A Wizard's Dark Dominion

Author Lee H. Haywood gave me a print copy of A Wizard's Dark Dominion. The first entry in The God's and Kings Chronicles series.

 A Wizard's Dark Dominion is fantasy at its best.  Okay, I'm done (you know better than that). Seriously, this book hooked me immediately. I finished it last night just before going out to dinner. I kept looking at the clock because had the person I was going to dinner with arrived early, I was wondering how they were going to like waiting while I finished. Fortunately I did finish about five minutes before they arrived.

As the title shows, this is a book about magic (duh! ... I'm just getting started, okay?) Our main character, Demetry, is clearly teetering on the fence of good vs evil. We are not really sure which way he will finally go. I found myself rooting for him to make the right choice, but he didn't always. The other characters are portrayed just as morally ambiguous. For me, this makes for a first rate story. I like not being able to pigeon-hole characters. That leads to predictability and less enjoyment. A Wizard's Dark Dominion keeps us readers on our literary toes, so to speak.

As the first book in the trilogy, A Wizard's Dark Dominion sets the stage well for the next books. Thank yous to Mr. Haywood for not using the ever despised cliffhanger ending. The ending keeps us hooked without leaving us up in the air (aka: hanging).

So, we have lots of magical action (stealing a line from Arlo Guthrie; ...blood, guts and gore, and dead burnt bodies...) no romance, magical and mythical creatures, political intrigue and a tantalizing tease of big things to come. The other two books in the series are already available so readers are able to continue the story uninterrupted. You can't beat that.

Epic fantasy readers definitely will find a lot to like in A Wizard's Dark Dominion by Lee H. Haywood. Enjoy!


Mike