The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller

The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller

Number of pages: 640
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 0-316-06780-6
Back of Book Description:

Being a fisherman like his father isn't a bad life, but it's not one that Asher wants. Despite his humble roots, Asher has grand dreams. And they call him to Dorana, home of princes beggars...and warrior mages who have protected the kingdom for generations.

Little does Asher know, however, that his arrival in the city is being closely watched by members of the Circle, people dedicated to preserving an ancient magic

Asher might have come to the city to make his fortune, but he will find his destiny

My Grade: B+

Okay, The back of the book description is quite awful compared to the book itself. Personally I don't think the first couple of lines even describe the book.
This book was excellent. Only a few things that the author did bothered me, and they didn't bother me near enough to quite reading it. It's the first fantasy novel I've read in a long time and I'm glad that I chose this book to come back to the genre with. The author has a tendency to repeat the same words over and over again, or the same phrase, but compared to the story line and the characters and the amount of mystery wrapped up in this book, it's so worth it. I really didn't know what the book was about for the first quarter, but the story moved a long in a way that I knew what was going on, I just didn't know where it was going to go or how it was going to get there, it was quite refreshing not being able to anticipate every move.
Asher, the main character, grows in a way that you can almost feel like you're watching. And Prince Gar is an amazingly complicated character, as is Princess Fane.
There are characters that I wish were real people in this book, so that I could be friends with them and characters that I'm so glad don't actually exist because they scare the crap out of me.
The best part of this book is the ending, and in a way it's the worst part. I recommend that if you do buy or get this book from the library and in the first 50 pages realize that you enjoy it, go get the sequel The Awakened Mage because you're going to want it and be very upset with yourself for not taking my advice.
20 pages before finishing the book I told my mother that I wasn't going to read the sequel next, I was going to read a romance next, that was until I read the last 5-10 pages. My heart was pounding and then...with the huge cliffhanger that this book ended on, I immediately went and grabbed the next one.
All in all, I loved this book, and recommend it to any fantasy readers out there!