I received a complimentary copy of SPELL FADE by J. Daniel Layfield from the author for the purpose of reviewing it for #SPFBO9 for the team created by @coverswithcassidy.
SPELL FADE begins with the virgin queen dead and the great wizard dying and a kingdom wondering who will be put in place to rule. There is a candidate that the wizard must reach out to, but there’s a few problems with this. Dartan has been raised as a farmer by an adoptive mother, with no idea who his parents were or what magic they’ve passed along to him.
There is a willing successor to the throne, someone that the wizard knows would not be good for the kingdom, so time is not on his side as he must get Dartan what he needs to claim his rightful place with the help of his friends and more picked up along the journey.
This book just has a two sentence synopsis on Goodreads, so I really didn’t known what to expect going into this, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I became invested in the story. We start from the wizard’s point of view which gave us a good background on the story and the kingdom. The queen has ruled for two hundred years, seemingly immortal, until something caused her to begin aging and deteriorating at a rapid rate. The wizard himself is fading as well, adding to the urgency of his quest to get Dartan onto the throne.
Much of the book is written moreso from Dartan’s point of view and I very much enjoyed his perspective as well. Dartan is pretty in the dark about magic, having been raised by a mother who really doesn’t put much stock in magic. Magic seems to be a bit more of a rarity in this world. The local wizard where Dartan lives has recently passed without a replacement and his magic is undergoing spell fade, with the spells he enacted in his life (from making someone prettier to keeping a farm thriving) are beginning to wear off.
We don’t start off with a lot of magic knowledge, but get to see Dartan learn along the course of the story. I did appreciate that while Dartan has some innate ability, he doesn’t immediately gain perfect mastery. His practice along their journey leads to some fun moments and also breaks up the travel a bit which I liked.
Dartan takes his neighbors/friends along with him when following the wizard’s instructions for how to proceed. I really liked Aliet and the fact that Dartan had a lot of respect for her in addition to having a big crush on her. She was raised by her warrior brother and he spent his time training both Aliet and Dartan. Dartan is happy to admit that Aliet is the best with the sword and she proves that time and again through their journey.
There were a few side characters who I initially didn’t connect with. I thought that Marcus (and later in the story Logan) start out fairly underdeveloped. Marcus in particular is someone that we’re told about, but we don’t witness about him for ourselves. He gives up his entire life and career to come home to care for his sister after their parents’ death before the story starts, but on page he’s pretty gruff and doesn’t say much. Logan is a character who started off fairly funny but also a little unlikable, but by the end he really grew on me and I appreciated the way he integrated into the found family.
In terms of the plot, I found it to be fairly well done if a bit predictable at times in the sense that it follows what felt like a pretty classic fantasy progression. I did like that when a reveal happened that had been fairly well hinted at that even Dartan pointed out that he made the same guess the reader likely did. There were small bits from the lore earlier in the book that carried through into important elements toward the end which is something I really like to see happen.
There were a few times where significant scenes happened off page, one that especially comes to mind being a battle. Because we’re following Dartan and he’s not present, we only see the aftermath, but I think that did remove some of the impact for me. There were a few places where I thought the emotional impact could have landed a bit harder as well given the things the characters have been through.
This is a world that believes dragons are a thing of the past, but the plot takes us in directions that disproves that idea. I really enjoyed the lore built up around dragons’ history with the world and the dragon riders / dragon slayers that play into that. The interplay between the politics of the world and the dragons was interesting as well.
Overall I had a really good time with SPELL FADE and definitely would pick up more from the author. This had a fairly classic fantasy feeling overall, but not in a way that made me feel like I’ve read it all before. It also fully wraps up in the end in a way that comes to a satisfying conclusion.
Though this book isn’t flagged as part of a series on Goodreads, and though it does have the feel of a standalone, I did spot a sequel on Amazon. It again has a very brief synopsis, but it seems to be focused on Logan, so I will be picking that up. Also to note – this book is available via Kindle Unlimited!
DG Reads 