Shanna Swendson

Now that the Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. team has defeated the nefarious Spellworks, the only "competition" in town, Katie Chandler doesn't have much to do as director of marketing, and she's starting to question her role at MSI. Her boyfriend, Owen Palmer, on the other hand, is in hog heaven, translating an ancient and powerful magical manuscript...

No Quest for the Wicked

Colleen

2 Stars

No Quest for the Wicked failed to live up to my expectations. There are a few reasons for this disappointment. 

First, I had been reading this series one book per day for six days now. Since they are so short, this was easy to do. But by day six, I was a little tired of my binge reading. The stories were starting to feel similar and the series failed to grow as I'd expected. It started to feel stagnant. 

Second, No Quest for the Wicked followed up Much Ado About Magic which was definitely a better book. Unfortunately, instead of building upon that, this book swings in the opposite direction and becomes the worst in the series. So by contrast, it seemed even worse. It was particularly bad to have the dud come so late in the series.

Third, this story was non-stop action. That may sound fun, but it leaves zero room for character development. Some stuff happens plot-wise, but the characters do not grow at all in any way. The story is go-go-go. But that felt like it was orchestrated to distract the reader from the lack of content in the book. Both the comedy and romance in No Quest for the Wicked felt strained and contrived.

Which brings me to point number four: the author seems to be fed up with the series and put almost no effort into the story. You can tell the difference between an author who is lacking inspiration or perhaps rushed to meet a deadline and an author who is trying to sabotage her own work. But Swendson's growing disdain for these characters and this series became more and more blatantly obvious as the book went on. Perhaps her publishers forced her to write this book. There is a gap of a couple years between books five and six. Plus the first five books in the series had an over plot arc that could have been left as an ending even if it did leave some loose ends. But book number six had a half-assed, tacked on feel all the way through. The evidence seems pretty overwhelming that Swendson had no interest in writing this book. It makes it extremely hard to enjoy a story when it is so self-aware of the disdain of the person writing. That completely sucks the fun out of reading it.

The last chapter was the only interesting part of the book. But it still does not count as character development. Certainly something happens to them, but not in terms of their characters growing or evolving in any way. Nor does it make up for how substandard the rest of the story is.

RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 2 Stars
Character Development: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 2 Stars
Originality: 2 Stars

A Questing We Will Go Now that the Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. team has defeated the nefarious Spellworks, the only "competition" in town, Katie Chandler doesn't have much to do as director of marketing, and she's starting to question her role at MSI. Her boyfriend Owen Palmer, on the other hand, is in hog heaven, translating an ancient and powerful magical manuscript. But then he finds that the cryptic text describing the location of an enchanted gem known as the Eye of the Moon has radically changed. This deadly stone gives its holder enhanced power over others and a craving for more power. It once caused a terrible war before it was safely hidden and then lost - and now it seems to be in New York and set in an elven brooch that renders its wearer invulnerable. Whoever has this brooch could take over the world. Katie and Owen must find it before anyone else does, and they're not the only ones searching. They'll need all the help they can get, including Katie's visiting grandmother. But who can they trust when their allies fall under its spell? Not to mention the new enemies who are deadlier than anything they've faced before.

No Quest for the Wicked

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