Monday, March 12, 2007

Halcyon Blithe: Dragonfrigate Wizard by James M. Ward

Dragonfrigate Wizard Halcyon Blithe, by James M. Ward, starts as Halcyon Blithe, an Arcanian midshipwizard, heads off to attack a fleet of Maleen ships. They single out one ship in particular, a small ketch. As they attack the ketch, it fires red-hot mortar shells back at them! Halcyon; Ashe Fallow, a friend and countryman of Halcyon’s; Denna Darkwater, a half-troll marine; and a few other marines take a rowboat and launch off their dragon ship, the Sanguine, as soon as the ketch has been wounded. Halcyon and his war party quickly take over the ketch, the Salamander. Halcyon goes belowdecks and discovers the captain of the ketch. Halcyon disarms the captain by managing to heft a table at him. After defeating the captain, Halcyon and his crew sail smoothly. Smoothly, until one day a ship has been spotted a couple of miles off. As the ship draws nearer, it is identified as a demon ship--a ship made of metal, with no sails, that is piloted by demons. The crew panics and thinks that they are going to die. Halcyon, having demon heritage himself, remembers some powerful demon spells. Beginning to cast the spells, Halcyon starts to grow bigger in size. Halcyon’s spells are powerful, and he begins to grow savage; all the while, the demon ship is drawing nearer to the small Salamander. Will Halcyon and the rest of the crew defeat the demon ship, or will Halcyon forget his loyalty and kill all of his fellow crew? Read Dragonfrigate Wizard Halcyon Blithe to find out!

I liked Dragonfrigate Wizard Halcyon Blithe because I like books about sea adventures and mystical characters. However, I think that the author gives Halcyon a bit too much luck and skill. I thought to myself as I was reading certain parts of the book, “He should have just died.” Although this unrealistic good fortune took place a lot, the book was very enjoyable. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the previous book, Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe, or likes naval combat and fantasy stories.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Saugerties, NY USA

posted by Flamingnet Book Blog @ 10:56 PM