only once in my life have i put down a book without finishing it. this should have been the second but out of respect for river god (the prequel and one of my top ten favorite books) i labored through. the storyline is trite, predictable and taita, a suspiciously talented character in river god, is now a ‘warlock’ with abilities to command weather, draw water from solid rock, clairvoyance and of course he can perform jedi mind tricks too. i can’t recall getting through three pages without sighing ‘oh brother’… in case your still thinking about reading warlock i can sum up the whole book and save you the misery – good guys and bad guys both desire the same thing, large armies meet in conflict where the lead good guy always ends up fighting directly against the lead bad guy, bad guys grossly outnumber the good guys but at the last minute taita conjures up some wizardry (on scale with commanding the weather) and the good guys vanquish the bad guys. repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat until the good guys ultimately live happily ever after.