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James E. Wisher

Teoksen The Impossible Wizard tekijä

53 teosta 357 jäsentä 9 arvostelua

Tietoja tekijästä

Includes the name: James E. Wisher

Sarjat

Tekijän teokset

The Impossible Wizard (2017) 36 kappaletta
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The Black Egg (2019) 15 kappaletta
Wrath of the Dragon Czar (2017) 14 kappaletta
The Chimera Jar (2017) 14 kappaletta
The Awakening (2017) 13 kappaletta
The Four Nations Tournament (2017) 12 kappaletta
The Raven's Shadow (2017) 12 kappaletta
Escape From the Dragon Czar (2017) 10 kappaletta
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Atlantis Rising (2019) 9 kappaletta
Raging Sea and Trembling Earth (2016) 8 kappaletta
The Dragons' Graveyard (2019) 7 kappaletta
The Pale Princess (2022) 6 kappaletta
The Mysterious Coin (2019) 6 kappaletta
Harvest of Souls (2016) 4 kappaletta
An Unwelcome Journey (2023) 3 kappaletta
Children of the Void (2015) 3 kappaletta
The Squire (2019) 3 kappaletta
The Black Iron Empire (2023) 3 kappaletta
Children of Darkness (2015) 3 kappaletta
Darkness in Tiber (2023) 3 kappaletta
Malice (2023) 2 kappaletta
Depths of Betrayal (2023) 2 kappaletta
Overmage 2 kappaletta
Children of the Black Ship (2018) 2 kappaletta
On Blackened Wings (2021) 2 kappaletta

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Kanoninen nimi
Wisher, James E.
Sukupuoli
male
Ammatit
author
writer

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

It is not often that I get engrossed in reading a book series that spans over as many volumes as James E. Wisher’s Portal Wars. All too frequently would I lose interest once I get past the second, third, perhaps fourth installment of any series.
Now, having finished volume 7 of 8, this is all the more intriguing for on reflection Portal Wars’ plot is rather simple, and its characters behaftet (tainted) by cliches – what else would you call it if the Lady of the dead who dresses top to bottom in black introduces herself as Lady White – are at best moderately rounded and developed. Hell, and even the protagonist makes me more hate than love him, after all, amongst other horrors, he causes a holocaust on an island result in the horrific death of all its inhabitants.
The premediated murder of 50,000 innocents does not exactly endear him to me; that the name of the mass murderer is Otto Schenk doesn’t help either. Blame me if you are so inclined if I am going a bit ad hominem here but that name reminds me a bit too much on one of them German concentrations camp commanders of WW2. And yet, despite it all, I just can’t bring myself about to completely and utterly detest the man. You see he always manages, if just barely, to justify his even largest scale, cold-blooded murders. I must admit his reasoning and justifications works on you until finally, well, I have to admit you got to give him the benefit of doubt. He might, just might be right.
Some of you readers might judge Otto Schenk a bit harsher and perhaps feel so offput by the protagonist that you just throw the book(s) or phone (as in audiobook) in a corner – completely understandable.
However, if you decide otherwise you might just be in for a treat. There is challenge and exploration that even the great Odysseus would appreciate. Intriguing questions about human nature are tackled, if only tangentially, and there is Empire-making on a grand scale.
Otto Schenk’s world is one of medieval cruelty but also the wonders of magic. If you got the stomach for it you might very well be in for a treat.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
nitrolpost | Mar 19, 2024 |
It is not often that I get engrossed in reading a book series that spans over as many volumes as James E. Wisher’s Portal Wars. All too frequently would I lose interest once I get past the second, third, perhaps fourth installment of any series.
Now, having finished volume 7 of 8, this is all the more intriguing for on reflection Portal Wars’ plot is rather simple, and its characters behaftet (tainted) by cliches – what else would you call it if the Lady of the dead who dresses top to bottom in black introduces herself as Lady White – are at best moderately rounded and developed. Hell, and even the protagonist makes me more hate than love him, after all, amongst other horrors, he causes a holocaust on an island result in the horrific death of all its inhabitants.
The premediated murder of 50,000 innocents does not exactly endear him to me; that the name of the mass murderer is Otto Schenk doesn’t help either. Blame me if you are so inclined if I am going a bit ad hominem here but that name reminds me a bit too much on one of them German concentrations camp commanders of WW2. And yet, despite it all, I just can’t bring myself about to completely and utterly detest the man. You see he always manages, if just barely, to justify his even largest scale, cold-blooded murders. I must admit his reasoning and justifications works on you until finally, well, I have to admit you got to give him the benefit of doubt. He might, just might be right.
Some of you readers might judge Otto Schenk a bit harsher and perhaps feel so offput by the protagonist that you just throw the book(s) or phone (as in audiobook) in the next river – completely understandable.
However, if you decide otherwise you might just be in for a treat. There is challenge and exploration that even the great Odysseus would appreciate. Intriguing questions about human nature are tackled, if only tangentially, and there is Empire-making on a grand scale.
Otto Schenk’s world is one of medieval cruelty but equally so of the wonders of magic. If you got the stomach for it you might very well be in for a treat.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
nitrolpost | Mar 19, 2024 |
A Marty-Stew MC who gets sidelined by the secondary characters. A lot.

Conyru Koda is a 17 yo, just graduated from high school, young man who has his plans of becoming an auto-mechanic upstaged by the discovery that he has potential to wield magic. Yay? Not really. In Conyru's world, only women have magic and he's possibly the first male wizard to be born in a thousand years ... if Prof. Angus' theories are correct (the narrator made this guy sound like Bill Connelly - rel="nofollow" target="_top">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-N5ITGI8Lo). Also, Conyru's less than thrilled a] to be a magic user - he has no interest in it, b] that the nutcases start coming out of the woodwork almost immediately screaming blasphemy and other less kind things and wielding knives (see below) and c] he is now an instant celebrity.

The basic premise of this story is actually kinda cool. The world has magic, floating cities, the occasional zombie, a big time university dedicated to magic, as well as the more mundane aspects of life - motor cars, internet and computers, books, etc. However, that's about all we know of this world. The system of magic isn't really explained and witches use such mundane words as "light" to create little balls of light or, if they do mutter a spell, it's in a sibilant or the divine language no one else can speak. It's not even all that interesting, the way the author writes it.

There are a lot of secondary characters who get more page time than Conyru, from the police detective who investigates the first attack, to Lady Raven who plans out and has her schemes thwarted by evil planting the seeds of its own doom, to her minions, a biker gang called, unimaginatively, The Skulls, to Tara, one of the witches working for the Magical Research Institute, whose romantic feelings toward the detective are just annoying.

As for Conyru himself, he's over the top powerful in magical power, clocking out at 12,000 mu on the magical testing machine, while his best friend/girlfriend comes in at a more reasonable 1942 mu. He's also a martial arts expert, so those knife wielding maniacs never have a chance, though it would have been nice the first time if Conyru had been a little hesitant to get involved (practicing in a dojo is very different from dealing with reality - I would assume). He has no interest in learning magic; he'd be very happy to become the mechanic he wants to be. Oh, and when his best/girlfriend offers him a chance to do the horizontal cha-cha in an elevator, he sounds like a way too sober adult rather than a 17 year guy (not really what I was expecting - a nice change of pace really). Other than that, he's actually a boring character.

I borrowed the audio from Hoopla, so while I'm not out any money, I did spend about 7 hours trying to decide if I like the story enough to continue ... the jury's still out though.… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
fuzzipueo | 4 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Apr 24, 2022 |
Not bad but not good

How is it that women are the only ones with magic, but a man is in charge of the Department of Magic?

That is just a sample of the troubling lack of logic throughout the book. It's just not internally consistent. There has to be a balance point to allow a man to be in charge of these powerful women. Even a hint of one would improve the novel tremendously. There are plenty of other issues, but that is the most obvious.

Still readable.
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
wildwily | 4 muuta kirja-arvostelua | May 28, 2020 |

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Tilastot

Teokset
53
Jäseniä
357
Suosituimmuussija
#67,136
Arvio (tähdet)
½ 3.7
Kirja-arvosteluja
9
ISBN:t
97

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