2013; 264 pages. Book 2 (out
of 3) of The Wizard
of Time series. New Author? :
No. Genre : Time-Travel; Fantasy, YA, Coming
of Age. Overall Rating : 7½*/10.
It’s
true, it’s true! The long-awaited
“Seventh True Mage” has appeared, in the form of one Gabriel Salvador, much to
the delight of the Council of Time and Magic, aka the “Grace Mages”, who
frankly, right now, are getting their butts kicked in their struggles against
the evil "Malignancy Mages".
Let’s hope their efforts are not in vain; the fate of the world that you
and I live in depends on it. For if the
Malignancy Mages succeed in destroying the Great Barrier of Probability, the
universe as we know it will end.
Sadly,
the appearance of the Seventh True Mage is not enough to tip the balance in the
struggle over to the good guys. It merely means the Grace
Mages aren’t getting getting whupped up on quite so thoroughly. Ah, but the baddies aren’t a bunch of
dummies. They fully realize that as long
as Gabriel lives, their victory is a little less certain. So their path forward is clear.
They just need to use their superior numbers (the forces of Evil always
have the numerical advantage) to locate Gabriel, then attack
wherever he is with an overwhelming and irresistible force. And kill him.
Maybe this time he’ll stay dead.
What’s To Like...
The Sword of Unmaking is the second book in the finished
“Wizard of Time” trilogy, and the book picks up about a year after Gabriel has been in training to be a mage at the dinosaur-era Windsor Castle. In Book One he was a newbie; now he’s grown
to be probably the most powerful spellcaster at the castle, although learning
to control, focus, and effectively use that magic is still a challenge.
The
style in Book 2 hasn’t changed. There’s
still lots of time-travel, still lots of mage-fighting, and still lots of nods
to historical eras and events. Best of
all, G.L. Breedon isn’t afraid to take on “temporal paradoxes” that should
inevitably crop up in any time-travel tale.
(Eg. :
Can I go back in time and kill myself?)
The
writing style and the storyline are both good, particularly if you’re a YA
reader, which I’m not. There’s an
abundance of wit, mostly in the dialogues, that will entertain readers of all ages. A major new “white hat”
character is introduced – the erstwhile Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who
also happens to be a gifted Heart-Tree Magic mage. The info-dumping has been improved, and there
is less ink devoted to the mechanics of magic than in Book 1, which is a plus.
Being a history buff, I loved the historical settings: Vienna back when
it was just a couple of huts, Paleolithic South Africa, 13th-century
France, and Roman-era Turkey. There is
also a somber visit to the (World War 2)
Auschwitz death camp, and I liked the way the author worked in some serious
musings on Nazism, its inherent hatred, and the perils of “looking the other
way”.
There
is some light romance in The Sword of
Unmaking, albeit nothing graphic or lewd.
Gabriel experiences his first kiss at 46%, then experiences his first kiss at 52% as well. Time-travel has
some fascinating paradoxes.
The
ending is suitably climactic, and has a nice twist in it (every ending should have at least one nice twist) to set up
Books 3. The story ends at a logical
spot, so it isn’t a cliffhanger. Not all the plot threads are tied up: we
still don’t know who betrayed the castle or the fate of Aurelius. Presumably, those will be addressed in the
final book, The Edge of Eternity.
Excerpts...
“The sooner we
start, the sooner we’ll be finished.”
Gabriel climbed the stairs of the porch.
“Half an hour
walking in the woods with the most famous philosopher king in history and
that’s the best aphorism you come up with?” Teresa teased as she took Gabriel’s
hand.
“He doesn’t
really speak in aphorisms,” Gabriel said.
“Am I really that
famous?” Aurelius asked, his eyes suddenly shy. (loc.
7628)
Gabriel reached
and pulled Teresa down into a kiss.
“You are such a
romantic idiot.” Teresa shook her head
and pulled back from Gabriel’s kiss. “The
castle is under attack. There are Dark
Mages everywhere. You’re leaking blood
like a punctured wine sack, and you want to kiss!”
“You are really
annoying when you’re right. Hand me my
sword, please.” (loc.
8673)
Kindle Details...
The Sword
of Unmaking sells for $2.99 at Amazon. The other two e-books in the series sell for the
same price, or you can get all three as a bundle for $4.99, which is quite the savings. If you have the patience, G.L. Breedon occasionally
and generously discounts some of the books to free. He has four other e-books available,
including the starts for two more series, ranging from $2.99 to $4.99.
“We must have faith.”
“I
prefer certainty, but I suppose I’ll take what I can get.” (loc. 5489)
The quibbles are trivial. I saw through the baddies’ castle-attack ruse
immediately, but I suspect many YA readers will find the ploy to be
delightfully fiendish.
There
is no backstory, so you really should read Book 1 first (which I did), and then read Book 2 right afterwards (which I didn’t). In fairness, if you buy this trilogy as a
bundle, then all three books are at your fingertips. Alas, my reading habits don’t involve reading
multiple books by any author one
right after another, but hey, that’s a personal problem.
7½ Stars. The Word of Unmaking kept my interest throughout,
and that’s no small feat for a Book 2 in any trilogy. But I can’t quite call it a page-turner. I think this is one of those series that will
appeal immensely to its target audience - YA male readers – but may be a bit
simplistic for adult lovers of time-travel stories. But only “a bit” too simplistic. Since I have the bundle version of this
series, I'm sure I'll be reading Book 3 in the not-too-distant future.
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