Review: Bob the Wizard

Bob the Wizard by M.V. Prindle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review. My experience would be closer to 3.5 stars, but I cannot justify rounding it up to 4 stars.

The premise of the book is that our hero, Bob, watches some otherworldly figure murder his family. He is handed a magical device that will allow him to jump between astral planes/parallel-worlds/time/etc. He follows his family's murderer through space and time.

Bob eventually finds himself in a place where he discovers that he isn't the good guy anymore. He outright kills a couple of good guys. He didn't know, but the deaths are the result of Bob arrogantly thinking that all of his prior actions had been appropriate.

He soon discovers who the bad guys are and is enslaved by them. He eventually helps his fellow slaves escape and they all meet up with the good guys. He discovers that he is a descendant of a unique race. He learns to use some powers. His side eventually wins the day.

While I was fully engaged with the characters and the general narrative, there were just too many instances of poor writing for me to overlook. Also, this is obviously the first book in a series. I discount books in a series that are not self-contained story arcs.

In the early scenes, Bob finds himself up high on a building that has banister. Bob hangs from the banister rather than standing on a ledge that the banister would be protecting. I think the author wanted the cool image of Bob hanging off the side of a building. A little later on, Bob jumps from the building to follow his objective through a dimensional portal. He ends up landing on the grass without much fuss. All of that momentum from the fall apparently doesn't matter when passing through a portal that is hanging in midair.

At another point, Bob suggests that he is "wondering" the "Astraverse". I think he meant that he is "wandering". There is an instant where it is apparent that the author doesn't know how guns work. There is a reference to a deer having "fauns". The word is "fawns".

With a little copyediting, this would be a solid 4-star book.

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