What do You think about Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe (2006)?
I really wanted to like this one because of all the Hornblower meets Harry Potter descriptions, having read both series multiple times. But alas, the writing was so horrible that Blithe never made it out of port before I gave up. There are examples in other reviews but one that I particularly recall is Blithe's initial meeting with a senior midshipwizard. There is a sense of impending rank struggle, like embittered Simpson's tyranny in Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, but without explanation in the next paragraph, they have become friends with intimate knowledge of each other's backgrounds. Weird.I hope that once out to sea, Blithe's fortunes would improve, but I just couldn't cut the bad writing enough slack to find out.
—Garrett
Poorly edited (at one point it's said that "all" dragonships are called "it" and "them" and are male, but literally one page later the character who *said* this is referring to the ship with female pronouns, later the main character does magic and passes out before he finds out what happens, wakes up and finds out what he did, is disappointed that it wasn't more impressive, and when later under a TRUTH SPELL is recounting it, states that he "intended" what happened to happen, and NO MENTION is made of that setting off the truth spell). And the book itself wasn't to my taste, but really, multiple instances of contradictory writing. Bah.
—Ezekiel
Astonishingly awful fantasy. It's so badly written that I thought the first chapter was a parody or a play within the book--here's a sample line from the first page. "'Hook, me old friend, you've been complaining about storms for as long as I've known you. Here, take this to warm your salty bones,' said the friend while handing Hook a tankard of hot rum." The friend's name is Pegleg. Pegleg and Hook, I kid you not. They exchange a few lines of dialog about how they're hearty sea dogs, and then they meet (and are incredibly impressed by) Halycon Blithe, the newest midshipwizard in the Arcanian fleet. Here's what his dialog sounds like: "'I know I'll have to serve a few years to earn the respect of such men,' Halycon said to himself. 'But earn it I will, because I'm an officer with prospects, no doubt about it.'" Ye gods! Published by Tor, horribly enough.
—Wealhtheow
