With A Single Spell is nowhere near as good as Terry Pratchett's best, but it's still a fun comic fantasy. Tobas is an apprentice wizard who has only learned "Thrindle's Combustion", a spell to light any flammable material on fire before his master died. Wizards don't give up their secrets cheaply, and he's too old to find a new master. After accidentally burning down his cottage after reading the old wizard's spell book, Tobas has to make his own fortune.Tobas sails to Eshthar, and is amazed by the size of the city. After all, he was only a country wizard throughout his life. All of the wizards reject his offers, and he agrees to go on a dragon-slaying quest in the Small Kingdom known as Dwomor. If his adventuring party kills the dragon, each person gets 1000 gold and a princess for a wife. As one of the jokes in the book says, princesses are a major export in the Small Kingdoms because they just sit around the castle otherwise.Several crafty adventurers try to loot the castle treasury instead of going on the quest, but they fail. Most of the warriors leave after either finding the dragon too difficult or the reward too paltry. Dwomor is a Small Kingdom, and the castle is quite dreary and drafty, unlike what romantic stories have told them.Tobas's party encounters the dragon, but it is too difficult to kill. Most of them leave, and one says he will gladly take verbal abuse from his parents over dragon fire. Peren the albino warrior and Tobas have nowhere else to go, and continue, agreeing to loot a local abandoned castle. Tobas finds a tapestry which takes him to another world. There he finds his love interest and more silly spells to practice (my favorite is the one where he summons a monster to open a jar lid), though he's stuck there because the tapestry spell is malfunctioning. Eventually they return, but they accidentally encounter the dragon. Tobas uses Thrindle's Combustion to make it explode. When they go back, Tobas is happy with his new wife and wants to take the gold without the princess. The king is desperate and says that the money is a dowry, not a reward, and he takes a princess. Peren is happier with his princess than Tobas is, because Princess Alorria is too childlike and silly for Tobas. The world-building including the magic system is well written and funny. There are many kinds of magic, including warlocks, wizards, witches, demonologists, and theurgists, all with their own rules. For example, wizards need a ritual dagger and ingredient for powerful spells, though witches (which are not always female) use simpler yet weaker spells with their mental strength. Theurgists rely on gods and a code of contact, though demonologists summon fickle demons. Warlocks suffer constant nightmares in exchange for powerful magic. A postscript includes more details on various events throughout the book. For example, the demonologist who killed Tobas's pirate father accidentally summoned a powerful yet obscure sea demon instead of the lowly Second Circle he had intended. Tobas even buys a new boat from a couple he robbed five years earlier.However, the pacing is odd, with large sections of the characters wandering around aimlessly.
Reviews Of Unusual SizeRe: Tobas the wizard's apprentice knows one spell. He can light fires. That was all he learned before his master died, he accidentally blew up the house he lived in and he found himself wandering Ethshar. Without many options left, he joins up with a band headed to the Small Kingdoms to slay a dragon. If successful, he stands to gain a fat purse and a princess as his bride. Tobas is a clever young fellow, witty and fairly brave, but he's pretty unlucky. In the depths of the Small Kingdoms, however, Tobas finds that dragon and far more. He finds adventure, fortunes, strange magics, mysterious secrets and love! Maybe a single spell isn't that useless after all.Outstanding: I love this book. It may be my favorite of the Ethshar novels (I say that about a lot of them though) The way Tobas wanders blindly into his adventures is smoothly plotted and full of a lot of humor and fun. Unacceptable: Nothing. I know I say this a lot too, but I love everything about this story. Even the Wildside cover, which I normally hate, it pretty decent.Summary: This is a quintessential light fantasy novel. It stars a boy without many skills or prospects that sets out to seek his fortunes. He battles dragons, flirts with princesses, explores strange lands and overcomes tremendous hurtles to make his way. What could be better than that?5/5
What do You think about With A Single Spell (2000)?
Classic fantasy is the best label for this book. Young, apprentice wizard is forced to leave his home to discover his destiny, not to mention some more spells since one fire spell won't a career make. Along the way, he stumbles from one misadventure to another until finally being drawn into a quest to slay a dragon, so he can marry a princess and become wealthy beyond his dreams. However, the quest doesn't go exactly as intended, and more misadventures occur until finally our young wizard and a fellow adventure find their fortunes. The fun doesn't sop there, for our accident prone protagonist then stumbles into a magical world where he finds all that he has hoped for. Only one problem. He is now trapped with only one fire spell to help him return home. Of course, everything works out in the end. But isn't that how all good fairy tales work? In the eighties, when this was published, that is exactly how good fantasy books ended, which is why I liked. My age is showing I guess. In any event, a very good read for anyone tired of the dark fantasy, which dominates the shelves these days.
—Bookwraiths
I discovered Lawrence Watt-Evans when i picked up the The Misenchanted Sword. I read it fairly close to the time it was published and I didn't realise that there was to be a whole series of stories set in the same world.As the time 'The Misenchanted Sword' was one of the most original, funny (without being a parody) and interesting fantasy novels i had read. That is probably becuase at the time i was reading lots of epic fantasy series which were Tolkein inspired so this was a real palete cleanser. I enjoyed it so much i have read it many time since.I found out only recently that not only has Lawrence Watt-Evans written lots of novels but that he has written many more set in the same world (Ethshar). It took me a little while to track down one with a matching edition to my copy of The Misenchanted Sword becauase i'm anal that way.I admit to having very high expectations and for the most part it delivered. I didn't enjoy this as much as The Misenchanted Sword but it did follow the same formula, an individual, somewhat ordinary in nature, who through luck or misjudgement, finds himself in an extraordinary position and has to overcome extraordinary odds to make their way in the world.It is the contraints that LWE puts on his characters that make the stories work so well. In Sword it was the limitation to the times our hero could draw his powerful magical sword before it killed him. In Spell it was that our hero had to make his way in a dangerous and difficult world as a sorcerer who had only been taught one spell.If you like your fantasy with a little more imagination than the standard, 'predestined hero, evil being, retrieve item and destroy/use item' variety then the Ethshar series may be just for you. Other books of LWE's that i have read which has a very similar feel to this series are the War Surplus series (2 books) which are a great sci-fi fantasy crossover. Check them out as well;The Cyborg and the Sorcerers and The Wizard and the War Machine
—Tyrone
This is one the Magic of Ethshar series of books. I recorded most of them, including this one, in 50-55 minute installments for my local Golden Hours radio service for blind or reading-impaired listeners. I also made CD copies for myself.This one of the more lighthearted entries in the series, and I'm looking forward to the sequel The Spriggan Mirror; especially as the mischeiveous spriggan's appear in several other books in the series.My favorite book in the series is The Missenchanted Sword, closely followed by The Blood of a Dragon.
—Curtiss
