Sources and Sorcery

Information

Status

Hiatus

Year

2020

Author

Hamptont2010

• The A-maze-ing Chase Pt. 2
  Apr 11, 2020
• The A-maze-ing Chase Pt. 1
  Apr 10, 2020
• Some Who Wander Are Lost
  Mar 20, 2020
• A Blessing of Unicorns, a Dread of Drabulls
  Mar 13, 2020
• Trials and Tribe-ulations
  Mar 7, 2020
• Familiar Strangers
  Mar 6, 2020
• Where the Magic Happens
  Mar 5, 2020
• Welcome to the Jungle
  Mar 4, 2020
• I Stand Accused
  Mar 4, 2020
• Through the Fire and Flames
  Mar 3, 2020
• Bullies, Birds, and Brodericks
  Mar 2, 2020
• An Heirloom Lost
  Mar 1, 2020
• In Which it All Begins
  Mar 1, 2020

Reviews

Community Reviews(8)

• ZZZXRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Reading through this in the beginning, I went through many emotions. Joy, sadness, and anger went through me as I experienced the first few chapters. I was filled with more intrigue as I went through the later chapters, almost reminding me of how it felt experiencing and discovering Rowling's world in Harry Potter.
  The author has a nice style that reminds me of many professional novels, achieving a balance between description and motion. Avoid some issues I find in many novels of over or under describing.
  Generally, the story is far enough for me to give this review now. However, I want to give it more justice in the advanced review which I will do later, as I re-read the series again more in-depth.
• David MuskRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  A previous review by Anjin mentioned how this story feels like a Studio Ghibli movie, and I think that's a great way to describe it. We have a young female protagonist who leaves her ordinary world and enters a world that's far more magical. Other parts of the writing reminded me of J.K. Rowling, from the charming style to the sense of wonder the world and magic evokes.
  Minor spoilers ahead!
  Style and Grammar
  The tone and descriptions in this story are downright mesmerizing. In fact, the descriptions are among some of the best on this site. The author has a knack for the small things. Whether it's a missing swing on a swing set, a bit of rust on a handrail, or the sparks of magic from a wand. These details make the scenes come alive, giving the readers those rare moments where they forget they're reading a book.
  Style is one of the author's strengths, but I'll still spend the most time critiquing here since it's also a personal interest of mine.
  So far, my biggest complaint is how much we're told about Anna's emotions and opinions as opposed to experiencing the world directly through her eyes.
  Phrases like, "Anna liked", "Anna wanted", "Anna hated" are prevalent throughout.These put distance between the reader and the protagonist. What's more, the descriptions in this book are usually strong enough to imply the protagonist's inner-thoughts on their own, resulting in a lot of redundancies. Anna does have a strong narrative voice at times. I especially liked how she used creative metaphors and verbs to describe the people who aren't fond of. We need to see more of this, and less info-dumping.
  In the same vein, we get a lot of unnecessary words and redundancies around the dialog. Here's one particularly notable example:
  "But I thought you said people couldn't pass magic to someone else?" Anna said, remembering what Broderick had said earlier.
  We already know that Anna is remembering what he said—she's saying so in the dialog. This is why I think a lot of the dialog cou
• SaitamaTsukinoRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I'm reviewing this entirely because this is the kind of book I would pick up sit down and read for a few hours straight, or I could imagine this in an audiobook format.  I have no complaint beyond that it's not done yet.  I'm sure some other person could review this and find something they would like to change, but I like this EXACTLY the way it is right now.
  The author does a wonderful job building up the setting, and environment.  You won't forget or question where or when you are.  As far as characters everyone of them is thoroughly designed and fit perfectly into their roles.  The plot moves forward at a nice steady pace that is neither rushed or dragging.
• AnjinRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  ... That I can see some of the greats reflected back at me. There are elements of Trudi Canavan, Stephen Donaldson and, yes, even Rowling, in this highly accessible, highly engaging read.
  Sources and Sorcery is an absolutely charming story about a girl coming into magic for the first time, amidst trying circumstances and life-threatening trials. The latter part is important, as it sets a pace and tension that make the whole story immediately involving and will keep you hooked throughout. We don't sit with Anna through lectures or instruction, we run with her from one challenge to the next, rooting for her as she struggles to keep up with a world turned on its head.
  I've dropped some hints about the tone of this story already, but I feel like it is worth going into a bit more detail. This story reads like a Studio Ghibli movie watches! It's mesmerising and enticing, and I would recommend this to my niece as much as to my dad. It’s appealing in an almost aesthetic way, and I love it.
  The style and grammar are consistently on point, to the extent where there is a notable lack of things to say, and the story is utterly enticing. This reads beautifully and any small errors are dutifully whisked away by the author almost immediately.
  The characters are engaging and utterly likeable, whilst still being diverse and interesting. They do tend towards the archetype, but I think that perfectly fits the style and plot. I do happen to be a sucker for wizard councils, but I did try and remain objective here…
  I have nothing but praise for Sources and Sorcery, and am only glad that Anna's wonderful story is in the capable hands of Hamptont2010.
• Skylark (Dion Sky)Royal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Sources and Sorcery tells the story of orphan Anna, who, after witnessing a terrible murder, finds herself whisked into a hidden magical world with the murderer hot on her heels. She must learn to control her newfound magical abilities in order to protect herself.
  Audience context is important to note when reading Sources and Sorcery. It reads stylistically like a children's novel, with simple, clear and straightforward language and themes. Assuming children are the intended target audience, this will have a knock-on impact on older readers finding the story through Royal Road. Older readers are likely to butt up against some overused cliches and one-dimensional characters, while younger readers are less likely to have encountered these tropes before and are less likely to have a problem. I've tried to take both audience groups into account with this review.
  Overall, the story's writing has a professional quality to it. Aside from the odd grammatical mistake, I wouldn't be surprised to find this story in the children's section of a bookshop. It's clear and easy to read, with well-executed alternations in pace between direct plot advancement and more laid-back sections to give you a breather to explore the world and its characters. Full points for style.
  Story-wise, the premise is interesting, but has a tendency to be tropey and thus predictable. It feels like the reader is always a few steps ahead of Anna, so rather than learning and growing with her, I often found myself in the position of waiting for her to catch up to my own level of knowledge. Again, this is less likely to be an issue for younger readers. But for more experienced readers, don't expect to be surprised.
  It's clear the story has taken a lot of inspiration from stories like Harry Potter, while avoiding being overly derivative. You can see the similarities, but it feels like its own world with its own unique quirks and lore. I would also compare it strongly to Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic story
• SaviorfoxOwlisRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Preheader: I don't give out five stars easily. For some people, they give five stars out if you didn't do anything wrong, or did it all right. For me, it's about if you go above and beyond.
  Prose-wise, you did that quite well. The style is immersive, and despite the blocky chunks at the beginning of the story, living. At all points there is a sense of motion. Prose is a five stars.
  However, Royal Road doesn't accomodate for all the ways I score a story, starting with worldbuilding.
  The worldbuilding is good. However, the idea that the source of all magic goes away once someone spills blood outside their home kingdom is questionable to say the least. How has this not happened before at all? Humanity has proven time and time again that war is inevitable in our fates.
  But world is more than the actual rules of the land, it's also how does the world act amongst itself? It's hard to describe when I'm saying it that way. But basically, can I imagine myself as a citizen in that world for a day?
  It's simply weird to think a council of apparently powerful and wise wizards would think some kid murdered somebody.
  However, characters have their effects on this scoring. When it comes to character: Anna and Broderick, Nelson and Misaada all have good characterization. They feel strong, have good chemistry, and are entertaining together.
  But most minor characters basically serve to make Little Orphan Anna look more and more abused. Ms. Whitney reads like somebody straight out of a book of Grimm Fairy Tales. Any character that is evil seems completely evil, without any trace of redeemable qualities.
  The characterization has it's little moments. Such as Anna about to leave people behind in a blazing fire until her inner heroism showcases itself. But I don't know if I feel Anna is proactive in her life or is simply running down a series of unfortunate...
  (SAY IT!)
  Misadventures.
  (YOU PUNKED OUT! YOU PUNKED OUT! YOU PUNKED OUT!)
  Next up is Emotion. Originally I was calling it Enjoyabi
• GhostlyArtzRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  (I unfortunately did not get time to read everything, this goes up to Welcome to the Jungle; which is where you are officially introduced to some side characters that I believe will be sticxking around and to the world)
  I will start off with the characters.
  Anna is a young girl- and for the most part she acts the part. She's rash, petty, self-centered, and holds a lot of anger for the world. Which, makes sense going by that she's an orphan kid in a bad situation. Yes, I just listed a lot of negatives. I love faults, it makes the characters more human (she also has redeeming qualties, but those are a lot less interesting). Despite all of that (or because of), she is likeable and isn't one of those characters that falls flat.
  Speaking of falling flat, majority of the side characters are two dimensional 'I'm evil because I'm evil' characters. The old man and his apprentice seem to be the only ones that have been built up out of the side characters. Everyone else seems to be there to prove the point of 'it is Anna vs World'. Which, whilst I like my evil characters, I like them having a reason beyond 'because I'm evil'.
  For the story itself, it is an enjoyable read with an interesting world and one of my favorite parts is the cannibalism of magic- which I have hopes will feature more heavily later on in the story. Whilst the world is enjoyable I do have the hiccup of how everything went down-
  Specifically, how quick they were to blame a child for murdering one of the most powerful sorceresses of all time. Now, I have my theories for why on some of these things but it just seems to stretching things a bit too much. Again, I only got to where things actually started in the Kingdom so maybe everything becomes clear later on.
  For grammar, there's some missing commas here and there and a typo every once in a blue moon but I didn't have any hang ups so it all read nicely.
  But, overall it was an enjoyable read and once I have more time available I plan on finishing from where I
• MTurnerRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Note: Only read 4/5 chapters as of now so take that as you need.
  Sources and Sorcery, a girl in despair
  Witnesses something, a real nightmare
  From this point on, everything changes
  From life in the dumps, perhaps she exchanges
  The start it felt, the writing was choppy
  Yet not so much that I could call sloppy
  I'm glad to say, the prose it was tightened
  It seemed from the second, something enlightened
  The protag, the world has people she hates
  And into our minds, you skillfully translate
  The pompous, stuck up, awful, immoral
  We side with Anna, and support in her quarrel
  I hope to see, her luck make a turn
  Magic so awesome, I want her to learn
  So she can manage, to fight to not suffer
  To overcome, through will and be tougher
  Through the tale, you developed your voice
  Once I got there, hurrah! Rejoice!
  Everything seemed to flow, quite so well
  Dragged into your story, it all just did gel