After reading the wonderful series by Cassandra Rose Clarke I had high hopes for this book, and it even sounded like another fantastic adventure at sea with pirates and magic.

I really enjoyed that the book is set in the same world as the previous two novels, and I liked how Hanna spoke of Annana as a pirate queen. The characters started out with shape and were likable.

However this is Hanna's story and it has no stand next to Assasins Curse or Pirates Wish. I felt the majority of the book was just Hanna trying to get answers from everyone, much to the point where I was getting rather annoyed...kind of like Hanna herself.
What started off as a promising read became a bland prison at sea...I quickly lost interest in the reasons for her travel veering North, and the Mists just lost what little interest they had when the book just left you hanging with nothing. I did manage to finish it but the ending was barely satisfying and left me wondering why I did read it all.
Not going with my other two on the shelf.
nope nope. ( )

The Wizard’s Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke is the first in a new duology set in the same world as The Assassin’s Curse and The Pirate’s Wish. The Wizard’s Promise tells the story of a young witch named Hanna who finds herself thrown into the dangerous world of the Mists despite every attempt she makes to just get home. While Hanna had always been hoping for adventure, this wasn’t exactly how she planned it, though it never is ;-). Hanna’s mother served on the pirate ship of a certain pirate queen that might sound familiar to you if you read the previous duology, but you don’t need that background to enjoy The Wizard’s Promise. You just might feel compelled to go read the other books after finishing, hehe.
Note: I received The Wizard’s Promise through Netgalley for an honest review. Some things may have changed in the final version.



The Wizard's Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke (The Hanna Duology #1)
Published by Strange Chemistry on May 6th, 2014
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Length: 329 pages
How I got my copy: NetGalley

All Hanna Euli wants is to become a proper witch – but unfortunately, she’s stuck as an apprentice to a grumpy fisherman. When their boat gets caught up in a mysterious storm and blown wildly off course, Hanna finds herself further away from home than she’s ever been before.

As she tries to get back, she learns there may be more to her apprentice master than she realized, especially when a mysterious, beautiful, and very non-human boy begins following her through the ocean, claiming that he needs Hanna’s help.

Strengths:
The Wizard’s Promise introduces us to Hanna, whose mother served on a pirate ship before falling for an islander and settling in the northern islands. Hanna is a witch in training and a really fun main character. She’s one of those MC’s that I wish I could be friends with and not just so she would teach me her witchy powers ;-).
We got brief glimpses of magic in the previous series, but in The Wizard’s Promise we find out about how the human magic works first hand. Hanna has an affinity with the wind, she thinks the south wind to be specific, haha. Wind magic is pretty cool and useful when you are a fisherwoman in training :D. I like that the magic system in this world is similar to the typical four elements, but adds in ingredients and other complications to keep things interesting.
I’m happy to report that you don’t need to read the previous series before this one, since The Wizard’s Promise takes place a generation after the first series. However, it is a lot of fun to catch references to events I read about previously, so The Wizard’s Promise is definitely enriched by the previous series. I think it would be a lot of fun to go in the other direction as well though, with the caveat that you’ll spoil a few minor/obvious things for yourself.
Given how much we heard about how spooky and dangerous the northern islands are in the previous books, it was so much fun to get to see them finally! The Wizard’s Promise definitely has a bit of a spooky atmosphere to it because of this awesome setting, though we also get a well-rounded view of the different cultures that are lumped together by outsiders.

Weaknesses:
I feel like I say this with every Strange Chemistry book, but like the previous series, The Wizard’s Promise had a bit of a wandering plot. You think you know where things are going, but then they don’t really end up there. I couldn’t honestly tell you what the main plot of The Wizard’s Promise is besides Hanna just reacting to events and trying to stay alive/get home, though that doesn’t really work since there wasn’t much of a resolution on that front….
Overall The Wizard’s Promise very much felt like a setup for the second book both because of the previous point of just getting Hanna to the northern reaches and because of the cliffhanger. I’m not dying to find out what happens next, but I feel a bit unsatisfied.
The Wizard’s Promise is a bit awkwardly similar to The Assassin’s Curse in that it is about a special girl meeting and eventually helping a magical guy who she might have feelings for. Sound familiar?

Summary:
The Wizard’s Promise introduces a great new set of characters and setting within the same world as The Assassin’s Curse. It’s a lot of fun to get to explore new areas while also hearing stories about the characters we loved previously. Hanna and her magic are quite enjoyable to read about, and as long as you don’t die from lack of closure, you’ll probably enjoy The Wizard’s Promise as much as you did The Assassin’s Curse (whether positive or negative). ( )

2 ½ Stars

Review to come closer to release date. ( )

The Wizard's Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke is a new story arc set in the same world as The Assassin's Curse and The Pirate's Wish. The main character is the daughter of a friend of Annana from those books and is even named after her.

All Hanna Euli wants is to become a proper witch – but unfortunately, she’s stuck as an apprentice to a grumpy fisherman. When their boat gets caught up in a mysterious storm and blown wildly off course, Hanna finds herself further away from home than she’s ever been before.

As she tries to get back, she learns there may be more to her apprentice master than she realized, especially when a mysterious, beautiful, and very non-human boy begins following her through the ocean, claiming that he needs Hanna’s help.

I enjoyed The Wizard's Promise. I don't think it was as ground-breaking as the earlier two books, but it was a pleasant read. It can be summarised as "girl who wants to be a witch is stuck being a fisherwoman and a three-day fishing trip goes exceedingly awry."

One of the things I like about this world is how equal women are. It's not unusual that Hanna is a) a fisherwoman and b) has magic. When, later in the book, she finds herself alone in a strange place, she finds work on a (different, larger) fishing boat to make enough money to get by. No one ever questions her ability to do things because of her gender (a little bit because of her age, but even then, not very much).

One of the things that bugged me in the earlier books was Annana's accent/dialect, emphasised by the first-person narrative. That was absent in The Wizard's Promise, which made it an easier read, I think. But on the other hand, there wasn't the element of amusing banter between the two leads. Hanna spends a lot of time more or less alone. She makes friends and is never completely isolated, but most of the time she is alone in her mission. On the other hand, it was refreshing to read a book with such a self-sufficient heroine. She doesn't break down when things go wrong and she is stranded alone, but rather takes the most practical steps she can to work towards getting back home.

Also, there isn't a romantic storyline (although there might be in the sequel), despite what the blurb implies. Isolfr, the boy mentioned in the blurb, is more of an enigma than a love interest. Mind you, his magical abilities do lead to some amusing interactions, which I won't spoil. Overall, this possibly could have been a bit more fast-paced, but I was never bored, there were just a few slower bits. Thinking about it more, it's probably more a case of the plot not building up to a save-the-world-type event, but rather a more sustained level of excitement with a few peaks before the climax.

As I said, The Wizard's Promise was a fun read. I would recommend it to fans of adventure stories, YA or otherwise. It's not the most exciting read ever, but not everything has to be. I will definitely be picking up any sequels and will probably keep on reading everything the author writes.

4 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. ( )

Like 'The Assassin's Curse', 'The Wizard's Promise' offers the basic of plot with the main focus on the characterization although there's plenty of action and conflicts suffered by the main character, Hanna. This book reminded me strongly of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series. Full review to come. ( )