14

The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller- Part one of a duology

Quite difficult to get started on, after reading the prologue I had to put it down for an hour or so before I started the main body of the book. Good mediocre fantasy, nothing special but eminently readable. Asher (a fisherman) rises in the ranks of the king's household after befriending the prince. With an evil lurking over the borders, divisions in court, a Prophecy (with Asher as the key player) coming to pass and frictions between the two 'races' who share the country there is a lot to pack in to the book. Its pretty well done, although there were points where I had to repeatedly reread pages to get the gist. With a dramatic and unexpected event at the end of the book, I picked up the second very quickly. This series is quite page-heavy too, running to around 700 pages each.

Also arrived today:

The Winter Rose by Patricia Mckillip - more fantasy!

Oh and I found my daughter hiding today trying to suck the last bits of cheese from the plastic lid of my Danish Blue box - I do feed her honestly. I took pity on her and gave her some from the box and some of my Bleu D'Auverne too, so looks like I have some serious competition for my stinky blue cheese (MrNeverwithoutabook classes them with pickles and marmite in the inedible category!).