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My first review. Wow, these can be scary...


4.0 out of 5 stars Quite good book by new fantasy author, March 15, 2011
By 
Wulfstan "wulfstan" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   
This review is from: Passage of the Acolyte: part one (Volume 1) (Paperback)
James Vargo has a very good start here to his planned epic fantasy two-volume series. This is the story of Greynol an "Acolyte" (a sort of holy man). Greynol has lived for decades in a quite life of contemplative retirement when he is pulled back into the real world by a dark secret from his past- one that may have dire consequences for the world.

The Acolyte thus must gather a small group of escorts for his quest across the continent, and ends up with a group of eager young men.

In many ways, I found the tale so far quite evocative of The Fellowship of the Ring. Don't get me wrong, there's no attempt to copy LotR ( no hobbits, etc), and it's not up to Tolkien's writing level (who is?), but still, there is a sense of the Fellowship here.

I quite enjoyed it. Not a lot of magic or combat, but just enough of both to add a sense of wonder and danger. The world is beautifully described, too. And, it has several nice maps, and we all know how much I like maps in a fantasy novel. Nice character growth and a slow building of what we know about Greynol, too.

There's a few missteps, of course, such as one would expect from a new author. Names are a bit confusing, as is all too common in fantasy books. To an extent, same with the different peoples. What would be a good addition is a glossary with a short character bio and info about the various people, nations, etc.

Still, those are quibbles. I am very much looking forward to the rest of the series.

I rcvd a copy of this book for review.


(NOTE FROM ME:  I'M LOOKING FOR MORE REVIEWS.  CONTACT ME, I'LL CUT YOU A DEAL ON THE BOOK(S) )

Comments

Liz Schulte's Blog said…
What a wonderful review! Congrats.
March 27, 2011 at 10:21 AM
James Vargo said…
thx Lizzie. Feel free to review it too...
March 27, 2011 at 11:55 PM
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