The Innocent Mage

In short, I enjoyed reading this book because of its strong and likable characters.

The strong points of Karen Miller is that she can really develop characters. All of the main characters are very much alive and very much real. I was initially irritated at Asher's dialogue and dialect, but then I came to realise that's real flavour, and found myself thinking it was a great effect to portray Asher's growth.

The interactions between the characters are superbly written. You can feel the bonds between each of them and since she switches perspectives every once in a while, you get a glimpse of the thoughts and motivations behind all the main characters, not just the protagonists.

And the bad? The plot. 3 stars came solely from the characterisations. 1 star from the plot. There's really not much depth from a plot or lore point of view. There's precious little information on how the kingdom came to be, and in truth, very little plot progress, that's capped off with a literal cliffhanger. Luckily I have book 2 already, so I don't have to wait.

And one final nitpick - “The Innocent Mage” doesn't even know he's a mage... so if you're expecting lots of magic, you'll be disappointed.