Spellwright: Book 1 of the Spellwright Trilogy Paperback – 3 Mar. 2011

This book is an enigma...The story quickly drew me in, I'm a fan of the genre, but at more than one point I considered give up. It lurches from clichéd repetition of genre classics, to stunning originality. Bear in mind that this is the author's first book however and the tired re-treading of some of the themes becomes forgivable, especially when you are then rewarded with well described spell casting or fight scenes.The characters are strong, if a little stereotyped, and likeable, however the author doesn't always do enough to bring his readership along with him. The plot is complicated, he is after all trying to explain a thousand years of back-story and scheming, but the "reveal" sections didn't always seem to be as enlightening as desired.The pace of the story unfortunately follows a typical pattern. Slow start, and rushed ending, again a sign of a novice author, the worst crime in this regard is the omission of almost any detail for the trials at the end, which seems to have been added as a footnote just when I was looking forward to a good piece of spell casting / fighting! Hopefully this can be reviewed in the sequel, for surely there must be one.Despite my criticisms, I appreciate the bravery of the author, and his successes are great, and with the Kindle version of this book being free, I can't complain.Blake I thank you for the many distracted hours reading your story, and eagerly await the sequel (which I'll be happy to pay for!).

The first book of this trilogy starts quite slowly in order to establish locations and the main characters. I soon got drawn into the dystopian world of Nicodemus and the other characters and found it hard to put down. The premise and magic involved reminded me very much of another brilliant book,'The raw shark texts' and I enjoyed it just as much.I found also that the book itself was well published and flowed without the major errors that are so distracting and off-putting in some of the self published books by other " "writers" currently availableI am looking forward to reading the next book in the trilogy.

I don't read many books, but this could be about to change. I've always been interested in fantasy novels and read some when I was younger, I really wished I had continued.This is a great book to get me started again. It is very well written with an interesting and intelligent take on spell casting, magic, etc. The characters are believable and more importantly, likeable. The plot, though a little complicated on the first read, was enough to keep you going. I love the way Blake has created a very enticing world of fantasy and strong characters that kept me reading until the end.I got very absorbed by this book and was sad to finish it.

THis is a fantasy with a real difference. For a start, as mentioned in the blurb, the system of magic is truly original. Then the characters are not the usual run of the mill crew. I did feel that there was not a lot of depth to any of the characters but that was just my personal feeling.The story takes a little while to really get going and builds up towards the latter half of the book. I would say that this book needs a lot more concentration that the average "thud and Blunder" yarn and is none the worse for that.Personally I enjoyed it but I am not completely sure that I will buy the sequel.

This is Blake Charltons debute novel and what a great piece of magical work he has produced.The story although not unique keeps you gripped to the very end. The most impressive thing about this book is the magical system that he has created. It is the most unique system since Trudi Canavans Black Magician work.The book is not heavy reading making it easy to pick up whenever the need takes you but I truly believe readers who enjoy magical worlds will love this book as much as I did.

It started off as just something different to read, but it wasn't long until I was lost in the story. It has a very different perspective than the normal good verses evil. I may be wrong, but believe the author has brought out the anguish he has felt at the structure of text which most people take for granted and which many dyslexic will struggle throughout life, diagnosed or not.I look forward to the next book and the continuation of the story......

Interesting plot, interesting world, but very ponderously written. I found it hard work as the slow pace kept making me lose interest. However, I stuck with it and the last third of the book was much better, and started to get somewhere. However, the story just ended in the middle, with nothing resolved, and no indication there would be a sequel. Not sure I'd bother with a sequel anyway, I want to know how the story ends, but don't think I could get through a similarly slow building story again.

Great compelling read, a real page turner. A book you cant put down, I ended up downloading the Kindle app for PC and reading it at work during my lunch. It is well worth the money if you like fantacy type books about 'magic' and other lands. I was left wanting more, more background as well as stories fron before and after the time of this book.