around Lake Ovinshoon, Wistril and Kern soon have bigger problems than mere lake monsters on their hands. Because while Wistril wishes only to study the beasts, others wish to hunt them and skin them. Will Wistril's peaceful White Chair magics prevail against a ruthless band of wyvern-hunters who have only profit on their minds? Wistril Betrothed -- If ever there was a determined bachelor, thought Kern, his name was surely Wistril. So when Wistril's wife-to-be shows up with a pursuing army on her heels, life at Castle Kauph is turned upside down. And when another suitor for Lady Emmerbee's hand arrives, with a dark and menacing wizard of his own in tow, it's up to Kern and the rest of Castle Kauph to get Wistril wed without losing his head! White Chair wizard, gourmand, beer fancier, scholar. Wistril of Kauph is all that, and more. Join him for a taste of classic high fantasy well seasoned with humor and a dash of adventure!

Genres: Fantasy, Comedy

71 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Olga Godim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book, composed of three short humorous stories about a wizard Wistril, was pure entertainment. Wistril is a rotund, peaceful wizard, if a bit grouchy. He likes his food, his books, and his comforts. He lives in a castle with his sarcastic apprentice Kern and a couple hundred of staff, all gargoyles utterly devoted to their master.
In all three stories, Wistril’s studies of arcane science are rudely interrupted by an unfortunate occurrence: a siege by a mercenary army (Wistril Besieged), an appearance of a lake monster in a nearby lake (Wistril Afloat) and an arrival of his betrothed, Lady Hohnserrat, and her other suitor, a belligerent baron (Wistril Betrothed).
On all occasions, Wistril triumphs over his adversaries, but he must utilize his formidable intellect to do so. He can’t use his magical power to harm anyone because he swore an Oath to that effect, but he can be inventive.
The stories are fast and easy to read, and the characters are surprisingly well defined despite the shortness of this book. They are all a bit cartoonish, but I think the writer intended them to be. I couldn’t read this book without smiling. Every time my eyes stumbled upon Wistril’s witty comments or his apprentice’s sly rejoinder, I giggled.

A quote from Wistril Besieged:

Kern frowned. “The Oath prevented you from turning the Captain into a turnip, but not from having the bridge supports hacked away, correct?”
“The Oath prohibits offensive arcane actions, not malicious carpentry,” said Wistril.

A quote from Wistril Afloat:

Wistril sighed. “A lake monster,” he muttered. “Why not a haunt, or a vampire, or a rafter-goblin? If I must face myths, might they at least have the courtesy to dwell indoors?”

A quote from Wistril Betrothed:

Sir Knobby gently opened the study door and padded through. Behind him crept three much smaller gargoyles. Two wore lace-trimmed pink aprons; the third was wearing a red lady-in-waiting dress, complete with silver-wrought sash and frilly white trim.
…
“Splendid,” said Wistril, no trace of dismay in his voice. “Thank you. The Lady Hohnserrat will be most pleased.”

A diverting read but nothing serious, just a small verbal trifle to enjoy without straining your brain or engaging your emotions. I like Tuttle’s later books better, but even these earlier stories (2001) are good enough to warrant your reading pleasure.

3.5 stars

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I downloaded this for my Kindle not knowing what to expect. It just sounded like an interesting book. I really ended up enjoying this book a lot. It is a very classic fantasy tale with a lot of humor woven throughout.

Wistril and his apprentice, Kern, live in Castle Kauph and in general just want to be left alone to their studies. In these three stories about Wistril, that is just not meant to be. The three stories included are Wistril Besieged,
Wistril Afloat, and Wistril Betrothed. In each story Wistril shows that brain always triumphs over brawn and comes up with humorous solutions to rather difficult situations.

I thoroughly enjoyed these stories. Wistril is a pretentious, yet caring and hilarious wizard. He constantly surprises the reader with his crazy solutions to problems. Kern is a very competent apprentice who weaves tons of hilarious sarcasm throughout the novel. Wistril is sworn, as a white wizard, to never harm with his magic and this adds an interesting twist to things.

Tuttle has a very readable writing style that I really enjoyed. He develops wonderfully quirky characters. These stories really have a classic kind of tongue-in-cheek dungeon crawling humor to them. I was pleasantly surprised and very amused.

Overall I absolutely loved this book. I immediately went online and got a couple more of Tuttle's Kindle books. If you love classic fantasy with a humorous twist you have to check out this book.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similarly to A Bad Spell in Yurt, this is mildly amusing fantasy involving a wizard. Yurt's wizard is young and hapless, a role filled here not by the title character Wistril but by his apprentice, but in both cases, the wizards have to contend with ethical limitations on their magic to resolve a series of threats.

Wistril Compleat consists of three short stories. In each of these stories, Wistril is unable to use magic directly against a hostile military force because of his oath as a White Chair mage, and resorts instead to subterfuge. This gives them a degree of sameness, and I would have liked one of the three to have a different challenge for the sake of variety.

Wistril is bombastic and formal, and his apprentice is snarky and pragmatic, and the interplay between them works well. However, the limited range of the stories, along with the fact that I found them only mildly amusing and not at all tense, means that I won't be rushing to read more by the same author.

It also needs a good going-over by a copy editor for numerous minor errors. I counted 27, mostly incompletely revised sentences, but also some misplaced apostrophes, misspellings, typos, missing words and the like. In such a short volume, that's a high number. I'll pass them on to the author, as I usually do, and hopefully he will fix them up.

[Bigal-sa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have done with another couple of stories. The stories in the Kindle version is from 22 to 1414 locations (out of 1519). The final 12% of the book is advertising for the author's other books (advertising which includes a synopsis of Wistril Compleat!).

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a three that trailed toward a two--oh, how I wish we could do half stars--ending with two-ness, because I had higher hopes. It was perfectly pleasant throughout much of it, but the apparently humorous bits were never funny enough to arouse a chuckle, the apparently clever bits were never clever enough to make me think "wow, that's clever," the suspenseful bits not remotely suspenseful, etc., etc. It was pleasant enough, but almost imminently forgettable, and the last, longest story was the least interesting.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

[Judy Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious and warmh

I found this a lovely lighthearted read. It is easy to grow fond of Mr Tuttle's characters. Three more words.

[Marva · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's not to love? With the ebook, it'll be the best .99 you ever spent.

Wistril is a wizard. Okay, we've heard that story before, right? Not really. Wistril is a white chair wizard who can't throw thunderbolts at the bad guys to defeat them. Instead, he has to be wily and sneaky to save the...well, not the entire world, but at least Castle Kauph.

With his intrepid apprentice, Kern, and a horde of faithful gargoyles led by the intrepid Sir Knobby, Wistril figures out how to defeat the bad guys in these three fun tales of magical mayhem.

Frank Tuttle has a knack for humorous fantasy. Great writing, fun plots, fast action.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really a book of 3 short stories about the wizard Wistril. He lives in a castle with gargoyles and a snarky apprentice. He just wants to be left alone to drink beer, eat good food and work on his research. Don't we all? But he seldom gets what he wants. These stories were wonderful, creative and very funny. Frank Tuttle is a relatively new author on the scene, but definitely one to watch out for. I greatly hope to see more of Wistril in the future!

[Trina Lore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories about a wizard named Wistril. His roundabout way of solving problems reminds me very much of Piers Anthony stories in the Xanth vein. Very enjoyable! I hope Mr. Tuttle writes some more, one of these days!

This collection is another solid 4.5 - 4.75. I wish there were 10 stars so there was more give in the ratings.

[Maria Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this anthology because it dealt with the same characters and setting throughout--almost like a novel, only complete stories in each segment. A very good read, especially if it is still 99 cents. Highly recommended for fantasy readers and those who like wizards and adventure.

[Kay Ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyable

All four stories were amusing and enjoyable. The author includes several Interesting characters in this series that make the stories fun as well as imaginative.

[Deena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun! Quick reading (I wouldn't have minded more), but well written - enough description, action, character development, but not too much. If you like Tuttle, don't miss this one.