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George Mazurek

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The City of Wizards - a YA fantasy (The Averot'h Saga Book 1) Kindle Edition

by George Mazurek (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.9 108 ratings

Book 1 of 3: The Averot'h Saga

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When a young boy Syrdan arrives to a mythical city of Averot’h, everything seems perfect. Both humans and wizards live here in peace and harmony, four Spires shine brightly high in the skies, wizards cruise the air on their tephirs and an Arena, a place of a magic tournament, is just amazing… But within the City of Mages, something is badly wrong. What was meant to be a brief trip turns into a battle to save his brother, his new love and his own life from the most powerful of mages…An entertaining young adult novella from a unique fantasy world is just the first book of the Averot’h saga.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Mazurek (Jiri Mazurek in Czech) (*1974) is a Czech writer of fantasy and science-fiction. Since 2005, he published 5 books and over 30 short stories in the best Czech and Slovak magazines. Several of his short stories were broadcasted by the Czech national radio (Radiozurnal). He was awarded Karel Capek prize and other minor prizes. Currently, he is an assistant professor at Silesian University, and he is living near Ostrava with his wife and two little sons.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00OPBURQC
Publisher ‏ : ‎ (October 19, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 19, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4097 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 157 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #2,430,908 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,714 in Teen & Young Adult Sword & Sorcery Fantasy eBooks
- #7,462 in Teen & Young Adult Sword & Sorcery Fantasy
- #24,782 in Epic Fantasy (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
3.9 108 ratings

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George Mazurek

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George Mazurek is a writer of fantasy and science-fiction. He published 6 books and over 40 short stories. His hobbies include reading a good book, science, a wife and two little sons.

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3.9 out of 5

108 global ratings

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Marcia Whitley

Good reading

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2016

Verified Purchase

I truly enjoy a good fantasy book and this is one of them. From the first page you have a chance to meet many characters, then the balancing of each one's position and part are formed. It has a quick storyline, but you don't loose track of it. I have to look up the others in this series, because I'm very interested in seeing this through to the end.

One person found this helpful

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AlysonSerenaStone

Needs to Be Longer!!!

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

Book: City of Wizards
Author: George Mazurek
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I was asked by George to take a look at this book when it was free on Kindle.

First off, wow, George is great at creating a sense of adventure. I found myself flying through the book and was just hooked on the world that City of Wizards created. The descriptions were just wow and it just really threw the reader into the world. I could just picture the events in my head.

This book should not have been a novella. There is just way too much going on for 123 pages to cover it. At times, it felt really choppy and that there was just too much. This book could have easily been 300-400 pages. I normally do not say this, but there just was not enough time to a proper world building. I think that with some more pages, this would have been a five star book.

Keeping with the trend that it was too much for so few pages. While I did like the characters, there were just too many. It was really difficult for me to keep them all straight. Number one, it is really hard to develop this many characters in so few pages. I really do get that. Number two, the fact that the names were so hard to remember, made it next to impossible for me to remember who was who and what their role was in the story. Plus, the main character was really passive. He just seemed to act like the reader should know what is going on without really talking about it.

The creative nature of the writer is what save this book from getting a lower rating. Everything is here to make a great fantasy novel. It just need to either be longer or have some things cut from it.

One person found this helpful

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Tomáš Dominik

Simply breathtaking

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

At first sight I had a strange impression of awkwardness originating in both the story and the main character. However, after reaching certain breaking point in the story, I completely lost this impression and the narrative embraced me completely. Great story, I am really looking forward to the sequel.

One person found this helpful

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Nelou Keramati

Almost as overwhelming as Phantom Menace

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2016

I only read up to page 71 of this novella, and the following opinions are reflected upon those pages only:

First and foremost, I want to commend the author's imagination. There was a lot of color in this novella, and surprisingly, I was most taken by his descriptions of edibles. I loved how they were similar enough for the reader to almost be able to taste, but different enough to put a fresh spin on some favorites. It definitely made me feel like this sort of food exists in a world of magic.

I also liked the feelings the book incited. I felt the magic. And when the protagonist was speaking of a public square clock, I immediately envisioned Prague from my trip in 2013, and later found out the author is Czech, so kudos on that!

Now onto some critique, which I sincerely hope will help the author and the narrative:

This should not have been a novella. 120 pages is far too short for a fantasy genre where world-building is essential. And a novella concerned with magic definitely requires the magic system to be explained, which I felt was not done, or was inconsistent. For example, the protagonist goes from thinking he is an ordinary human, to suddenly snapping his fingers and being bewildered by the outcome. It made the protagonist appear as a consequence of other people's actions and of circumstance, not his own convictions. I.e. he was rendered passive, which made him hard to root for.

Far too many complicated words: (De'ren, Ka'tan, li'eree, Cid'rel, Ol'wen, akkar, Gokhor, Troggyr, Rotah, Averot'h, Tor'lak, Jigra... And these are only some of the words I came across in only one chapter. And I still don't know what a Tephir is. Just that it flies. And I think it's alive.) Words that are very difficult to pronounce, and even harder to remember. Words attributed to things, places, and concepts which were indistinguishable because none were fleshed out. Half the time, I had no idea whether I was reading about a person or a thing; who the person is, or what the thing does. And when introducing something in a book, I feel it should be described/explained right away if the author is to make countless more references to it.

Characters: For one thing, far too many of them. More than the Game of Thrones, and keep in mind, this was a novella, 68% of which I read. Characters, like the protagonist's brother, were focused on far too much (although the right amount in absolute terms. Everything else should have been far more fleshed out than the brother). I could envision him way better than the protagonist, even though he isn't a consequential character and but a vehicle to commence the story with. Also, far too many characters were introduced and done away with within paragraphs. There is no way a reader can keep track of all these people, nor should they, because they vanish as soon as they came.

POV: the story is told from the protagonist's perspective, who is new to the world of magic, and supposedly knows little of it. And yet, when he is speaking to the readers about what he sees, his POV appears omniscient, referring to strangers by their first name. And he also assumes the readers know who and what he is talking about when he does refer to them.

Setting: There were references made to modern culture which confused me as to what era this book is based in. The dialects are old-world English, and yet there is far too many contemporary slangs/idioms you'd expect of modern teenagers.

Protagonist: I had no idea how old he was. Not a clue. I assumed he was younger than his brother because he was following him around everywhere, which turns out he isn't. Based on this thoughts and way of speaking, I had assumed him to be 13, which brings me to my next point:

Sex/intimacy: because I was under the impression that the protag. is a young teen, the sudden nudity and sexual inferences completely threw me off-guard. Furthermore, the characters have literally JUST met (as in hours), and they are declaring their love for one another, for no apparent reason. And not infatuation either, we're talking 'The Notebook' kind of love which requires simmering.

Contrivances: The protag. realizes things that he cannot possibly infer when convenient. And he appears incredibly naive the remainder of the story.

Writing style: Inconsistent. Tag-lines rarely are attached to the person speaking, and I had to guess. It's fine if the conversation is flowing, but pressing 'enter' and then writing the tag line is incorrect and misleading. Some descriptions were very poetic, and I liked them quite frankly, but then the next sentence is written as though for a preteen audience. Also, certain words were italicized at some times, and not others. It made me confused as to whether they represent plurals now, etc. etc.

I could go on, but that would be nit-picking. I wasn't going to write a review which is predominately critique, but I did so because I feel the author has a great imagination. I'm not sure if the novella was written in English initially, or whether it was translated, but I do think this book could really benefit from multiple rounds of editing. I think it has great potential, and I would like it to be longer so that all the confusion can be eliminated.

When a creative and imaginative author writes, it can be hard to know how much of what the reader needs to know is implied, and how much of it needs to be explained. So I do hope the author will consider changing this novella to a novel, and if not, to eliminate some of the confounding/confusing info so that the readers are not overwhelmed.

I give it 4/5 for creativity and potential, and 2/5 for execution.

7 people found this helpful

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mike

Brilliant person that I am

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

I was offered a free ecopy of The City of Wizards by George Mazurek for review. Brilliant person that I am, I downloaded the book on the wrong day and wound up paying for it (I rarely pay for it).

Fortunately for all concerned, The City of Wizards was worth it.

As the title implies the story is tale of magic. Not sword and sorcery because... no swords! Even with out swords there is plenty of action in this fairly short quick read. There is also romance, troubled of course. There is even a Wrestlemania style magic competition (Wizardmania?)

The City of Wizards is a nice story if you don't feel ready to commit several days to a longer book. It moves quickly to ARGGHH! a cliffhanger ending!

There are obviously more installments to come, and I for one am interested in how the main story is resolved. Lovers of magic, action, romance, intrigue and justice will not be disappointed by The City of Wizards.

The disappointment (and it's minor) for me comes from the length of the book. Many important details are glossed over; the history of the main character for one, and, the city of Averot'h itself. It felt like a lot was sacrificed for brevity. Advice for author George Mazurek, slow down. You have a good story here, take the time to flesh it out more. Both for the characters, and the world you're creating. I'm confident your audience will stick with you through a longer work. I know I will. Enjoy!

Mike

3 people found this helpful

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Dionne Washington

This was a great book. I enjoyed reading it

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

This was a great book. I enjoyed reading it. In fact, it was one of those books I couldn't put down until the end. I loved the main character. He really works for this story. Great imagination and all.

One person found this helpful

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Nelou Keramati

Filled with potential, but needs another rewrite.

Reviewed in Canada on February 13, 2016

Verified Purchase

I was contacted by the author on Goodreads, informing me about his book being free to download on Amazon.

I only read up to page 71 of this novella, and the following opinions are reflected upon those pages only:

First and foremost, I want to commend the author's imagination. There was a lot of color in this novella, and surprisingly, I was most taken by his descriptions of edibles. I loved how they were similar enough for the reader to almost be able to taste, but different enough to put a fresh spin on some favorites. It definitely made me feel like this sort of food exists in a world of magic.

I also liked the feelings the book incited. I felt the magic. And when the protagonist was speaking of a public square clock, I immediately envisioned Prague from my trip in 2013, and later found out the author is Czech, so kudos on that!

Now onto some critique, which I sincerely hope will help the author and the narrative:

This should not have been a novella. 120 pages is far too short for a fantasy genre where world-building is essential. And a novella concerned with magic definitely requires the magic system to be explained, which I felt was not done, or was inconsistent. For example, the protagonist goes from thinking he is an ordinary human, to suddenly snapping his fingers and being bewildered by the outcome. It made the protagonist appear as a consequence of other people's actions and of circumstance, not his own convictions. I.e. he was rendered passive, which made him hard to root for.

Far too many complicated words: (De'ren, Ka'tan, li'eree, Cid'rel, Ol'wen, akkar, Gokhor, Troggyr, Rotah, Averot'h, Tor'lak, Jigra... And these are only some of the words I came across in only one chapter. And I still don't know what a Tephir is. Just that it flies. And I think it's alive.) Words that are very difficult to pronounce, and even harder to remember. Words attributed to things, places, and concepts which were indistinguishable because none were fleshed out. Half the time, I had no idea whether I was reading about a person or a thing; who the person is, or what the thing does. And when introducing something in a book, I feel it should be described/explained right away if the author is to make countless more references to it.

Characters: For one thing, far too many of them. More than the Game of Thrones, and keep in mind, this was a novella, 68% of which I read. Characters, like the protagonist's brother, were focused on far too much (although the right amount in absolute terms. Everything else should have been far more fleshed out than the brother). I could envision him way better than the protagonist, even though he isn't a consequential character and but a vehicle to commence the story with. Also, far too many characters were introduced and done away with within paragraphs. There is no way a reader can keep track of all these people, nor should they, because they vanish as soon as they came.

POV: the story is told from the protagonist's perspective, who is new to the world of magic, and supposedly knows little of it. And yet, when he is speaking to the readers about what he sees, his POV appears omniscient, referring to strangers by their first name. And he also assumes the readers know who and what he is talking about when he does refer to them.

Setting: There were references made to modern culture which confused me as to what era this book is based in. The dialects are old-world English, and yet there is far too many contemporary slangs/idioms you'd expect of modern teenagers.

Protagonist: I had no idea how old he was. Not a clue. I assumed he was younger than his brother because he was following him around everywhere, which turns out he isn't. Based on this thoughts and way of speaking, I had assumed him to be 13, which brings me to my next point:

Sex/intimacy: because I was under the impression that the protag. is a young teen, the sudden nudity and sexual inferences completely threw me off-guard. Furthermore, the characters have literally JUST met (as in hours), and they are declaring their love for one another, for no apparent reason. And not infatuation either, we're talking 'The Notebook' kind of love which requires simmering.

Contrivances: The protag. realizes things that he cannot possibly infer when convenient. And he appears incredibly naive the remainder of the story.

Writing style: Inconsistent. Tag-lines rarely are attached to the person speaking, and I had to guess. It's fine if the conversation is flowing, but pressing 'enter' and then writing the tag line is incorrect and misleading. Some descriptions were very poetic, and I liked them quite frankly, but then the next sentence is written as though for a preteen audience. Also, certain words were italicized at some times, and not others. It made me confused as to whether they represent plurals now, etc. etc.

I could go on, but that would be nit-picking. I wasn't going to write a review which is predominately critique, but I did so because I feel the author has a great imagination. I'm not sure if the novella was written in English initially, or whether it was translated, but I do think this book could really benefit from multiple rounds of editing. I think it has great potential, and I would like it to be longer so that all the confusion can be eliminated.

When a creative and imaginative author writes, it can be hard to know how much of what the reader needs to know is implied, and how much of it needs to be explained. So I do hope the author will consider changing this novella to a novel, and if not, to eliminate some of the confounding/confusing info so that the readers are not overwhelmed.

I give it 4/5 for creativity and potential, and 2/5 for execution.

IanC

love is instantaneous

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

A decent enough story but there is enough here for a five hundred page saga, not a 100-odd page novella. That means that things inevitably feel rushed, the hero goes from zero to powerfully competent in the blink of an eye, love is instantaneous, deaths occur in next to no time and the climactic battle feels perfunctory.
Honestly it's quite decent with traditional sword and sorcery ideas and feel, but it could have been so much more.

Rose English

Disappointing. No development of characters,

Reviewed in Canada on February 10, 2016

Verified Purchase

Disappointing. No development of characters, plot line sucks

Robbie

Has potential but is lacking

Reviewed in Canada on March 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

The idea behind this story seems great! I love the imagination involved with creating this story. What is lacking is character development and a sense of time. Things moved too fast without explanation. He finds out he is a wizard and learns some basic defense spells, but then moments later he is removing warts from someone's face, turning into a bird, and healing someone's arthritis. The other issue is the lack of development of the romance. One moment they are meeting and the next moment they are expressing their love, and then they have sex (though I do appreciate the lack of sexual description). At first I was weirded out by the sex, but then I remembered the main character was 18 years old, so it was less weird. Fortunately, I was able to acquire this book free of charge from amazon, but I don't think I will be buying the other books unless there is significantly more development. It is possible that something gets lost from the Czech original, or maybe there are things we are supposed to know that are common in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
I do want to reiterate that I love the ideas and the imagination behind this world the author has created. I could truly see myself loving a story like this.

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The City of Wizards - a YA fantasy (The Averot'h Saga Book 1) Kindle Edition

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George Mazurek

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