Wizard Rising (The Five Kingdoms Book 1)

Disappointing series. I have read 5 books of this series. It has things I liked but some parts are disappointing. The overall layout was ok. I actually liked the writing style. the author doesn't overload you with facts. He gives the basics and leaves the rest to your imagination. I also like the parts with the village. The part about the Torr was good. the way Zollin discovered his powers and then worked to learn about them was another plus. The back and forth relationship between Zollin and Brianna was tedious. The magical hierarchy was just plain stupid. The parts about the sorcerers and warlocks was idiotic. The part about the sorcerers using mind control didn't sit well with me. The character Gwendolyn should have just never been written. This is where the story started to go down hill fast. If the story just concentrated with the struggle between Zollin and the Torr the could have been a good series but Gwendolyn and the whole sorcerer ruined it for me.

I loved this series!! Through all the ups and downs it just kept you wanting more. In this book you will get to know Zollin and go on an amazing adventure with him that you will not regret. Toby Neighbors is an excellent author and I have enjoyed all of his books.

This book, like any has its strong points and its weak points. The characters are easy to identify with and you find yourself easily seeing through their eyes. The story line is linear and was easy to follow. One of my critiques of this particular installation (which actually gets better in the other books) is the ease with which the main character learns to control and utilize his powers. It may not bother others, but initially the main character seems to go from 0 to 60 in a few pages. Definitely not enough for me to put the book down, as I continued through this book into the numerous to follow. IF you are in the market for a nice easy read with a compelling (and sometimes easy to predict) story than this book is for you. Well Done.

A coming off age story. Young man discovers he has magic. The existing power structure wants to kill or capture him. The thing I don't like is the bouts of teen angst. I didn't feel like they were that well done. They felt bolted on and not part of the story.

Well, if you've never read any fantasy novels, especially coming of age, then this will be okay. Otherwise, it is just too similar to everything else out there. The author doesn't bring anything new to the table and his style of writing is just dull.

This adventure is one that'll keep you reading way past bedtime.
The characters are all superbly described and the writer tries to
keep you up to snuff on all of them.
I'm sure I'll find out more info in the next book, which I have already
downloaded.
I hope everyone enjoys the story and the people you meet in it.

I am picky about fantasy universes, but this one is pretty solid. Not only do the characters grow throughout the series, but the author and editing get better as well! It starts out tropy, but who cares? It gets much more unique along the way.

Lover's of fantasies and adventure will enjoy reading this book. The coming into ones powers and the frustration of adolescent are depicted with a knowledgeable insight. A very enjoyable reading and not predictable like many others.

This book had a great idea.... but the execution of the idea felt like it was written quickly. One of the main characters had long flowing black hair at the beginning and near the end she had blond curly hair oops. There were many typos in the book. Seemed like maybe the editors didn't do their job. I will read the next book because I want to know what happens next not because it is great writing.

My One HUGE bug-bear with 'epic fantasy' written by 'modern writers' is when they insist on using Modern American vernacular with their characters.
An example would be of the like of one the characters ends a sentence with the words "I guess".
It's minor points sometimes but, in my mind, it 'kinda' spoils the 'feel' of the story which, in itself is an ok read.
The constant dipping into American vernacular is one of the main reasons for the low rating.

Wizard Rising is what books are meant to be; easy to read, no complicated scenarios, and interesting characters. The only fault I could find was it ended to soon. Yes, there were the typical grammatical errors that seem to drive some people crazy but when the story is this enjoyable they are easy to overlook. I look forward to many more books by Toby Neighbors, especially book two of Wizard Rising.

A quick read. That is petty well written. The only thing that bothers me is the originality of the piece. Other than that the work was engaging and the characters were easy to sympathize with. This book is not a masterpiece but worth a read.

pretty good book it starts out fast however. Good plot and storyline throughout. There were some minor spelling errors and some akward phrases, otherwise it was a good book and ill be waiting for the next one.

Found this book on the Prime Lending Library and borrowed it figuring it to be a time waster until some of the other authors i follow to finish writing their books. So i started reading this book and was completely engrossed with this book, and literally on bated breath waiting for the next book in this wonderful series

The story line was ok. The problem with this book was that it just made me really confused...first Brianna had long black hair, red lips, and big brown eyes, next thing i know the author describes her with blonde hair on one chapter and then green bluish eyes on another.. i just hate the fact that the author didn't seem to bother to make up his mind about what is up with the characters.

Really enjoyed the storyline where we are brought in to the awakening of a wizards powers and how he is taught to use these unik traits.Exciting travel and great adventures. Looking forward to book 2 of the series.

This book at first reminded me of the spellmonger series with the reference to the need for food and drink after performing magic and the weakness that occurs after expending a large amount of energy. The slender almost thin build of Zollin adds to that premise. The idea of the Torr is a different twist that shows a promise of being developed into a very interesting and dangerous arena for Zollin. His ambivalence toward Brianna and his worry about whether or not she would make Todrek happy was insightful for a young boy, but like most young boys, their insights can be changed by a pretty face. I don't know if Brianna really cares about Zollin or just his magical abilities. It was a good read.

The series started strongly and there's some great ideas and action early on in book one but unfortunately by the second book things have slowed down a lot. In fact it slowed down so much that you end up with page after page passed with almost nothing happened other than making of meals and lots of repetitive boring dialogue. A lot of the dialog is relates to the confused feelings characters had for each other, a little of it would have been fine but it seemed like most pages had long sections exploring the confused feelings.

The main character is also supposed to be amazingly powerful which seems to bother the author so in key bits of the book he makes him a witless idiot whose inattentiveness means he's always getting stabbed, hit on the head, or shot with poison darts. You actually don't mind this as he's a bit of a wet blanket but it does mean his magic is mainly used healing, heating rocks to keep people warm, lighting fires, packing down snow, and other boring nonsense. There's the odd badly described battle between magicians but given how annoying some of the other characters are, and given how often people try to kill him, I wish he'd get on with smiting them.

The narration is also annoying and un-necessary and quite often its just re-explaining something the authors covered innumerable times before.

Oh and every single one of the characters is boring, two dimensional, behaviorally inconsistent, and none of them have any wit or charm.