Path of Flames came 2nd in the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off 2016. Three hundred books were entered! 
 http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.co.uk... 
 I can see why the blogger who put it forward was enthusiastic about it. It's an enthusiastic book that gets a lot into its sizeable word count (~250K). 
 It opens with a battle scene in which we're treated to monsters, magic, and mass carnage. I had some trouble visualising the scene in places but for the rest of the book Tucker paints a full picture that never left me trying to puzzle things out. 
 At first sight Path of Flames is not a very sophisticated novel. It has an 80s fantasy feel to it and manages to bring in a great number of the "standard" elements of the genre. However, it does what it does well, and there are moments of both depth and genuine emotion that are also handled well. Lady Iskra, mother and widow, is a well written character who feels real. 
 Path of Flames is an exciting fantasy romp and it's very easy to let yourself be swept along by the story and be thoroughly entertained. And for a lot of the time I was. 
 The chapters move between six (I'm guessing) points of view and for much of the time five of those are in the same place doing the same thing. The sixth, Tharok, is an odd one. Tharok's story is entertaining too. He's an orc-thing and his rapid rise through the orc-thing ranks is charted through the book in parallel to the story of the humans. The odd thing is that it really could have been an entirely separate book. The threads never join and there are very few hints that they take place in the same world. 
 There's plenty of magic in the story, both in the "casting black flames at you" style and the more passive "teleport gates" and "floating cities" style. While none of it feels particularly new or fresh it does feel comfortable and well handled. 
 A niggle for those who have read a lot of fantasy may be just how many tropes are called upon. There's also ... I'm not sure what to call it ... maybe a YA vibe or something similar. Our three youngest protags turn out to be fearsome warriors variously stuffed to the gills with mysterious and unexpected magic powers, or sporting important magic swords that they essentially found lying about. 
 The focus for the five human points of view is a tight one, bound for most of the book to two castle locations. Again the castles and the life within them feel familiar, and again, well done. There is a tournament which if you're in a jaded mood you could roll your eyes at, but I actually really enjoyed. I'm a sucker for goodie knights vs baddie knights and all the arms and armour descriptions. It was exciting and entertaining. 
 As things progress our young heroes level up swiftly and a magical mystery builds with helpfully discovered secret libraries to fill in the blanks. We get a nice battle to end with, balancing out the opening battle, and our heroes become near super-heroes, cutting swaths through the foe to reach the boss-fights. 
 The ending is open with plenty to resolve in the following books. I never felt bored! 
 So, to conclude: don't concentrate on my fault finding. With an open mind and your inner child(hood fantasy reader) turned up high, this could well be one of your favourite reads. 
 Read about the SPFBO competition here 
 http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.co.uk... 
 See ratings and reviews of all the finalists here: 
 http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.co.uk... 
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