Eliot is a self-proclaimed unextraordinary teenage boy whose greatest skills are seemingly limited to his video games. However, his world is quite literally changed when a strange package arrives at his doorstep containing a ring that transports him to a world filled with magic and mystical people. Stranger still, he discovers he can now use water magic, and his abilities are far more powerful than anything the mages of this world have seen before. Armed with his newfound power, Eliot is thrust into a clash of magic that is building across the land and confronted with the dark powers of death itself.
T.J. Ripley’s THE WATER MAGE (Lord of Chaos, Book 1) breathes life into a vibrant and diverse world of seven realms, each occupied by the unique races of its world, humans, elves, imps, and dwarves. Leading and protecting the realms are the mages, beings who possess powerful magic of earth, air, water, fire, life, death, or time. The only mage capable of wielding all types of magic, the mystical Lord of Chaos, has been long gone—if he ever existed in the first place—and no other Chaos Lord has appeared since. But with death mages conspiring in the shadows, the realms may soon require a savior to pull them out of the darkness.
Ripley’s novel is the first installment of a series that shows promise in bringing readers a magical world and characters with intricate lives. Ripley devotes much of the book to providing the characters with rich family histories and personal backstories, including Emmid, a young imp mage whom Eliot befriends upon arriving in the new world. Emmid’s conversations with Eliot as they travel throughout the realms allow the reader to gain an understanding of the growing conflict by explaining how magic works and how the various races in these realms co-exist.
Given the wonderful window into the history of this magical world and the character backgrounds that the novel’s exposition provides, could there ever be enough? In short, yes. While the book’s attention to detail helps provide a clear picture of the plot and overall worldbuilding, its lengthy lines on Eliot’s mundane interests and the full history of trivial items border on excessive—taking attention away from the story’s main action. Readers may also find Eliot’s journey to becoming a mage rushed and lacking depth, as Eliot effortlessly excels at any test given to him to fill his role as the book’s stereotyped “chosen one.”
T.J. Ripley’s THE WATER MAGE (Lord of Chaos, Book 1) creates a fantastical story of colliding worlds, magic, and dark intentions.
~Grace Rogers for IndieReader