The Wizard's Ward- Deborah Hale

Maura's world of Umbria was ravaged by Hanish invaders and the only hope of restoring Umbrian power is to find and awaken the mythical "Waiting King". However, the only one who can do this is the "Destined Queen". Maura's guardian, the wizard Langbard informs her on her birthday that she is said "Destined Queen" and she must venture to the magical grove where her husband awaits. That afternoon, Maura finds herself in the woods gathering some magical herbs when she rescues a young outlaw named Rath from some Hanish soldiers. She brings him back with her to Langbard's cottage and the wizard decides that Rath will accompany him and Maura to Maura's Aunt who is in possession of the map that will lead them to the grove of the "Waiting King". Am I the only one who could see what was coming as soon as I read the synopsis on the back of the book?

Overall Merit: I mean, it wasn't a bad book. Then again, neither was it a good book. For all the interesting premise, the story fell rather flat. Not to mention, if I can guess the ending by reading the synopsis on the back it is not a good sign. Same goes for the characters. They weren't bad characters, but I didn't find myself caring about them all that much. By the end of the book I got pretty bored because I knew exactly what was going to happen. Not really worth your time. Score- 6

Characters: They were non-descript. I for one did not take Rath very seriously as an outlaw, he was far too civilized for that and there was not enough inner turmoil over his identity. There should have been more of a struggle between his desire to be good for Maura and his instinct to behave like a thoughtless boor. Maura was ok, she annoyed me a bit at points, but there was nothing so horrendous about her character that made me want to stop reading. I think that Hale tried to make her a plucky, strong female heroine, but the attempt fell flat. Maura was too goody-goody for that. Score- 6

Blush Factor: This aspect of the book irked me. There was all this really horrible attempt at romantic repression where it got to the point where I was just like "either be with her or don't just make up your mind!" Obviously Rath and Maura end up together (if that was a spoiler I'm really not all that sorry). However, the thing that bothered me the most was the gratuitous sex scene at the very end of the book. It really did not fit at all and it made me question the morals of the characters. I'm not a prude by any means and if sex is appropriate then go for it, but going off the basic tone and cultural structure of the book it didn't work. Score- 4

Structure: It was linear and third person from Maura's point of view. Nothing interesting was done here, but it wasn't convoluted or confusing. Score- 5

Plot: This could have been interesting, but it seems like Hale came up with an initial premise and never really did any development beyond that. The stakes weren't high enough, meaning I never felt like the characters were in imminent danger. A good story beats the character over the head with a mallet until they are ready to collapse. Neither Maura nor Rath faced any such predicament. It was far too easy for them to get to the grove and the Hanish threat that was introduced from the beginning wasn't used to its full potential by a long shot. Score- 4

In summation, I strongly advise avoiding this book unless you are given an important puzzle and the only way to solve it is hidden somewhere in the pages of this rubbish.

Vervain says: "There are two types of magic used in this world: mortcraft and vitcraft. Mortcraft calls upon dark powers whereas vitcraft is a nature based form of magic.