Review: The Wizard’s Promise
The Wizard’s Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke
My rating: [rating=2]
Summary:
All Hanna Euli wants is to become a proper witch – but unfortunately, she’s stuck as an apprentice to a grumpy fisherman. When their boat gets caught up in a mysterious storm and blown wildly off course, Hanna finds herself further away from home than she’s ever been before.
As she tries to get back, she learns there may be more to her apprentice master than she realized, especially when a mysterious, beautiful, and very non-human boy begins following her through the ocean, claiming that he needs Hanna’s help.
Review:
[I got an ARC through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. A few things are liable to change in this book by the time it is officially published.]
I can’t say I didn’t like this novel, but I also know it won’t leave me with a lasting impression either. I reckon this is partly because a lot of time in it is spent on sea, travelling on fishing boats, and nothing really happens. There were a few events now and then, but they felt somewhat distanciated, as if they had been put here for something to break the monotony of the journey(s).
The one thing that definitely annoyed me in The Wizard’s Promise was its approach of “mystery for the sake of mystery”, which in one case even led to what I couldn’t help but see as a plot hole. Hanna finds herself on a journey to the north, not knowing why her captain, Kolur, is going there, and merely wanting to go home (understandably: as much as going on an adventure can be exciting, just sailing north without any inkling as to why she’s here, not even having been able to warn her parents about it, isn’t that appealing). This was the first problem: Hanna didn’t know, so she kept asking Kolur, Kolur kept not answering and/or changing topics, so hanna got angsty about it, which in turn make her appear as childish. Rinse and repeat. When at last she gets some answers, of course it’s too late to just turn back and head home.
The second problem was why Kolur brought her with him, and here’s the plot hole for me. There was basically no reason, except “if I had gone back to port to leave you at your parents’ first, I would’ve missed my window of opportunity.” If there was any other reason, then I definitely missed it. Not once did I get the feeling that Kolur needed Hanna’s presence and/or her magic (Frida filled the roles of both sailor and wind witch, putting hanna out of a job, and she went on board early in the story). When Hanna decided to seek work on another fishing vessel, weeks went by, and Kolur never once tried to convince her to come back. So, for me, he didn’t need her at all. Which leads me to ask, why keep her with him? Their first stop, Skalir, was only a few days from Kjora, where Hanna lives with her parents; since Kolur “recruited” Frida in Skalir, why not simply tell Hanna “listen, girl, I shouldn’t have brought you with me, I’m sorry; there’s something I need to do in the north, if you don’t want to come with me, I understand, I’ll put you on the first ship bound for Kjora and you can go back to your parents’.” Then, there’s Isolfr. He needs her, all right, and considering who he turns out to be, it makes sense. Still, it only works because Kolur kept Hanna on board for no reason. Thus, plot hole.
On the other hand, I liked the world developed in the novel. I haven’t read The Assassin’s Curse (by the same author, and set in the same world, from what I understood from the narrative), so maybe a reader who already knows it won’t perceive it the same way I did. In my case, I liked the way magic seemed to work, the way the names sounded (Kjora, Skalir, Isolfr…). Also, the people of Tulja looked overall like decent people, who didn’t make a distinction between men and women as long as one was able to pull his/her share of the work. They would’ve had every reason for throwing Hanna out, yet showed understanding, especially Finnur and Asbera; these two were definitely sweet and welcoming, and provided a good, kind counterpart to the apparent coldness of Kolur and Frida.
Overall, more a 1.5*, but since I did like some of the characters, and found reading about them pleasant, I’m making it a 2.