The Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills (a.k.a Karen Miller)

The one thing that Karen Miller has done with this series is make very lively characters. There are ups and downs, and the fact that she is able to keep the humor going almost throughout the whole book without it getting unbearable really makes this book amazing. It is one of those gems where, after not reading it for a long time and re-reading knowing I liked them, gave me a very nice reminder of why I liked them. To me, in this series, her writing style reminds me a lot of Terry Pratchett. And on a side note, this speaks to her talents as an author because I own I believe all of the books she has come out, and throughout the different series that she has made they are each very nicely distinct.

The Rogue Agent series is the most humorous of her books, and that I believe is mainly because of Reg. Reg is amazing, and the amount of sarcasm that drips from her beak just tickles me to death. Gerald Dunwoody is a very nice main character to follow around; and in this book he is essentially have a life crisis. He is a middling wizard and then something amazing happens to him, turning his whole world upside down.

What is very interesting about this series is how Karen Miller deals with magic. It is essentially if magic and science had a baby, the outcome would be how their world is. Essentially in order to be a reasonably successful wizard and learn more you are going to be at the same time a scientist. This whole idea of the magic/science hybrid going on is further solidified in how different magical properties and scenarios are described. In a way it makes magic seem less mystical and more understandable.

If you are an avid reader, you will blow through this book and probably the whole series, laughing through most of the way (or at least chuckling a couple times). If you are a fan of Terry Pratchett I highly encourage you to check out the Rogue Agent Series. If you are not so much a fan of Terry Pratchett or are just looking for books that are a little more dark than these ones then I highly encourage you to look at her other books that she has come out. They are significantly darker, but just as good.

The Falcon Throne - Karen Miller

So, this book was very very good. I sadly wasn't able to read this book as fast as I would have preferred. This was mainly due to the fact that I have been battling off being sick and it left me unable to really do anything after working all day. But that is besides the point. I believe that this book is a really nice beginning to what could be a good rival to the Song of Fire and Ice series. I don't want to spend this whole review comparing it, but I think one thing that is pretty neat is the smaller scale of things; meaning less characters to deal with and a smaller area to get familiar with. And that is enough of that.

What I found extremely intriguing was the theme that there is someone out there that is trying to alter events to an outcome that we do not realize totally at this point. And of course there is quite a bit of death of people you want to die and people who you don't want to die. I really do not want to say anything, but there were a couple of things I was really upset about happening. I think that Balfre is a very good bad guy, in the sense that he does quite a few of bad things but he is intelligent about it. Personality-wise he reminds me of Joffrey but with quite a bit more brains.

To continue with the speculation, it is going to be interesting to find out why Roric, Balfre, Liam and Casinia (I think I spelled her name wrong but I don't have my book in front of me) are important to Salimbene. And because they all come from the same area of the world what effect they are going to have on the rest of the world. And I firmly believe this is going to have a greater effect then it looks at first glance. This is mainly because I really love this author and I want this book to be on a very nice scale of epicness. I definitely am very upset that I have to wait for the next book to come out, however, I am looking forward to reading this book again when it does come out.

There was also a fair share of moments when I wanted to take the characters that I initially started to like and shake some sense into them when I could just see how the bad things were going to go, or when they were stupid. Which is a good sign to me because it shows me that I am getting attached to the characters.

The book in my opinion leaves off with everything starting to get darker for the majority of characters, and with the possibility of some hopeful things coming true. There was also a nice dash of irony that I am hopeful plays out with a more positive ending. And then the grand mystery of whether or not what Salimbene wants is good, bad, neutral or dreadful. Is the Oracle something that will have the great ramifications the I envision happening? I am upset that I have to wait!

Let me know if any of you have read and what you think might happen :)