Wizards and Politics

http://www.amazon.com/review/RKVU7TZ0CUQF1 4.0 out of 5 stars By Sunshine Somerville Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Four Kings (Kindle Edition) This was tricky to rate. I’d say 3.5 because of my personal tastes and thought processes, but it was enjoyable enough to entertain me and probably most people, so I’ll lean towards 4. The premise here was quite unique. The world is a mess, verging on nuclear war, so what would it take to save it? If all-powerful wizards overthrew every government and took charge, would that be better? Wizards and politics aren’t things you naturally put together, but it’s an interesting combination. I really liked the way the Debate Days were used to flesh out political and philosophical questions in a way that let you think about your own interpretations of what would be right and wrong. The inclusion of famous quotes from several camps was nicely done. And I really liked that, despite this “perfect” system set up by the wizards, there were flaws and people left behind, which showed that no system is ever truly perfect. The other big element of this book is, of course, the magic of the wizards. While they use their magic in an attempt to solve the world’s problems (which I would've liked to see more of), they also spend a good deal of time playing games. It’s these parts of the book that add a lot of fun action to the story, and the author is really creative in describing the magical games. The writing is simple and visual, and all of the games were easy to picture, many like something from Ninja Warrior. A part of me really, really wishes I could play life-sized, 3D Tetris. As for Amanda, the human Mortal caught in the middle as Liaison, I thought the author used her well as things went along. At first, Amanda just suddenly appears in the story and you have no idea who she is as a person, what her motivations are for taking this job, or what she really thinks about the wizards' takeover. All you know is that she’s a fan of Ayn Rand, which always makes me a little queasy. I would have liked to see her character a bit more fleshed out at the beginning, considering hers are the eyes we see through. I was often not clear on where she stood. She seems a blind optimist, and what she really thought of the wizards was hazy to me until the moment comes when she DEFINITELY has to pick a side. But, as her part in the story moves along, she becomes more humanized as she interacts with the wizards and, of course, falls in love. When things get really complicated, it turns out she is quite smart and capable, even if she mostly uses her feminine wiles to get the job done. As for the wizards themselves, I liked the way the author exposed their mysteries as the story moved along and Amanda discovered more and more. There's a nice, complex magical world here, and not all the mysteries are answered. The four main wizards seem like spoiled know-it-alls, which I suppose would be a side effect of being magically superior. Good-intentioned for the most part, they seem to think that their takeover is completely just. They are mostly likable characters, but they're absolutely obtuse and can't understand why people don’t love them - which is again interesting commentary on all-powerful, detached leadership, I think. I would've liked to see a bit more of the world as all this was going on, but I suppose the author’s focus was more on the wizards. Overall, the writing is pretty good with only a few goofs here and there. I found this book entertaining and worth a read if you like to think about political “what ifs.”