The Vanishing Sculptor acts the first book in a prequel series to the famed Dragonkeeper Chronicles. However, it stands as a complete novel and series in itself. Something that is in my mind considered a very good thing.
My Take The Vanishing Sculptor did not surprise me in too many ways. The author's style did, but the book as a whole follows the inevitable pattern that every book ultimately does. The problem is how much the author differentiates their book from the rest. Ms. Paul did quite a good job in this book, however in the end, didn't fulfill the book's potential.
I felt that the book was altogether, too un-suspenseful. Sure, the book had a small cliffhanger at the end of each chapter, but they sometimes seemed quite forced. Their were times in the book I really had to force myself through.
The characters were hit spot on, however. Each were realistic and believable even though they wouldn't seem so at first glance. Especially a particularly troubled wizard. The Point-of-View was difficult to make out at times, but almost always worked itself out before the third page of said POV.
The biggest hurt to the book was perhaps it's ending. It was far too happy and didn't leave a cliffhanger of any kind to get the reader wanting the next book.
All-in-all, it was more of a book you would bring the book the beach to relax rather than a book you would be staying up all night to finish. One thing the author did amazingly, which sets it above many books, was it's all-present message of God, or in this case, Wulder.
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