The Last Wizard
Treasure-hunters and sharp adventurers populate the fantasy novel The Last Wizard, which moves like a role-playing game.
Friendships center Alex Mizgailo’s dungeon-crawling fantasy novel The Last Wizard, about a ragtag team on a mission to make money.
A dwarf, an elf, and a boy, guided by a mysterious, unseen mage, move through the lands of Amun toward Springdale, a village famed for its proximity to a treasure-filled dungeon. On their various quests, and in exchange for coin and loot, they seek out information about bandits, trade routes, and hidden treasures. They also hope to map the dungeon’s lower levels, fending off dormant evil to do so.
The book is evocative of a role-playing game. Indeed, each member of the trio has their own skills, and they form a cohesive whole. The dwarf, who loves his pet skunk, is adept at haggling and barreling through obstacles, while the elf, a chaplain who lost his faith, is suited to long-range attacks and reconnaissance. The boy, meanwhile, develops from a former farmer into a curious and inexperienced soldier, then becomes a valuable jack-of-all trades.
To flesh the trio’s world out, keen lore is introduced throughout. The lands of Amun are lively places, and the trio encounters bustling taverns and warm inns. Such settings are populated by intriguing, personable secondary characters, as with an innkeeper who helps the trio find local work and his enchanting daughter. Further, there’s information about past conflicts, the deaths of various deities, and the effects of moon phases on the activity of thieves and cosmic entities. The voidee, a shapeless being with raw chaotic energy that distorts all matter that it touches, adds an element of suspense.
As descriptions of oppressive darkness in caves give way to glowing eyes in the distance, and as hard rain pelts against a warrior’s armor, evocative atmospheres are achieved. However, the medieval setting is somewhat undermined by the humorous conversational habits of its cast members, who say “what’s up” and refer to each other as “dude” and “bro.” The satyr, a high-ranking traveling soldier who joins the trio in exploring the underground dungeons, even gives himself the code name “Bro.” Still, there are thrills aplenty in this story, which generates interest in future volumes: Near its end, innocent villagers face the unleashed, hungry dark force of the sought-after dungeon.
Ending on a tantalizing cliffhanger, the series-opening fantasy novel The Last Wizard introduces an adventuresome trio via their treasure-hunting adventures.
Reviewed by
Brandon Pawlicki
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