Deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth.It's okay Adela, it's over now. You've had time to recover. You can write your review now.Except I don't know how to write this review. I was thinking about it a lot in the first few hundred pages. I'd talk about how Arlin became such an excellent character, I thought, and I'd talk about how fREAKING HORRIBLE THAT FAMILY HAS IT. ASHER HOVERING NEAR DEATH, RAFEL TORTURED HORRENDOUSLY INSIDE HIS OWN BODY BY MORG'S POSSESSION, DATHNE DEAD, DEENIE NEARLY THROWING AWAY HER LIFE TO FIND RAFEL, ENDURING SO MUCH PAIN AND FEAR AND DESPAIR AND EXHAUSTION TO GET THERE. I'd talk about ... I can't even remember what I wanted to talk about.But you know what? I was very happily surprised by the ending. Unlike the last three books, it was the actual end. Unlike the last three books, it was also a happy one. Or as happy as possible given the circumstances. But no one else died--after Murdo, that is--none of the main characters, tHEY ALL SURVIVED ISN'T IT GREAT. HAPPY ENDINGS. YAY. And even Asher was able to find happiness, so relieved to have both of his children alive and well that he might be able to better handle the shock of his wife's death. This is a very rambling review, I'm sorry.When Vharne and its people became a new part of the story, I became a little irritated with some of the characters and the occasional, casual sexism going on in conversations. But then Deenie and Charis met up with Ewen and Charis basically came Queen Awesome Feminist Lady, and after that the comments like "womanish" stopped happening.The whole book--the whole four books, really--was just this intense, scary, heart-trampling build-up towards the climax, which was exactly the way it should have been. Like I mentioned in the last review, I think, everything that happened in this book seemed inevitable, once it had already happened. But leading up to it you can't possibly be sure, and you are afraid that everything will go wrong, because so many things have gone wrong, and you never expect... and in this case, in The Prodigal Mage, the reader never would have imagined that Deenie, little meek mouse daughter of the Innocent Mage, would be the one to destroy the most powerful and corrupted sorcerer of all time. But she was. And it was perfect.Two more things I must mention before I stop making you read this terribly written review: the first is that on top of Morg being the most horrible human being in the history of the universe of these books, he was also the least creative when it came to insults. I actually found it kind of amusing how he would always use the exact same three insults, in the exact same order, every time he thought or spoke of Barl, throughout all four books. I wonder if that was purposeful on Miller's part, showing that Morg was so hell-bent on destruction and world domination and has been for so long, that he never even looks back and considers what happened before, and why Barl did what she did, and he's almost just going through the motions now. Kill people, get more bits of magical self, curse Barl. Kill people, get more bits of magical self, curse Barl. And so on.Finally, I'll just mention that I cried when Deenie and Asher reunited. I honestly don't know what it is about this, but I literally cannot read a daughter-father scene like that and not tear up! I think I may have mentioned this before. It is rather strange. But there you have it.THESE BOOKS ARE BRILLIANT. If you are reading this review, I assume you have read the books, since I'm putting a major spoiler warning on it. I wish I could write an intelligent review detailing how amazing these books really are, but I'm afraid I am ailed with a broken heart which will take a little while longer to mend. The reluctant mage steps up from the depths of awful plumbed by it's predecessor but that only means it's my second least favorite book of hers, not my first. Miller is a talented author who is revisiting the world of her first series. I have been so frustrated by these books. In many ways it's because a lot of the gains of her first series are lost. In fact, much of what I loved about this world is gone. The Reluctant mage features Deenie, a character I found fun and interesting. She's going to battle the ever present Morg and hopefully rescue her brother Rafe, the irritating protagonist of book one. If Deenie was the major heroine I might have been in love but she's not. Ewan is introduced and takes up a good portion of the time which I was frustrated by. He's much less interesting.Recurring in this book is Miller's tendancy to have people argue over everything all the time. Literally a fifth of the book is all about people fighting over what the main character has decided. To make it worse we suffer through this and then most of the action happens off screen. Very annoying. All in all I really hope that this world is done and she can go back to writing awesome stuff.
Do You like book Magiër Tegen Wil En Dank (2011)?
Too geared towards female audience and perhaps not suited for older readers either. Silly emotional reactions in times of peril reminiscent of bad horror movies. Messy dialogue, arguments devoid of logic for all characters, just emotional stabbing and keeping secrets for no reason other than to cause more silly arguments.I actually dont mind the speech patterns, but the frequent use of 'noddyhead' was a bit childish. Even though sometimes excessive, the emotional descriptions and developments are 'human'. With an easy-to-read writing style it is worth getting if you've accidently read the first part. It does scratch the small itch left after part one.
—Aastha
Finally some suspense, action and an antagonist that the reader can despise. I really enjoyed reading how the characters matured and found myself willing them to overcome their obstacles throughout. My only criticism of all the Lur based books is that Morg, as a name, just doesn't sound scary. I'm glad I've found Karen Miller, her books come to life in the final few chapters, leaving me wanting more.
—msard
Typical fantasy series, fun but nothing special
—Raechel
