Review: The Wizard's Promise (The Hanna Dulogy #1) by Cassandra Rose Clarke

For fans of Yaks, inhumanly beautiful boys, grumpy fishermen and magic

Title: The Wizard’s Promise
Series: The Hanna Dulogy
Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke
Publisher: Strange Chemistry, UK
My ratings: 3 out of 5 stars
Released: 6th May, 2014
It is no secret as to how much I love Cassandra Rose Clarke and her writing. It started with The Mad Scientist’s Daughter and continued on with The Assassin’s Curse and The Pirate’s Wish. So when I saw The Wizard’s Promise, set in the same world as The Assassin’s Curse I was over the moon. As soon as the book downloaded on to my Kindle I started it straight away.

Hanna is a fisherman’s apprentice, who want to be a full-fledged witch. One day while at sea somehow she and her fisherman mentor, Kolur, get blown off course. And somehow Hanna is sure that that whole thing is planned by the perpetually grumpy Kolur and there is more there that meets the eyes. And slowly she gets embroiled in a rescue mission? Or an adventure with deadly assassins, the dreaded Mists, witches and an inhumanly beautiful boy who keeps visiting her every night.Check out the pictorial description Cassandra Rose Clarke made for The Wizard's Promise  here.

Sounds exciting? Unfortunately The Wizard’s Promise failed to deliver on that front. Hanna felt lack lustre and I struggled to really connect with her. It was clear that Clarke had a story in mind and was plotting the events as to reach a climax but it was slow moving and dragged as some points. While I did sympathized with Hanna it was hard to truly be on her side as especially I kept on comparing her to Ananna from The Assassin’s Curse who was driven, passionate and sassy. Even though I wasn’t expecting a pirate again this time, I had hoped that Hanna would have some personality but she felt strangely bland to me.

The other characters like Kulor, Isolfr and the many other on the way were far more carved out. I could see potential oozing out of them but somehow it all fizzled out. The world and the setting is so intricate and fascinating that there were so many ways the story could have gone.

However the way it panned out felt dis-jointed. Regardless of the above setback, The Wizard’s Promise still has a lot of potential. The mystery around Isolfr was frustratingly well done and Kolur’s grumpiness was a delight to read. The setting as usual was fabulous with a new mystery to solve or a new adventure just round the corner.

The Wizard’s Promise is what it says it is. Full of promises but did does not actually deliver or perhaps Cassandra Rose Clarke has had me expecting so much off her that even a little less is getting exaggerated in my eyes. I’d recommend this book to all fans of Cassandra Rose Clarke and The Assassin’s Curse. I’ll surely be reading The Nobleman’s Revenge.

ARC received from Strange Chemistry via NetGalley

Check out the pictorial description for The Wizard's Promise Cassandra Rose Clarke made for the blog tour.