A good plot is not enough to save a book where I only like one character. I hope it gets better in the next two books, but I’m not holding my breath.

Full review: https://rebeccasreadingcorner.blog/review-patrick-w-carr-a-cast-of-stones/ ( )

This is the first book in a trilogy called The Staff and Sword, and that is part of the reason I picked it out to read. I have always been a fan of the sword and magic fantasy series, but just the series name brought this book to my attention. Now, having finished this first book, I am anxiously starting the second one as soon as I finish rambling here.

Great epic story that tells of a young man that gets drafted into this huge quest to save the kingdom, and bring a new king to it as well. On this journey started with a priest, a Reader, a captain of the Kings's Watch, Errol, an alcoholic teen, beats his personal problems, learns how to wield a staff, and gains knowledge of the Readers, those that can cast lots (like BINGO balls with words). He turns out to be an omne, a reader that can read the lots of others. As the end nears, there is a climatic battle to save the elderly King, and Errol is given an Earldom.

I was a bit daunted at first, as it seemed like a fairly long book. But the reading was easy and fast. Obviously the story centers more around the events/actions of one character, and though there is not much detail about his background, I found myself liking him, and the others he traveled with. Though Errol seems a bit naive and overly-trustworthy of most anyone, and seems to come out of every fight/bad consequence with little damage, I am still drawn to the next book to find out what happens next. ( )

This was so much more than I thought it would be! But honestly, I didn’t expect much. It was well written and entertaining, but it had its faults.
It was simply too long. That may be an odd thing to say about a book less than 500 pages, but I was very bored at times and felt like the book went on forever. The pace was a bit slow at times and I needed more action. The further into the book I got, the better it became but I was never really happy about it.
The fact that is was listed on Goodreads as Christian Fantasy made me a bit nervous since I hated preaching but it turned out to be a very small problem. Yes, it talked A LOT about God, but I didn’t feel like it was preachy and the plot revolved around the churches so the God-talk seemed to make sense. I liked the lot-part and how it wasn’t 100 % sure but still kind of amazing.
Errol was kind of a meh character. He never really stood out and neither did the rest of the characters. I liked that he started out at the very bottom and didn’t became the best and brightest within pages. The slow progression was realistic and even though Errol annoyed the living *beep* out of me, I understood why he was such a pain in the *beep*.
I don’t think I will continue on with the series. I have too little to say about this one because it didn’t stick with me and made me yearn for the next one.
( )

I came to this novel rather late, and noticed that it has a lot of glowing reviews. People acquainted with me will know I can have rather high standards, but really I just did not like this book very much almost from the outset.
There were some original elements in the story- the notion of the stone `lots' for instance though this could be problematic. Not all of the characters seemed to be particularly well developed, though a few of them were likable.

There were other issues too- the most notable being the writing style. I honestly have no intention of being nasty, making a personal attack on the author by writing this, and I apologize of it causes offense. In some places the book read as though it could have been written by a 15 year old. I know it was his first novel, and he did his best, but some of the descriptions of characters feelings and metaphors just left a lot to be desired.

Some of the religious elements of the story seemed a little dubious and questionable.
Bethany House is a major Christian publisher and so the book obviously comes under the umbrella of `Christian' fiction.
Yet the central notion of the `readers' who are `born with' the power to see what is written on lots seems to be one that is dubious. Basically, `lots' are round balls which readers use to help them make decisions or find out information by `fixing a picture' in their mind of the possibilities.
To me, it seemed a little like visualisation and appeared as though the readers were almost able to project their thoughts onto the lots.

Too see full review please visit my blog http://crossromance.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/review-of-cast-of-stones-by-patrick-w... ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this single-point-of-view tale. It begins with the introduction of a staggering drunk as the main character—a not entirely likable character, but the reader can sympathize with him—and journeys with him to his surprising new position in the world. This advancement doesn’t come to Errol Stone easily; he has physical and emotional demons to overcome while he’s being chased by poison- and blade-toting villains. He makes some incredible faux pas, and he also does exactly the opposite. There is a lot going on his world that he doesn’t know or understand. Carr handles the mystery well, and the reader learns as Errol learns. This doesn’t prevent the revelation of several subplots that keep the action and suspense going—and the story is wonderfully complex.

The end is a little shaky, but not abysmal. It didn’t keep me from moving directly on to Book 2. The intriguing epilogue definitely helped in that respect.

Criticisms? There are a few typos and confusions about direction, number, and who a character is talking to — enough to make me read the passages twice, but not enough (by any means) to ruin the story. The book does have a virulent case of Comma Splicing, which I find annoying in general but, again, not enough to ruin the story. And… naming conventions are inconsistent, with some taken straight from our world, some slightly modified (Morgols, Soedes, Basqu — and Finn Maccol), and some original. What was going on there? Did I miss something?

Those nit-picking concerns aside, the book is a wonderful page-turner. Clean, gore-free (in spite of fight scenes), and an all-around good read. ( )