The Spriggan Mirror, by Lawrence Watt-Evans
I have to admit a certain bias in this review. I've loved the Ethshar series since the first one, and have looked forward to more. Imagine my dismay when I read that the publishers were not going to publish any more of the series!
Well, imagine my delight when I discover that Lawrence Watt-Evans conducted an experiment in electronic publishing, by providing chapters of a new Ethshar book online. He continued providing chapters as long as new readers kept paying for them. Kind of a shareware book deal. The entire book is now online, but I'm sure you could still donate if you enjoy it.
As a side-note, Watt-Evans isn't the only author to provide books essentially for free on the Internet. The most famous repository is probably the Baen Free Library, a large collection of Baen science fiction books. Yes, these are older books, and yes the authors hope to hook you into a series of books where you'll need to buy books to complete the story.
But still, free books! And lots of them!
Okay, back to the review. The Spriggan Mirror is the latest in the Ethshar series, and a knowledge of at least a couple of the previous books is helpful, but not required. I'd recommend reading With a Single Spell, and The Spell of the Black Dagger before The Spriggan Mirror. But, the Spriggan Mirror fills in all the background you really need to know to enjoy it, so the other books are critical. And if you can only bring yourself to read one of the two, it should be With a Single Spell.
The basic plot revolves around the hunt for a magical mirror that creates spriggans on a regular basis. Spriggans are immortal and indestructible little creatures that love to get in the way of wizards. Naturally, the wizards want the mirror found and destroyed. The official reason is that eventually the world will fill up with spriggans, but the real reason is probably that they're too good at interrupting various lengthy spells.
The book follows the adventures of Tobas, the original, accidental, creator of the spriggan mirror, and Gresh, a supplier of hard to find magical ingredients. The book reads like the other Ethshar novels...a fun, fast read that keeps the focus on characters with plenty of interesting magical puzzles. The Ethshar novels in general remind me of L. Sprague de Camp's series that began with The Reluctant King.
The plot in The Spriggan Mirror is not particularly complicated. The fun is in the interactions of the characters, and the solutions of the various puzzles invovled in the quest for the mirror.
If you haven't read any of the other Ethshar novels, take a chance on a free read and you might find yourself hooked. Note that The Spriggan Mirror will likely only be online through the end of 2005.
Well, imagine my delight when I discover that Lawrence Watt-Evans conducted an experiment in electronic publishing, by providing chapters of a new Ethshar book online. He continued providing chapters as long as new readers kept paying for them. Kind of a shareware book deal. The entire book is now online, but I'm sure you could still donate if you enjoy it.
As a side-note, Watt-Evans isn't the only author to provide books essentially for free on the Internet. The most famous repository is probably the Baen Free Library, a large collection of Baen science fiction books. Yes, these are older books, and yes the authors hope to hook you into a series of books where you'll need to buy books to complete the story.
But still, free books! And lots of them!
Okay, back to the review. The Spriggan Mirror is the latest in the Ethshar series, and a knowledge of at least a couple of the previous books is helpful, but not required. I'd recommend reading With a Single Spell, and The Spell of the Black Dagger before The Spriggan Mirror. But, the Spriggan Mirror fills in all the background you really need to know to enjoy it, so the other books are critical. And if you can only bring yourself to read one of the two, it should be With a Single Spell.
The basic plot revolves around the hunt for a magical mirror that creates spriggans on a regular basis. Spriggans are immortal and indestructible little creatures that love to get in the way of wizards. Naturally, the wizards want the mirror found and destroyed. The official reason is that eventually the world will fill up with spriggans, but the real reason is probably that they're too good at interrupting various lengthy spells.
The book follows the adventures of Tobas, the original, accidental, creator of the spriggan mirror, and Gresh, a supplier of hard to find magical ingredients. The book reads like the other Ethshar novels...a fun, fast read that keeps the focus on characters with plenty of interesting magical puzzles. The Ethshar novels in general remind me of L. Sprague de Camp's series that began with The Reluctant King.
The plot in The Spriggan Mirror is not particularly complicated. The fun is in the interactions of the characters, and the solutions of the various puzzles invovled in the quest for the mirror.
If you haven't read any of the other Ethshar novels, take a chance on a free read and you might find yourself hooked. Note that The Spriggan Mirror will likely only be online through the end of 2005.
posted by Jay | 10:18 AM
2 Comments:
Can you tell me about the book, The Shield of Achilles?
I'm afraid I haven't read The Shield of Achilles. Who's the author?
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