Review: The Spriggan Mirror

The Spriggan Mirror by Lawrence Watt-Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In a departure from the series pattern, not a coming-of-age story for a YA protagonist; this protagonist is an adult man. It involves characters we've seen twice before, in With a Single Spell and The Spell of the Black Dagger, which is more continuity than was common in the early part of the series. The mirror of the title was created in With a Single Spell when a spell went wrong, and is bringing thousands of spriggans - small, relatively harmless but annoying creatures who can't be killed - into the World. They're becoming a problem just from their sheer numbers, so the protagonist, who has a reputation of being able to locate and source magical items or ingredients for wizards, is commissioned to find the missing mirror so that it can be neutralized.

He does so primarily by applying common sense and talking to the spriggans, something the wizards didn't think of, though he does also use a good bit of magic. Quite often, the magic he uses isn't necessarily guaranteed to work and has a decent chance of making matters worse, but luck (i.e. the author) is on his side.

It's a fun ride, with a plot (and a resolution) that would only work in a magical world like this one.

And if you're wondering, the dragon on the cover is actually in the book, although it's technically not exactly a dragon.

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