I love when a book can suck you in during the first few pages, and then you feel like you have to continue reading.  The prologue of The Wizard Slayer by Franklin Roberts does just that.

The first thing I noticed with this book, is that the author is not the best at character descriptions.  Places, he is wonderful.  The world he is describing, wonderful.  The people in general?  Not so much.  It truly felt like you could tell who was evil and who was good simply based on their looks.  The Wizard slayer, Krael (the hero of this book) was an attractive, robust, bulging muscled man.  The wizards that he slayed (all of whom were evil) were all ugly, or turned ugly because of the magic they practiced.  This kind of put a damper on the book overall, because you could tell who was good and who was bad.

The author, I noticed, is also a bit wordy, when it comes to his writing, and this sometimes made the book feel longer than what it actually was.  I am a fairly fast reader, this is not that long of a book.  The paperback is 391 pages long, and it took me about seven days to read.  For reference, I typically can read a book this long in a day.  I cannot quite put my finger on whether or not this was a pacing issue, or if the editor Franklin worked with didn’t mesh well with his writing style, but that is something to watch out for.

All of that being said, this was a good book.  I loved the Krael had a focus, and that never strayed.  Though he is well muscled, and the main character of the book (and I am assuming series since it is the Wizard Slayer Saga and Krael is the Wizard Slayer) he is not the brightest.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say he is stupid, because he isn’t, but he goes through life with brute strength while following the straightest path forward.  And I loved that he was not a jack of all trades, amazing at everything, and perfect.

On top of Krael being an interesting character, there was quite a cast of characters as well.  You could say there are probably four more main characters in this book as well.  There is Eledrith, the prince.  Sir Garrick, knight and captain of the royal guard.  Darreth, Krael’s loyal and trust sidekick who is amazing with a bow and arrow.  Finally, there is also Lorienne, a sword dancer.  The author did two things incredibly well with these characters.  First, he did not introduce them all at once, leaving a jumbled mess in your mind as to who was doing what.  Second, each of them had unique and wonderful personalities.  I truly enjoyed all five characters and was excited to see what happened to them and where they went. They all interacted throughout the book but maintained their own distinct personalities.  It was the same way with the various villains that were introduced as well.

The best part of this book though, in my opinion, is the setting.  This entire book is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where remnants of the past are still prominent.  There are robots that are basically part of the terrain and are used as guides throughout the world.  I loved that the author wrote a high fantasy novel, set in the remnants of the past technology that is the technology we are using today.  I just found it fascinating and really well done.  Because as you had all of these little notions, they didn’t detract from the overall story.

Overall – This book was a good book, but it did have its flaws. I worry that as the books continue to come out, if they are all as tedious to read as this one was, I don’t know that I would want to continue the series, which is a shame because the author set up a fantastic book two with the ending. 

The Wizard Slayer (The Wizard Slayer Saga Book 1) – Franklin Roberts

Cost* – eBook is $.99.  Paperback is $9.99.  This book is included with Kindle Unlimited.

*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published