Writer - K.A. Stewart
Series - Arcane West #1
Published By - Penguin Group
First things first, I got this book from NetGalley, so thank you netgalley and Penguin Group for this opportunity.
This is a prime example of fun and simplistic fantasy done with a well tested setting; mixing up fantasy with the generic tropes of good and bad guys and natives of western setting was a good read. Quite nice were the world building and magic system which really used some inventiveness. Specially interesting is the fact that it really left a nice ground for improvement for future ventures into this world.
Peacemaker tells the story of traveling peacemaker Caleb Marcus, who has the job of maintaining peace in a magic infused version of wild west, where people are born with latent magic and people use technology infused with arcane magic. Caleb also has a troubled past from fighting in a war which has left him with an injury which made him half-scoured of his power. Caleb with his jackalope familiar Ernst reaches the town of Hope; which is not as peaceful as it first seems and gets mixed with a conspiracy involving local land owner and native indians. As per as plot goes it is quite generic and predictable at times. The action on the other hand was quite enjoyable especially with magic infused bullets and vehicles and was a driving force for the story.
As for the characters, it suffered from generic characters with a protagonist who never really had any depth other than the war and the antagonist who is even more one dimensional with his hunger for power. The most interesting character by far was the familiar of Caleb who had some interesting habits and quirky dialogue which gives some new life into the progression. The native indians on the other hand were once again dealt with a formula well tried before, having a tragic misunderstood troupe as its basis.
The most impressive bit about the book was its interesting magic system and world building. the author used a wild west basis and introduced magic into it in a unique way. From using magic to augment vehicles, to using arcane magic to make powerful bullets, to the concept of familiars and null-stones, everything was fascinating in imagination and detailed and kept me turning page after page just to find more details of the world.
Hopefully if there are more books in the future the author will give further details upon the imagined world while also focusing on strengthening the characters and introducing interesting plot-lines.
This one gets 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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