With a Single Spell: A Legend of Ethshar
4/5
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About this ebook
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Lawrence Watt-Evans has been a full-time writer and editor for more than twenty years. The author of more than thirty novels, over one hundred short stories, and more than one hundred and fifty published articles, Watt-Evans writes primarily in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic books. His short fiction has won the Hugo Award as well as twice winning the Asimov's Readers Award. His fiction has been published in England, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Poland, France, Hungary, and Russia He served as president of the Horror Writers Association from 1994 to 1996 and after leaving that office was the recipient of HWA's first service award ever. He is also a member of Novelists Inc., and the Science Fiction Writers of America. Married with two children, he and his wife Julie live in Maryland.
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Reviews for With a Single Spell
109 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fun book, although it drags a bit in places. It has a not-typical fairytale ending, with the protagonist having grown a bit. Tobas makes a appearance in the later Esthar novel Spell of the Black Dagger.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Once again I find myself liking the book because Evans takes the story further than just the plot described in the blurb. We get to see dimensions of the world and characters beyond the formulaic fantasy plot lines.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethshar books are some of my favorite fantasy books. The heroes are not overpowering, and the world has a very primitive and interesting feel to it. In some ways it reminds me of a cross between Piers Anthony and Prachett, without the over the top puns. Straightforward, fun fantasy, not a long slog of an epic. Its short and entertaining.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While not quite as good as The Misenchanted Sword, With a Single Spell is still a well-written entertaining novel. Set in the same world, Ethshar, as the Misenchanted Sword, this tale takes the reader on an adventure with a young wizard-in-training whose master dies after he has only learned one spell. Considered too old for another wizard to concern themselves with taking him on as an apprentice, Tobas must figure out what to do with his life and his one spell. At least that spell is a fairly useful one, although even that manages to back-fire on him from time to time and cause even more angst to our young protagonist. As with the first book in the series, Watt-Evans manages to keep the action flowing while keeping the tone light and humorous. A good read for those who need a break from today's heavier fantasy offerings. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series soon. Also, the books in this series are all stand-alones, so you don’t have to read them in any particular order which is also refreshing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A few days ago I started reading Lawrence-Watt Evans' "With a Single Spell". At first, I didn't like it. It took a while to get into the book. I didn't like the protagonist. He was a lazy, entitled, selfish boy. I had a really hard time empathizing with him. I feel like I've worked for where I am. I was never the smartest or strongest in high school, but I was determined, and I studied hard. I didn't get great grades, but I got into the advanced classes, got some college credit, and kept that work ethic up through an (admittedly relatively unknown) undergraduate program, and went on to an ivy league school where I felt like I got a great education at the graduate level. Now I'm somehow in my mid thirties, married, own property, and live in a foreign country. I never once felt like I was doing just enough to get by, and have worked hard, and enjoy that.So the first two chapters of this book were really hard to me to get into. I almost stopped reading. But I kept at it (not so much out of perseverance as much as a feeling that the first book was so good this was bound to get better. Also, I had to go to the restroom and wanted something to read…)Anyway, yesterday, and a bit more today (on my day off) I found myself getting more and more into the story. It is a good story. I really like this world of Ethshar which seems to have a well-thought-out magic system and a plausible history and geography. I liked this book in the final acts when it really got into the wizardly magic bits of things. It reminded me of reading through the old Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Second Edition Dungeon Master's Guide with all the spells. What could you do with all those spells? How did they work? How would they fail to work? That is some really interesting stuff. I remember as a kid I would spend lots of time thinking about that, and planning out just how my moving castle would work. (I vaguely remember some sort of moving abode spell, can't recall the name now) and stuff like that. This book hits on some of those areas.I also like the idea about the implications of a single spell and how it can be very useful when well-used. I always thought that the cantrips in AD&D could be more useful than people thought…Anyway, I did enjoy the second book in the Ethshar series, but definitely the first book grabbed me more. I enjoyed this one enough to go and buy the third book, The Unwilling Warlord (although truth be told, I got it from fictionwise.com instead of Amazon, which just kills me as an Amazon customer. I can't bring myself to purchased a DRM-encumbered version of an ebook when I can get it without DRM.)So, uh, four stars? Our of ? some stars? I enjoyed it, maybe you will too!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thoroughly liked it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5another sampling of the Ethshar world: this one also deals with the "personal rather than cosmic" (Ethshar, Wikipedia.org). the hero here being a young wizard and challenged to learn and grow as opposed to a veteran soldier challenged to live. a likable book!