14-year-old Simon Warner isn't having a very good October. To start with, he drowned, and then the real trouble started. Next thing he knows, he's back among the living, and face-to-face with an ghoulish-looking man who kidnaps his adopted father. Enter Nathan Tamerlane, a bonafide wizard, and soon Simon is deep in the hidden world of the supernatural, walking among the Freemancers: a secret society of wizards, and the stewards of all magic on Earth.
Soon the truth is revealed: Simon's birth parents are wicked sorcerers who betrayed the Freemancers years ago before going into hiding. Making matters worse, a cruel and xenophobic warlock named Silas Darrow is gathering his followers (some would say worshipers) to lead an assault on the non-magical world. Now, if Simon ever wants to see his adopted father again, he's going to have to join Darrow's cult. Easier said than done. All it takes is one moment of weakness, and a powerful evil will infest Simon's soul forever.
The Warner Grimoire swept me into another world right from the start. A young adult fantasy with a likable protagonist who grows up quite a bit within the novel and who I hoped would be successful with his goals and his hopes.
The characters were well-developed. Some I really liked and others I just despised. If the character can conjure up an emotion within me, good or bad, then I know I connected on some level. The world-building, though, is where the Warner Grimoire shined for me. With the monsters, the magic, and the sub-plotting, I was transfixed with the Freemancers and Darrow's followers and his agenda. I found it refreshing that this is all based in Mid-America. If you enjoy supernatural, fantasy novels that are page-turning, brimming with eccentric characters and a solid plot, then pick up the Warner Grimoire!
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm Clay Held, a refugee from wild world of video game testing, currently a project manager passing my days in the wild (and very flat) plains of Central Illinois. Once upon a time I was the editor for Grassroots Literary Magazine at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where I earned my Bachelors of Arts in Creative Writing. Today I help make sure software ships on time, and at night I'm busy making things up and writing them down.
In my spare time (what is that again?) I like to read and cook and play with my cats and maintain my blog at www.clayheld.com. When the weather is right, I go storm spotting. Illinois is good like that.
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The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.
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