Review: With a Single Spell

With a Single Spell by Lawrence Watt-Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the things I like about this series is that a lot of the characters are magic-users of one kind or another, which is a type of character I enjoy. In this case, the protagonist is an apprentice wizard, but his master dies having only taught him one spell of seemingly limited utility (you can light fires with it, if you have some brimstone).

Obviously, the thing to do is to steal a boat, hitch a ride on a ship to a great city, and get recruited to help deal with a dragon problem in the Small Kingdoms. He then stumbles upon a highly useful place, but has to have the nous and moxie to do something useful with it.

I wasn't a huge fan of the final resolution in some ways, but he certainly worked for everything he got, and grew from a deceptive and unpromising boy into a man.

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