Review: SORCERERS' DYNASTY

SORCERERS' DYNASTY by Stephen Perkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In many ways, Stephen Perkins’s book Sorcerers’ Dynasty reminds me of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. However, instead of the Gods of ancient mythology, it plays on the mythology of Christianity. Sorcerers’ Dynasty features a wide collection of characters that intertwine throughout the novel. The characters are complex and dynamic, however, at times I am left wondering how a character can change so dramatically from one scene to the next. At times a character changes within the same scene. These inconsistencies mostly happen with the smaller less flushed out characters. The main characters give you a solid sense of who they are throughout the entire novel.

There is a lot that is going on in this book. At times you are completely caught up in the dynamics of the world that Perkins created. At other times you are left feeling lost and confused. Going between scenes, at times, can feel like a bit of a whiplash. I wonder if some of the side stories could have been cut, or if it could have been made into two or three books. When I was near the end of the book I wondered how it could possibly end with so much left unsaid. Then it did end, very abruptly. I am still trying to wrap my brain around the ending. I like when a book leaves an impression. It says something positive about the writer if they can impact the reader to that degree. That being said, I felt like I invested a lot into the book and would have rather it have been broken into two books then be left with an ending that was too fast.

Perkins is a good writer. I look forward to seeing how his style develops. He has an incredible imagination and is extremely vivid. However, he is a bit too descriptive. Each sentence seems to have four or five adjectives. Many of the adjectives are said over and over about the same characters. One character was described as loyal in nearly every sentence. Yet the reader already knew he was anything but loyal. The flowery language did not help set the scene, instead, it distracted me from what was actually happening. Also, at the start of the novel, the characters kept zoning out and reminiscing about their past. While this gave the reader great background information it did not flow naturally. Thankfully this ended once all the characters were established.

Sorcerers’ Dynasty is a good book that had the potential to be great. Unfortunately, it did not quite reach that bar. With a bit more flushing out the characters and more work on the timing of the novel, I think Perkins has the potential to be an amazing author. I look forward to reading more of his work.

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