Amazon.com Review

Launched with much fanfare, The Fifth Sorceress unfortunately does not live up to the hype. Instead, Robert Newcomb's debut novel sadly fulfills the stereotype of big fantasy epics as wordy and loosely plotted, with thin characterization. Newcomb does have an interesting, apparently novel approach to magic talent--it is genetically determined. Unfortunately, the talent resides in "pure blood," making magicians qualitatively different from other humans, and giving the book an unhappy subtext. Also, the wizards (male) are good, while the sorceresses (nearly all the female characters) are evil. One hopes the sequel will address this imbalance.

The wicked Sisters of the Coven were exiled and apparently killed centuries before Prince Tristan was born. The son of a peaceful age, the magically talented prince doesn't want to be a wizard. He also doesn't want to become the King of Eutracia--but his coronation is only hours away. Then the sorceresses' specially bred army invades the palace. In the resulting massacre, Tristan, his twin sister, and the Lead Wizard are taken prisoner. Crossing the mysterious Sea of Whispers, Tristan finds himself in an unknown land--a land long since conquered by the Coven, and more dangerous and cruel than he ever could have imagined. --Cynthia Ward

From Publishers Weekly

Newcomb may be a newcomer to fantasy writing, but it doesn't show in this surprisingly original doorstopper. After wreaking all sorts of havoc in the kingdom of Eutracia, the evil sorceresses of the Coven were overcome and exiled by the wizards of the Protectorate. Now, 327 years later, Eutracian females are forbidden to practice magic, and males are made to swear a solemn oath to stay on the side of light and good. Across the ocean in Parthalon, the sorceresses still live, plotting to kidnap Princess Shailiha from Eutracia and use her to complete an incantation that will make them all-powerful or destroy the world. Prince Tristan, Shailiha's brother and our protagonist, is perhaps the most cookie-cutter of the characters, a classic reluctant hero who'd rather wave a sword than sit on the throne. But the wizard Wigg, Tristan's companion and adviser, is no caricature of the omnipotent magical sidekick: he makes incorrect guesses and poor decisions and often fails to keep the headstrong prince in check. This isn't done for comic relief, but to put Newcomb firmly in the George R.R. Martin camp of realistic fantasy as he creates a world where fully realized characters die, everyone is in the dark about something and sometimes things simply go wrong for no reason at all. Thanks to the author's passion for tying up loose ends, the finish is neat, but it leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, the planned sequels (at least two) will provide that, as well as ample room for further character development.
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