5.0
Sorceress for Hire
ByPublisher Description
Freelance Sorcery at Reasonable Rates!
Launching a magical career can be a challenge, even for a talented sorceress like Sinta, who—despite a naturally timid disposition—finds herself faced with spoiled rich clients, rampaging robbers, marauding pirates, and savage trolls (well, only the one, though it does have two heads).
Alas, in the course of her adventures, Sinta unwittingly makes a dangerous enemy, a high-born magician with the power and cunning to disgrace and destroy her. How will this humble apothecary's daughter escape his nefarious trap and bring the schemer to justice?
Sorceress for Hire is Book Two in the diverting fantasy series Tales from Ondiran, but it is a free-standing novella. Reading Book One first will add depth but is in no way necessary!
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities2 Reviews
5.0
ink.readsalot
Created about 1 year agoShare
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“Sassy Sintra is a young sorceress who is savvy, humorous and certainly not to be trifled with, no matter if you are robber, rogue, necromancer or troll. The premise of a sorceress for hire is unique in the fantasy genre and pleasingly, fits beautifully into fantasy humour
The humour and comedy within is absolutely suited to my tastes and would suit ardent consumers of Pratchett, Adams and Holt. It also has echoes of Blackadder and as such, was immensely enjoyable
The writing style is intelligent without alienating, well-paced and a really good read for a quiet afternoon. The dialogue is entertaining and varied while the spellcasting subtext and chapter epigraphs elegantly frame the narrative
Swift is a very engaging and enjoyable storyteller. This novella left me sated, yet keen to read more. Fantastic!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.”
W.A. Stanley
Created about 1 year agoShare
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“I received an advance reader copy of Sorceress for Hire and am leaving this review voluntarily.
For humour to work in a broad sense—regardless of whether the humour is broad, or more eclectic—it needs to be paced well to make the punchline sing. The author understands this, and has crafted a book full of expertly timed and landed humour.
This novella is perfectly sized to be read in a single sitting, or two to three if you’re short on time. The length works perfectly, providing enough time for Swift to tell a story that isn’t too taxing, while imbuing it with a smart sense of humour, all the while ensuring the book doesn’t wear out its welcome.
The book focuses on Sinta, the sorceress featured in The Eye of Ksera. Sinta is talented, yet young, with limited experience working for clientsk. This leads her to various misadventures and hilarity ensues. While the plot is light in service of the humour, it entertains at every turn.
As much as I enjoy deep characterisation and hidden layers bubbling to the fore, adding further complexity to the characters would slow down the book’s peppy pace. Every character is not only engaging, but genuinely funny in their own right. As the book’s protagonist, Sinta is an absolute delight, someone the reader can enjoy following, while wanting her to get her happy ending.
Being a humour book, the dialogue is packed full of witticisms. Given the high fantasy setting, the characters sound like they come from a bygone era. Where this often leads to a stereotypical sound, the book avoids this at every turn. The author has written the dialogue in service of the humour, it sounds relatively realistic. Everything about the book’s setting is heightened, and this includes the dialogue. Every character has their own distinct voice, which makes the conversations flow freely while keeping the reader chuckling.
The is the book's prose. It’s reminiscent of Terry Pratchett without ever feeling like it’s aping him. Some parts are laugh out loud funny, while others simply have an amusing undercurrent. Every sentence is filled with humour. The prose has a sharp wit to it, and it builds from sentence to sentence, playing off what came before.
ndiran could have easily been a generic fantasy setting, and the bookwould still work. Instead, it presents a fantasy world that’s as unique as it is familiar.
The book stands perfectly alone. There’s no need to read that previous book to understand this one’s goings on, though I suggest you read it—before or after this one—for another foray into the book’s world.
Humour may be subjective, but if you like it to be filled with wit instead of being broad and bombastic, you’ll appreciate how it’s been packed in. The humour permeates through the characters, their dialogue, and the book’s prose, and has been masterfully handled from beginning to end.
My full review will be available on my website from 22 November. To read it, and a host of other reviews, including The Eye of Ksera, click https://wastanley.com/reviews/ .”
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