The Wysman by Dorothy A. Winsor
Release: June 27th 2020
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Inspired Quill Publishing
Source: YA Bound Book Tours
Find it at: Inspired Quill | Universal link
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“The Grabber is just a fright tale.”
Former street kid Jarka was born with a crooked foot and uses a crutch, but that no longer matters now that he’s an apprentice Wysman, training to advise the king. Hence, when poor kids start to go missing from the city’s streets, though, Jarka suspects that whatever’s causing the disappearances comes from the castle.
Now he needs to watch his step or risk losing the position he fought so hard to win… but when someone close to him becomes the latest victim, Jarka knows he’s running out of time.
His search takes him from diving into ancient history to standing up to those who want to beat or bleed the magic out of him. Will Jarka succeed in uncovering an evil long-hidden, or will he see friends and family vanish into the darkness? And whose side is the King on, in his determination to bind his nobles to him no matter what black arts they’ve dabbled in? If Jarka fails in his search, his own future won’t be the worst thing lost.
The Wysman follows Jarka after the events in The Wind Reader, but this YA Fantasy can be read independently.
About the Author:
For about a dozen years, Dorothy A. Winsor taught technical writing at Iowa State University and served as the editor of the Journal of Business and Technical Communication, but then she decided writing middle-grade (MG) and young adult (YA) fantasy was more fun.
The Wind Reader was published by Inspired Quill in fall 2018. Her previous novels include Finders Keepers (2015) and Deep as a Tomb (2016). Her short stories have appeared in Swords and Sorcery Magazine, Bards and Sages Quarterly, and FrostFire Worlds.
She lives near Chicago with her husband, who engineers tractors, and has one son, the person who first introduced her to the pleasure of reading fantasy. Her deepest secret is that she once wrote over a million words of Lord of the Rings fanfiction.
The Wysman Review:
I don’t read much fantasy, but I enjoyed reading “The Wysman”.
What I really liked about this story was its characters. The author makes the story interesting with how she portrays her characters. The characters are a bit complex and the author keeps us guessing their intentions. At times, I felt like even Ellyn, Lineth and Adrya were hiding something. However, Jarka is wonderful as the main character. He doesn’t let his handicap stop him from finding out the mystery of the Grabber. There are also some characters you just love to hate like Clovyan, Gelas, Dugan and Brylla. Also, I loved Timur. He was one of my favorite characters in the story! The plot is also fast, where you learn something new in each chapter. It gets gripping towards the end, once the author makes Izzy prominent.
My only difficulty with the story was the initial bit. As the author immediately jumps into the story, it took time for me to adjust to the setting and the characters. However, once I understood the characters, the story became very interesting, after what happens to Rena. Also, I couldn’t visualize how Jarka’s powers worked. As I have not read any of the author’s previous novels, I wasn’t sure if this is explained in another story. Moreover, I am not sure why Brylla reacted that way towards the end (I won’t mention what happens as I want this to be spoiler-free). But something happens to her, which I felt was not explained properly. Perhaps there is a continuation to this story where we will find out more?
Overall, this was a very nice fantasy story that held my attention, and I liked reading it!
Giveaway:
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Wysman by Dorothy A. Winsor!
Book Tour Schedule
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