Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Angus Donohue doesn't want to be a warlock. 

He believes draining demons for magic is evil, but it's a dangerous opinion to have--his father is a powerful and well-connected warlock, and Angus is expected to follow the family tradition.

His only way out is to fail the demon summoning class. Failure means expulsion from the Warlock College. Despite Angus's best efforts to fumble the summoning, it works. Although not the way anyone expects.

Angus's demon, Saka, is a powerful mage with his own need for a warlock.

Saka wants to use Angus in a ritual to rebalance the magic that is being stripped from Demonside by warlocks. If Angus survives his demon's desires and the perils of Demonside, he'll have to face the Warlock College and their demands.

Angus must choose: obey the College and forget about Demonside or trust Saka and try to fix the damage before it's too late. Whatever he does, he is in the middle of a war he isn't qualified to fight.

First edition published by DSP Publications, February 2017.

Book Review

‘Warlock in Training' is an amazing read, and I loved exploring the rules and background of this story’s universe. Here, wizards and warlocks both use magic but in very different ways – wizards draw magic from nature and pay for its use but warlocks summon demons from a parallel existence and drain their magic. The official version that only warlocks are properly trained and “approved” allows political control by a small group of power-hungry, unscrupulous warlocks (idiots, really) who would rather destroy Demonside (and probably Earth as a consequence since both are linked) than give up control. There is lots to learn about this world as the story unfolds, and the truth only emerges slowly.

Angus is the son of an influential warlock, in his first year at Warlock College, and while he is curious and wants to learn about magic, he does not want to be a warlock. He is skeptical about the official version of events and hates draining demons for magic even before he learns about some of the real issues from the first demon he summons. Angus’s visit to Demonside confirms his worries, and his fear that the warlocks have it wrong is proven to be correct. But how is he supposed to stop the powers-that-be from killing demons and using magic irresponsibly, thereby upsetting the balance and killing both Demonside (by turning it into unlivable desert) and Earth/Humanside by making it colder?

Saka is a demon, a powerful mage, and he needs a warlock to help him balance the magic and save his world. There are several ways of doing this: blood and eventual death, taking a human’s souls, and replenishable sex magic. Saka has a very clear preference for the longer-term, more enjoyable, but riskier “soft” solution, but he does not have much time. The situation is getting worse by the day, Saka has a powerful rival for his tribe’s lead mage position who pushes the tribe’s leader to go for the killing option, and public opinion is turning toward abducting humans and killing them in large numbers to stop the magic drain and rebalance the two worlds.

Both men know what would be best for their worlds but face opposition from many different factions for their plans. Angus is afraid of joining the underground, a group of wizards working with demons to change things, but he knows it is his only option. Saka wants to fight for a peaceful solution, but he has to be careful of demon power politics that might remove him from his position and stop him from using his influence. Neither man trusts the other at the beginning, and this is not a romance, but they have to learn to work together if they want to survive and fix the damage before both worlds end.

TJ Nichols has taken a few known elements from the fantasy genre and entwines them with today’s environmental issues, creating a new world that shows the consequences of taking from nature without giving back. Granted, in this case it is magic’s misuse by humans that is causing the problems, but the parallel to the consequences of overusing fossil fuels is clear. Combined with fascinating characters who face major decisions makes for a very entertaining, suspenseful, and thought-provoking read.

If you like imaginative fantasy worlds with interesting, relevant problems, if you want to see a young man and an experienced demon figure out how to work together to save the world, and if you’re looking for an exciting adventure that urgently needs a sequel, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. I loved the creativity and the characters and am looking forward to the next installment of the story.

 

 

 

 

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Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 287 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	09-January-2020
Price	$0.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083QSZQZJ