Book Write-Up: The Enchanter King, by Dave Neuendorf

Dave Neuendorf.  The Enchanter King: Book Two of the Kalymbrian Chronicles.  NeuSys, 2017.  See here to buy the book.

The Enchanter King is the second book of Dave Neuendorf’s Christian fantasy series, “The Kalymbrian Chronicles.”  In the first book, The Summoned King, high school student James Madison Young is transported to the land of Kalymbria and is appointed king.  He deals with the sinister political interests in his own country.

In The Enchanter King, King Jim is dealing with external threats, as the country of Venicka makes threats against Kalymbria.  Jim devises strategies for battle, and he meets Celia, a little girl who lost her parents to the Kalymbrians.  Jim observes that Celia has magical abilities that need to be harnessed, so she is tutored by the wizard Maynard.  Jim also meets a dragon who communicates telepathically, and she accepts the name “O’Hara.”

There are many positives to this book.  Like the first book, The Enchanter King has political science, as Jim attempts to enact political reforms and to deal with the push-back to those reforms.  Jim also deliberates about civilian casualties, as he draws from his father’s critical view of Harry Truman’s use of the atomic bomb to end World War II.  We get a little more insight into the Venickans, some of whom have been magically duped by the sorceress Ruingia, and we are given a bit of a teaser as we learn that Maynard and Ruingia had a history.  The story-line with Celia was an asset because she had potential yet was a child.  The dragon also enhanced the book because she was intriguing, there was more to her than we were told, and she had witty comebacks.

There is a salient technical element to the book.  Some may find this dry, but it did not detract from the story.

The characters were better developed in this book than in the previous one, but the book perhaps could have used more pathos.

Overall, I like this book better than the previous one in the series.  The previous book had a lot more going on, but this book went into more depth, was more realistic as Jim attempted to enact reforms, and rounded the characters more.

I look forward to the next book of the series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author.  My review is honest.