Series: Kingmaker, Kingbreaker

Published Information

Author:	Karen Miller
Genre:	Fantasy
Titles:	Innocent Mage (July 2005, 672pp) Awakened Mage (October 2007, 736pp)

Ratings

Violence:	PG-13 (Fantasy violence)
Sexual Content:	PG
Language:	PG-13 (Fisherman swearing frequently)
Reading Age:	High school
Buy Recommend:	Paperback (Great book, but will only read once or twice)
Overall Rating:	5 out of 10 (More swearing than needed, otherwise, very enjoyable)

Plot Summary

The series sits in a world of two races that were forced upon one another centuries ago: the Olkens and the Doranen. The Doranen were powerful mages who fought wars of magic to gain power, etc. However, one of their race, Morg, became too powerful and began slaughtering all he found that resisted. As the mages ran from Morg, they found the Olken living in a corner of the world. One of the Doranen was able to wield a powerful magic that created a barrier separating Morg from the surviving Doranen and Olken. From that point forward, weather magic must occur to keep the barrier going. The magic causes incredible pain and bloody suffering to the holder, but it is also exquisitely beautiful working the power. The weather worker is always the king.

Thus, with the barrier in place, the two races were preserved, but they were also not able to leave the country they had sealed off. Also, to protect future generations, the mages hide their most powerful magics and created rules so that no one would ever attempt the devastating magics that had almost destroyed them.

Now, the two races live in a kind of harmony. The Doranen, with their magic skills, rule the land. The Olken are a lower class that serve the Doranen. It is in these circumstances that we are introduced to our main characters: Asher, who is an Olken fisherman that has traveled to the capital city in search for wealth that will enable him to take care of his father, Prince Gar who is the son of the king but born without magic, and Dathne, an Olken bookstore owner who is part of a secret circle of people who know the true history of the Olken people, and await an Olken mage that will eventually save the kingdom from unspeakable horrors. Dathne is able to help Asher and Gar meet and Asher quickly rises in the social rankings until he is Asher's right hand man.

In the first book, Morg is allowed into the kingdom because of a curious mage that uses a spell he didn't fully understand. However, Morg is not at his fullest powers. A part of him was not able to come through the small window in the barrier. So he must manipulate and force others to do the work of destroying the barrier in order to be whole again with all his powers. At the end of the book, Morg creates an accident that destroys the king, queen, and sister, leaving Prince Gar to be the king. Morg also gives Gar a semblance of magic. Enough that he can work the magic of the barrier, and then destroy it through Morg's manipulations.

The second book comes in the after math of the royal accident. Gar and Asher figure out that something isn't quite right, but can't figure out who is causing the problems. Soon after the accident, Gar looses his magic again can't do the weather magic anymore. As Asher and Gar try to figure out how to keep the magic going, they realize that somehow Asher also has magic and is able to do the weather working. However, one of the rules created when the barrier was established was that Olken would not practice magic on pain of death. So how can Asher continue to work the magic to keep the barrier running, but not get caught and be executed? Moreover, Dathne knows that Asher is the prophesied innocent mage that will save the country. How can she reveal her secret without exposing that she has been lying to him since the day they met?

Comments

So a couple of quick comments with the series. First, I truly enjoyed these two books. It was original (as far as the background, history, story line, etc) with a great story line, not to mention wonderful characters, but it did have an over abundance of swearing. In fact in the books following these, it gets worse to the point that I might not finish the second set of books in this series. Most of the swearing comes from Asher and other Olken (again, lower class, fisherman, etc) but some of the exclaimations that everyone says are fairly vulgar also. I went back and reread and had a hard time getting through it because of the swearing. Never the big words, but enough of others to make it hard to ignore.