The Awakened Mage

The Awakened Mage
Karen Miller
Orbit Books

The Awakened Mage is book two of Karen Miller's debut series, the duology, Kingmaker, Kingbreaker and will be part of Orbit's US launch.

I won't do a recap of The Innocent Mage, but to have any idea of what I'm talking about, please see my review. (Looking back on that review, though I gave it a high score, I think I was perhaps unduly harsh in my criticism in some parts.)

With the Kingdom of Lur in disarray following the sinister deaths of the royal family (save Prince Gar - who has no memory of the treachery that killed his parents and sister), it falls to Gar and Asher, his assistant, to pick up the pieces and bring order back to their kingdom. Meanwhile Asher (whom prophecy foretells as the Innocent Mage) is yet to come into his power or realise his role in the struggle for every life on their side of the Wall ...

For if Gar doesn't start using the Weather Magic soon, everyone fears that Barl's Wall - the magical barrier protecting Lur from the outside world - will fall. What they don't know, is that the Wall has already been compromised... and Morg, ancient enemy of the Doranen, is already inside Lur, possessing a member of Doranen nobility, and doing everything possible to bring the Wall down from the inside ... and remove Asher and Gar ...

I struggle to say anything that The Fantasy Review hasn't covered in his review - we agree almost 100% on this book - so I'll reiterate his view that The Awakened Mage kicks off much faster than it's predecessor with events seeming to quickly spiral out of control. The Innocent Mage actually belied its name, and didn't feature that much magic, despite it still being an integral part of the back-drop of the book. The Awakened Mage is far different - and it is in one of the key scenes, showing Gar working the Weather Magic - that Asher begins to notice something different about himself...

Typically in fantasy novels there isn't much physical consequence for using magic, but Karen Miller clearly went to great lengths to make magic something that was very harsh on its user - with Gar repeatedly bleeding from his eye sockets, etc (!) in one scene. Though I liked that this had been done, I was slightly incredulous as to whether anyone would be able to cope with that much pain, so often (even if it was to save his people). Still, it brought a grittiness to the magic scenes which I hadn't anticipated, and that was very welcome.

The Awakened Mage is slightly unusual in that there are no swords - just sorcery! While swords do tend to be a staple part of a fantasy novel, this was a nice change.

A tiny, niggling thing, to do with the actual dialogue - a strength of Karen Miller's - it seemed that the word "fratch" (a slang word within the novels) was used repetitively. It was probably my mad eyes unnecessarily jumping on the word every time they saw it, but it did jar when a variety of different characters were using it (to my mind) overmuch. This is as much a personal nitpick, as it is a criticism, however.

As for characterisations, I found Asher as amusing as usual, and he seemed to develop a lot more, too. I liked the fact that, closer to the end of The Awakened Mage, he felt something akin to hatred towards Gar - now while that may make me seem crazy (and sadistic), I think it would have been all to easy for Miller to have Asher forgive Gar for what had been done to him (I tread close to Spoiler), but instead Karen Miller took a different road, and Asher seemed more real as a result.

Morg was slightly less developed as a character - little seemed to be known of his motives for wanting to kill/enslave/torture/generally upset most of the world, save his spurned love for Barl. In spite of the fact that Morg was a POV character, it would have been good to have seen more of his actual motives. I think a tale of Morg and Barl's lives would be very interesting - and I'm not normally the kind of person who likes prequels.

The Awakened Mage is an engaging and fun-to-read novel. The Fantasy Review has precisely my thoughts on the nature of the storytelling, so I'll just quote him: "... [It] provides a perfect blend of magic and drama..." Asher and Gar - even Darran! - were fun to be with, and Karen Miller has done a superb job of sharing their adventures, even if I did have a few difficulties. I look forward to her future works - she currently is having her first trilogy published in her native Australia, so I'll be looking forward to their worldwide release!

For more info:

Amazon UK
Amazon US

::: That David Wyatt cover art is pretty cool, as well! ::::