To the point of not even knowing anymore that they can be mages in their own right (see the lines about someone nailed for trying to learn invaders' magic).The lack of any thought, suspicion or curiosity regarding what lies outside behind the barrier in the general population is odd too.If they knew and feared the enemy and devastation that lies beyond, it would be a somewhat believable incentive to contribute to maintaining the current social order and regulations regarding magic, but no one seems to think about that. I didn't find it bad, I definitely wasn't awed either.I find it odd that the native folk would have forgotten so well that they were invaded in the first place, that they used to have their own magic, that it's tapped to save everyone's butts and should make them as a whole as valuable to society as the newcomers and their weatherworking. I mean, in a way he has buildup, he's part of the history of the kingdom that you get to know, but he turns out to be a pantomime villain.I'll keep going and finish The Innocent Mage, but I'm now regretting having bought Karen Miller's other books (and I think I've bought all of them written under this penname).And, okay, I've finished it now, and hmm. I'd have been happy to keep reading even if it's about to become a magic lightshow, if the villain was treated with as much care and buildup as the other characters. I would've been happy to keep reading if this was a slowly grinding political book, and collosal shows of magic weren't on the horizon. And the worldbuilding is pretty good too, not delivered in chunks but naturally revealed through the story.The thing that is making me seriously reconsider reading the rest of Karen Miller's work comes about five hundred pages into a six hundred page book. Even Durm, with his sickening attitude towards Gar, is still a person - he loves the king, genuinely has the good of the kingdom in mind. Fane is genuinely a girl with too much responsibility and a sharp tongue.
Borne and his wife genuinely love each other and you see that coming through in the writing. I love Gar (not a second son for once! but with all the self-perceived inadequacies of the best second sons of the genre) and his relationship with Asher Asher I find abrasive and annoying and often too coarse to be true the supporting characters like Matt and Darran and the king, I love, because they seem like people. The thing that I've enjoyed so much throughout this book is the characters.
I was feeling very frustrated by all the build-up with no plot as such, and then I read this review and thought, hm, actually, I agree. I'm on the last hundred pages or so, and I feel so torn. I haven't quite finished this book yet, as I type this.
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