The Griffin or the Agate

If it were permissible to warm potential readers of a book by using a single line from the text as an example of the lameness that waited inside the covers, An Unexpected Apprentice would be done right about after this doozy, written without a drop of irony or self-mocking:

Right here, now, in front of the altar of Nature, he apologized on behalf of his species. p. 333

Really. Or perhaps this bit of fine writing could serve as the death knell:

"I was there to gather information, and I did. I served my father, my king, and my country. I will never be sorry for that. I am not a traitor to you. I gave you comfort when I thought you needed it. I hoped it helped." P. 336

Yes, someone must have given the editor the day off, or perhaps Nye was poaching from a freshman composition class. An Unexpected Apprentice is an embarrassingly bad book, not just from the shoddy writing but from the utter lack of originality. Nye evidently fired up the old Fantasy Cliché-atron 4000 for this one, as we are treated to such hoary characters as:

Elves who love the trees and get really, really upset when something bad happens to them
Dwarves who hide away underground and seem all gruff and unfriendly but actually turn out to be really, really helpful
Hobbits, err, 'smallfolk' who live in their own little area of the world and are really, really shy about the big people
A young prince who seems like a wastrel but is actually a really, really good guy
A magical ring, err, book that is all-powerful and corrupts the bearer while making them feel both really, really good and really, really paranoid at the same time.
A old human wizard with a white beard who's really, really nice and really, really powerful.

There's more, but you get the point. Throw in a gruesomely strained romance and a villain with laughable motives dfor his desire to destroy the world and you get the big steaming pile of . . . well, the big steaming pile that is An Unexpected Apprentice. Considering the reputation of the author, it's a work that's downright disgraceful. §

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