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Wizard Squared (2010)

by K.E. Mills(Favorite Author)

3.73 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1841497290 (ISBN13: 9781841497297)

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

Orbit

series

Rogue Agent

review 1: So creepy and well done. I was quite scared of the other Gerald, and quite fearful of that other place. I have to say I didn't care to read such a detailed summary of the same happenings in that other place, even if they were mostly from new characters.Monk! I like him, and was so devastated when (semi-spoiler) he died. I am glad there was more of him in this book, although I think I still like Gerald's pov best. I have to say I liked Sir Alec a lot more in this book, and his fears about Gerald made a lot more sense.I can't say whether I like Bibbie or not. She seems so childish and whiny. Willing to help out friends, but immature all the same. The other Bibbie reinforced that notion.The end felt too rushed. It was like "They have a chance!" "Oh, no, they're gonna... more lose!" "They're all gonna die!" "It's all ruined!" "Catastrophe!" and then they skedaddled and "Everything's fine."In some ways I like how KM makes the characters change and face a bit of dark reality, but they seem too melancholy. Too morose. They may not be too lighthearted to begin with, but after this book they were quite depressed and darkened. Kind of like Gerald after book one. I want more happiness. I wish the characters could still enjoy life, have hope in humanity, trust in the goodness of people, see the glass half full. If possible. But I like happy endings and happy characters. While this wasn't a disappointing ending, it wasn't tidy and happy.
review 2: This is the third book in an immensely enjoyable fantasy series that is both funny and serious.If you are going to use the parallel world trope where a virtuous character is evil in another universe it takes some effort to not make it seem trite. Thankfully this trope is not only done right, but done with flair.In the parallels world Gerald makes a decision that puts him on the road to evil and corruption. It rehashes the battle in the first book between Gerald and the villain King, yet this time Gerald's decision to use some dark magic to do good sets him on the wrong path. This takes a serious issue of doing evil to do good and shows the consequences. Once such a decision is made most often it is justified again and again in such as way as to mute the conscience and then to accept it as a good in itself to do good. There is something seemingly more evil about a virtuous person going bad than the standard villains we see. In this case the evil Gerald seems so much worse than the villain King ever was. Showing the point in which these worlds divided makes it work much better than the famous Bearded Spock episode in Star Trek.The last part of the book was especially harrowing and while you always know the hero will win out, things don't go as perfectly as planned and certainly sets up the next book in the series to be released next year. I really enjoyed the serious treatment of evil and the effects on the soul. less

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