Once, magic worked. Centuries before Babylon, a boy from a poor family and little physical skill found a place through talent and hard study. His desires--safety, food, a woman’s affection--were in reach. But life was often short and risky: disease and drought, fire and enemy blades always loomed. To escape death, the apprentice hid away his spirit in a dangerous spell. He didn’t expect to sleep so long. Now, there are no sorcerers. Everything changed. And yet...
Size: 299 KB (56,263 words)
Genre: Fantasy
Sex Contents: Some Sex
Tags: mt/ft, Consensual, Romantic, Rape, Heterosexual, Fiction, Polygamy/Polyamory, First, Safe Sex, Oral Sex, School
Review by manddscott [other reviews by manddscott]
Reviewed:
Spoiler alert... This is not your normal do-over or time travel story, if you want to call it that. A 15-16 year old sorcerer's apprentice is transported more than 4000 years and half a world away from where he previously lived, to a world where it seems magic has been forgotten.
In the process of adapting to the new world, he relearns magic (the force is much weaker than it once was), exacts revenge on some rapist drug dealers, uses his powers to find a lost child, heals a teen dying of cancer, and controls the weather to save his town. Oh, and hooks up with a pair of beautiful sisters in the process. Pure fantasy, I admit, but a decently fun read nonetheless.
The story has no major life lessons, and although there are sex scenes, they are not oppressively present. Instead, they blend in fairly well with the overall theme and storyline.
For plot, I give it a B (7). It is above average, but I felt it could have been developed into a longer story. Having said that, sometimes a story can drag on too much, so that is an individual preference of mine.
For technical quality, I give it an A+ (9). Were there any errors? Yes, but they amounted to very few overall for the length of the story.
For appeal, I also give it an A+ (9). I admit, I prefer to read a longer story, on average. As a romantic, I would have liked to have seen just a little more romance in the story (which could have developed more in a longer story, I might add). Some stories are just fun to read. I think the author manages to find a good mix of fantasy, romance, and sex, while explaining how any of this might be even remotely plausible. This is one such story.
Review by Teloz [other reviews by Teloz]
Reviewed:
In retrospect, I'm not sure why I started reading this story, I certainly wasn't over-influenced by the author's précis of his work. Luckily though, I decided to read it anyway, otherwise I would have missed a real treat!
I'm a lover of time travel stories anyway, but usually I'm drawn to the ones that work in the reverse direction to this one, I guess it could have been titled, 'An Ancient Wizard In The 21st Century', because that, in essence, is what it is.
Some of the dialogue feels a little stilted, which works fine for the main protagonist, as he has an ancient mind. The 21st century characters could have used a more modern, or less formal, dialogue with contractions such as won't, wasn't, he'll, she'll, and so on.
Despite that, this is a story well worth reading, and I heartily recommend it to you dear reader!
