Magda Searus is a newly widowed woman who's husband was the First Wizard. With no real magical abilities of her own, Magda is left to defend herself with her strength of will and her wits. This, the beginning of her story, takes us deep into political, societal and magical intrigue.
When I first picked up this book, I had no idea what to expect from it. I enjoy high fantasy and hadn't delved into it in earnest for a while now. The First Confessor gave me a chance to get away from modern cities, shiny vampires and werewolves with cellphones. Those are all fun and I love variations on themes but, sometimes you need to go old school. This book takes us back to castles, armor and wizards.
Magda comes off as a strong and strong willed woman in a society that usually does not put up with that sort of thing. I love strong female characters, lead or not. Magda is not quite the "Mary Sue" type of character. She has plenty of faults and makes a misstep or two along the way. Most of the rest of the characters do have a tendency to fade into the background unless they are directly interacting with Magda. Some of the characters were a bit flat especially in comparison to the main character.
I liked the overall story and the magic system of the book. There were times when the characters were a bit loquacious and repetitive. I understand the use of repetition to illustrate length or depth. This did not seem to be that. Most of what I noticed could easily been cut back some and the flavor of the story not be harmed.
Overall, this is a good story of awakening power and the struggles of good and evil. I don't know if I will pick up the rest of the series but, for those who like high fantasy I would recommend trying it out for yourself. There are some violent enough scenes that but this deep into PG13 area.
I might read this, I did love his other series.
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