Book - The Wand-Maker's Debate: Osric's Wand: Book One

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The Wand-Maker's Debate: Osric's Wand: Book One
Jack D. Albrecht Jr
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There is a time when history begins; a time when those who live feel the need to write their story, for those who come after them to read. When recollection of events of importance cannot be left to one's offspring alone, but must be shared with all.

Then there is a time where history transcends into legend; when strongly held beliefs are tried by fire, and traditions are questioned. There are beginnings that truly are beginnings and those that were only thought to be.

This is that world; this is truly their beginning. What they thought was knowledge, was only a foundation. They will delve into a depth they have never known, discover things they never thought imaginable, and struggle to uphold the truth rather than be consumed by it. With magic in its infancy, and a world in turmoil, an endless chain of possibilities lie dormant. Rousing them has the potential for paragon or chaos, and only time will tell.

Just as Leonardo da Vinci has mapped out the human body, and the world has begun to discover the mysteries within, so it is on Archana. With the rudimentary structure in place, they now have what it takes to discover what magic can do; both the mundane and the divine. Lore begins in these days, and mythology will forever echo their names.

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To be honest, I didn't particularly like this book. However, this book wasn't bad, truth betold. It was just me that didn't find some things in the book agreeable.

Formatting, typset, and such were brilliant on the Kindle version of the book, so it was very pleasant to the eyes when reading this book.

In this fantasy world, people have "gifts", that gives them special abilities. Say a "Hunter gift" gives you the ability to aim and shoot (hunt) very well. Apart from these "gifts", magic is also an everyday thing. Even animals can talk and interact with humans; yes animals can cast magic too.

Someone caused some commotion in a grand event, and the world is at the verge of war. The main character and his group are out to prevent the war. Only, they find out that there is more to all that.

I personally think that this kind of setting has very good potential to be a really interesting book.

I simply thought it ran into a pretty cliche or, Mary-Sue-ish (or, for a male character, Marty Stu?) and juvenile route. Though, I shouldn't be so harsh as this is a YA book, I guess.

Potential spoilers
Certainly, Osric (main character) starts acquiring all these new "gifts". It remains unexplained in the book, but i'm pretty sure eventually it will come out to something like "He has a "gift stealer" gift that pretty much lets him acquire whatever the gifts the people he has interacted with has." He pretty soon acquires all the gifts that his groupmates have (and probably even the gifts of some of the enemies he tackled with)

Everything comes down to this Osric boy. He is so important and acts mature most of the time until the odd, out-of-character temper tantrum he throws.

All in all, this was a good enough read for me. I doubt I will re-read it, and the pull isn't so strong that I have to read the sequel. I guess.. this is where I say goodbye, for now...