Wizard of Most Wicked Ways: Book Review

 

Wizard of Most Wicked Ways by Charlie N. Holmberg
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Age was a peculiar concept for Owein Mansel. He’d been born in 1624, and been spiritually conscious ever since, which technically made him 227 years old. However, the majority of that time had been spent embodied in a house on an island off the coast of Rhode Island, and houses were, by definition, not living. Of those 227 years, only sixteen had been spent as a human, so one might argue sixteen as his age. However, the body he now occupied—which had previously belonged to a boy named Oliver Whittock— was physically eighteen, as of five months ago. And so, when anyone asked after Owein’s age, he usually said that: eighteen.

Wizard of most wicked ways could be described as Silas' book in the Whimbrel House series, given the title and how much we see of his POV. It could also be described as Owein's coming of age book, as he transitions through adolescence and the existential crises peculiar to his situation, as adolescents are wont to do. But the one adjective I cannot get past is that it is superfluous to the series - as semi-spoiler, at the end of the book we find the characters and their situation to be more or less similar to what they were at the end of the previous book. 

All the characters remain well-sketched, as they have been since the beginning of the series, and it was fun to see the families again. There is also some good world-building in this book, particularly the scientific research into magic. However, this doesn't outweigh the meager story arc and the time worn love triangle. This book is recommended for anyone with nostalgia for this series, but there are no great revelations in it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers 47North for an advanced copy of this book, all opinions are my own and entirely honest.

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[1/4 star for the premise and the whole book; Half a star for the world-building; Half a star for the characters; Half a star for the writing; 1/4 star for the story arc- Two stars in total.]

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