The Wizard of Time (Book 1) by G.L. Breedon is a book I was very ambiguous about for the first third of the book.  I have a rule that I try to stick to in my reading.  I don't read books about people hurting children ever.  I also don't read books about rape.  I took the second rule from the first editors note I ever read.  It was in Sword and Sorceress Number 1 by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

I bet you can guess I didn't do so well with George R. R. Martin.  I also don't do so well with many other writers including Orson Scott Card who killed two kids in the first book of his I ever read.  

Why you might ask do I bring this up. Because the first chapter of this book ended with the lead character dead. He drowned something I have a very vivid memory of nearly doing at about the same age this character did, only I was in a pool not a river. So you can guess I was very ready to put this book down after the first chapter.  And I guess you have figured out that since i'm doing a book review online I didn't leave it down.

I'm very glad I did pick it back up.  One of my all time favorite coming of age fiction tales is the Belgariad a five book monster that very nearly ate a whole summer.  It has now been bumped over to make room for a Wizard of Time.

Wizard is the classic and often over used heroes tale about a young person that has an ability that makes him the ONE or the Special.  In this case he is a time mage and a very good time mage maybe the best time mage ever.  After his death in the first chapter he is surprised to find himself alive and well and meeting very anachronistic people in a very unusual place.  

Wizard is young adult fiction done well.  Its not perfect there are many typos that I felt a good copy editor should have caught or someone even reading it with a fresh eye would have spotted. Not that I'm complaining.  A good story will make you over look the imperfections of a book, and this is a good story.  Like Harry Potter or Narnia you don't stop to analyze the story, you just read.  After the second mission of the team I really couldn't put it down.  I woke up with the Fire still strapped to my hand and the battery dead.

As a first read for an author I had not seen before, I am very happy.  I can't wait until the next book is out.  I'll have to settle for reading the other works by this author to hold me over until he gets the next one ready. He appears to be producing two books a year so the wait won't be to long. 

While your waiting check out his blog for some very interesting entries.