“Grahme has wanted to be a druid for as long as he can remember. Talented but headstrong, he runs afoul of a despotic, mind-controlling mage during his initiation quest. The price of failure is death. Intrigue and distrust has turns his order against him. Haggard, hunted and without his magic, Grahme must make impossible sacrifices or lose everything.”
Title: Becoming a Druid
Series: Protectors of Pretanni #1
Author: Mike Mollman
Page Count: 412
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Date Read: August 12th, 2023
| Becoming A Druid was my twentieth SPFBO-9 read. It was also a late addition as I found out that one of my previously chosen 48 books from the competition wasn’t listed as a book one or standalone on some websites. Perhaps it would have still be ok but I didn’t want to read something that I may have missed out information allowing me to enjoy it more. Since this one was on my radar anyways, I simply slide it into that slot. I also ended up listening to the audiobook version which was narrated by James Meunier which I felt did an excellent job with the story. The pacing was smooth. This was one of those stories that didn’t seem like it had a lot of peaks and valleys to ebb and flow it just stayed very baseline for me. I will point out that the narrator’s accent might be difficult at times for some listeners to understand. In this case, I thought it went well with the story being shared though. The worldbuilding was probably my favorite aspect of this book simply due to having a bit of history and fascination with the druid culture in general. I even commented that I don’t get to see a lot of druid type of stories in my reads which is kind of surprising now that I think about it. Beyond that though I just liked the world the author has put together here. The character development was solid as well. We get to tag along for quite the adventure with Grahme throughout the book. And though he may not have seemed to change a lot from beginning to end, it did feel like if anything he became a bit wiser as it relates to this world. He seemed fairly static to me throughout the book at times. He always seems like a good guy and a bit of a stickler in completing the his quest under the requirements posed to him. Overall I had fun with this read. There were some sections where it just seemed like we were floating along a lazy river just kind of taking things in and then some other moments that got you thinking a bit more on what was going to happen next. There were certainly some humor sprinkled in which adds to my enjoyment. All in all this will be a series and author that I keep my eye on to see where things go from here. I’d recommend this read to fantasy readers looking for a more traditional fantasy storyline especially if they are interested in druids and shapeshifting into animal form. World Building 4.5/5 Pacing 4/5 Character Development 4/5 |
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