I’ve found another gem in the self-published fantasy field (though it won’t remain self-published for long). Hogan delivered the kind of fantasy I love reading. Magic. A fast-paced plot. A likeable main character. It felt kind of like if you found a halfway point between Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson. Fans of these authors will probably find a lot to like here. And the last quarter of the book is an absolute page-turner. I’m really excited to see where this goes.

Frankly, I’m astonished that books this good end up being self-published. I think it goes to show that there’s a lot of great fantasy out there these days.

The plot of this one looks like something you’ve seen before. Orphaned boy goes on to greatness…yawn. But Hogan separates his story from others like it by making his main character sympathetic and through strategic utilization of other point-of-view characters. They bring new layers into the story, and Amerdan is an absolutely fascinating character. I wouldn’t want to read an entire book about him, but I found Hogan gave him just the right amount of page-time.

Not only is the story great. It also reads like a published book. I can only recall one glaring editing issue, which was really just a place where Hogan forgot to delete a word while editing. I’m not going to complain about that because I’ve failed to notice the same thing in my own books.

Overall, if you’re a fan of the modern update on classic fantasy (think Sanderson, not Abercrombie), this is well worth reading.

Rating: 9/10