A Quest of Heroes: Book #1 in the Sorcerer's Ring Paperback – December 3, 2012

I wasn't sure about A Quest For Heroes to begin with. It felt slow to start with and I wasn't sure if I would really get into it. Fortunately for me, I was wrong. By the end of the book I was so hooked I didn't want the book to end.Let's start with the characters. Rice does and awesome job at filling them out. Thor, the main character, is convinced he will become a knight, and with his attitude and honor, it is hard to believe that he won't become one in future novels in the series. Gwendolyn, the king's daughter, is an interesting combination of strength and weakness. You can see in her also the potential to be great, but her disinterest in ruling definitely looks like it will play a part in where her future goes. Even the villains, and there are quite a few, are fleshed out. Not all their motives are revealed before the end of the book, but their characters aren't paper thin. I thought at first that Thor's perfect knight attitude might annoy me eventually, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't. If anything it kinda grew on me and made me root for him even more.Then there is the world itself. Rice has impressively built his kingdom in the ring. While fleshing out this world to the reader, he also drops intriguing clues to the world outside the ring. I am definitely interested to see more of the world in future books.The story is definitely strong. Even though it is Thor's story, it is told from multiple points of view. Seeing how they are all weaved to together is a definite treat. I like to try to guess which way an author is leading me. When an author takes a turn I might not expect, but that still keeps the story interesting and keeps me wanting to read more, it is definitely a plus. The story itself ends with a cliff hanger. I don't want to spoil the novel, but it wasn't a happy ending. Lots of strings were left untied and the future of its characters is definitely uncertain. But I was so wrapped up in wanting to see what would happen to Thor that, while I was frustrated there wasn't more book to read, I was hooked. I need to read March of Kings and see what happens. As this is only the beginning of the series I'm sure that book won't end in a neat little bow either, but as long as it is as well written as this one, I'm sure I won't mind too much.I think this looks like an awesome series. Male or Female I think the reader will definitely enjoy it. I wouldn't recommend it for too young a crowd though. There are some topics that lean towards the deeper end. Nothing vulgar or erotic or anything, but I would recommend if you plan to give this as a gift to read it first before giving it to anyone under 18. But despite that I think this novel was awesome and definitely recommend it.

The sheer number of reviews literally lambasting this book for spelling, grammatical errors and word misuse...or the fact that 90% of said reviews contain at least one spelling error, grammatical error or misused word. I did honestly laugh harder than I've laughed in at least 20 years, reading through these negative reviews. But I digress.I admit: I am, or was, an avid Terry Brooks fan, especially the Heritage series. Brooks has a distinctive writing style that I've yet to see repeated from any author short of Shawn Speakman. I did read the various Hobbit/LOTR books, including  The Silmarillion , believe it or not, and even they don't have the same fluidity and color that Brooks had. Now, it's nearly impossible to find books of the same style. Call them young adult books if you will, if it's not a Dr. Seuss book I see no reason to attach it to an age. But again, I digress.I downloaded this book free (keyword: FREE) like last year, and I actually tried reading it but found that I couldn't attach to it from the first few pages. I think I have some issue with "too real" in books, especially fantasy books. This was the first negative; the very first chapter is nearly throwaway and does not hook the reader properly. It gives you the impression of a very dull experience. Later chapters, especially after Thor has been in the Legion for a bit, are more engaging and it is here that the story starts to unfold better.As I read the entirety of Thor's Legion experience, I had the distinct feeling of deja-vu, that I'd read this story before. Ah yes... The Guardians: Book One of the Restoration Series ! As in, young unknown boy from a distant place who has uncanny weapons skills goes to large kingdom to prove himself and get in good with the King's men, catches the eye of the princess, and eventually...well, yeah. But of course, he has magic powers that even he didn't realize he had! Now, that book in the Restoration series was written AFTER this book, so clearly Christopher Williams was a bit too inspired by Morgan Rice's book.But that's too easy. I thought a bit more about it...and then it hit me again.  Elseerian: The Second Draeken War #1 (The Chronicles of Lumineia: The Second Draeken War series) ! Written after Restoration, Ben Hale wrote a story that was almost a mirror image of Quest of Heroes. Again, young unknown boy from distance place with uncanny weapons goes to kingdom to prove himself...BUT, it gets worse. From an overbearing drill sergeant to a bully who gets beat up and is then saved, becoming friends with the protagonist, to the King taking the young boy in as his own. It's all there. Quite nearly plagiarized.They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's the case then surely, some of these authors thought rather highly of Rice's work to copy it so blatantly.I speed read the book, so I didn't focus on grammar and syntax and spelling. I think I noticed one instance where a word was not spelled correctly, but didn't think too much about it. I instead kept my attention on the story. Let's see how close I get.Young boy from a distant village wants to join the Legion but is nervous. He's directed by a Druid who informs him to take control of his destiny. He breaks in, encounters a bully, gets beat down. Knights of the kingdom including members of the royal family respect the kid's bravery and offer to befriend/mentor/sponsor him. On one occasion he discovers he has unexpected powers. From this point forward, he finds himself in one position after another, either saving someone, watching someone get beat down or courting the princess. He grows in popularity while encountering plenty of animosity from various sources for seemingly no reason whatsoever.That's all off memory. So clearly, the author was able to tell the story at least effectively enough to get the idea. It's not an overly deep, overly convoluted storyline. Yes, I would have liked more character development. Yes, I felt that the pace was way off (it was difficult to perceive the passage of time, for example). Yes, there were some silly moments like a leopard drinking ale. But clearly the author's intent was that you have fun with the story, which a lot of other books fail miserably at ( A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) , for example). It's lighthearted and enough to pass time.A fair critique is that the author does not take very much time to explain any of the actions taken by any of the characters. Why is the Druid advising both Thor and the King? Why is the King so receptive to Thor? Why is the Queen so against Thor? What is it about Thor that Gwyn finds so intriguing? Why do so many people dislike Thor despite him having done nothing specifically bad to them? Why is there magic in the Ring? And why does Thor know nothing about his own magic?Perhaps some or all of these are answered in later books. But you do expect at least some partial hints if not full explanation when you introduce certain concepts to the reader.Beyond that, it's a book. A lighthearted, not too overly involved, basic concept book. Oh, and I do believe I mentioned it was FREE. Criticizing it for not being advanced seems silly to me. But again...I digress. Given it's after 10pm and I'm typing this half asleep, I'm fairly certain I'll receive the same amount of criticism from people finding errors in my review. Oh well.

The book had a nice twist of action and romance to make the book more interesting. The storyline was good. Would love to read the next book.

This is the first book I have read from Morgan Rice, and was impressed. I don't know what the other reviewers are complaining about - whilst this isn't the best book i've ever read, it's a great story and an easy, enjoyable read and I found myself connecting with the main character. It isn't "deep" in the same way that other books in this genre can be, which is a good thing. Shakespeare or Tolkien it is not, but I loved it! The story is fast paced and the writing style economical, giving us exactly the details we need and nothing more, a perfect lighthearted, easygoing read. I have added the next book in the series to my list to read.

Hello,I am new to the Morgan Rice series Sorcerers Ring and bought all the series 17 books.I am not a minor/young adult and am very old, but I had read a preview and gave the series a shot.The series Sorcerer's Ring is not for children because of the violence or some adult content.But a young adult and adults will love this series as much as I do.The series has a great story line and believable characters.The books are well written and fit right into the Fantasy/fiction groups.The author did a splendid job and was very detailed in the story.Without giving spoilers, you will love and hate some characters and some events in the series.There is romance, violence, war and it will draw you into never wanting to put the books down.It is well worth buying and reading this series and I myself have told all my family and friends about the series.Get the books as they are worth the investment for avid readers.ThanksPara

Muito inteligente, com riqueza de detalhes, e uma historia bem intrigante e me faz pensar agora no futuro que aguarda Thor, Gwen e a verdadeira irigem de Thor...

I really like Thor and wish him all the best for his further quests! I Hope I can be there with him.... Looking very much forward to the German version!