In Review: Forgotten Runes: Wizard’s Cult #2

Synopsis: Forgotten Runes begins as a seemingly unconnected series of magical tales about power wizards, gradually merging into a legendary saga.

Who is Chronomancer George of Dreams and what is he trying to tell the reader? Visions of the past, premonitions of the future – or something far more sinister that threatens the very fabric of the Runiverse itself?!

The Story

In this story, a little girl called Leah is concerned when her father does not return home to the village on time. As the hour gets later Leah becomes more and more concerned until she sees her father coming up the path and a wizard in the background. As she greets her father she leans that the Wizard who is called Willow saved his life, which doesn’t go over too well with the rest of Leah’s family who are distrustful of wizards.

A few days go by and Willow is minding her own business when Leah comes into her woods with the gift of some doughnuts. Initially, Willow is suspicious but pretty soon softens her stance when she figures out that Leah is genuinely thankful for her good deed. While being walked home by the Wizard. Leah pleads with Willow to teach her magic, but Willow refuses and accidentally scares the young girl away when her pleading gets a little too much. As the girl runs home she gets picked up and taken by another Wizard.

A short time later the villagers are on Willow’s doorstep and they want blood. They blame Willow for the missing Girl Leah and want to get her back by any means necessary.

The Artwork

Reilly Brown’s artwork is fantastic throughout this book. I loved the detail and fun that we see get played out where Willow and some other wizards play a magical board game in which the various pieces come to life and battle each other. This game sort of put me in mind of the bit in Star Wars where Chewie and R2D2 play their game. The detail of the various battles and the character drawings of the different Wizards who are all from different magical races are amazing. The art team does a fantastic job of illustrating a truly magical world and I was completely invested from page one.

Overall

This was another stand-alone story, which does a nice job of setting up the world that Forgotten Runes is set in. I appreciated how the human villagers were distrustful of magic and the result of that mistrust is very reminiscent of what was done to women who were suspected of being witches during the 15th to 18th century. The book also makes subtle reference to global warming where Willow complains about the smoke coming from the village chimneys when she is returning Leah’s father.

Overall. A good stand-alone story.