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Karen Miller

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The Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Karen Miller (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 665 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Kingmaker, Kingbreaker

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"The Innocent Mage is come, and we stand at the beginning of the end of everything."

Being a fisherman like his father isn't a bad life, but it's not the one that Asher wants. Despite his humble roots, Asher has grand dreams. And they call him to Dorana, home of princes, beggars and the warrior mages who have protected the kingdom for generations.

Little does Asher know, however, that his arrival in the city is being closely watched by members of the Circle, people dedicated to preserving an ancient magic.

Asher might have come to the city to make his fortune, but he will find his destiny.

Book 1 of 3

Kingmaker, Kingbreaker
Print length

614 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Orbit
Publication date

December 1, 2011
File size

1351 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Miller, and Hachette's new mass market imprint Orbit, debuts with a solid epic that posits political intrigue, ethereal prophecies and a rags-to-riches hero against a vivid if familiar fantasy backdrop (sure to provoke déjà vu in fans of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire). Fisherman's son Asher seeks his fortune in the capital city of Dorana, home to the royal family and the magic-using race called Doranen. After a chance encounter, Asher begins working in the palace as assistant/apprentice to Crown Prince Gar; meanwhile, an underground sect watches Asher and secretly guides his fate, believing him the key to an ancient, apocalyptic prophecy. The erudite Prince Gar, meanwhile, has concerns of his own: flagging popularity (over his decision to take lowly Asher under his wing) and his combative sister's inheritance, the weather-controlling magic that keeps their kingdom secure. Though Asher's cynical salt-of-the-earth act is overused, and characters can be frustratingly pouty, Miller's prose is earnest and engaging, and his complex story accelerates nicely toward a brutal cliffhanger finale. Hints of an epic confrontation to come will leave readers eager to find out, in forthcoming installments, where Asher's destiny leads.(Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

A solid epic that posits political intrigue, ethereal prophecies and a rags-to-riches hero against a vivid if familiar fantasy backdrop.-- "Publishers Weekly"

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005PRBAJ8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orbit; 1st edition (December 1, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 1, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1351 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 614 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #556,721 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,027 in Fantasy Adventure Fiction
- #8,394 in Epic Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #13,340 in Fantasy Action & Adventure

Customer Reviews:
4.2 665 ratings

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Karen Miller

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Karen Miller was born in Vancouver, Canada, but was raised in Sydney, Australia where she still lives today. She wanted to be a writer from early childhood, but that took some time to happen. While she was waiting she worked as a public servant, a receptionist, in the horse industry, in local government, in publishing, in telecommunications, as a college lecturer and ran her own science fiction/fantasy/mystery bookshop. She fell in love with Star Wars when she saw it on the big screen, the very first time it was released in 1977. That love affair has lasted her whole life. So far she's written six mainstream fantasy novels and two Stargate SG-1 tie-ins.

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4.2 out of 5

665 global ratings

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S. Potter

High Fantasy

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2008

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Both this book and its sequel had me enthralled from the start. The world that Ms. Miller has created is very well thought out and complex. The scope of the story, the history tidbits that drive the modern action, and the depth of the characters all combined for a very satisfying read.

The kingdom of Lur is hidden behind a magical wall separating it from the howling evil to the north, an evil unleashed by the mage wars six centuries before. Those wars drove the surviving Doranen into Lur where they met the native people, the Olken. By the laws set down at the time, the fair Doranen rule and maintain the wall with their powerful magics and weather-working, ensuring a paradice for all under the schedualed sky. The apparently magicless Olken live apart from their rulers, but in contentment.

Enter Asher, a fisherman from the south who travels to the capital city to make his fortune so he can buy his own boat, returning home in triumph to keep his father employed and not divide the heritage of his six brothers any further. His plans go awry, of course. And he soon finds himself moving among the Doranen as well as Olken, and not having a good time. Throw in a secret society of Olken magicians, a cardinal crime punishable by death, and Asher's life will be anything but clam sailing.

While I wish more was said about the nature of magic in this world, that was the only issue I had with this very well thought out and written series.

5 people found this helpful

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Gretchen @ My Life is a Notebook

Good characters, bad plot

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2013

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Let me be straight about one thing first: I usually do not like high fantasy. I just get really, really bored with the extensive world building and background and everything that's dropped into this book. So I'm going so say straightaway that I thought a lot of the world building and back story was really unnecessary, but I tried not to let that influence my rating of the book because I know that's a lot of what high fantasy is about.

The book opens up with the strong personality of Asher, who leaves his small fishing village to go make money in the capital. He is an Olken, a race considered subservient to the ruling Doranen, who have magic. Within hours of entering the city, Asher rescues the Crown Prince from his bucking horse. As recompense, he is offered a job at the Crown Prince's stables. But the Crown Prince has bigger plans for Asher, and a secret society of Olken mages called the Circle has even GREATER plans.

When this book opened up, I knew within seconds that Asher and I were going to be great friends. His sarcastic personality made the book for me, through and through. He always had the best comebacks for everything. I was a little annoyed with the heavy dialect that ran rampant throughout his dialogue, but once I muddled through that I was laughing out loud. Sadly, he was one of the only characters that I really connected with. Too many of the other characters seemed to have bipolar disorder throughout the parts of the story, or seemed flat next to Asher's personality. I was further frustrated when Asher seemed to take a back seat as the book went on, mostly to Prince Gar. Because here's the thing:

We were promised that Asher would become the Innocent Mage. It's the TITLE of the book. But the only thing that is established as far as Asher and magic are concerned is that Asher HATES it. Prince Gar deals with more magic than Asher does, and Prince Gar is called a cripple because he was born without it.

As I expected it would, this book dragged on with me. It just wasn't for the reasons I expected. I knew there would be parts that were slow for me, but there were entire characters whose entire purpose was to say "We must wait for the Prophecy to make itself known," "We must wait," "We must wait." This book is 1 in a 2 part series. That means that there is now only 1 book for Asher to become the Innocent Mage, learn magic, get over his hatred of magic and save the world. Let it be known that I am asking for this to have been extended, so you know that there is more time that should have been given to this. It was also a complete let down after reading, considering the title of the book is the Innocent Mage.

In terms of plot, I found several key events to be rather thrown in there for the sake of moving the action along, especially in the beginning and the end. The middle, though, flowed quite nicely-especially since, again, Asher tended to carry this bit. Anything with Asher made my day, and continued to give me faith despite being jerked around in other corners and not liking characters in others.

All in all, this book is somewhere in between a like and a love for me. This is a really high rating on a high fantasy, coming from me. I want to lend this book to my brother and several friends because I enjoyed it so much, and I'm glad I owned it. Also, I didn't realize had as many feels for this book until the ending happened and then I was screeching IT CAN'T END THERE IT CAN'T OHMYGOOOOOOD. I was ready to dislike this one a lot more than I did, and I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

6 people found this helpful

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Travis

Best fantasy series I've read in a while.

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2023

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I just finished the entire series (5 books if you include the prequel) and karen miller may just be my new favorite author. Her writing style draws you in and while the story starts a little slow, once it gets going you won't be able to put it down.

One person found this helpful

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Greek Shadow

Cliff Hanger

Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2016

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The fantasy world created by Karen Miller in The Innocent Mage, is both simple and complex. There's the Doranen who have magic and Olken who don't. The Doranen control the weather with their magic and keep a wall of fire to protect the kingdom from outside. The Olken are servants, craftsmen, merchants, farmers, fishermen and the kingdom prospers. An Olken boy comes Dorana, the capital city, to make money in a year so he can go back to his fishing village to buy a boat and help his father in his old age. Then the story gets complex. Asher doesn't know it but the Olken have magic, but its different than the Doranen and a bookseller in Dorana has visions of Asher coming who is the mage they need to survive the end of times. The palace intrigue and petty squabbles both Doranen and Olken bring about the end of times leading to a fast paced climax that is maddeningly left incomplete leaving the reader wanting to start book 2 immediately.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

tsar49

It was a good read.

Reviewed in Canada on September 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

I am new to Karen Miller books. I was thoroughly impressed with this novel. It was a good read.

Alison H

Loved it, loved it, loved it!!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

I simply loved this book. The story telling is brilliant. The characters are really believable and become friends or enemies. The story just flows. Perhaps what impressed most was the length of the book. There are other fantasy authors, whose work I have read, who would publish this in at least 2 books. Thankfully this author obviously enjoys telling a story without breaks and ensuring she gets as much money from her readers as possible.

There were times that I became so engrossed in the life of the characters and their story that I literally couldn't put this book down. At times I felt I could not only see the settings but smell the scene set. I really felt like a fly on the wall as this book progressed. Needless to say I can't wait to get stuck into the next one. So enough said except BUY IT you won't be disappointed.

Maree eims

Wonderful

Reviewed in Australia on May 23, 2014

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great book well written I would definitely recommend the whole series to anyone who likes magic and fantasy. Karen Miller also wrote Stargate SG1.

Eric Mailhiot

i'ts a good book

Reviewed in Canada on February 27, 2017

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very good! liked it alot.

aislingeach

Thoroughly enjoyable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2018

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Brilliant characters - nice mix of good, bad, sweet and misguided. I was hooked from the beginning. Some reviews claimed it was too slow, but I felt the pace was just perfect. I don't want to rush through a book to get to the ending - I want to savor the characters and the scenes and this book had the perfect pace for my tastes. Asher is an easily lovable character with his innocence and straightforwardness. Gar is my other favorite character. Both trying to find their rightful place in the world of Lur. I'm busy reading the rest of the series.

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The Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker Book 1) Kindle Edition

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