MASK OF WIZARD [Paperback]

It is hardly regrettable for this book to be out of print, the quality of its content being mirrored by that of the cover: professional (barely) but cold and stiff.

Ms Cooke's writing is professional enough and her plot is decent but the story itself is not interesting, characterization is dull and characters hardly endearing; this book stirs no emotion and no reaction whatsoever beside a certain amount of annoyance due to some typos and plot inconsistencies.

Further annoyance is amply provided by some basic ideas: I realise that this book was written in 1985 but I wonder whether it is believable for all the main characters to be either younger than 22 or definitely old, for them to be that shallow and for the villain to be contemptuously depicted as indulging in a "vice", the "vice" being his proneness to young male soldiers, as if that were what makes him evil.

I should not take the trouble of seeking this volume in second-hand book stores: an old fashioned, boring, low cost romance such as this is is not worth that time.

What I liked best about this book is that I really cared about the main characters -- of which there were several. The author writes in such a way that the personality of each character is distinctive -- no cardboard look-alikes. The lead characters are *heroic* but not superhuman. Plus they are reasonably ethical, but not unbelievably perfect. There are complex relationships among the characters, which evolve in interesting ways over the course of the story.

The story itself involves evil wizards who are out to conquer the world. They invade & attack with large armies composed of human soldiers who have been magically enthralled into berserk status. These berserkers have no fear of death, & take no prisoners.

During battles, the wizards use their spells mainly as a form of magical artillery -- blowing away city walls and doors and entrenchments.

The main leading characters (the good guys) have a bit of magic of their own, and warriors, but are no match against the forces of the evil wizards. Therefore, the good guys are mainly in a state of fight-escape-run-skulk throughout much of the story. There are lots of exciting battles, clever tactics, innovative escapes, & thrilling sneaking around.

Also, there is an on-going set of mysterious bad guys (WHO are they?) & ominous foreshadowing (WHY is she acting so strangely?). Jolly good fun! A superb read. I just ordered everything this author has written -- with my fingers crossed that she has sustained or exceeded the superb quality of this book -- her first effort (I think).

I do not read fantasy books but this book has hooked me to it. The story is kind of mysterious and I love it. I 've been reading this book over and over again. Its a great book.