jbronderbookreviews

The Book of Spells by John Miller

SEVENTH CENTURY SOUTHERN ENGLAND. A KINGDOM RULED BY A KIND AND GENEROUS KING. THREE SISTERS WITH A BOOK OF SPELLS. A WIZARD GROWING MORE EVIL BY THE DAY

…Transporting the reader back to Southern England into the midst of the seventh century, THE BOOK OF SPELLS takes readers to the Kingdom of Vilgar, governed by a generous king in whose household an evil wizard has positioned himself. Convincing the king that his powers of magic and premonition will benefit the kingdom, Malecar becomes the court wizard, surreptitiously studying the dark arts in his quest to rule over the kingdom.

When Martir, a kind and gentle wizard arrives, he is appointed Malecar’s apprentice and becomes a close friend and confidant of the king’s son, Audric. The forest bordering Vilgar is a refuge to three witches. The women are in possession of a book they cannot open. Dabbling in the dark arts so that they might protect themselves, they realize that the book may contain the darkest of spells.

Confronted by Malecar, the sisters give him access to THE BOOK OF SPELLS, and the evil within him allows him to open it. What happens when an evil wizard has access to powers beyond his wildest desires? Or when a gentle wizard becomes his nemesis and the only protection for the Kingdom he serves?

Working its magic on young and old alike, THE BOOK OF SPELLS will carry readers to a time and place where magic is the norm, where good and evil are at odds, and where maybe—just maybe—the gentle are stronger than they ever imagined they could be.

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My Review

3 Stars

This story takes place in the Kingdom of Vilgar. We start the story with three sisters that are witches. They practice good magic and try to help the locals. But when I rich man refuses to pay one of the sisters for healing his pigs she turns him into a pig and the sisters end up having to go on the run.

Then we have the King of Vilgar who rules fairly and is a caring man. One day events happen and the wizard Malecar saves the kingdom. The king then makes him the court wizard and he help guide the king. But Malecar is a dark wizard and uses tricks to keep himself in the favor of the king as he continues his study of dark magic.

Finally there is the wizard Martir. He is traveling the country on a personal quest and comes across the Kingdom of Vilgar. He becomes the apprentice for Malecar but also travels the land making sure things are running smoothly. As we move between these three branches, they slowly start coming together as the quest for dark power brings darkness to the kingdom.

This was an interesting story but I had some trouble with it. The dialogs are meant to vary but I had a hard time with them. The conversation between the sisters was rough and choppy and the accents for the king and prince of Vilgar were just so hard to read.

From there it’s not a bad story; it just feels rough in the execution. There are big jumps in time that threw me off and the ending left me feeling confused. Is this a first book in a series? If not, what happened?

This is not a bad book; there is a lot of potential for this story. But it felt like it was not really edited and the flow was all over the place making it tough for me to stay with the story. This is one that is not for me but I do thing that it could be someone else’s next favorite book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.

I would like to thank the Author and Strategies Public Relations for the opportunity to read and share this book.