Plot summary: What if Gerald had made different decisions in The Accidental Sorcerer? What if he was now a master of dark magic, unable to be defeated and with the wizarding world under his thumb? When Monk Markham finds himself confronted with a Monk from a parallel universe where exactly those things have happened, he must decide whether to help.Thoughts: I spent the first chunk of the book horribly confused, because surely this was stuff I'd already read in The Accidental Sorcerer? And yes, it was. Up to a point. From that point, things got very interesting. Mills has done a fantastic job of illustrating the impact that major decisions can make on a person's character, and the dramatic changes this brought to Other Gerald led to several unexpected plot twists. THis was not what I hoped for after plowing through two previous books. I suppose I should not have been surprised that right after Our Hero discovers he's The Most Powerful Wizard There Ever Was, we get an "... except for THIS guy." There's a good 150-page novella here. All Mills had to do was cut out:* everything that involves the incredibly annoying Reg speaking* all the scenes where the young Incs are squabbling (half the time it's Go Faster, other half Go Slower)* all the sighing and moaning of "I love him/her but I dare not say so"OK, maybe that would leave 100 pages. And to be fair, I was able to skim over the useless bits quite quickly. Including a large dose of "well, the bad guy will have thought of that, won't he?" that is a tad annoying given the ending, which also includes something that was foreshadowed twice with big, fat, unsubtle hints that fell just short of "PAY ATTENTION THIS IS IMPORTANT." All in all, I get the familiar feeling that this is another author who is churning them out rather than crafting them. That's her choice, but it produces books I don't like. I'm also left thinking that this book is written for a teen-YA audience, which is fine, but at 60+ I've read and enjoyed many such without feeling that the book missed me. And yes, I did identify a tad with Sir Alec.Speaking of whom ... we learn in this volume that he's Sir Alec Oldman. As in Gary Oldman, who played Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a character not at all unlike Sir Alec. I'll look for some reviews of #4 before committing.
Do You like book Wizard Squared (2010)?
Truly stunning. Did not see that ending coming. What a sucker punch.
—MaxRideFreak
Funny, but sometimes too much dialogue that adds nothing new.
—lindz
A really good book. Want to find the rest of the series now.
—Derp
