Review : The Wizard's Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : The Wizard's Promise (The Hanna Duology #1)
Author : Cassandra Rose Clarke
Publication Date : May 6th 2014
Publisher : Strange Chemistry 
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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.

Personal Thoughts

The Wizard's Promise is a typical Cassandra Rose Clarke book, filled with an imaginative world, an intriguing cast of characters and a lovely writing style. The mixed reviews that the book has received were a little off-putting, but I'm happy to say that I was very much involved in Hanna's story as Ananna's.

I'm always amazed by the creativity and imagination that Ms. Clarke clearly possesses. Her writing is vivid, bright and full of life, making you feel as though you are part of the story as well. The Wizard's Promise was no exception either. I loved this new world extended off the world from The Assassin's Curse series. We meet all sorts of creatures and islands that had me invested in this book. I'm especially intrigued by the Mists and I can't wait to learn more about these terrifying beings. I do admit that the plot was rather lacking in that almost nothing really happened for the first 75% or so of the book, but I was still able to immerse myself in the book because of the gorgeous writing and the fascinating world-building. It felt like a long introduction, with the author focusing more on fleshing out her world rather than focusing on the plot, but I didn't think it was dull for one moment.

Unlike The Assassin's Curse, the romance was quite disappointing because it was barely there. The love interest, or the person I assume is the love interest, Isolfr, doesn't play a huge role in the book because he has very little screen space, so it makes sense that the romance was not a pivotal point of the story, but I was still a little let down because I seem to enjoy YA fantasies more when they are peppered with some romantic elements.

Despite that though, I enjoyed the characters quite a bit, especially Hanna. She does get a little whiny with constantly complaining about wanting to go back home when her mentor and fisherman takes her to the northern islands without being open with her, but I completely understood where she was coming from. I would be a hypocrite to say that I didn't because I'm constantly complaining about wanting to go home too. She was heroine that I personally thought was easy to connect with. I felt for her and I loved watching her slowly grow and trying to work her best so she could return home to her family. I also liked some of the side characters, mainly Hanna's mentor, but I did wish we could have seen more of Isolfr. He was intriguing and I wanted to know more about him and his people. With the way the book ended, however, I'm convinced that all these things I want await me in the next installment of this duology.

While The Wizard's Promise is not the author's best work, in my opinion, it is a book that I think is worth reading. However, I believe that waiting for the next installment and reading them back to back would probably result in more readers enjoying it assuming that there is more of a plot in the next book. For me though, this was an entertaining read and I can't wait to set sail with Hanna in the next installment of this series.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 4/5

**Overall Rating : 3.5/5**

Thank you to NetGalley and Strange Chemistry for the e-ARC of The Wizard's Promise